I liked this book, but some of the humor got to me after a while once the jokes started repeating often enough. I think it's a fun read, but not one that will stick me long after finishing.

When a mad scientists gets his hand on the switch of a supercollider, the world goes crazy with constant waves that shift through time and dimensions. An unlikely little band of characters struggles with monsters, police, and constant physical setbacks to get to the collider in order to turn it off in the hope that they can get safely home. Fun characters and plenty of action, make this little sleeper fast, fun, and humorous, as well as well formatted for audio. The chapters are filled with very short scenes with plenty of viewpoint changes, but as the author has numbered those scenes, the listener easily can keep up. Well narrated by Emily O'Brien with an easy listening voice and good pacing. Perfect for fans of light and humorous scifi.

If you absolutely do not want visions of a giant praying mantis eating a man alive, do not read this book. If that and other gore-ridden fantasy sequences are not an impediment, however, you will love this book. Author Jason Offutt has created an astonishing twist of plot and timelines that intersect more times than a New York subway yet somehow come out sensibly in the end. As the title might suggest, this is essentially a book about all the things that could go wrong when one starts messing around with space and time. It's replete with quirky characters and imaginative monsters and a sprinkle of humor to keep things going. The narration on the audiobook version is compelling and has just the right blend of sarcastic realism to keep the story from falling off the edge of unbelievable.
I typically don't read books with overt adult themes. I'm not a fan of death, sex, and pain in my books. Offutt includes all of these items, but deals with them in a way that feels both understanding and humorous. While most of my students are too young a demographic to appreciate the complex humor of this book, and would also be pretty shocked at the gore, language and violence, I personally found this a very entertaining read with lovely twists and a surprise ending. Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC.

I was really excited about this book; however, I was a bit disappointed. I thought the story was absolutely fascinating, and Offutt is extremely creative. I am the type of person who is hit or miss on how I feel about time traveling novels, so maybe it just wasn't the right fit for me. That said, I feel like this book should have been a series as opposed to one book. In the blurb, it talks about how Skid is an ex circus bouncer, and we don't even learn hardly anything about the circus until maybe two thirds of the way into the book. There were times that I felt like I had no idea the connection to the plot line from the chapter before. I thought the narrator did a fantastic job. They have a great voice, and it was very easy to listen to them read. The voices and accents fit perfectly based on what I would have done with the writing. While others will likely really love this book, I was just a bit confused, and I would have liked a lot more detail.

This review is for the audiobook version of So You Had to Build a Time Machine.

I really, really enjoyed this book! I'm a sucker for time travel and loops, and this combined both. The ensemble cast of Skid, Dave, Brick and Cord was told very interestingly. I liked that we followed two of the characters in their specific dimension, while the dimensions and worlds changed around them. And at the same time, the others (Cord, Dave, etc.) were seen in multiple versions. The plot was fun and satisfying, with a great character reveal at the end as well.

My only quibble was an out-of-nowhere romantic interaction that didn't seem earned (the one at the climax of the story). The other ones were organic and believable.

This is exactly my cup of tea! I absolutely love time travel books and this was a great one. At first, I was a bit confused by the slight changes in Skid's reality. I even had to rewind and listen a little more intently. Offutt did an awesome job of creating a great alternate reality which, at times was a bit bizarre, but it could happen. Who knows? Time travel books are sci-fi/ fantasy, so whatever comes to your mind for traveling forward in time can never be ruled out.

The narrator was great. The voices helped a great deal to distinguish between the characters, which is not always accomplished well in audiobooks read by one person.

Great book. Thanks for allowing me to read it.

The narrator of this audio book was clear and easy to listen to.
I thought there were some strong and interesting characters. The story was complex but at times quite confusing

This audiobook snuck up on me. I listen when I am walking or running. I started listening and I really didn't like any fo the characters. Skid...c'mon...skid?...is abrasive and a little unhinged as she resorts to knife throwing when Dave, a not to pleasant fellow, hits on her at a bar. Throwing the life was crazy. Throwing the punch was a little more understandable. The punch that seemed to start it all. Dave falls back and disappears. Now, what you had to be paying attention to is that Dave is a physicist. He uses the same physicists line you are apt to hear if you have had an introductory class or watched Bing Bang Theory a few times.

So these two are at a bar and so is Brick. Yes...Brick. Skid and Brick. Brick and Skid. Brick is a huge, nice man. He is the cliched gentle giant. He bakes for a living. He watches this all unfold and turns to find the same man, worse for wear, warning him about our Skid. Remember that warning. I did. It perplexed me for a good part of the book. That is because the three of them and Cord...yes...Cord..end up working together. Mostly. To make this all stop. All of what? Well, time travel of course. Time and space. Dr Who? Inspector Spacetime?

So we get some usual time travel stuff. It can be done well or it can be done badly. This one seemed to be done badly until it is done well. The stories diverge and converge and everything comes together and moves apart to come together again. The four, as well as some hitchhikers along the way, travel through time in their own reality as well as other realities.

What entertained me and kept me reading was that the characters were often separated and their stories seemed to become different genres-sci-fi, horror, haunted house thriller, dungeons and dragons nerdy, 80 schtick, you name it. So if you don't like where they are now, just wait a few pages. But it is not as random as any of it seems. My favorite part of the book was the sub story about the murder house Cord owns. The family tragedy interwoven with time travel kept me so enthralled I was mad when a new chapter began and I had to wait to return to it.

There was a rather abrupt ending here and I was hoping for more of the characters. Nothing was really left open, but I would love to revisit these characters again in a future adventure. They fought orcs and giant preying mantises. What else could they do?

I love time travel novels and I am currently really into listening into audio books so this appealed to me straightaway. I did listen to a preview first just to make sure I was going to like the narrator - and I did on the short sound burst. Seven hours or so later I felt a little worn out by this fast talking Americian narrator, it can be a little harsh for UK ears.

This is certainly a different approach to time travel. Usually nothing bad really happens in a time travel novel and you wonder how people get to fit into an alternate reality - what about their clothes, money etc. Well in this time travel world sh*t really hits the fan big time. Sort of how it would really happen if you could time travel. When people appear in a different time line it fits perfectly into the ghost tours at the old Sanderson murder house - a genius plot device.

There was a lot of humour and it made me laugh out loud it was so good. As I was listening to the audio and multi tasking there were times I got a little confused about what was happening and in which time period. If I had been reading the book I would probably have referred back, but I just carried on listening and really as it was so off the wall it was easier to just go with it and eventually all became clear again.

I enjoyed this audio on the whole. I couldn't listen to a lot of it at one time.

I know I'm not too far into this, but I find the first few characters to be highly irritating and I cannot get into this book. The first character Skid....seems too pretentious and annoying. I love me a time travel story but so far this concept hasn't been introduced and I don't have the patience for characters I don't like. DNFed. Maybe this is someone else's idea of a great book but not for me.

This is a hard book to review without giving too many spoilers away! It’s a sci fi, with quite a bit of humour, a fast paced storyline with plenty of twists and turns along the way. I think this is one of those books you just have to go with to really get into without trying to guess too much what is going on. The audiobook version was brilliant with the narrator having an easy to listen to voice. Perfect book for people who are a bit nerdy as there’s quite a lot of references you might not get otherwise.

Thanks so NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I hate to be defeated by a book but this audiobook didn't do it for me, I understand its a time travel book but it was all over the place and I found myself quickly loosing interest and I can not be bothered to listen to the end. I also found the narrator quite bland, not for me I'm afraid.

I usually find tme travel stories to be really well done or the worst story ever, there isn't a middle ground for me. This was incredibly well done. I enjoyed the references to different bands throughout the various time periods. Thanks to Netgalley for the chsnce to read and review this book!

I am so disappointed to admit I had to throw in the towel for this one at 36%.

I passionately love time travel novels, and all things science fiction. However, my focus and adoration falls mainly on the science of the fiction, and this novel delivered very little of this.

So You Had to Build a Time Machine read more like a Scooby-Doo comic book than it did like a novel. It was funny and kind of fun, but mostly it was silly and nonsensical in an unenjoyable way. The banter was a bit childish and the antics were goofy. I can't put my finger on why it didn't add up to something rip-roaring and fun, but alas, it just didn't.

Not every novel is a winner and that's totally okay. This one didn't strike the right chord for me, but perhaps it will for others who enjoy light-hearted and easy-to-read time travel adventures.

“Skid doesn’t believe in ghosts or time travel or any of that nonsense. A circus runaway-turned-bouncer, she believes in hard work, self-defense, and good strong coffee. Now, street names are changing, Skid’s favorite muffins are swapping frosting flavors, Dave keeps reappearing in odd places like the old Sanderson murder house—and that’s only the start of her problems.”

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this book. I’m not a huge sci-fi fan, but I am a big fan of sarcasm! This book has it in spades. It was fairly easy to follow what what happening (which can be hard when Miller Waves can pop up any time or place) the characters had strong personalities but worked well together. I just wish there was a little more insight into the ending. I’m going to read this again eventually because I’m sure I missed the clues!

I enjoyed the narrator! She was a good fit for this story.


DISCLAIMER: I received this audiobook free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wild ride - appropriate for a time travel story - with memorable characters and tons of pop culture references. The characters meet each other (and occasionally themselves) in different time streams and mayhem ensues.
Shady government scientists, ghost busters, a former circus employee great with knives,and the owner of a muffin shop help or hinder each other as they face off against Orcs, Klingons, Kafka-esque giant cockroaches, and a scimitar-wielding murderer to save the planet, Die Hard-style.
A well-voiced audiobook, courtesy of Net Galley, added to the fun. Very enjoyable!

It was just ok. I ended up not finishing. My apologies. I am sure it is a perfect fit for other listeners but not for me.

My thanks to CamCat Publishing for making available a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook of ‘So You Had to Build a Time Machine’ by Jason Offutt. It is narrated by Emily O'Brien and has a running time of 11 hours 22 minutes at 1x speed.

This was new territory as I hadn’t heard of Jason Offutt or Emily O'Brien before listening to this quirky science fiction time travel adventure.

Circus runaway-turned-bouncer, Skid, doesn’t believe in ghosts or time travel or any of that nonsense. Then one day an annoying theoretical physicist named Dave pops into the bar seat next to her and promptly disappears into thin air when she punches him. Then Skid notes that street names are changing and her favourite muffins are swapping frosting flavours....oh and Dave keeps popping up in odd places like the local murder house.

This is just the start of this time travel romp in which reality becomes seriously weird. Skid and Dave are joined by Brick, the muffin baker, and Cordrey, the smooth-talking haunted house owner, in a dimension hopping race to save the world. They face orcs out of Mordor, giant insects (praying mantis and scary cockroaches), radioactive dinosaurs and even Klingons. Oh and alien mushrooms.

This is the kind of science fiction comedy that is packed with pop culture references, in-jokes and the like. Sometimes I felt a little lost in terms of the strange reality jumps and timeline. With a story like this I like to have the print edition to hand in order to be able to check back. Still, it wasn’t a barrier to my enjoyment and I just went with the ride.

I felt that Emily O’Brien did a sterling job reading it. She is an established actor in film and television and over the last seven years has also voiced a number of video game characters. While this is my first experience of Jason Offutt’s writing, I likely will be looking at his other works.

Overall, I found it very clever and entertaining.

BE PATIENT!! This turned out to be a fun, weird book but the beginning was hard to follow. You aren’t sure who the main characters are, how they are connected, or what is going on. Things seem very random. That continues throughout the book with time jumps that transports people to different locations, some people in the group but not others, one person forward in time while everyone else seems to only go backward, as well as going to different dimensions. That’s quantum physics for you.
The whole thing starts with a girl named Skid punching Dave in a bar. This sets off a temporal shift that needs to be set right with Dave, Skid, and others they team up with trying to get back to the government lab to shut down the faulty time machine. Seems normal doesn’t it? Well, I haven’t even brought up the lumberjack looking guy who owns a muffin shop and likes to play Dungeons and Dragons, the giant praying mantis wearing a lab coat, or the haunted house where a family was killed years ago.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

So You Had to Build a Time Machine by Jason Offutt
Narrated by: Emily O'Brien
Publication Date: July 21, 2020 - Available Now!
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Description from NetGalley...
“Skid doesn’t believe in ghosts or time travel or any of that nonsense. A circus runaway-turned-bouncer, she believes in hard work, self-defense, and good, strong coffee. Then, one day, an annoying theoretical physicist named Dave pops into the seat next to her at her least favorite Kansas City bar and disappears into thin air when she punches him (he totally deserved it).

Now, street names are changing, Skid’s favorite muffins are swapping frosting flavors, and Dave keeps reappearing in odd places like the old Sanderson murder house. And that’s only the start of her problems. Something in the world has gone wrong. Terribly wrong. Absolutely f--ked up.

Someone has the nastiest versions of every conceivable reality at their fingertips, and they're not afraid to smash them together. With the help of a smooth-talking haunted-house owner and a linebacker-sized Dungeons and Dragons-loving baker, Skid and Dave set out to save the world from whatever scientific experiment has sent them all dimension-hopping against their will.”
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Thank you to @NetGalley #camcatpublishing @ibpalovesindies for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
So, a baker, a scientist, a haunted house tour guide and a Hello-Kitty-shoes wearing circus woman walked into different worlds...it’s not a joke. It really happened in this time-travel story filled with white-coat wearing praying mantis, Mordor Orcs, Klingon and radioactive dinosaurs. One of those books I’m glad I listened to because the narrator was great, and I really got into the story and was very entertained. This is a laugh-out-loud, crazy, action-packed book. It became convoluted and confusing a couple of times, but do not fret. Just ride-along because it was a great thrill ride. If you are a fan of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, role-playing games or the brilliant @jasperfforde you might be entertained by this. It was the kind of weird science I enjoy.