Review shared on Goodreads on 3/17/24

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free eARC of this book!

I was really excited for this book because I love science fantasy and the concept of stolen time really intrigued me. There were some really great things that I enjoyed while reading--the concept over all, the interesting workings of the underworld, and all the different puzzles Max and his friends had to solve were all really cool and intriguing! But I really struggled with the writing style of the book. It was very explanation heavy, with pages and pages of history and theoretical physics following every event the kids went through. My eyes just kept glazing over. I expected some background and information at the start of the book, but even two thirds of the way through the information was still coming. I also found that the ending didn't really work for me. I was confused for a good chunk of it, and disappointed to discover that the question of "Why is Max the special one who has to solve this?" still wasn't really answered. And while I appreciated the character development the book did have, I really wanted more, especially surrounding Max and his dad.

Over all, this was definitely interesting and intriguing, but not quite right for me!

My 12 year old son read this book and gave his honest review: This was a pretty good book. Average overall. They didn’t get the correct meaning of a paradox though, which was disappointing. Other than that there wasn’t much wrong with it. I like how the dad never actually came back though.