DNF. I think Time’s Agent is a perfectly good book – it does what it sets out to do, and does it well, I think. But it was so depressing that I had to walk away from it. Not the book's fault, I'm just not able to handle it at the moment. I doubt I'll pick it up again; by the halfway point there was so sign or clue as to how things might get better, and when I skipped to check out the end....well, no spoilers, but it wasn't what I'd hoped for. Alas!

This was a very emotional novella - full of grief and loss and longing for something that the narrator could never have. I was pulled into the story fairly quickly, but there were a lot of times I had to pause to look up a word, either due to the esoteric word choice (I'm looking at you "indefatigable") or by the blended spanglish word usage. I'm glad I read this as a kindle book so I could easily look up words. A physical book may have been put down and read at a later time.

OMG, the premise of this was so cool. This story takes place in the Dominican Republic. On Earth, there are these invisible doors into other realities called Pocket Worlds, or PWs for short. These PWs are relatively small, with some being only a few acres. They each have their own time dilation as well, where time moves faster or slower relative to Earth time. These worlds have interesting wildlife and fauna, they hold secrets to old civilizations, and of course, they come with the opportunity of renewable resources.

For being such a short book, I found a couple of things to be really impactful. First, we have the never-ending hunger of capitalism. Exploration quickly turns into exploitation. The idea that corporations would monetize and ultimately destroy a PW is believable. Because of the time dilations, time has even become a commodity. That kind of greed and hunger can never be sated and the future that she paints is bleak and heartbreaking. Second, the topics of grief and loss. When Raquel was catapulted into the future, she didn't just lose 40 years. She lost her job, her colleagues, her family, etc. I liked watching her grow as she processes all of that grief, pain, and even guilt.

Overall, this was an awesome novella. Thank you @netgalley, and @tordotcompub for the eARC in exchange for my honest, and sometimes silly, review.

A melancholy exploration of love, guilt and grief, Time’s Agent will stay with you.

Ways into what are called Pocket Worlds (PW) are popping up everywhere. Archaeologist Raquel and her wife Marlena have been exploring them, to catalogue extinct flora and fauna and look for evidence of the Taino peoples.

Raquel and Marlena are both trapped in a long time dilation world and while in it, capitalism and climate change take over.

Recommended for thoughtful teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion

7 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/08/06/times-agent-by-brenda-peynado-review/

The writing of this one was a bit fiddly. Not bad, exactly, just a little… scattered. A conscious choice as opposed to a deficiency. At least, that’s what I’m going with. But there’s a lot of time talk involved, and time (unless it’s one, continuous, contiguous time line) makes everything a bit fiddly. Part of my issue is that pocket dimensions make my brain hurt. But most of my issues are with the fiddly writing, the interpersonal relationships, and the overall tone.

The romance—also known as Raquel and Marlena’s relationship. “Forced” would be a polite term for it. Simple fact is that when something crashed their fairytale life, they ran and didn’t speak to one another for literal years. Despite this the author keeps mashing them together, like they HAVE TO work out. Which they could, but only if she’d have written them slightly different, or you know, had them <i>talk</i> about their problems. The pandemic taught us that some matches that seemed like a good idea just weren’t feasible. This is just one of them. But if that were the point, I doubt the author would’ve kept forcing them along the path to a happy ending, like what we’re supposed to see come the end. Instead, I just saw everything going swimmingly until something untoward happened, then both splitting, only coming around later after the other had kicked it, and then blaming themselves for their partner’s death until they inevitably cooked it as well.

Heck, that’d be in the same vein as the rest of the tale. Because ye gods was it depressing. I’m honestly not sure whether it was in a good or a bad way. Seemed realistic, to a point. At which it just seemed over the top. I hate to say it, but this could all boil down to one thing—the author trying too hard. Something that seems common enough, given that writing is hard. And writing (consistently) for a living is next to impossible.

Despite all of these issues, I actually enjoyed Time’s Agent more than I didn’t. The pocket dimension bit was inspired—I’ve seen the like before, but never built nor organized quite so efficiently. So the writing and the romance were a bit off, doesn’t mean it’s not a good read. See, this one tries something—quite a lot of “somethings” in fact—sure, they don’t always succeed, but they don’t all fail, either. Yeah, you could read the same old, same old, tried and true formula for the next fifty years, but where’s the fun in that? Better to try something new every now and then, if for no other reason than to remind you why you like what you do.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
I am conflicted about this book. I expected a time-travel story, I think, and as this was not quite that, perhaps I was a little disappointed for that reason. Also, I wanted to connect more with the lovely family at the center of the story, and felt that there was simply not enough time to develop that connection.
Also I think I just had a bit of a difficult time understanding what was happening. That is more my fault. I think many people will like this though.

A heart-wrenching adventure of grief, physics, and the destruction wreaked by capitalism. The concept of pocket worlds was fascinating and what humanity did with them is depressingly believable.

This is ultimately a story about grief and being faced to confront things in and out of our control, and the choices we make as a result. This story being told through a sci-fi lens and time dilation makes it super interesting, and it makes the hits that much harder.

Initially it took me a little while to wrap my head around the time aspect of this book, but once I got it down the book flies by. It is fairly fast paced and overall a quick read, filled with emotion.

This is a weird little book that covers quite a lot of ground and delves into some deep waters. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend!

This book was a frantic ride through a mostly bleak possible future. It was compelling, and I found myself flipping pages forward, even while my tummy roiled with concern for the outcome.

This was an interesting sci fi with a Dominican twist—pocket worlds are discovered which exist adjacent to our world, some with slower time and some with accelerated time. The mc works for the institute tasked with cataloging and protecting these PWs. I wanted a different ending but I did like the book; I particularly enjoyed the bits of Dominican culture and mythos that were woven throughout.

Even though I wanted a different (maybe impossible and magical) ending, I understand why it needed to end the way it did.

A driven, interesting story overall.

This wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping it would be, so despite a strong start, I struggled to finish it.

The pocket worlds were a fascinating concept, and I appreciated Peynado’s frighteningly realistic look at how the corporate world would swoop in to harvest and eventually destroy whatever worlds they came into contact with — but it got tedious to me to read about nonstop dreary destruction. I think the hardest part for me was Rachel - she was honestly pretty annoying the entire book, and her research topic sounded like an episode of Ancient Aliens.

I would definitely read another book by Peynado in the future — and I hope this one finds its audience because there were some very cool aspects to this one even if I didn’t end up liking it very much.

*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!*

CW: death of a child (off page)

I quite enjoyed this book! It was super weird, but I was into it!

This is very much a sci-fi story, about two researchers who work for The Institute and who study pocket worlds or PWs. The story takes place in the Dominican Republic and the story revolves around these two researchers, who are married and have a child. The way that the PWs work is that some/most of them have different time dilation, so some are long worlds and some are short worlds, and this plays a huge role in the story.

I liked the idea that Raquel was studying these PWs to find an answer to where the Taino people went. The Taino are/were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, and it is thought that they no longer exist (since European contact). Raquel was trying to find evidence of them in these PWs, as because of the time dilation, there were some PWs that were existing in the past. I really liked all of the discussions about the Taino and getting to learn a little bit about them.

It was interesting to read a sci-fi book that is set in the future, and then has a time jump to even further in the future, and to see how things have changed, for the worse. The book is definitely a critique of capitalism and extractive industries and basically everything that we're seeing today that is destroying our planet. And how it all started with good intentions. 'We're just going to explore this thing here to see if it can be useful' and then in the not so distant future, those things are being used to exploit the poor, to exploit the planet, to be a luxury for the rich. I saw so many parallels to current day capitalism and how we're destroying the planet.

I thought that the ending was really satisfying. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, if Raquel and Marlena were going to be able to be together despite all the terrible things that happened, so I really liked the ending.

What a great concept - and the book itself doesn't disappoint!
This story reminded me why I love science-fiction.
It doesn't shy away from exploring hard themes (including colonialism, exploitation of nature, hardcore capitalism, and homophobia among others) that painted a painful yet sadly realistic portrait of what a heartbreaking future might look like if pocket worlds really existed.
The concept of pocket worlds was also well developed, the author clearly gave a lot of thought about what she could do with her concept and threw a lot at us, and, well, at Raquel and her other characters of course.
Raquel herself was far from perfect, but her role and thoughts really evolved with the book in a satisfying way and made her feel real and human. I liked the archaeology lens and felt worked really well for this story.
I wished the other characters like Marlena were more developed as well, and that the pacing at the beginning would be a bit slower - I guess I'd have liked this book to be longer even though I enjoyed the ability of the author to go to the point.
The ending was beautiful and didn't leave me hopeless or sad.
I want to thank NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This sci-fi novella was definitely an original read. Time’s Agent explores the subjects of time travel, grief, colonialism, other worlds, gay marriage, capitalism, greed and the climate crisis caused by the last two.

The world building in this book is phenomenal, and the character development fantastic. The emotions the FMC goes through while missing her wife, her daughter, getting caught in a time not her own and returning to a world that has completely changed, were so raw and so vivid, you feel them as she’s experiencing them.

For such a short book, there was a lot packed into it. Entertaining, emotional and thought provoking, this was a really good read. I would totally recommend for any sci-fi fans out there.

Thank you to TOR Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought parts of this books were really confusing. There were a lot of ideas here that I wish were better fleshed out in a longer book.

There was a lot of potential here, but I feel like the author tried to address too many different topics in such a short book. I think the worldbuilding (or timebuilding) was kinda confusing due to this. I see the vision and if fleshed out into about 100 more pages it would have really worked.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC via NetGalley.

This was a story full of twists and turns. With each revelation, I became more invested and ended up reading most of the book in one sitting. Peynado does an excellent job exploring the consequences of her characters actions in a way that will leave me thinking for quite some time. Highly recommend and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Brenda Peynado’s debut novel Time’s Agent is as explosive a debut as they get. Centered around a sapphic academic couple studying pocket worlds with varying degrees of time dilation and contraction, this novel is a critique of capitalism and colonialism, examining in a microscopic view the pain they can inflict on families.

This novel follows Raquel and her wife Marlena as they are transported via a pocket world 40 years into the future, where capitalism has reached a horrific stagnant place. The horrors of exploitation are amplified through pocket world technology, a horror Peynado doesn’t shy from within the narrative. Raquel’s ties to her present and her ancestry are uprooted as she is moved to a new time with no way of going back.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. In such a short amount of pages, Peynado packs a poignant, emotional punch and I adored every second of it. It’s perfect for anyone who prefers work on the more speculative end of science fiction. The examination of capitalism, colonialism, and queer family is blended brilliantly into a heart punch story that will stick with you for days afterwards. I highly recommend it.

The novella packs a lot of punch for something of such a compact sized! It did so much heavy lifting both in worldbuilding and in character work, I gulped it down in one evening and feel absolutely convinced to keep my eyes open for anything Peynado might publish in the future!

This was such a fascinating read! This book follows a researcher in the future working for an institution that investigates “pocket worlds”, aka parallel worlds that are connected to the present world. This story plays with theories of time and universes, while still uncovering human relationships, dealing with grief, and capitalistic societies. As a scientist myself, it was so interesting to put myself in the shoes of a researcher in the future navigating these discoveries and situations. I really enjoyed this quick read! Great representation of a wlw relationship without tokenizing the characters, & I appreciated the inclusion of an older main character. Very thought-provoking story. Well done.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this book of science fiction that deals with other worlds, and the families that are changed when we always look for something that might be so close.

Humans have a problem with just being satisfied. Nothing is ever just ok. Relationships need to keep that fire, jobs have to inspire, technology has to keep changing, adding things, while not really getting better. The family crest of the fictional spy James Bond is "The World is Not Enough", and it is true for many of us. In this way great things are made, new things discovered, new art to give hope to people. Some of this comes down to greed. New thing, new money. New ways for government to control. New ways for human prejudices to come forward, and bring the new down to the regular old world. Curiosity according to the myth of Pandora, gave us all the evils in the world. However there was also hope, which is what the character in Time's Agent, a novella by Brenda Peynado, holds on to. Even as all the worlds start to fall apart.

Raquel is an archeologist on the greatest set of finds ever. Exploring the secrets of other worlds. Called pocket worlds these are small universes that have a different set of rules in time, space, even what lives there. One could go to a pocket world, return and find years have passed. Or return to find no time has been lost at all. These pocket worlds explain many of the weird instances of people disappearing, lone travellers, judges walking home, entire armies. Once the science to enter these worlds was opened an Institute was formed to explore them. And Raquel and her wife Marlena were happy to explore them. Until the day everything went wrong and Raquel found herself in a future where everything had changed. Friends, family and co-workers were dead, including Raquel's daughter. Society had changed and giant corporations were using pocket worlds to create their good and services, leaving a path of destruction. Raquel is alone, Marlena not wanting to join her living in a pocket world that Raquel wears around her neck. Raquel has an idea, a plan that might make everything right, or make things even worse, if possible.

Recently I have been on quite a novella kick, and I can not get over how good many of this books are. This might be one of the best. The ideas, the science, the use of the past, Raquel's heritage as a descendent of the Tanio people, and the fact that corporations will do anything of a penny. For a small book all these ideas are presented and are quite important to the story. As is the love of Raquel for her family. The writing is really quite good, much more literary than I expected, and mixed with the science of pocket worlds makes for some great sentences. Raquel seems like someone I would know, someone who can't stop thinking about mistakes, who can't get over what she has done, nor get over her lost. Raquel seemed very real. Everything she does is because of her guilt. The story is quite good, as is the world building. I really can't get over that this is just a novella. There really is a tremendous amount going on.

There is lots to like here. The science, the comments on society, and the fact that humans still can't get over themselves. A very smart science fiction story that asks a lot of questions. I've not read anything else by Brenda Peynado, but plan to do so soon.