there might be some things that give you pause.  For instance, Darth Pony pointed out that the main characters's name = Time Distort when you read it backwards, which may be a little, I don't know, twee . . . or something.  Good catch, btw.  I missed it.

 

but I loved the story.

 

it does what a good TT should do.  Sets out the possibilities, the circularities, the what ifs and the consequences, and leaves you imagining what's next.

 

As I was reading, I paused to post a couple of things; the links are here and here.

 

when I looked into what else the author has written, I found a whole series.  YaY! and guess what? The first one's free.

 

 

 

 

“We are not our past, or our future, but our present,” I say. It’s from my personal manifesto.

 

I say the words slowly so they don’t miss what’s embedded there— the concept that our identity is not found in where we were born, or what we achieved yesterday, or even what we fantasize about doing someday.

 

It’s found in what we do right now. Who we are, right now!

 

(15%)

This should be interesting.

 

I’ve projected this scenario dozens of times. Multiple iterations until I achieved the desired objective. A selected group of individuals sitting around a table, sometimes listening, sometimes questioning. I’m standing in front of a whiteboard on the wall, steering the conversation like it’s a Segway— I lean, it turns.

 

There’s something new each time, but somehow it always seems to dissolve into that moment during second grade roll call when my teacher’s eyebrows scrunched together before she looked up. “

 

Emmitt? Like the football player?”

 

“No. Emit,” I tell her. “As in, to give off light.”

 

I should have known right then. I was a smart little snot. But I had no idea what I was in for. A relentless struggle. Upstream. Like those salmon who eventually die from exhaustion. At least they achieve their goal. I gave up before middle- school. I figured I’d have enough to worry about. I was right.

 

Emit Trotsid.

 

Well played, mom. Your lethal combination of scientific nerdiness and Finnish ancestry in one name. Clever. It’s like you knew I would need to learn the value of struggle right from the beginning. You were training me. But tonight won’t be like grade school.

The opening scenes immediately grabbed me and I was excited to push on and read further. However, it didn't take long for me to disconnect from the main character, Saskia Brandt, and lose all enthusiasm for this read. The concept of digital minds is fascinating, but difficult to deliver on paper. Given the subject matter, there must be an obvious human disconnect, but still, the reader needs to engage with the human sub-characters or at the very least, sympathize. In my opinion, this was not achieved in Deja Vu. Oh, how I wish is were, because it would have been epic. To my disappointment, Deja Vu was simply another time-traveling, plot-driven, sci-fi that was conceptually cool, but from a literary standpoint, fell into the pile labelled, basic and flat. I wasn't on the edge of my seat and the special effects that needed to translate from page to my imagination, didn't happen. The pieces weren't laid out and the tools were never given to construct what I imagine the author intended. This one left little impression and I won't be reading the sequel. This book just didn't move me.