First things first:

I listened to the audiobook and I do like Kate Rudd's voice even if I don't think she can really do good accents or male voices. I mostly adapted to her style and it worked for the story. I don't know if I'd seek for more books she's narrated—probably not—but I wouldn't skip on a book because she's voiced it either.

Then the story:

I actually had to pause and restart this audiobook because I felt like I was missing something important at the beginning. It turns out this really wasn't the case as Walker uses ample time to set up the world and story simply because time travel as a concept is just that confusing. Others have called this a pacing issue and info dumping, but I can't say I noticed as I was listening to the audiobook.

I did, however, notice how the author introduced new characters who became super important to the protagonist in a blink of an eye, even if I didn't label and file it under "characters too stupid to live" until later.

Other things that did bother me, were the main character and first person voice narrator calling a character "Pudgy" long after she'd learned his name. This fat-phobia resurfaced when Kate's—the time travelling protagonist—boyfriend took her home for dinner and she made a comment about how thin Trey is despite all the food his family's Guatemalan housekeeper keeps pushing at him and everyone at the table.

Speaking of secondary POC characters. I completely missed Charlayne's (African American, thankfully the author tweeted me and set me right *wipes forehead & flicks fingers*) description, but then again she only featured in a handful of scenes. She's supposed to be Kate's best friend and motivate her to keep time jumping, but it's not like she has her own personality on the page. You could even call her the token black character and you'd be right.

Other than a vague feeling of something not being quite right and the use of words "blood as pure as mine" when Kate's talking about her time travelling gene, I can't really pinpoint my problem with race in this book. An expert—which is to say a non white person—could tell you more.

There's a love triangle in this book and series.

If you need to know more, keep reading.

One of the love interests is another time jumper from an earlier time who is supposed to be a villain to some but is quite obviously helping Kate in her quest to correct the time shifts. Thing is, I couldn't care less about Kiernan Dunne and he's obviously supposed to be the one who ends up with Kate. Kiernan is from the past and in love with another version of Kate from another timeline, but when has that stopped a creative author?

I did however like Trey, one of the insta-love contenders of the year and a contemporary guy from one of Kate's changed timelines. Unlike with Kiernan, Walker actually shows how Trey and Kate grow closer and could be good together. And I figured he'd be the one she'd have to sacrifice to fix things, which made me like him all the more right up until the point where he insisted that all she had to do was to smile at him for him to fall in love with her again. It wouldn't matter what she'd say.

And I just can't with that. Neither can I with the fact that Kate's supposedly ready to have sex with Trey just after she's been threatened with rape. I was expecting that particular discussion to happen but I'd hoped the mere threat to her life would've sufficed to prompt it. After all, they might never see each other again after Kate's next time jump.

As for the big bad, I liked that it was basically a family feud combined with religion. It gave me ideas and hopes, which I do not trust the author to fulfill or win me over with her own interpretation.

I just wasn't sure about that until the author tweeted me.

It's when you can't stop listening because the voice in your ears is ah-mah-zing and talented, but if you slow to think about what that heavenly voice is whispering you lose your wits.

That.

The writing isn't worth stepping on in a farm yard, but the narrator is brilliant and I can't understand why he hasn't read more books and books I actually want to read.

Might rant about this later.

Short version:

LGBTQ representation nightmare to the power of three.

Admittedly, mine cuppeth hast been overflowing on the first part from very early on this series—and trilogy—nor am I qualified to analyse all the ways Hobb fails in writing about the tattooed slaves, so this is going to be a short review. Again.

This trilogy has all the melodrama and angsty plot twists I usually love in my reading, but execution matters. Boy, does it matter.

Hobb touches on serious matters and then promptly glosses over the aftermath. Instead of confronting their issues, her characters—and the author—like to take the easy way out and act as if the briefest acknowledgement of their issues is a victory worthy of an Olympic medal, or a HEA.

The only reason I kept reading and will keep reading Hobb is Amber. She's on a ship that sails no matter what. If you know what I mean. *wink wink nudge nudge*

I think they had it right the first time. The only literature value I found in this book was purely on the meta-level in its contemporary description of just how much the 1950s sucked. And I mean sucked hard.

Death makes a classic, I guess. 

[Title quote source: Kirk, Connie Ann. (2004). Sylvia Plath: A Biography. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33214-2.]

I can't even. That's all I have at this point. Did I mention that I started shipping Mat and Birgitta? No? Oh, well. That's just another reason why this isn't working for me and will not. The horrible writing being the first.

Damn me for being a plot girl.