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The best time travel novels
Venture back in time with these gripping novels that span the ages.
Diterbitkan pada Rabu, 10 Mei 2023
Doomsday Book
Connie WillisIf you’re interested in a series that lays a rational and coherent foundation for time travel rules, look no further than Willis’ “Oxford Time Travel” series. In the Hugo Award-winning first installment, historians don’t just study the past. They use a time traveling device that allows them to directly view the past. However, they can’t visit any time in which they could cause major changes to history. Kivrin, an Oxford history student, travels back to the Middle Ages — only to get stranded in the middle of the Black Plague.
Kindred
Octavia E. ButlerA treasure from the godmother of science fiction. A young Black woman travels back and forth in time between 1970s California and a pre-Civil War plantation in a story that’s foundational for feminist, sci-fi/fantasy, and Afrofuturism works.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Charles YuIf you have a passion for quantum physics and the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once” then we have the perfect meta, postmodern science fiction book for you. Every sci-fi trope receives a hilarious spin in this existential crisis of a novel in which a time travel technician has been looking for his long-lost father.
Replay
Ken GrimwoodTechnically, this one is less about time travel and more about time-looping, but you won’t regret reading what NPR declared a “must read” even ten years after the novel’s release. Jeff is living a “Groundhog Day”-esque life: At the age of 43, he dies and wakes up 25 years younger only to live out the rest of his years until he dies again at 43. The cycle repeats, allowing him to live out multiple lives, repair past mistakes, and choose a new path each time.
An Ocean of Minutes: A Novel
Thea LimLim balances science fiction and romance in this expertly crafted story about star-crossed lovers separated by space and time. After a deadly pandemic sweeps across the country, Polly agrees to work for a time travel company if they’ll pay for the critical treatment Frank needs to survive. Something goes wrong, however, and she ends up an extra five years into the future than planned. With no resources or idea of where Frank is, Polly must fight to reunite with Frank and survive a future that’s dramatically different from the past she left behind.
Outlander
Diana GabaldonIt’s hard to categorize this genre-bending, time traveling historical romantic adventure, but one description is undeniable: It’s a total page-turner. You may have heard tell of the steamy sex; and while yes, there is sex — and it is steamy — it’s hardly the whole story. The love Jamie and Claire share is truly epic, worthy of the centuries and continents the story spans to tell of it.
This Is How You Lose The Time War
Amal El-MohtarThis Hugo Award-winning novella contains the chaos of all time and space within its beautifully short, never-ending love story. Two women, named Red and Blue, fight for opposite factions in the ceaseless time war, flowing from the past to the future, from timeline to timeline. Through a series of letters sent via tea and lava and other delightful delivery systems, Red and Blue fall for each other, and combine for some of the best purple prose around.
Here and Now and Then
Mike ChenKin Stewart travels from 2142 to 1996’s San Francisco to eliminate a target who’s threatening the balance of time and space. But Kin gets stuck in 1996 and becomes a time anomaly himself, which makes his own kin (we see what you did there, Chen) a target for elimination once he’s finally found and returned to 2142. Kin’s devotion to his daughter across the many decades that separate them is heartwarming.
The Future of Another Timeline
Annalee NewitzImagine a version of reality in which women have been stripped of their rights. (“Imagine” might not be the right word these days.) In Newitz’s queer punk time travel novel, that’s exactly what a group of male time travelers are trying to create. Tess and the Daughters of Harriet must engage in a constant battle to edit history to secure the rights of women, trans people, and non-binary people. Dual narratives between 1992 and 2022, constantly shifting timelines, and a murder subplot make for a compelling read that examines how the choices we make today impact the future — perhaps now more than ever.
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey NiffeneggerAlthough they meet when Clare is six and Henry is middle-aged, the two are only eight years apart — and destined to fall in love. Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder and regularly suffers bouts of uncontrollable time travel. He and Clare build a life together despite his disorder, but danger lurks in the future. Or is it the past? Niffenegger’s early-aughts hit inspired a 2009 movie starring Rachel McAdams and an HBO series that premiered in early 2022.
Time and Again
Jack FinneyTake a trip back to 1882 with Finney’s brilliant masterpiece that blends science fiction, romance, and mystery. In what Stephen King referred to as “the great time travel story,” Si Morley travels back nearly 100 years as part of a government program. Although his role is only to observe, he becomes more involved in the past than he intends. Si’s whirlwind adventures and Finney’s imaginative descriptions of old New York will leave you spellbound.
11/22/63: A Novel
Stephen King“11/22/63” has already been recognized as one of King’s best novels to date and was adapted into a miniseries by Hulu. King toyed with the idea of an alternate history about preventing JFK’s assassination for several decades and brought the plot to life in this gripping novel that follows a man with the power to change the course of history. At nearly 1000 pages, this is a wild ride from start to finish that will leave you wanting to know more about JFK conspiracy theories.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Novel
Toshikazu KawaguchiWho doesn’t wish they could go back in time to right old wrongs, spend time with loved ones, or gain closure? In a small, retro cafe in a back alley in Tokyo, visitors have the opportunity to do just that. However, there are rules to traveling back in time: They must sit in a certain seat, they can’t leave the cafe, and they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. In this beautifully moving and heartwarming story, Kawaguchi explores not necessarily what can be changed from revisiting the past but, rather, what can be learned?
Oona Out of Order: A Novel
Margarita MontimoreWhen midnight strikes on December 31, 1982, Oona Lockhart faints and wakes up 32 years in the future. Even stranger, it happens again, and Oona begins to leap to an unknown year in her life every midnight on New Year’s Eve, forcing her to live her life out of order. What ensues is a magical journey through decades, fads, music, and technology that brings you along for the ride.