Book Review: Seven Rules of Time Travel by Roy Huff

I am a huge fan of time travel tales. And of conspiracy stories. And of history/historical fiction. I find the possibilities of infinite worlds of “do-overs” to be a marvelous construct for setting up a story, offering as they do the melding of all these things through a lens of science and magical realism. The result is a whole that feels just this side of possible and highly entertaining…

In his new novel Seven Rules of Time Travel (a follow-up book, The Trouble with Time Travel, is slated for Summer 2021), Roy Huff has set up a world/set of worlds that offer just such a melding. His protagonist, Quinn Black, is an Everyman who finds himself stuck in a loop he can’t explain or understand – until suddenly one day he realizes that he has the ability to travel through time. The initial setup makes the reader feel every bit of the frustration Black does, as he lives the same tragedies over and over again – it’s a strong way to set the stage for what is to come, and offered a solid grounding in Black’s mindset and personality.

As you’d expect, things get complicated quickly as Black meanders back and forth through time. He wants to make the world a better place and prevent what he knows are some truly dark days for the world, but the difficulties he encounters (in the form of people and events that overtake themselves) lead him into some engaging considerations of free will, destiny, and obligation that were fascinating to read. There are, of course, Forces Arrayed Against Him throughout all of this, and they layer a nice element of action-adventure on top of the underlying tale. Pair these with a wonderful supporting cast whose interactions with him across timelines make for some complicated relationships, and the result is an engaging tale that I quite enjoyed.

Thanks to the author for his provision of an obligation-free review copy.