Pros
- Queen Loopi-goah presents a refreshing change of pace for the story
- Some fun adventures through time provide some suspense and sense of adventure
Cons
- The protagonist’s challenge feels like a challenge any other time traveler would eventually encounter
- The real antagonist in the story is Ryan himself, or at least his stubbornness
Ryan’s Enigma Review
Ryan’s Enigma by Craig Robertson introduces yet more complications into Jon Ryan’s foolish attempt to fix the timeline.
Every science fiction enthusiast knows the consequences of messing with time. H. G. Wells illustrated the futility in his novel The Time Machine, and countless stories, shows, and movies have since repeated his warning.
And that’s not because having a good ending makes for a short and otherwise boring story.
This third book in the The Timeless Void finds the persistent Ryan still attempting to remediate a timeline that everyone around him, the multiverse, and perhaps even time itself have been shouting can’t be done. Regardless, Ryan stubbornly presses on and the consequences are unsurprisingly severe.
One unwritten rule that Ryan does seem to adhere to is avoiding his past selves. Popularized by shows like Dr. Who, not interacting with your past self makes for a good story mechanism because it enables time-traveling protagonists to struggle.
Time travel stories do tend to follow a similar pattern where authors explore the seemingly limitless trajectories their stories can take. Ryan’s journeys across time and potential is no different from other time travelers in that regard. All adventures ultimately lead to moments of self realization and personal growth. Jon Ryan’s realization occurs near the end of the story when he’s forced to confront a truth that those around him, and perhaps his fans, have already known.
Though time travel leads to expected paradoxes, Ryan’a situation and the possibilities still remain engaging. After all, who hasn’t ever wondered about asking that one person out or even winning the lottery? That’s one of the largest appeals of time travel, though most travelers end up trying to fix their bungles like Marty in Back to the Future.
Yet even this truth will not likely deter him from his singleminded quest to right the timeline, and we’re all thankful for this stubbornness and persistence.
Ryan’s Enigma by Craig Robertson thrusts the protagonist into an even more complicated mess and leaves readers in suspense and anticipation as they wonder at how Ryan can untangle the knots in time that he has created.
Read reviews of other great science fiction adventures below.
