Pros
- Jon Ryan meets an interesting character and revisits some old friends from previous story arcs
- Ryan finds himself stuck in an interesting conundrum that challenges him more than any other obstacle
Cons
- Fairly anticlimactic ending with the main antagonist, Queen Loopi-goah
- Supporting characters don’t seem to play much of a role in this story
Ryan’s Undoing Review
Ryan’s Undoing by Craig Robertson perhaps illustrates best in the series the magnitude of Jon Ryan’s screwup in his attempt to repair the timeline, leaving readers without much clue as to how he will repair what he has broken short of asking Time itself.
The previous books in The Timeless Void series only hint at how bad the universe could possibly get with Ryan’s machinations, but this fourth book reveals just how bad things could get when people, or in this case, immortals like Ryan, mess with time. Like a small crack in a dam that eventually spreads, Ryan’s attempt to fix one crack only leads to more serious problems.
Ryan is thrown a safety line when he learns that his time manipulator, Plesmus, has the ability to take a glimpse into a possible future. Upon learning this, Ryan immediately throws himself into a few potential solutions which end up with the same or worse outcomes.
That is until he stumbles upon a solution that Plesmus’ vision is unable to conclude, leading Ryan to desperately believe and grasp at. Of course, being cut off from the conclusion because of Plesmus’ glimpse ability is not the same as having an ambiguous conclusion. Regardless, Ryan chooses the optimist’s path, and the outcomes are anything but.
The first red flag should have been the presence of Ryan’s eternal tormentor and she-who-lives-in-his-mind-rent-free, his ex-wife Gloria’s sudden appearance in his time ship. Other red flags include the disappearance of his crew, the warping of time, and toward the end of the book, the appearance of a character that may surprise many readers of science fiction—and not his fairy godmother.
While Sapale and Sachiko, along with the ships, are part of the series, they feel a bit distant and isolated from Ryan. They have their own struggles to deal with, making this book more focused on Ryan and his own adventure rather than the adventures of Ryan and his crew.
The mess Ryan finds himself in leads him to visit an old friend from a previous series in the Citadel, and although brief, the visit is a fun reminder of a previous adventure that was also fun for readers.
One anticlimactic conclusion is the ending for the vengeful Queen Loopi-goah, whose vindictive and cruel personality plagued Ryan throughout these four books in the series. Despite her relentless chasing of Ryan, her conclusion felt a bit weak even if it was a relief.
Ryan’s Undoing by Craig Robertson is a book of advice on how the universe can go wrong when one attempts to fiddle with time. People who like to tinker know all too well the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” that has existed since the universe gave birth to the first sentient beings.
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