Review: Good but not great
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2013
CONS- There were a few typos and grammer errors in this book- The characters were rather flat- The writing simplistic- In the first story about Lincoln the author kept switching back and forth in every other sentence between using a character's first name and then last name. The first president of the club, Prescott Stevens is first referred to as Prescott then Stevens then Prescott then Stevens. I had to back track to make sure it was just one character talking and that I didn't somehow miss the introduction of another character.PROSEven given the flaws listed above I still enjoyed the book- I enjoyed the premise of the story- The book got me interested in looking up the historical characters. I wanted to see their pictures and read a little bit about them.- The book helped me link historical dates with other people of the same time period and other events going on within the same general time period.I would have loved the stories to give a little more information about what it was really like to live in that time. There was a lot of talk about horse manure and gaslighting but not too much else that would have painted a more distinct picture. Although I did enjoy the descrioption of the train travel. Would have loved the characters to be a bit more defined.Biggest question I have of the book is why the people from the future don't wear some type of air filter when they come to 2012. If they are smart enough to have cleaned up the air and water so well you would think they could have invented an air filter or some other breathing device. The author really didn't even try to answer that question for the reader.Given that these are short stories that were quick to read and entertaining I can overlook some of the flaws and unanswered questions. So that's why I gave it only three stars, its good but not great.I probably will buy at least one of the other books but could possibly see myself getting tired of the simplistic writing.If you like time travel I highly recommend "The Mirror" My Marlys Millhiser. Now that book gives lots of detail about what it was really like to live in a different time period and its a full fledged book, not a short story. I reread that book every few years and enjoy it as much as I did the first time I read it.I also highly recommend Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. This is a series of several lengthy books. A captivating story, such wonderfully detailed characters and and great detail about living in another time.