Review: Not as involved or good as the others in the series
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2014
I've ready the previous 5 books in this series and really enjoyed it, however this book fell flat.  First off like many people have noted, there are many many typos and errors. Women used instead of woman, general errors. Lots of them.  One continuity error in particular at loc 1027 has Bill Scott picking out a Gray suit jacket, slacks and maroon bow tie for his evening dinner and tells Matt he's going to proof the newspaper before dinner. Bill then finishes the paper and takes a nap and asks Matt to wake him up at 7:30. Just 2 pages after the first description of the gray suit and at 7:30 pm Bill is now in his closet and picking out 'one of his favorite outfits a black suit with fine white stripes etc etc and black cravat" for dinner at 7:30 Loc 1062.  I was like huh? Wait.. he already picked out that evening's dress clothes which were greatly described..and now he did it again? The author messed up that bit of continuity.Loc 1514 has Matt being decked out in a long coat, hat, gloves, boots all made out of synthetic fur as he prepares to head to 1847.  Pages later he is in the Old West trading in his long coat for.. fur clothes. ? ?? Loc 1696 " I suggest you trade that in and I'll set you up in a greatcoat that'll keep you warm...and some high fur boots, gloves and a beaver hat."  He already had fur boots and clothes. Didn't make sense..another continuity error.As for the stories themselves.. well....  Titanic. First off Ed the husband just lets his wife go off to the Titanic with 1 days notice and Debby goes. Knowing how one of the greatest catastrophes of all time ends and manifests itself would take more than 1 day to plan such an endeavor. You'd have to know that ship inside and out before taking on such an adventure.  Know some of the shipmates, study decks, main rooms etc. So MANY things can go wrong on that ship at that time that not having a detailed plan didn't make sense. It all seemed very reckless.  Now Debby is on the doomed ship and I felt there were no real descriptions of what was going on. The story fell flat, was undescriptive, seemed way too easy for Debby. I did like the part where the author has Debby feeling very emotional as she realizes there is going to be much loss of life. That seemed very realistic and candid of his character. However, so much more could have and should have gone into the story.  Maybe because so much has been written about this great ship in the past that I was expecting quite a bit more from this trip in history.Another issue: Debby has Josephine get undressed and rub herself in lard.  Josephine refuses at first, Debby says DO IT and she does. It just made no sense without Debby explaining why. Who in their right mind would give into a stranger who says - get naked and rub lard on your body with no description. LOL! Kind of funny.  Then getting the poor girl ripped roaring drunk and having her jump in the water - doesn't seem like a good idea. You need your wits about you when you are jumping into 20 degree water and literally swimming for your life.So many things just fell flat with that story that it's the first Time Travel adventure I found truly disappointing. Much more should have been written about that trip.The Gold Rush trip had one big issue for me that didn't ring true. Nick busts Kai out of jail and then disappears from town with him. Yet, he goes back into town for more supplies even though the white man asks him - "aren't you afraid they might hang ya for freeing my friend" Nick replies that only one person knows about it. My way of thinking was - if one Indian was busted out, the townspeople would be screaming for blood and then in walks another Indian again (Matt)- a stranger in town.. chances are he would have been attacked ... just because they were out for blood. I thought that was reckless and made zippo sense.  Also Nick is from Manhattan yet feels completely at ease to take 3 horses and set out for the midwest on some 3 month trip? Who in their right mind would undertake such a trip with 1 days notice. Another no sense item.  Sometimes these trips seem WAY too easy and convenient.All in all this book wasn't as well thought out as the previous books.  The Titanic had so much potential for a fully involved story but took a major shortcut out. Gold Rush wasn't that 'believable'.  I bought the other few books and I'm sure those will be better than this one. Admittedly tackling a time travel Titanic topic in a short story setting as this really means much would have to be left out. Maybe the author wants to revisit this and make a full novel out of - I bet that would be great! I think he has a very good outline to go with using his Debby character.