Rewinder

De: Brett Battles

Narrado por: Vikas Adam

You will never read Denny Younger's name in any history book, will never know what he's done. But even if you did, you'd never believe it. The world as you know it wouldn't be the same without him. Denny was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his bleak fortunes abruptly change when the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruits him to be a Rewinder, a verifier of personal histories. The job at first sounds like it involves researching old books and records, but Denny soon learns it's far from it. A Rewinder's job is to observe history. In person. Embracing his new life with enthusiasm, Denny witnesses things he could never even imagine before. But as exciting a life as this is, there are dangers, too. For even the smallest error can have consequences. Life-altering consequences. Time, after all, is merely a reference point.

©2014 Brett Battles (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

" Rewinder has it all - plot, characters, settings, reversals, and a couple of scenes that could rank among the best in Orphan Black." - (Timothy Hallinan, author of the Poke Rafferty thrillers and the Junior Bender mysteries)

WOW!! A different type of science fiction.

I'm going to break one of own rules by spoiling some of the plot because this book is so different.

Brett Battles has written a story very different from his Jonathan Quinn series and his Project Eden series. It is about an alternate contemporary society existing in the area that now includes the United states. It is a monarchy with a strong and inflexible cast system that occurred because George Washington was killed before he could win the American Revolution. The alternate society has developed time machines that can carry designated people called Rewinders back to any time and place in the past, but cannot go into the future. Denny Younger, a recently trained Rewinder, goes back to the time and place of Washington's murder and changes events so that Washington lives. This throws Denny into the modern United States which he finds he likes. He is then faced with a decision on whether to undo the change he made causing the modern US to no longer exist or leave the change in place which means the society where he grew up would no longer exist. Other Rewinders are trying to undo the change he made in history.

Destroyer, the second book in the Rewinder series will be released on Jan. 12, 2016.

Science fiction is not now my genre of choice, but it was in my younger years. I've read a lot of Asimov, Heinlein, Card, and others and I still occasionally read some of Sarah Hoyt and Orson Scott Card. Rewinder is different!

Almost all of Brett Battles' other books have been narrated by either Scott Brick or McLeod Andrews, but he chose to go with Vikas Adam for the Rewinder series. Vikas Adam is certainly an excellent and very experienced narrator of science fiction audiobooks, so his selection is easily understandable.

I'm not sure of Battles' intended audience for the Rewinder series, but it would likely appeal most strongly to young teens (the same audience that appreciates Orson Scott Card's Ender's series and Robert Heinlein's Juveniles series).

Battles has already shown his willingness to expand beyond his hugely successful thriller series with the children's book Here Comes Mr. Trouble (not available as an audiobook) and his standalone novels The Pull of Gravity (Kindle only) and No Return. Now he is also writing science fiction. I admire his expansion into different genres, but I do hope he will continue to release a new Jonathan Quinn book annually.

Time travel, alternate history and a nest of parad

The rewinders are a group of scholars who go back in time to verify the lineage of the 21st Century British aristocracy who pay for the service. In this reality, the American Revolution never occurred and all is British and bleak. The rewinders must only observe the past and never risk changing anything. Obviously, that’s what happens.

Rewinder is a generally good twist on the much used themes of alternate history and time travel. The historical references and detail ring true and give the story weight. Within the time travel elements, there are plenty of paradoxes and self-duplications. Battles just explains them away as that’s just what happens when you time travel and they don’t matter. It does make you think about the difficulty of it all, that even a small change could affect everything.

The story is written in the first person, present tense, so you are inside the main character’s head the whole time. This can get claustrophobic at times. Other times it gets tedious, as he enters our time and explains what we call phones and cars. Uh, we know what a car is.

Narration by Vicas Adams, who does an adequate job. His voice has a specific tone and quality that took this listener some getting used to. It is recommended that you listen to the audio sample and decide if this is a deal breaker. The production quality is excellent and he is certainly a professional.

Rewinder is not ground breaking, but is a pleasant listen. At about the length of a cross country plane flight and back, it is easy to stay with it.

Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.

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Clever, Intriguing exciting and just plain fun!

Would you consider the audio edition of Rewinder to be better than the print version?

The audible versions seem to have more character if the reader is good like this one.I have read numbers of Brett's books and believe he is born to write clever, believable, exciting, suspenseful books you hate to have end.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rewinder?

Rewinder had several special occasions. First when Denny first learned he was chosen to become a rewinder. The next is the conflict he had with himself over Iffy. Another was the turmoil of should I or shouldn't I "fix" the error in time. Last was when he fought with his nemesis Lydia near the end and won sending her off to???.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Denny realized Iffy had become his "companion" and how that brought them together

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

What time is it?

Any additional comments?

Great read by a great author and reader.Hurry up Brett with the next Rewinder!

pleasantly surprised, first book by this author

saw this book in the "recommended" section and decided to take a chance. I guess now I'm going to have to get more of his books. this one kept my attention, was entertaining and didn't lose me with too many details.

Enjoyed history undone and reclaimed

I'm not a fan of science fiction, but the story description intrigued me. I found the story equally intriguing. The alternate history of earth was interesting, and the history of our earth and how it ties in with the alternate history made me chuckle. Though I knew how I hoped it would end, I didn't know how it would get there. I love it when a villain gets his or her comeuppance. Enjoyed the story very much.

The narrator was good except with women's voices, which all sounded the same to me. Other than being occasionally irritating, it didn't detract from the story for me.