Quantum Time

Quantum Series, Book 3

By: Douglas Phillips

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

Everyone knew time travel was impossible. Then reality intruded. 

A dying man stumbles into a police station and collapses. In his fist is a mysterious coin with strange markings. He tells the police he's from the future, and when they uncover the coin's hidden message, they're inclined to believe him. 

Daniel Rice never asked for fame, but his key role in Earth's first contact with an alien civilization thrust him into a social arena where any crackpot might take aim. When the FBI arrives at his door and predictions of the future start coming true, Daniel is dragged into a mission to save the world from nuclear holocaust. To succeed, he'll need to exploit cobbled-together alien technology to peer into a world 30 years beyond his own. 

The third book of the Quantum series goes far beyond extra dimensions of space to expose the curious paradoxes of time in a wild ride along the edges of scientific knowledge.

©2019 Douglas Phillips (P)2019 Tantor

I had high expectations and was disappointed.

I absolutely loved the first 2 books (and the prequel) in this series! Smart, fun, and imaginative with likable characters and creative ideas. I considered it great "hard" science fiction and I learned from the books as well. Mr. Phillips is a good writer and writes good dialogue for his characters, which is important to me as I hate stilted dialogue. So, I eagerly anticipated the release of Quantum Time and downloaded my Audible copy the first day it was available.

First, what I did like:
1. The writing remains pretty good.
2. Some of the ideas about time were very interesting.
3. The narration performance was good.
4. It was entertaining enough that I don't regret buying it.

So, why was I disappointed?
1. The story focused heavily on Daniel Rice, who I liked as a character, though by the end of the book I liked Daniel less. But, I missed Marie and I missed Nala as she used to be. Both Nala and Marie have been great strong female characters and there was none of that in this book.
2. For example, the Nala in this book was dumbed down considerably. She had no need to be a brilliant physicist at all. Her main role in this book was that of an assertively sexual woman and we only saw her in reference to her relationship to Daniel.
3. There was a definite shift away from science and toward sociological concepts including religious cults and sexual mores. B-O-R-I-N-G!

SPOILER ALERTS.........................
4. In line with both points 2 and 3 above, Daniel cheats on Nala with essentially a "call girl" (Nala's words) and Nala acts like it is no big deal. That, my friends, is cheap and pathetic. There was no need for that element in the story at all. It served no purpose in the plot other than Daniel acting out some kind of male fantasy with no regard for the women involved. Bleh.
5. Also another female character, Chloe, is sexually assaulted by a scientist and Daniel says it is disturbing to him but absolutely NOTHING comes of it other than Daniel's inner monologue that he felt icky about witnessing it. No attempt is made to inform the woman that she was assaulted without her knowledge and there are ZERO consequences for the perpetrator. His ass should have been fired. They just go on as though nothing happened aside from Chloe getting some revenge.
6. The "science" in Quantum Time seemed far less developed than in the other books in this series, which was disappointing. Less sex and more science please!
7. One of the plot points (yellow sashes) was kind of derivative and reminded me a lot of The Handmaid's Tale...which seems weird, no?
8. The whole future society with Father was kinda hackneyed. The characters in the future setting were very stereotypical and one dimensional (the men were all evil lechers, the religious people had strong southern drawls and were hypocrites, etc.). Again, BORING.

I will buy the next book from Douglas Phillips, but I hope he returns to his previous form.

The best of the three

The first book hooked me in but the second made me uncertain about continuing. I’m so glad that I did. This was the best one. I think partly because I enjoy a little more suspense / mystery. A little more of a problem. Both of which this book had. Great ideas that also made me think more.

Juvenile, one dimensional characters.

I enjoyed the first two books in the series, but this is the first one I listened to instead of reading. Not sure if that made a difference, but there were times I was listening and literally groaned out loud at how naive/lame/simple some of the characters sounded. I love sci-fi and time travel genres among others and can tell the author loves many of the same favorites (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Back to the Future, 1984, Childhood's End). This unfortunately needs more character development.

GREAT STORY/GOOD SCOEMTOFOC S[ECI;ATOPM

I HAVE BEEN following thes characters throughout the last weveral weeks and I feel as though they are good friends. Delighted to share their adventures and their romace. Truly a creative masterpiece.

wonderful story

I truly enjoyed reading this book. The author is amazingly clever. I constantly try to anticipate where the story is going but the twists and turns go beyond my imagination.

not as good as quantum

although this one was not as good as quantum space, it was so much better than quantum void. I love the idea of jumping forward in time by leaving a marker like a GPS marker and then being able to go back in time to where you started from. I don't understand all the science or even most of the sites that's presented at this book but I find it intriguing and entertaining.

Best one yet

Actually enjoyed this one more than the previous in the series. Also much prefer narration in a male voice.

Loved it

Great book. Fun! True Sifi. I love time travel stories. Great writing. I want more!

cringeworthy at best

I enjoyed the first two novels in the series very much. For this one add a large dose of politically correct characters and villains, execute without imagination and add tedious, cringeworthy sex scenes and I couldn't make it past an hour and a half. Alas, this one gets tossed.

not bad. same people, unrelated plot. Action

I liked this book, which I read 4/2020 while "sheltering at home". Decent comfort food. probly will re-read the series, but no rush

great book and as expected

mind and time bendong i would say and expected nothing less. however, i think the first 2 books were relatively much netter believable. however., the very last chapter delivers a science lesson and paradox with absolute clinical climax