The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

"Do you remember when we had the vote?" In a world that's just a step away from our own, time travel is possible. But war is brewing - a secret group is trying to destroy women's rights, and their access to the timeline. If they succeed, only a small elite will have the power to shape the past, present, and future. Our only hope lies with an unlikely group of allies, from riot grrls to suffragettes, their lives separated by centuries, battling for a world where anyone can change the future. A final confrontation is coming. The Future of Another Timeline is a breathtakingly original novel from Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9, about the lengths we'll go to make history. 'A revolution is happening in speculative fiction, and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard' Wil Wheaton, actor Star Trek and Big Bang Theory 'Clever, compelling and utterly original' Laurie Penny "Smart and profound on every level, this is a deeply satisfying novel' Publishers Weekly, STARRED review 'A glorious tale of hope in the face of outrage, an anthem of timeless resistance against the powers that would lead us to our worst futures' Ken Liu 'A page-turner and an ambitious feminist lens on the time-traveler story' Kelly Sue DeConnick, screenwriter for Captain Marvel 'Exciting and urgent in the here and now' Saladin Ahmed 'Secret history becomes a thrilling secret war' Nicola Griffith

Time travel, feminism, 90's riot grrl punk rock scene, murder, abortion rights, geology, wormholes. Yes, all this together to form an exciting story of people wanting to make the world a better place.
Lots of imagination and interesting historic facts that creates various alternate histories realities. A great read with lots of historical references related to the 1800's social movements! I had to stop and do some Wikipedia research here and there. Fascinating!

There were some really cool things in this book... I really liked the concept of the machines and using geology. As good sci-fi does, it also was a startling look at our culture from a perspective that shows just how fragile some of the things we take for granted can be. I listened to the audio book for this on Audible and I did not care for the narrator (Laura Nichol), but the addition of music in the audio book was awesome.

MATURE THEMES: Rape, Sexual Assault, Description of Abortion

That being said... I really enjoy the time-travel aspect of the book. Imagine if Marty McFly kept coming in and out of reality every time an edit happens, and only the people around the edit can remember the way it was or could have been. The secondary characters are interesting and you wonder what happens to them as each edit gets closer to the final goal. As someone who believes abortion hurts women it was difficult to see abortion so glorified. There are many other things that I think help support women in situations of unplanned pregnancy. Please, don't call me a Comstocker as again, I enjoyed the story, loved how the time travel was used, and empathized with the characters.

I considered giving this book one star, because I really hated it, but I decided to be generous and give it two for a few reasons:

For one, I think there are some genuinely cool ideas here (executed terribly, but I'll get to that,) The book was clearly well-researched; I learned a few things from the research notes at the end. It's the most modern sci-fi I've read, and it plays on very genuine fears that myself and many other women in our country are feeling right now. I also liked that the characters are diverse.

However, that diversity of the cast felt like a checklist for every kind of marginalized identity (i.e., not white males). The time-travel details make absolutely no logical sense. The sub-plot takes a dark turn early on, but instead of that being shocking and fresh, it's essentially the premise of A Promising Young Woman. No character inspires any kind of empathy; not one of them is believable. Expositional dialogue is rampant and a weak vehicle for a blatant (if not bludgeoning) message. There is no subtlety whatsoever. And it's super polarizing; while I don't think all books should be for all people, this book is REALLY not for some pretty sweeping demographics. Also, there's a completely gratuitous masturbation party that takes up far too many (uncomfortable, forced, and very weird) pages.

I'm totally pro-women's rights to reproductive health. 1000%. And if the writing and plot were well-developed, this could have been a fascinating, empowering book. But as it is, that's just not the case. I don't recommend it (unless, like me, you're reading it for book club).