The Mindtraveler by Bonnie Rozanski

The Mindtraveler
by Bonnie Rozanski
Rating: 3 of 5 stars


My Review:
This is one of those books that's hard to rate, more so from the expectations than the actual content. As a romance, this book gets one star. It does not fit the loosest definition of a romance, being there's no happy ending, happy for now, or anything related to that. Even slightly more picky: the male character in the book is not likeable, the female character is interesting but not necessarily likeable either and their relationship is almost unimportant. I didn't feel emotionally invested in whether or not Margaret ended up with her boyfriend. It was simply a side note in the rest of the story.


Margaret is an interesting character. Her motive seems to be more “proving to the world that I can do this”, than looking for a second chance at love. She's angry, bitter, and wants recognition and fame. Living her 35 year old life a second time does give her some perspective and desire to avoid mistakes, but I was sad that she seemed so helpless most of the time. The world affects her, including her past self, and it felt like she took a free pass to be bitter, angry, and powerless. She had one moment to shine, but then external forces took control again and she's right back where she started from.


I found the timeline jumping a little unclear sometimes. Sixty years old Margaret seems to be the age reflecting and making note of the story, but when 32 gets thrown in, it's no longer clear that no conscious mind is currently in that time period. Jumping between 32 and 60-in-35yo-body was difficult to separate and determine what part of the story is a reflection and what part is happening in some form of now.


My biggest quandary after reading this book is, can a past-you make a change in the past that affects current “you” and you have no memory of it happening. I haven't figured out the mechanics of how that would work. If everyone around you “lived” for 25 years but because of a decision past-you made 25 years ago, your life is irrevocably different now than the 25 years current-you actually lived. It was interesting theory for the story and tied in with the feeling I had that Margaret stopped living 25 years ago and just coasted all that time, but I can't work out if there's any theoretical way that it would work as shown in the book. They talk about two different paradoxes in the story, but I felt like the story nearly ignored them when it got to the actual time travel logistics.



Was the book interesting? Yes. I never thought about not finishing it. It was an enthralling and well written book. With a science background, but no time to look up every piece of information, I found the theories well researched and interesting. It was laid out in a manner that wasn't confusing, even for someone that doesn't know much about the specifics of quantum physics. As simply a fiction/sci fi novel, I'd give the story four stars. But I can't recommend it if you're looking for a romance.