Scan barcode
revisins's review against another edition
5.0
This was a surprising read. I got the book through the SFBC. The ad copy made the book sound like a mad cap, high tension time travel story. Instead, what I read was a restrained and oblique character study. The story plays out in such a way where you doubt the already unreliable narrator. It could be a time travel story or it could be a story about mental illness. There is plenty of action and intrigue for those who need such things out of their SF stories. Stories that do this style of sleight of hand get my approval. If you can take conventions and open them up to the point where you look at the plot and wonder, “Wait, these could be any type/genre styles,” I consider it a success.
jmoses's review against another edition
3.0
I'm on two minds about this book. On one hand, the plot and setting is *really* interesting. On the other, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and the story was really vague.
I mean, i finished it. But I feel like this was a B-, and it could have so easily been an A++.
I doubt I'd read a follow up work.
I mean, i finished it. But I feel like this was a B-, and it could have so easily been an A++.
I doubt I'd read a follow up work.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
This is the newest book by Thomas Mullen, who wrote my favorite book of the year (so far), The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers. This was completely different, being a dystopian thriller where Zed is a revisionist; his job is to travel back in time to stop hags (historical agitators), who travel back to disrupt key events and so to change history and jeopardize The Perfect Present, a world where there is no war or ethnic conflict, but where there is also no history.
Zed's been sent to a somewhat contemporary Washington, DC, where he works to not prevent or delay The Great Conflagration, which was an admittedly bad stretch of time for people, but it led to The Perfect Present, and so must happen.
Leo used to work for the CIA; back when he was finishing graduate school, 9/11 happened and he joined in a fit of patriotism. He worked to infiltrate terrorist groups in Indonesia and he hasn't been back in Washington long. He's now working in the private sector, doing essentially similar work, but targeting American dissidents and agitators. He meets by happenstance an Indonesian maid to a family of South Korean diplomats. She's been abused, and is being treated as a slave. Sari's lonely and happy to hear her own language spoken by this seemingly trust-worthy man.
Tasha lost her brother. He was serving in the military and she's not satisfied with the sketchy details she's been given about his death. She meets Zed at a candlelight vigil and they connect. She's also connected to Leo, who's tailing her because of her friendship with an activist who runs a wikileaks-type of website that is embarrassing some of the corporations doing security work for the government.
The plot of The Revisionists is complex and always changing direction. It's never simple, just as the characters are never entirely pure. Their motives are usually good, although this leads them to often act at cross purposes. How can you find out what the right thing to do is, when everybody lies, especially the good guys? And is it worth sacrificing the past to make a better future?
Zed's been sent to a somewhat contemporary Washington, DC, where he works to not prevent or delay The Great Conflagration, which was an admittedly bad stretch of time for people, but it led to The Perfect Present, and so must happen.
Leo used to work for the CIA; back when he was finishing graduate school, 9/11 happened and he joined in a fit of patriotism. He worked to infiltrate terrorist groups in Indonesia and he hasn't been back in Washington long. He's now working in the private sector, doing essentially similar work, but targeting American dissidents and agitators. He meets by happenstance an Indonesian maid to a family of South Korean diplomats. She's been abused, and is being treated as a slave. Sari's lonely and happy to hear her own language spoken by this seemingly trust-worthy man.
Tasha lost her brother. He was serving in the military and she's not satisfied with the sketchy details she's been given about his death. She meets Zed at a candlelight vigil and they connect. She's also connected to Leo, who's tailing her because of her friendship with an activist who runs a wikileaks-type of website that is embarrassing some of the corporations doing security work for the government.
The plot of The Revisionists is complex and always changing direction. It's never simple, just as the characters are never entirely pure. Their motives are usually good, although this leads them to often act at cross purposes. How can you find out what the right thing to do is, when everybody lies, especially the good guys? And is it worth sacrificing the past to make a better future?
lisawreading's review against another edition
4.0
"The Revisionists" was not at all what I'd expected, yet I couldn't put it down -- hence the four stars.
I have a soft spot for all things time-travel, and the basic synopses I'd read of this book seemed to put it squarely into that genre: Main character Zed works for a post-disaster society at some point in time several centuries from now. In the "Perfect Present", there is no war, no racial tension, no hate. Zed's government agency works to keep the perfect present perfect, by sending agents into the past to thwart "hags" -- historical agitators -- whose mission is to stop disasters (think 9/11, concentration camps, etc) before they can happen, on the assumption that all these calamities were a necessary step in history in order for the perfect present to come to be.
Confusing? You bet.
And strangely, that's not at all what this book is really about. Much more than anything else, I'd describe "The Revisionists" as an espionage-thriller set in DC, filled with intrigue, shadowy quasi-governmental intelligence outfits working against one another, multiple layers of pawns and spymasters, and a reality that slips and shifts from chapter to chapter.
This is not a sci-fi book, when you get right down to it. Zed's mission is the driving narrative, yet we get no information whatsoever about the mechanics of his time travel and only the barest of descriptions of some futuristic technology. Without saying anything that might inadvertently be a spoiler, I will say that the entire time travel premise is not necessarily what it appears to be, depending on how you choose to interpret certain events and passages.
I was fascinated by this book, and it will probably take me some time to mull over all the twists and turns and come to terms with what may or may not have happened. I do recommend "The Revisionists", although I worry that its perfect target audience -- people who enjoy a good spy thriller -- won't ever discover it if it continues to be described as a time-travel novel.
I have a soft spot for all things time-travel, and the basic synopses I'd read of this book seemed to put it squarely into that genre: Main character Zed works for a post-disaster society at some point in time several centuries from now. In the "Perfect Present", there is no war, no racial tension, no hate. Zed's government agency works to keep the perfect present perfect, by sending agents into the past to thwart "hags" -- historical agitators -- whose mission is to stop disasters (think 9/11, concentration camps, etc) before they can happen, on the assumption that all these calamities were a necessary step in history in order for the perfect present to come to be.
Confusing? You bet.
And strangely, that's not at all what this book is really about. Much more than anything else, I'd describe "The Revisionists" as an espionage-thriller set in DC, filled with intrigue, shadowy quasi-governmental intelligence outfits working against one another, multiple layers of pawns and spymasters, and a reality that slips and shifts from chapter to chapter.
This is not a sci-fi book, when you get right down to it. Zed's mission is the driving narrative, yet we get no information whatsoever about the mechanics of his time travel and only the barest of descriptions of some futuristic technology. Without saying anything that might inadvertently be a spoiler, I will say that the entire time travel premise is not necessarily what it appears to be, depending on how you choose to interpret certain events and passages.
I was fascinated by this book, and it will probably take me some time to mull over all the twists and turns and come to terms with what may or may not have happened. I do recommend "The Revisionists", although I worry that its perfect target audience -- people who enjoy a good spy thriller -- won't ever discover it if it continues to be described as a time-travel novel.
mgmoore's review against another edition
3.0
The writing isn't great; good, but not great. But, the plot was interesting and it's a page turner. A fun summer read, and enough to make me find his other books.
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
The concept of teams of agents from the future traveling to the past in an attempt to preserve or bring about some consequence in their own time has been done before. I suppose one thing different about this entry in the genre is the grim realism of the present day world that they travel too - in fact, the depth of the contemporary characters and their struggles thoroughly overwhelm the futuristic aspects of the story.
I found myself somewhat sympathetic with the character of Sari, and her situation has a sad ring of truth to it, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience to read about it. Likewise the gritty and squalid details of espionage and information leaks that Leo and Tasha are caught up in. I thought these characters were a bit flat - I was never entirely convinced of their motivations and questioned some of their behavior.
Then there's Zed, who gradually reveals and increasingly questions his own motivation as he struggles to reconcile what he's been taught with what he's learning and experiencing. This aspect was somewhat more engaging for me. I almost thought toward the end that there was going to be a surprising twist for this character, which I think would have been interesting, but it never happened.
The writing is certainly polished and of professional quality, with elegant flourishes and almost poetic turns of phrase. But for me it was less enjoyable than I would have liked.
I found myself thinking of Kage Baker's Company novels, and while that series was a bit uneven for me, it was undeniably fun to read, likely due to Baker's use of humor to keep things light, as well as her broader use of elements of futuristic technology. For me, this book suffers by comparison, with its narrower focus on the darker aspects of both the future and present day societies.
I found myself somewhat sympathetic with the character of Sari, and her situation has a sad ring of truth to it, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience to read about it. Likewise the gritty and squalid details of espionage and information leaks that Leo and Tasha are caught up in. I thought these characters were a bit flat - I was never entirely convinced of their motivations and questioned some of their behavior.
Then there's Zed, who gradually reveals and increasingly questions his own motivation as he struggles to reconcile what he's been taught with what he's learning and experiencing. This aspect was somewhat more engaging for me. I almost thought toward the end that there was going to be a surprising twist for this character, which I think would have been interesting, but it never happened.
The writing is certainly polished and of professional quality, with elegant flourishes and almost poetic turns of phrase. But for me it was less enjoyable than I would have liked.
I found myself thinking of Kage Baker's Company novels, and while that series was a bit uneven for me, it was undeniably fun to read, likely due to Baker's use of humor to keep things light, as well as her broader use of elements of futuristic technology. For me, this book suffers by comparison, with its narrower focus on the darker aspects of both the future and present day societies.
bahoulie's review against another edition
2.0
Don't like post-apocalyptic fantasy. Too violent and depressing. This book looked well written, but I skipped it.
dochappenin's review against another edition
5.0
Rare is the book that becomes one of your favorites upon first reading. A beautifully written tale of paranoia, espionage and memory. I was struck by how elegant the prose was, stopping at least once a page to reread a particular sentence. I guess I was expecting a more technical, aloof thriller so I was pleasantly, overjoyously pleased. Highly recommend this to any fan of smart, ambiguous literature.
mrninjaviking's review against another edition
3.0
This one has me confused on how to rate it. To me, it’s tied to what the truth was about Zed / Troy. Did he really travel back in time or was he suffering from a mental breakdown / illness? The author told a great story. It really picked up half way through, with the last third especially good. But if Zed was really from the future, the author mucked up the paradox. That would get a 2 star rating. If this was tied to a mental issue, Troy suffering a breakdown from the events and work he dealt with, though somethings are still sketchy, I’d go with a 4 star rating. And I don’t know which it really is.