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| Book cover via Amazon.com |
British television and literature are fascinating to me as an American who lives in the south. There were some concepts of amazing things in the British kingdom that was lost among chili and tales of cowboys.
One day when I got older and after binge-watching “Are you being served?” I really got into British television. Doctor Who, The Saint, The Avengers, these were things I cherished along with the British fantasy classics like Lord of the Rings.
I tell you this because in all my days I'd always wanted to read something that blended all of that goodness together, well except for “Are You Being Served?” because let’s face it, how would that fit into the rest? I never thought anyone would actually take elements of time travel, high fantasy, spy thriller and mix them. I always wanted it though.
And then Gavin Jefferson did this amazing thing and created "Almost Surely" and was kind enough to give me an ARC copy before it was published officially. The best part of my delight, Gavin told me he never watched any of those things growing up as a kid, and only really was familiar more fantasy themes. Do you know how awesome that is to me as a reviewer and fangirl of so many beautiful things, to see things I love in one beautiful plot? Well, you will now guys.
Buckle up campers, don't bet on old baseball games, go listen to the whales sing and whatever you do, make sure you're good to Mother.
This is going to be a review of Almost Surely.
Opinion
Full disclosure guys, Gavin is a friend of mine on twitter, and I find him charming. He mostly loves the things of New Orleans even if he is from the beautiful UK and we have lovely discussions about cultural differences with raising kids. I mention that part to explain that I may have some slight bias here, but not when it comes to reviewing this book. I told him when I accepted his ARC that I’d only do so if I could be fully honest, and he agreed, so I went into it blind with no idea what was going to happen and was so happy to find what I did in it.
This is a story that mixes time travel and sci-fi with real fantasy as I mentioned earlier. Now, to some of you that may sound bonkers, but hear me out, it’s a lovely mix and refreshing. Here are some things I really like about this book, not in chronological order but in order of what I enjoyed.
The characters are well written and have unique feelings and perspectives. At no time was I felt as though this was a copycat character of another part of the book.
The locations are described well but not overly detailed, and the feelings that I got from them was unique and beautiful.
In general, the scene setting was framed well in the scope of the scenes. However, there is one tiny thing about the scenes that I will get back to in a moment.
Lastly, the pacing is pretty reasonable most of the time, and I liked the emotions that the writing conveyed to me.
Now onto the critiques. Gavin is my friend, yes, but I’m reviewing this honestly and forthright as I do everything. If I do not mention what I notice to critique the review is worthless. I do have a couple of minor issue critiques that are in the form of nit-picking. The book does have bits where it drags. If you have been reading my reviews, I went over one of Gavin’s short Stories called “The Surrogate” and; mentioned a drag in the third quarter of the story. This is not the same kind of drag due to a slowdown, it becomes one with a pacing speed up that causes the reader to go back to re-read.
Primarily I noticed this when there was a part where two characters were meeting Mother, and then the next thing I see is someone acknowledging a call from somewhere else that there’d been a change. The chapter ends, only to come to the first pair of characters on a road trip. IT was a bit abrupt. Compare that to the part in the diner earlier where there is a discussion about a baseball game and then a lot about the work of the Watchers. So what this did, in both cases, was make me stop and go back to make sure I understood what was going on. There are a few other times this kind of thing happened, but primarily these two examples stuck in my mind, and I don’t want to give spoilers as to specifics in why.
That said, the overall structure and pacing were good, apart from the little flaws. I think of it somewhat like you have a beautiful room, with perfect painting and flooring, but there is a weird lip dent across from one floor to the threshold of the floor in the room that is connecting to it. It’s a tiny issue, very minor, but it did give me a mini pause.
Now that said, the format is beautiful, and the book reads like a dream. It’s a tremendous and brilliant world, and I think that everyone should be part of it.
Score
I am going to give this fantastic book a 90/100 because it’s got so much going for it. Other than the minor issues I found with pacing and scene framing, it is a well-deserved score. I think Gavin did very well on this novel and I think anyone will enjoy reading it.
But what do you think? What was your take on Mother? What are your feelings on time travel? Do you think you’d handle time travel as well given rules and systems?
Let me know in the comments down below! I’d love to hear your thoughts?
With Love,
Mrs. Y
