This Time Around

This Time Around - Justin McLachlan

I won this book through a giveaway, and before I do anything else I'd like to thank Goodreads and the author for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

I must say, this is a tough book for me to review. On one hand it steps beyond implosible and into the realm of silly. Something outrageous happens almost every other page, cliches are abound, and the dialogue made me gigglesnort on more than one occasion. (Dragons, aliens, temporal disruptions, plane crashes, nuclear bombs, ninja-esque action, espionage...this book has everything AND a kitchen sink.) On the other hand, I was highly entertained. It's that quality of cheesy sci-fi that you get from shows like Primeval or Farscape. In fact, it read like a TV show, which was both a strength (it was fun to visualize all the action) and a weakness (some things that fly well on screen come off really hackneyed on the page). It's so over the top that you just sort of laugh and keep reading because you want to know what absurd thing will happen next. 

Also in the plus column: I'd like to give the book props for having a kickass main character who also happens to have a gay love interest. I'm surprised none of the other reviewers have mentioned this (yet) - I was beyond tickled as this is a rarity in genre fiction.

So in summary I'll answer the following questions: Was this a good book? No. Was it a fun read? Yes.