BROKEN SHARDS OF TIME

A young woman must travel to the future to stop herself from destroying it.

After surviving a tragic accident that kills her parents in the year 2052, Wren Derecho is raised by her Uncle William, who works for the Department of Advanced Innovation and Research and is able to restore her body with robotic parts. Wren grows up in an isolated environment helping her uncle work on a time machine. And after another tragic accident kills Uncle William, she continues their shared obsession, using his blueprints to work on manipulating time alone until the day a rectangular machine drops from the ceiling of her bedroom and a young man called Donahue claims that the future needs her help. While the premise contains many interesting ideas, the story is underdeveloped and struggles with telling more often than showing. Time travel is a complicated subject to tackle, and time stamps at the beginning of each chapter help orient readers. While some action scenes are dynamic, more effort could have been spent on character motivation and worldbuilding. Red-haired Wren seems to be White; Donahue has brown skin and comes from an indeterminate, non–English speaking country.

An offering from a young debut author whose talents are sure to develop.