Wow - way to take a great premise and fail to deliver...  

I'm not usually that harsh in my reviews, but this one was a flop for me and there really isn't any other way to make that point...  I loved the idea of taking people out of time to save the world - the notion that we may have a destiny we were born for but not born into is a cool one, with great promise. But the characters in this one - EEK. To me, books live and die by their characters - and this is an exemplar of the latter...

While there are some well-written segments (I really liked Mad Harry's backstory/origin, and Ben Ryder's was also enjoyable), there were others that I couldn't even read through (Safa's story with the Prime Minister was painful to read and I skimmed that entire section once I realized what was going on)...  I realize that difficult lives are often important elements of character and plot development - but still found it exceedingly hard to believe that this particular woman would suffer that particular fate repeatedly without ANY recourse, AND THEN go on to act the way she did once she was "free" of it... (Sorry, can't give more without spoilers.)  And the dialogue these characters engaged in - double eek. They sounded like middle school kids - "did NOT!" 'did TOO!" is almost a verbatim transcript of one conversation... 

I wanted to like it - instead I found myself rolling my eyes and skimming pages so rapidly that I eventually gave it up for lost.  I don't know if it was a failure in delivery or editing, but this one did nothing for me but disappoint...

With great promise, comes great responsibility. Well, not really but it can’t hurt to put a bit of pressure on an author. A book of this size has a promise of some world building and to have a lot going on. Instead readers are given some back story, and then pages upon pages about one character’s depression. While I would expect there to be some underlying trauma from finding out you’re dead and have to move on, the “woe is me” attitude wore thin very quickly. Honestly, Safa had more reason to break than Ben Ryder. I expected this story to be about these three great heroes making a  difference, even after death. I would almost recommend a name change to “Ben Ryder: I’m Not a Soldier.” 
	Coupling the highlighting of Ben ryder’s character with Safa’s character makeup, annoyed me to no-end. She is described as the perfect woman, and in almost every instance men are drawn to her. She gets taken advantage of by her boss, and then in a matter of weeks, the author has her trying to seduce a guy better. Harry, a man extracted from the furthest point, could easily have been replaced by a robot sidekick for all the real growth the character has. No one has the training to be able to automatically adjust to moving years into the future or the past. It had the potential to be a great book but unless something drastically improves the next one, I don’t think this will be a series to promote. 
*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and 47North in exchange for honest feedback*

Extracted by r r haywood. 
In 2061, a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.
A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.
An absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters.  I loved how Ben, Safa and Harry were towards each other. Made me laugh they did. Can't wait for next part.  Highly recommended.  5*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

A refreshing travel through time.  The characters and plot are expertly woven keeping a sense of excitement of what lies ahead but only time will tell!

This book was a tour de force of mediocrity, poor research, and casual misogyny.

Extracted by R.R. Haywood is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early February.

Somehow, Haywood is able to balance and maintain mutually exclusive narrations for each third-person character (without going into single-character perspectives like another certain R.R.), while also describing hand-to-hand combat with vicious intensity. With these positives in mind, this driving story is best when the main characters are extracted, training to face an uncertain timeline, and figuring out exactly what and when everything went awry.

Extracted tells the story of three people who were taken from their respective timelines at the point of their deaths-extracted- and are now looked to be the last hope at the world being saved. Very 'Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope'-esque.

The synopsis for this book alone was well thought out. It doesn't say much, but it gets you interested, which is precisely the point. As this is the first book in the trilogy, we don't see how the mission turns out as a lot of world and character building takes place.

We don't really get too deep into the time traveling because even though this is a time travel novel, it's really not. The fact that people could travel through time was not what the main point of this story was. Sure, it was because of the invention of a time machine that started the unfortunate end of the world, but it was the saving of the world and how that's going to be done that was more important in this book. I'm actually hoping that in books two and three we'll get to travel a bit more...you know, when we're sort of out of the immediate sight of danger.

When I first started this book I was so confused. I understood that each of the characters, Ben, Harry and Safa's- extractions were being described in detail so that we as the readers could get a better understanding of how exactly that worked and I liked that part...it was the after that bothered me. Instead of the POV's being separated by chapters, they were separated by paragraphs, it was more lines actually, and with no warning that the POV was changing. It was my only peeve about the book really. It would've probably have been more annoying though if we had to go through the same scenario three times with each character since all three of them were the main character.

Ben was a bit slow on the uptake and the one who I think got the worst end of the bargain. He was plucked out of his life and thrown into this new world where all of a sudden all these impossible things were now possible. He had no training for this and obviously didn't know how to cope with all this unfamiliarity. 

Harry was a hoot. This guy, the one who goes back the furthest seemed to almost blend in seemingly. Sure, he had his set way of doing things but he was a soldier. He was taught to obey. There's no room for 'no'.

I did not like Safa. I felt like even though it wasn't intentional on her part, she was very...bossy. I don't know how else to explain it. To me it was like that because she was the only female of this group she had to overcompensate and prove that she had the guts to do what they could, that she could be strong too. I'm glad that she was a powerful character in that sense but it got to the point where whatever she said went. By the time the words 'Let him be a man. Give him his dignity.' rolled around I was like thank the Heavens! Someone finally said it.

Overall, I thought this book was amazing! The writing was perfect and I didn't want to stop reading. This story is still working it's way through all the sections of my mind. I'm really interested in getting my hands on Executed-the second book- because I need to know what happens next we were kind of left with a cliffhanger. I'm glad I decided to request this book. No regrets at all.

Extracted R R Haywood

Extracted is a time travel tale that is centred around 3 characters that have been extracted from their individual time periods moments before their imminent deaths. The general premise then is that these individuals will have the necessary skill set to rectify a cataclysmic change that has happened as a result of the use of this same time travel technology.  

We are introduced to the characters in a single chapter each, that details the events that culminated in their deaths. Thanks to these introductions I found the three protagonists intriguing and this kept my interest despite little more coming in the way of backstory or development. Considering that this is the first instalment of the story the plan could well be to give further detail as the story progresses. 

Extracted is obviously written as part of a series and lots of plot points are left unresolved. I did feel a little pang of disappointment at the conclusion because I wanted some more, I'm sure as the author intended setting it up so that I'll be sure to read the next instalment. 

The action scenes, of which there are plenty, are well written and exciting. Extracted is also well researched with plenty of details. There is a primarily British focus to events and characters which some could find distracting, this is also refreshing considering the American based novels that I come across much more frequently. 

My main disappointment was that there was no detail given on how the time travel device works, it just does, is the answer given when one of the protagonists ask. 

On the whole a good read and the author certainly knows how to keep you turning those pages. Some of the content is not appropriate for less mature readers.

I had to DNF this book, as I could see from the beginning that it wasn't mycup of tea. The premise is fascinating and I'm sure that the story is not bad too. However, I did not like the language and the characterisation and I simply had to trust my experience on this one. I may be wrong.

I find this a difficult review to write, as whilst I found this book to be immensely gripping from the very start, there was a fair portion that I found to be quite gloomy, and the plot didn’t really end in a worthwhile conclusion for me

The initial set-up of ‘extracting’ the actual crew I found to be quite riveting, with the action being somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Leather’s character ‘Spider Shepherd’ and I really felt that this was going to be a well worthwhile book.

However, I found Ben’s depression and/or nervous breakdown to be somewhat boring and demoralising – although the section detailing the thoughts and feelings of the characters who viewed Ben’s actions at Holborn Underground Station (prior to returning him to that time-line immediately before his death) - to be quite emotional, so perhaps there was a valid reason for this plot line.

My biggest bugbear however, was that this book ended with no resolution as to how the future (as it was originally played out) was going to be accomplished.

I admit to being fairly traditional, and prefer my books to comprise a beginning; a middle; and an end – preferably in that order - but this book sadly only provided a beginning, and a middle.

I really enjoyed this book! It is very original, well-written and incredibly well-researched. I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, time-travel and general great writing.