Oh boy…

I had to come and read the review of others for moral support in writing this review because I was feeling to DNF 15% in but it turns out my thoughts were warranted.

The premise sounds so good which is why I bought into it. I don’t think I’ve ever read an apocalyptic story (plenty of dystopia but I thought this would have a darker spin) but it honestly feels like a wasted plot.

This would have been much better created as a graphic novel because it certainly read like one. Even with the small amount I read where there was some action going on, I was beyond confused and had to read it multiple times to understand what was going on. Everything moved so quickly, it kind of gave me whiplash and I felt literally nothing for the characters.

A shame given how intriguing the plot sounded

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this!

I missed out on downloading this so I just bought it on Kindle because I wanted to read this and I'm glad I did!

This was such an interesting read, I love apocalyptic books and this one was so different. The time travel by using art was amazing I loved the jumping between both modern-day and the apocalypse.

Definitely recommend!

Unfortunately, I didn't finish this book.

When I read the description, I really thought I was gonna like it. But that was not the case. The book started off great, but then it just got really confusing and at some point I wasn't even sure if I'm reading a correct book, because the story did not resemble it's description.
The writing was bad and at first I was willing to let it slide, because of the plot, but then it got annoying and confusing, so I had to stop reading.

Overall, I did not like this book. I feel like this was a missed opportunity because the idea of the plot was great and if it was written better I would have liked it.

This story was truly badly-written and I DNF'd it at a third of the way through because I had no idea what was happening and it was so far from the book description as to be completely misleading. The description promised that this guy Alex, transported to the future and the very apocalypse he wrote about in his best-selling graphic novel, comes back to the present time to try and stop the fated events, and no one believes him, but by one third the way through, he was still in the future, randomly (it seemed to me) moving around, with no purpose and no plan, and the people who were supposed to be educating him as to what was happening and how to stop it were offering no help at all.

On top of this, the future made no sense at all, because it was like the past. I know there had been some event (unspecified at a third in), which had set society back considerably, but though they spoke in modern lingo, they had weapons like it was the dark ages. I find it hard to believe, even in an apocalypse, that no one would have any guns at all. It made zero sense. There are guns galore all over the place and they would be freely available with all the ammunition you could want after an apocalypse. Swords, and bows and arrows on the other hand, are relatively rare, particularly swords, so where the hell did all that come from? Again, it made no sense.

The more I read of this, the more it seemed to me that the author hadn't really thought any of it through, and worse, it was written not like a novel, but like it was a clichéd manga or a cartoon strip which constantly kicked the reader out of suspension of disbelief. This was more like an unrealized idea than ever it was a novel.

The main character had got his graphic novel from information that this woman had put into his mind, and there was a sequel to the story, but the big question was: why had they given him the post-apocalyptic story and a sequel to that, neither of which helped him, instead of giving him the pre-apocalyptic story which would have actually helped him prevent it? Again, it made no sense. Alex was supposedly the author of this (or more accurately, the voice of it), yet he seemed completely lost in this world he (thought) he'd created, and he was utterly useless. That made no sense either.

I was psyched by the book description, but the novel itself seems like a different story to what was promised, and the writing is poor and very choppy. Some of the speech is in block caps for no apparent reason. This is like shouting, which is normally conveyed by telling the reader that someone shouted it, or by maybe putting the text in proper case. I didn't get the point of the block caps. This is not a comic book!

Often a speech was simply “HUGHGHGHGHGHG,” which I discovered, after a few of these, was meant to signify groaning or some sort of agonized vocalization. It was amateur and confusing. I honestly had zero interest in the story or any of the characters, and after that first third I felt I’d given it way more of a chance to engage me than it deserved. I can't commend it.

NOTE: This review does contain some vague, minor spoilers.

I thought this book would be a great fit for me. The description included adventure, time-travel, action, and romance, which are all things I love to read. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a dud.

The premise of the book is very intriguing. I liked the idea of using art to travel through time, and the plot of needing to stop the apocalypse before it occurs was interesting enough. However, the book was not executed well. The story was confusing and almost nothing was explained. I really wanted to learn more about how the time travel was possible, but the explanations in the book were weak and vague and made it seem as though the author never really thought out the mechanisms for how it was supposed to work. The plot was also confusing and somewhat nonsensical. I had a difficult time following what was happening at many points in the book, and there were alternate plans and other plot points that seemed important but ended up going nowhere.

The pacing of the book was also a large problem, which I think contributed to the confusing nature of the story. The book is constantly jumping between different perspectives at a very frenetic pace. It seemed there was a different POV every couple of paragraphs. The story also often jumped abruptly in time and location, as well, and gave very few details to fill in the gaps. The pace and writing style contributed to a tense atmosphere within the novel, which I expected given the story is about rushing to save the world, but I think this could have been accomplished without the jumpiness and confusion it created.

The characters were not well-developed. I honestly felt that I knew just as much about the characters after the book as I did before I started reading it. Due to the book's short length and quick pace, there was little room for delving into any of the characters with any depth. The focus was largely on the plot, which was the driving factor in this novel despite how confusing it was. I really wanted to see more internal reactions of the characters to get to know them more intimately. It didn't help that many of them died shortly after they were introduced. I think I was supposed to care about their deaths, but I really didn't care at all. By the end, I felt as though I wouldn't have cared if they all died because I just did not feel connected to any of the characters. Also, as a side note, the romance in the book was sparse and extremely shallow and wooden, which is probably also a side effect of not feeling anything about the characters involved.

Despite the flaws of the book, there were parts that stood out to me as being pretty great. The author was very good at writing descriptive deaths. His description of someone being eaten alive by a pack of dogs left me with chills because of the imagery it had evoked in my head. I also really enjoyed the flight battle sequence and found it to be really engaging.

Overall, I didn't really enjoy this book. It was confusing, jumpy, and lacking in compelling characters. However, people who enjoy a quick read filled with fast-paced action and can overlook the flaws and lack of explanations may enjoy it more than I did. Therefore, I rate the book 2 out of 5 stars.

This book was a bit confusing at times but otherwise was a good read with a lot of adventure and romance.
The characters were great and I liked getting to know them.
Three star review because at times it was confusing.