In three interwoven stories, H.G. Wells plays a reluctant role in helping solve characters’ time travel conflicts involving Jack the Ripper, a war hero who defeated automatons in the year 2000, and literary classics Bram Stoker and Henry James.Claire marched off in the opposite direction of her companions, trying not to think of the consequences her unexpected act might have on the fabric of time. She only hoped she would not destroy the universe i her bid to be happy.This book is certainly unique, and one that — despite taking me an excruciatingly long time to work my way through — held my interest with its twists and turns. The language is incredibly vivid, at times excessively so. As the plot involves both time travel and the writing of fictional stories, it was the perfect book for me to read while completing NaNoWriMo. I enjoyed the real-life references, and the author kept me guessing till the last pages.However, this book seemed to have equal parts awesome and terrible. Most of the characters were thoroughly unlikable — the men driven only by their desire for sex, and the women acting as simpering, passive plot devices. Large chunks of the story — such as telling how the hole into the fourth dimension was discovered and transported to London — were lengthy and unnecessary; the characters did a fine job re-explaining it later in the novel anyways! The final story of the three was the weakest, where the back and forth and parallel universes and such just made the story line hard to follow; the resolution pretty much involved negating half of the plot, a tactic I found frustrating and full of inconsistencies.Overall: Might be a tough read unless you really love time travel or classic sci-fi.
