3.25⭐While not a sci-fi fan, the premise of an 80 year-old wanting to return to his 10 year-old self to go back and fix the biggest regret of his life was intriguing. I was okay with time travel being involved. Except for the parts where it was explained. Ad nauseam. The quantum physics was beyond me but I did get the multiple universes explanation of how making copies of one's sentient being or "uploading" to a network for a virtual world operated. Maybe? You don't have to get it to like this s...

At first, I rolled my eyes when the alien just had to show up as a beautiful, young, naked woman. However, the story becomes much deeper very quickly. I fell in love with the characters we met along the way and I was eager to hear what happened to all of them. I'm so happy I listened to this instead of reading it because the narrator is exceptional. It was the first time I heard a Christopher Lane narration and I'll look for more from him. 4.5 stars without narration/ 5 stars with.

This book... This book... This book.There's no other way of putting it. This book, or better, THESE BOOKS, are works of pure genius. It's so many different books and styles, squeezed harmoniously into one and played like a beautiful piano concerto, that it escapes my ability to mention them all.Let's see, what do we have here. At first, I thought this was going to be some kind of lit rpg parody. Man finds a huge hole in his backyard with displaced earth nowhere to be seen. Then he proceeds to co...

I think that the reviews here have vastly overstated the quality of this book. It was entertaining and fun, and the middle section where the main character was a 10-year-old was extremely compelling. If the book had just been about that section of the story, I probably would have awarded it 4 or 5 stars. The prose was lovely and the story of Joey and Arlie was compelling and sad. The novel fell short in its lazy use of tropes (for example, including a basically magical, all-knowing, ancient Afri...

I enjoyed this so much! Why is it that books you purchase on a whim, turn out to surprise you in the best possible way! What a heartfelt story. Some parts were so raw and emotional, and it made the story feel real in its own way.I am all for time travel. I am a giant Doctor Who fan after all. A Gift Of Time was more than just about time travel though. This was a story about love. About loss. About the consequences of the actions that we take. About second guessing everything and nothing at the s...

As many of my friends know, I am a huge time-travel story fan. So I went into this story with great expectations. The first 2/3 of the book were absolutely fantastic and it was on its way to becoming one of my favorites. But, alas... I recently learned a phrase from my husband, 'jumping the shark,' a term used to describe a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality. THIS book qualifies as a book that has jumped the shark. The writing in th...

I usually find time travel novels entertaining reads. This one was a bit odd though. I liked the beginning and the middle sections enough. Great writing; likable characters, and a story I was truly interested in. But then the last third was spectacularly off the charts in a ridiculous way. It was like Merritt got bored and gave the book to someone else to finish. Honestly! The change was jarring, unforgivably confusing, and so far beyond any semblance of believability that I had to force myself ...

A Gift of Time started out questionably, so bizarre in the interactions between Cager, the main character, and the very alien Lovely Pebble and Time Glider. I was wondering if I'd made a mistake choosing this novel. But then it all started to click, and the story grew a heart bigger than I could have imagined. I fell in love with every single one of the characters, caring as deeply for them as any I've ever met in a book. If you loved Stand by Me, Life After Life, or 11/22/63, I am certain you'l...

Should be a Hugo Nominee Note: This is a review of the Audible audio version. For some reason, Goodreads does not list the Audiobook version.One of the best science fiction stories I've read in a long long time. Reminiscent of Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke's best. If this story is not in the running for the Hugo then the Hugo is no longer representative of the best in Sci-Fi literature. And that is what this is...Literature.Imagine being able to go back and relive your life from the age of 10 with...

It is rare that I binge read a book from beginning to end, consuming every spare minute of my time. It is rarer still that a science fiction story moves me to tears. A Gift of Time has it all: love worth sacrificing immortality for, gut-wrenching loss, mystery, murder, mind-bending technology, and of course: time travel. Wow! I cannot give enough high praise for this book! Thank you, Mr Merritt, for penning this brilliantly written tale!