• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2013 May #2
  Tak has nothing to lose when he gets a call from the Axon Corporation with an intriguing job offer: exploring alternate time lines. Once he's spent a few years jetting between different realities, however, he discovers that Axon is up to more than just exploration, and he steals a mobile time machine and goes rogue. The cartoonishly evil mad scientist at Axon's helm, Charles Yates, who would "smother a baby with a pillow" in the name of science, has nefariously plotted to destroy every reality in existence with the help of a virus: a flock of grotesque, birdlike creatures that indefatigably obliterate everything. With the help of his friend Samira, a PTSD-stricken, former Iraq War translator, Tak flashes in and out of realities to escape the virus and hopefully save all the universes. Tak's sardonic and irreverent tone moves this interdimensional caper along at a quick and entertaining pace, which helpfully distracts from its thin characterization. Averill's debut may lack depth, but it makes up for it with a quippy lead and well-wrought action. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

Alan Averill started writing at five years old when he scribbled down a story about Bigfoot killing him with a log. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Sue; his dog, Sam Perkins; and a whole lot of rain.