This was a very, very interesting bit of speculative fiction with a decidedly feminist twist - the women (and non-binary) travelers described are quite literally waging war against those who would have women subjugated. Newitz has smartly twined together both the sickening 21st century "incel" community and 19th century conservative "moralists" to create One Big Bad, whose only goal is to take away any and all rights for women. What follows is a long romp ping-ponging through a couple different eras of time to stop the Big Bad, and while the plot could get lost in all of the ~Possibilities~ of time travel, it actually does a great job of keeping the story human-centered on our protagonists.
Because of the focus on Beth and Tess, it becomes up to the reader to speculate on all of the ways that completely normalized time travel could effect the ever-fluctuating "main" timeline... I actually wanted to hear more about a minor character (Delilah)'s experiences traveling to prevent accidental deaths in service of a life insurance company. Newitz has created a fun little sandbox for my brain to play in during downtime.
The plot can come across as a little heavy handed at times - the scenes where they confront Comstock are extremely... optimistic - but I think it is an excellent, uplifting novel for our times.
Because of the focus on Beth and Tess, it becomes up to the reader to speculate on all of the ways that completely normalized time travel could effect the ever-fluctuating "main" timeline... I actually wanted to hear more about a minor character (Delilah)'s experiences traveling to prevent accidental deaths in service of a life insurance company. Newitz has created a fun little sandbox for my brain to play in during downtime.
The plot can come across as a little heavy handed at times - the scenes where they confront Comstock are extremely... optimistic - but I think it is an excellent, uplifting novel for our times.