On Sunday I picked up Joe Haldeman’s “The Accidental Time Machine”, a novel that I had ordered because Amazon told me to buy it. When Amazon tells me to buy something, I usually listen because it knows what I like. (But then again, I’m biased!)

Anyway, by Monday evening I had finished reading it. It was a really quick read. I read fast, but a little over a day is fast even by my standards: usually a Japan to US flight eats three novels, and those are about 14 hours flights. I probably only put in about 3 hours reading this book, so it runs a bit shorter than average for me.

I was interested in “The Accidental Time Machine” because I am a big fan of “The Forever War” – one of the classics in SF literature. I actually haven’t read it in a long time and would like to pick up the new version that is coming out shortly. That is a good to book to have on hand. I should also pick up Starship Troopers since that is another great one to have around in a similar genre.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The Accidental Time Machine. You can tell because I didn’t put it down until I had finished it. I don’t think it is on the same level as The Forever War, but it is a nice time travel book. It reminded me a lot of Marooned in Realtime (which if you are interested in picking up you should probably pick up The Peace War as well.)

It also reads along the same lines as The Time Machine. I really enjoyed the book, but it was more along an indulgent, fast and fun read. I was disappointed with the Deus Ex Machina ending, but only in a plot and science kind of way, emotionally it was a really fun and rewarding ending.

I enjoyed reading through some of the bad reviews on Amazon, but I recommend it. Slot it in after you’ve had your does of hard sci-fi (or run it after some fantasy) and you’ll probably really enjoy it!

I did anyway.