Book Review: Wayback

Wayback by Sam Batterman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun book, but the setup felt rushed, and the inclusion of a terrorist plot felt tacked on and unnecessary. That particular plot added absolutely nothing to the story.

Wayback is about time travel based on Nazi experiments. A US research company working with the US military going back in time to see the Biblical Flood because missions to way back before Genesis didn't work. The initial setup, with the scientists being recruited, having the mission explained to them, and the secular scientists coming to grasps with a government-funded and backed mission based on proving Biblical events seemed to happen to fast. The plot could have used more antagonism from the main non-Believing scientist.

The descriptions of the the antideluvian world were interesting and it would have been fun for the characters to get to explore that world more, but they arrived at the wrong time for that. (And that wasn't really the point of the book. There are other novels that take the time to explore the pre-Flood world and life in it that are very good, though.)

This is a pro-Biblical, pro-young-Earth, pro-Creation action/science-fiction novel. If you're okay with that (I am), it's a good read. If you're not okay with those topics or points-of-view, give it a try anyway: it's a good book.