The Electric Kingdom, by David Arnold, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Electric Kingdom, by David Arnold (YA, February 2021 by Viking Books for Young Readers), is my time travel book this week, and this is one of my Timeslip Tuesday posts where the fact that the book has time travel is something of a spoiler, so sorry about that.  On the other hand, the reason I checked it out of the library was that it came up in my catalogue search for new time travel, so I went into it knowing...and I don't think it materially affected my reading (there are lots of hints).

So the world has been overtaken by swarms of hideous flying insects, who leave only the bones of their victims.  Humanity didn't stand much chance; there are only scattered survivors, living in the ruins of civilization, always fearful that a swarm might come their way.  One small family (father, mother, daughter Nico) survived holed up in a New Hampshire cabin, relying on mysterious deliveries of supplies dropped off at their door.  Nico grew up with her father's stories, and his favorite books.  When she was 18, her mother died, and her father sent her on a quest straight from the stories--to find the Waters of Kairos in the city of Manchester.  With her faithful dog, she sets out to find the river that will take her to the city.

Her journey takes her into dangers, not just from the swarms, but from people too.  And also, for the first time in her life, she meets people who aren't her family; not many, but enough so that she is no longer alone.  She is loved, and loves in return, but there is no place in this nightmarish world to stop and live.  And when she reaches the Waters of Kairos, she must leave her old life behind.

Ok,  before I get really spoilery, so I'll quickly share my overall thoughts.  I'd give this two stars for personal reading pleasure--the first two thirds are not only grim and horrible, but didn't seem to be moving toward a place of hope.  It was a slog of discomfort, punctuated by horrible things.  I'd give it four stars, though, as a complete, tricksy and twisty and weird has heck whole.  Once a key turning point was reached, I found it much more interesting, though still not cheerful.  The last 100 pages were quick reading, all absorbed flash bang immersion, and the things that are revealed spilled over to the early parts of the story, illuminating certain things in hindsight (making the reading experience itself a kind of brilliant time travel as one went back and considered things).  

But there is real, honest a goodness, time twisting happening here.

"Kairos" might have rung bells for you; it did me mainly because of Kate Milford's Kairos Mechanism. It is a time twisting sort of thing.  And when Nico goes through the water, she finds herself, still embodied as her 19 year old self, at the time and place of her own birth.

Waiting for her are detailed books left by previous Nico's, over a hundred of them, who had done the same thing.  So she sets to work again, knowing what didn't work, and knowing that her best chance of using her once again new opportunity is to make small changes that can nudge things (attempts to keep the fly apocalypse from happening, for instance, didn't work).  And so it's not a happy ending, but not a desperately sad one, although to call it an "ending" is a bit of a stretch....

In short, it's a ground-hog day sort of time travel, but every rerun there's a grown up Nico, who knows she has 19 years of life, and a new baby Nico, so always two of them at once, both of them with free will.  Every one else she knows is also set back to 19 years ago, which sucks for her.  

So not one I enjoyed exactly, but one that gradually hooked me, which will stay bright and clear in mind for a long while.  In part this is because I have lots of questions--the Kairos phenomena isn't unique to Manchester, New Hampshire, and one wonders what the heck is really going on and if it will ever end...I wonder if one day old Nico will find a way to keep young Nico from passing through the water, letting her grow up and live...