About the Book
Genre: Time Travel, Romantic Sci-Fi
Release Date: 11th April 2022
He can travel back in time to the Titanic , but can he rescue a heroic woman from the sinking?
Clara, can you hear me? My name’s Liam Peterson. Ever since I graduated from high school, I’ve worked at the Titanic Voyage ride in Historytown, a struggling amusement park in Eloy, Arizona. And Clara, ever since I read your journal, I’ve been enchanted by your story. You saved several fellow Third Class passengers on the Titanic before you perished in the sinking. You’re a hero. I never dreamed I’d meet you.
But one night, the teenage son of Historytown’s founder tricks me into thinking that a 3D projection of you is a theme park guest. Well, I think it’s a prank, but as I interact with your “holoactor” on the sets of Titanic Voyage, the past starts to change. Somehow, I’ve been visiting the real Clara Jones.
Then tragedy strikes my life outside the ride. My only escape from the grief is the hope of saving you and giving you a long, happy life. But if I rewrite your history, I might erase my own.
About the Author
All of Julie’s works feature longing, love (romantic and not), something “weird,” and hope.
Website: https://www.juliebihn.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/juliebihn
My review
4* stars
Titanic Voyage is a new, unusual take on the genre. The author doesn’t go into the details of time travel, even less she describes the mechanics of it, giving readers more vibes rather than actual explanations of how the time machine works. She doesn’t need to.
Written in the form of love letters, the book tells a story of Liam Peterson, a twenty-three-year-old worker in Historytown, an amusement park in a small town of Arizona. Liam works on the Titanic Voyage ride where the guests are entertained by the “holoactors”— 3D projections of real passengers of the Titanic. Despite the ride’s controversial reputation, Liam enjoys working there. Most of all, he enjoys reading a journal of a Third Class passenger, Clara Jones, a young woman who sacrificed herself, trying to save others.
When Rocky, Liam’s colleague and a teenage IT-nerd, plays a trick on Liam and other employees, making them believe that a “holoactor” of Clara Jones is a real theme park’s guest, the past starts to change, triggering the chain of events which are able to alter history and erase Liam from it or… help him to save if not the Titanic, but at least, Clara Jones.
I love the way the author develops the relationships between the characters. Liam falls in love with Clara more and more every time Rocky runs the 3D simulation. Liam is relentless in saving her. His relationships with Papa (his adoptive father) who spends his last days in a care home are full of warmth and sadness. Even Liam’s sister, Sahar, who at first seems cold and distant, later opens more to show her real feelings.
The book is also full of family drama. Liam was adopted at an early age, so he doesn’t remember his life in Syria, but Sahar does. The deep scars, left in her soul, reflect in her behaviour.
The novel is narrated in the first person, present tense which usually doesn’t work for me. But in the case of Titanic Voyage, it makes it more intimate, some sort of bittersweet memories and diaries.
I enjoyed the idea of the ride’s design and how much details the author put into the description of the Titanic’s model. Bihn has poured lots of effort into research of the ship and the fate of her passengers.
I gave this book four stars first of all due to its pace at the start. With Liam and Rocky running the ship’s simulation of her last hours many times, it seems repetitive to me. At the beginning of the story, Liam’s narrative sounds a bit childish for his age. Without knowing how old he is, I’d say he’s about the same age as Rocky.
Overall, it’s a great read for everybody who enjoys time travel, history, and bittersweet love stories.
Purchase Links:
Kobo:
SaltandNovels 