I don’t care if it’s long, short or medium length.
It can be about somebody going to the past or the future. Or even multiple people going through multiple timelines.
It can be serious or silly.
Bonus for a female main character but absolutely not necessary, a male main character is fine.
I don’t care if other genres are added to the story.
Thank you in advance.
by NotSoSnarky
22 Comments
Connie Willis- they’re a bit divisive, but if long, detailed and immersive time travel sounds good (I love them) then Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog and Blackout/All Clear are great. Mix of male and female main characters.
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton was an interesting take on time travel, medium length, fast paced. Male main character.
Time Travelers Wife
Jodi Taylor has a whole series about a time travel agency. I read a bunch of them… kind of silly but entertaining. Female lead character.
The obvious would be the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Female lead, all kinds of genres and thousands of pages. (Personally I liked them a lot.)
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, kind of a romance, but not in a schlocky way. I read it a long time ago so I forget the details except that I enjoyed it.
Time after Time by Kate Atkins is really good. It’s time travel, sort of.
Kindred by Octavia Butler is amazing.
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley — and a lot of her other books are time-travelly in various ways.
A classic short story: “By His Bootstraps” by Anson MacDonald (Robert A. Heinlein)
1632 by Eric Flint. A small West Virginia town is transported to Germany 1632.
Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein is part of a breeding program aimed at extending life span. He lives long enough that techniques to rejuvenate everyone are invented. The end of the book is about time travel. It is way better than I am describing.
Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove
I have read all three multiple times.
The Space Adventures Of Commander Laine. The commander and her gurl are trans women. They go into the future to save the past. The commander is given a ship that is capable of going anywhere in the timeline. The characters are awesome and the story is very good.
I’d massively recommend Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s series – female lead, mix of silly and serious, extremely well researched historical details.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone was a life-changing read.
I really enjoyed The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas! Very female-centric and the kind of paradox-y time travel stuff that I like.
Haven’t read it yet but I’ve been recommended Lightning by Dean Koontz
{{The Sky of Swords, by Duncan}} this is book 3 in a trilogy, and the one I started with, back in the day. Maybe start with 2… to lean into the time aspect. 1 ties it all together.
Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut is a classic. A more contemporary story that also has a protagonist living their life nonlinearly is Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore.
I also liked Recursion by Blake Crouch and All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai.
By his bootstraps -short story
The door into summer – novel
Both are written by Robert Heinlein. The time paradoxes are geniously written. Male protagonists.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August – by Clare North: an interesting, quite unique and original take on time travel,
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – by V E Schwabb: more immortality than time travel, but shares some these, also quite a unique, interesting concept
{{The Best Time Travel Stories of the Twentieth Century by Harry Turtledove}}
{{The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold}}
{{The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything by John D. Macdonald}}
Dr. Who has been published in book form too. Allegedly quality varies between books a lot
Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
Passes multiple timelines and different versions, fairly quick read and enjoyable. Apple about to launch a TV series based on the book
Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan
The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffeneger
Kindred, Octavia Butler
The book that wouldn’t burn, it’s a fantasy with both a female and male main character, the time traveling part isn’t clear at first but its a key part of the story
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.