The Timestream Verdict

By: Ilaria Masselli

The Timestream Verdict is the debut sci-fi novel written by Jordan Berk. Despite me not being a huge fan of the genre, I really enjoyed the book. The plot is really creative, and the story well told. I truly loved how at the end it was very easy to relate to the characters who then became almost real.

The story is about Aaron Barnett who falls asleep in 1985, as an ordinary accountant, and then he wakes up sixty years later in 2042 where he is a juror in the so called “Trial of Century.” The case will see the murder of “The Mother of Time Travel” and only the jury and Aaron will be able to reach an impartial verdict. The future seems to be a sweet escape for Aaron – far from his past life until the time he discovers some truths behind this time travel.

I love how the characters react and how they become real. Thanks to the fact that the story is divided in three parts, it’s very easy to understand the feelings and the thoughts of the main character, Aaron. With Berk’s writing, it was like I was in Aaron’s mind from start to finish. I really had the chance to feel everything: from the happiness to being in a world completely far from the past and apparently better, until the surprise to discover what is behind every aspect of this new world.

I really enjoyed how Berk shows his love for time travel stories. It was a full immersion into adventure and intrigue, especially I really love to see what the future looks like. It reminds me of a game that I loved a lot, “Bioshock,” where we can find this sort of dystopian reality, which seems to be perfect but it’s not. It is actually full of shadows and truths that we don’t know. That’s why I was really involved in this story. It’s not only a literary sci-fi time travel, but it is also a real vision of what we sometimes maybe view as simple or clear.

I love how Berk handled the topic of time travel in The Timestream Verdict, putting his heart into it. If you love this genre, with a very fast pace, this is the perfect book for you. Also, I want to add that it’s important to have a vision of the world far from what we are living in right now. This book is like a futuristic telescope which opens a new aspect of the world, with a very unexpected surprise ending.