Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction, Time Travel
The world's past and future rests in
the hands of five unwitting strangers in this time-traveling, mind-bending
speculative thriller from the author of the bestselling Origin Mystery trilogy.
En route to London from New York,
Flight 305 suddenly loses power and crash-lands in the English countryside,
plunging a group of strangers into a mysterious adventure that will have
repercussions for all of humankind.
Struggling to stay alive, the survivors
soon realize that the world they've crashed in is very different from the one
they left. But where are they? Why are they here? And how will they get back
home?
Five passengers seem to hold clues
about what's really going on: writer Harper Lane, venture capitalist Nick
Stone, German genetic researcher Sabrina Schröder, computer scientist Yul Tan,
and Grayson Shaw, the son of a billionaire philanthropist.
As more facts about the crash emerge,
it becomes clear that some in this group know more than they're letting
on—answers that will lead Harper and Nick to uncover a far-reaching conspiracy
involving their own lives. As they begin to piece together the truth, they
discover they have the power to change the future and the past—to save our
world . . . or end it.
A wildly inventive and propulsive
adventure full of hairpin twists, Departure is a thrilling tale that weaves together power, ambition, fate,
memory, and love, from a bold and visionary talent.
A.G. Riddle's Departure is a science fiction novel with time traveling elements that centers around Flight 305 bound for England
which later crashes in another time and place from when they were supposed to
arrive. Departure alternates narratives between Harper Lane, and Nick Shaw.
Departure is a story that links the lives of FIVE very intriguing and different individuals who will have to fight tooth and nail to get back to their own time
and reality. Riddle does a really good job at keeping readers guessing as to why these FIVE individuals just happened to be on the same flight and why their lives are connected.
Englishwoman Harper Lane is a writer who has been given the
opportunity of a life time and now she must make some hard choices. Instead of being someone who does a lot of ghost writing, Harper is given the chance to write the biography for one of the worlds most renowned
Billionaires Oliver North Shaw. Shaw, under the umbrella of the Titan
Foundation, has huge dreams of making the world a better place for everyone,
not just the rich.
American Venture
Capitalist Nick Shaw is on his way to a meeting with The Gibraltar Project,
an international group dedicated to building a dam across the Strait of
Gibraltar and draining the Mediterranean to make an Atlantis type country. When Flight 305 crash lands, he takes
charge and leads the survivors into a daring rescue, and a search for the truth
about what happened to the place. Nick almost never loses his cool even when things get their most perilous.
Sabrina
Schröder is a German researcher who knows more about what is happening than she is willing to expose. She and Yul Tan have unknowingly sealed the fate of half the
flight's passengers on Flight 305. Yul Tan is a Chinese-American computer scientist who has
just made the breakthrough of a lifetime: a quantum internet capable of transmitting
more data, farther, faster than ever thought possible. His invention, however,
does much more than he ever dreamed possible.
The last character of note, is Grayson Shaw, the son of Oliver North Shaw. Grayson grows as a character from when we first me him. His first appearance is that of an over indulgent drunk who has been taken down a notch by his own father. Grayson is the one character that changes course when he could have just given up and ran away.
A very intriguing
premise to the story, but then again I do like the idea of traveling to a far off future and
seeing how human nature destroys almost everything we put our hands on. I liked the twisted storyline which begs readers to hold onto their seats, for something puzzling and amazing is about to happen. The characters are far from one dimensional. They are all connected whether or not they want to be or not.
One persons actions may or may not cause permanent ripples. The question readers must ask themselves is what would you do in a similar situation. Do anything you can to get home, or try to make the best of your new surroundings? I dare say that I would be shocked, shocked I say, if there was any sequel to this story. Departure is a standalone for a reason. Nick, Harper, Yul, Sabrina, and Greyson's choices have been made. They can't exactly go back and change their minds. If you write a sequel, it would have to be from the narrative of the other survivors on the plane and I just don't see that as being necessary or imperative.
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