Humans took delight in so many petty joys. If only they knew how haphazardly the universe functioned.

–The Goddess, Time, Serving Time, Ch. 8, Paragraph 4.

God and his angels have skipped out on the universe, leaving the Goddess Time and demons to run everything. This is the backdrop of the space odyssey “Serving Time” By Nadine Ducca.

“Serving Time” is a mix of Sci Fi and Fantasy, with a sprinkling of Philosophy and a dash of Dark Comedy. Does this Science Fantasy work? Let’s take a look.

Cover: B+

I’m judging only the 2nd edition’s cover. The cover is a decent Sci Fi cover, but I’m not sure if it is the best cover to represent the story. The woman in the background, I assume, is the Goddess Time. She looks nothing like she is described in the book, nor does she appear to be the supreme master of the universe. The ship, though eye-catching, is generic and doesn’t look like any vehicle described in the book. It’s a good cover, but it could be better.

Title: A

The Title is distinctive. I looked on various searches and if this book was not listed first, it was listed near the top. I don’t think a marketing team would have suggested anything better. Besides, the title fits the book perfectly.

On to content.

Plot: B+

For the most part the book stays on course and is engaging, but it does take some time to get going. Part of the reason for this is all the world building and character introductions in the early chapters of the book. While necessary and enjoyable, the early chapters could have been tightened to flow a bit better with the rest of the story.

Don’t let the slower pace in the early chapters dissuade you from picking this book up. The set up and characters are interesting enough that you might not even notice the slower pace.

Once the plot does get going, the story is a page turner making you wonder how the main characters will escape. Ducca is delightfully merciless to her characters. She does not let up until the end.

The one final issue is the story ends on a cliffhanger. Believe it or not, it fits the story perfectly, yet it would have been nice to have a more complete ending. Still, this is book one of “The Timemakers Trilogy” so that ending will come in time.

Characters: A

The Characters are the gems of this book. Watching them go through their trials is what makes it all worth the read.

The story centers around the Cross brothers: Tristan and Eneld. They were reborn together for the purpose of saving Tristan’s immortal soul. The book begins with Tristan as a reluctant assassin with lots of blood on his hands. Yeah, the saving of Tristan’s soul thing isn’t working out too well. Which is really bad because, it turns out, this life is his soul’s last chance for redemption. At least, when he gets back with his brother he is no longer an assassin. Instead he’s a THC brownie delivery boy.

Eneld chose to be Stan’s brother to help get him on the right path in this life. When Stan find’s him again he is a drug addict and womanizer. And he’s supposed to be the good one.

No wonder Tristan is going to hell.

The brothers are a mess but they are a fun mess to read about. I found myself caring a great deal for this murderer turned space travelling drug dealer and his druggie, engineer brother. Things take a turn for the worse when Tristan decides it’s time to turn over a new leaf and leave the drug foods business. His company disagrees and implants a brainwashing chip in his head, making him love his company and his spaceship. From that point on it becomes a race to get Tristan back to Earth to save his life, mind, and soul.

And it only gets worse from there.

On their journey, they are watched over by the master of the Universe, the Goddess Time herself. Time seems to blame Tristan’s faults on herself and wishes for his redemption. A rare flaw in her otherwise perfectly inflated ego. But she did take over running the universe when God left, so she is allowed her hubris.

Time sends out her servant Robert Westbook, the Demon Master and Necromancer, to find the brothers and bring them to her. Robert is jealous of Time’s interest in Tristan and is greedy for power. He came into Time’s service by offering her cream to smooth out her wrinkles, preventing spacefaring races from abusing them. In exchange she gave Robert one of her hairs, which he swallowed making him practically immortal.

The interaction between Time and Robert is wonderful and shows how messed up the Universe really is.

The book features: demons, cyborgs, androids, a rat-brain powered robot, crazy intergalactic colonists, wacky scientists, and Lucifer(Lucy) himself. All of them are trying their best, or worst, in a universe that is off the rails.

Which leads us to…

World building/Setting: A-

As the opening quote suggests the Universe is a mess. The God, Logos, set up the forge to make all mortal beings and gave all the true selves(souls) guardian keepers (angels) to guide them. He then made demons to devour all the faulty true selves and the devil to control the demons. After that he made the goddesses of Time: Past, Present(the Goddess who is running the universe), and Future. After he created this perfect balance, for no reason, he and the guardians left, leaving Time, the Devil, and his demons holding the bag.

The setting itself could make an interesting story and I hope later books will go into more depth about the history of the Universe. Fortunately, not only is the setting of the story clear, it weaved into the narrative naturally not overwhelming the reader. This setting enhances the plot and heightens the conflicts for all the characters.

I look forward to reading more about the Universe of this story.

Themes: A

This story gives a satirical look at life, God, time, religion, the universe, reincarnation, good and evil, fate, demons, space travel, space colonization, human relations, and many more topics you could find in any college philosophy or sociology class. All of these topics are laced delicately within the narrative allowing the reader to be entertained and yet to think over the topics presented. And even if the reader does not agree with the ideas suggested by the story, the thought experiment presented by the tale leaves the reader with a fulfilling experience.

Grammar/Style/Word usage: A

This is one of the best edited books I’ve read by a self-published author.

Price/Availability: A

At $2.99 this book is a bargain. It is available on Nook and Kindle.

Overall Grade: A-

This quirky Science Fantasy adventure is a joy to read. You will not regret adding this gem to your collection.

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