The Timematician

February 1, 2022
In this SF sequel, a supervillain perfects his scheme to destroy the world--but meets surprising opposition. As described in Generation Manifestation (2021), a future society consists of worker-bee DNA regulars and Supergenics. Regular teens who successfully face Testing for superpower potential are called Generation Manifestation, or Gen M. One such teen was the socially awkward misfit narrator, now a resentful adult calling himself Doctor BetterThan. He's amassed a huge collection of sophisticated weaponry in his elaborate ocean lair. His first goal is to display his utter supremacy ("Forget Gen M. I'm Gen Me") and his second is to destroy all life on Earth. Thanks to his ability to rewind and restart time, he's now able to annihilate a phalanx of superheroes, finally deploying his death ray. "I'm the only living being on the planet. I win," he crows. At first, post-apocalyptic life is everything he'd hoped for: eating unlimited Twinkies and writing his memoir. But a spoiler arrives in the formidable form of Mairī Lin Monroe, a pink, breathy-voiced robot who, with a cybernetic army, vies for planetary domination. Though an enemy, she's intriguing, and while the Doctor could just rewind time again--what would he lose by winning again? In his second Gen M novel, Bereznai makes every story element an over-the-top, operatic, and highly detailed extravaganza, from superhero-movie action scenes to a sequence that shows the Doctor gloating over his control board: "A dizzying array of toggles, switches, and dials that tease me with silent siren calls, begging me to flick and press them." The author makes the most of the Doctor's insufferable enjoyment of winning before complications rightfully ensue. The story also provides intriguing psychological reflections (why does the Doctor's helper robot so resemble his overbearing mother?) and unexpected romance. Wildly entertaining, with a thoughtful layer under all the villainous boasting and ka-pow action.

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