Recursion

This is a screenplay written as a novel. Or, this is what happens when a screenwriter renders his blockbuster idea in prose. Unfortunately what happens is the dialogue is usually wooden and overly-straightforward, without a shred of nuance; any sort of plot exegesis is delivered offhand and matter-of-fact. Scenes occurs at breakneck pace. Settings blur past the camera...you get the idea. Maybe this is normal for the genre: epic (sort-of)-sci-fi thriller? I've never read a Jack Reacher novel before...

Thankfully time travel is not approached with the intent of deliberately confusing the reader. Timelines split, things repeat, but the reader may rest assured that any of these threads can be plausibly abandoned at any time, if the plot so calls for it. Which means you don't have to keep it all in your head as the plot progresses.

It would be chauvinistic to suggest this is bad writing, cinema-as-a-novel, so I won't, but also because it isn't. The plot is extremely fluid and interesting and engaging; the romance and trauma genuinely heartrending. But everything else feels flat, rendered in 2D, without any of the depth I have come to expect from the format. (In all likelihood I am projecting my dissatisfaction, in a way, with the poor quality of modern cinema onto this poor novel. Sorry)