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Emma Merrigan #1
Out of Time
Emma Merrigan, long-time librarian at a Midwest University cherishes her quiet, comfortable life as a librarian for a large, Midwestern university. The last thing she wants or needs is a Capital-D Destiny, especially one that's rooted in the nightmares she's endured since childhood. But her efforts to deny that destiny take her to the brink of disaster and an unimaginable reunion with the one person who can teach her what she'll need to know to survive.
311 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2000
4 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Abbey
145Ìýbooks188ÌýfollowersLynn Abbey began publishing in 1979 with the novel Daughter of the Bright Moon and the short story "The Face of Chaos," part of a Thieves World shared world anthology. She received early encouragement from Gordon R. Dickson.
In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.
Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.
In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.
Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 21, 2008
Technically, I guess you could call this a new witch based urban fantasy series. But, for some reason, I don't want to call it urban fantasy or "new". Something about it doesn't fit my mental image of urban fantasy.
This book felt old. It came out in 2000, so it's not that old, but it still felt old. For one, the leading lady was much older than the normal urban fantasy heroines. She's in her 50's. But it was more than that. It was mentions of dusty libraries and COBOL (*shudders*) that made it feel so much more dated. You could almost smell the dust on the book.
It was a decent engaging story, but one of those forgettable ones. Not a world I want to revisit. And, in bad form, the end of the book left those unwrapped of threads taunting you to read the next book to find out what happened. That works with good books; with bad books, it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Same thing with tv cliffhangers. I've dropped some shows between seasons, even when there was a cliffhanger ending. That doesn't make up for an otherwise dull story.
Just didn't capture me.
This book felt old. It came out in 2000, so it's not that old, but it still felt old. For one, the leading lady was much older than the normal urban fantasy heroines. She's in her 50's. But it was more than that. It was mentions of dusty libraries and COBOL (*shudders*) that made it feel so much more dated. You could almost smell the dust on the book.
It was a decent engaging story, but one of those forgettable ones. Not a world I want to revisit. And, in bad form, the end of the book left those unwrapped of threads taunting you to read the next book to find out what happened. That works with good books; with bad books, it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Same thing with tv cliffhangers. I've dropped some shows between seasons, even when there was a cliffhanger ending. That doesn't make up for an otherwise dull story.
Just didn't capture me.
June 11, 2021
Out of Time by Lynn Abbey is the first book in the author’s Orion’s Children series. A friend suggested starting in the middle of the series, but my OCD brain insisted on beginning at the beginning. I found the heroine, Emma Merrigan, an interesting character. She’s in her fifties, twice-divorced, working as a librarian and leading a quiet, orderly life alone with her cats. Then she finds a box from her long-dead mother and befriends a terrified young girl and all hell breaks loose with curses, nightmares and time travel. The story unfolds very slowly. I was 100 pages in before the story really became engaging. There is a pleasantly dated feel to the book with all the talk of answering machines and VCRs. The end of the book did manage to hook me into wanting to read more about Emma.
November 26, 2014
This series was a fine series. It was neither bad nor great. Considered a contemporary fantasy series (though slightly dated from when cellphones were just starting to be used more frequently) Lynn Abbey has created an interesting universe, wasteland, and alternate realities. It was intriguing, but a little lacking in the pacing department. I enjoyed the book, but it took a while to get into each story and I only pushed through because I had little else to read and it wasn’t bad. I didn’t really relate to the main character, being slightly younger and without grown step-children (a large focus of the human side of the story). But it was interesting, and I enjoyed Lynn’s use of fantasy.
April 22, 2016
Mild mannered librarian discovers she can travel through time. Sounds more interesting than it was. The beggining was slow and the ending left too many things unfinished. Although it is the first book in a series, no where on the book does it indicate that.
June 5, 2012
OUT OF TIME by Lynn Abbey is 311 pages long in paperback form. This is #1 in Time Series.
Brief Description:
For university librarian Emma Merrigan, the world has provided a comfortable routine. her job. Her quiet apartment. Her Lie. Nothing much changes, and that 's fine by her.
But that was before Emma took in a terrified young girl hiding in the library.
And the nightmares of her childhood returned.
And The untapped powers passed down by her long-dead mother were awakened.
Now, her life is about to become anything but routine...
This was definitely a book out of my comfort zone. I saw the word time travel and thought it might be like the Gabaldon books. This was nothing like that at all. It was interesting but I think I was overwhelmed by things I didn't understand and didn't feel they were sufficiently explained. That could be because I just started to read fantasy and I am not quite certain about some of the things that go with a fantasy novel.
Emma was a very interesting character and the ending of the book made you want to find out what might happen in the next book. I am not sure if that is enough for me to try and find the next one in the series though. I just didn't realize that curses could take a form. But I guess in a fantasy world anything can happen.
I am giving this 3.5 out of 5 stars. I don't believe it was the authors fault though, I just wasn't familiar with the subject matter. I thought the story on its own was well written.
Buy now: Conniesbookshelf $3.99
Brief Description:
For university librarian Emma Merrigan, the world has provided a comfortable routine. her job. Her quiet apartment. Her Lie. Nothing much changes, and that 's fine by her.
But that was before Emma took in a terrified young girl hiding in the library.
And the nightmares of her childhood returned.
And The untapped powers passed down by her long-dead mother were awakened.
Now, her life is about to become anything but routine...
This was definitely a book out of my comfort zone. I saw the word time travel and thought it might be like the Gabaldon books. This was nothing like that at all. It was interesting but I think I was overwhelmed by things I didn't understand and didn't feel they were sufficiently explained. That could be because I just started to read fantasy and I am not quite certain about some of the things that go with a fantasy novel.
Emma was a very interesting character and the ending of the book made you want to find out what might happen in the next book. I am not sure if that is enough for me to try and find the next one in the series though. I just didn't realize that curses could take a form. But I guess in a fantasy world anything can happen.
I am giving this 3.5 out of 5 stars. I don't believe it was the authors fault though, I just wasn't familiar with the subject matter. I thought the story on its own was well written.
Buy now: Conniesbookshelf $3.99
March 14, 2009
Sort of occult-ish fantasy, like the sequel I've already read. For some reason left me not particularly wanting to read any more in the series, though I found it compelling enough at first. The first few pages, tohugh, were a textbook example of what an infodump is and why it shouldn't be done: a spew of information about her job, marriages, stepkids, most of which never came up again. As if the author wrote a bunch of notes about her character and added them to the story so she wouldn't forget. In the sequal, much of the same information showed up, but gradually, as needed, and much more interestingly, a gradual fleshing out of the character.
There was definitely something about the ending I disliked. The way it stopped. The way Eleanor was such an idiot.
There was definitely something about the ending I disliked. The way it stopped. The way Eleanor was such an idiot.
January 16, 2013
Emma, a 50 year-old university librarian, has led a fairly normal existence until the day she stumbles upon a strange box in her basement. Her real name, Merle Acalia, is written across the yellowed cardboard. Inside she finds a book of charms and spells and old letters, all left to her by Eleanor, the mother who abandoned her when she was very young. To her distress Emma becomes involved in a world of dimensions she had never imagined, a frightening world where curses take on form and must be hunted through time and destroyed lest they cause terrible suffering for those who live in the here-and-now. With reluctance Emma takes up the mantel of hunter-witch. Out of Time has a brilliant plot and intricate, believable characters.
July 13, 2020
Interesting story, though for some reason, the whole nether lands thing reminds me of zork3 and the mistlands you're in when you find the elven sword.
Regardless of that though, this is an interesting story, and I do have the other books in the series, so I'll probably read those too. Can't really summarize this book in a sentence or two, but it reminds me of several books I've read before, and all combined into a single whole. It doesn't seem like the mashup would work, but it holds together pretty well.
Just be prepared for some odd things, some interesting things, and an overall pretty well told story, and you should be all set.
Regardless of that though, this is an interesting story, and I do have the other books in the series, so I'll probably read those too. Can't really summarize this book in a sentence or two, but it reminds me of several books I've read before, and all combined into a single whole. It doesn't seem like the mashup would work, but it holds together pretty well.
Just be prepared for some odd things, some interesting things, and an overall pretty well told story, and you should be all set.
September 6, 2016
It's an interesting concept. But the book is more about Emma and who she is than the adventures she has defeating curses. If you're looking for a rip-roaring fantasy adventure, this isn't for you, but if you want to really get into the head of the main character (without first person narration), you should give it a try. It's the first of a four book series.
January 8, 2012
I had read a lot of bad reviews about this book but I read it anyway. I found it to be a refreshing on urban fiction and as a older woman myself, I did not mind that the heroine was let us say of mature years. I enjoyed the story and the writing. A well deserved 4 stars!
March 10, 2010
Magic and Librarians, what more could you want? Not a bad premise. Start of a series by one of the Thieves World co-creators/editors.
May 6, 2017
I read this. I know I read this. I honestly cannot remember a thing about it.
January 12, 2025
(rating is really 2.5 stars, but rounded up since I can't do half)
The concepts in this story are complex and fascinating but it sure takes a long time to get to them. This was the slowest slow burn I've read in a while, and it took me at least three stops and starts over the past few years to even get to pushing through on it. The book was written in 2000 but still felt really dated even in the "modern day" portions of the story.
Alternately bored or irritated by our main character, Emma didn't draw me into caring much about her disrupted world, even as the action started to step up a bit, and it was easy to set this book aside for days or even weeks at a time without picking it up again. The last 100 pages finally churned up the interest enough to get through it and is what gives the half star to the rating---without that help, I might still be trying to get this one done.
The book ends with some things unresolved, and I don't care enough to want to resolve them.
The concepts in this story are complex and fascinating but it sure takes a long time to get to them. This was the slowest slow burn I've read in a while, and it took me at least three stops and starts over the past few years to even get to pushing through on it. The book was written in 2000 but still felt really dated even in the "modern day" portions of the story.
Alternately bored or irritated by our main character, Emma didn't draw me into caring much about her disrupted world, even as the action started to step up a bit, and it was easy to set this book aside for days or even weeks at a time without picking it up again. The last 100 pages finally churned up the interest enough to get through it and is what gives the half star to the rating---without that help, I might still be trying to get this one done.
The book ends with some things unresolved, and I don't care enough to want to resolve them.
September 30, 2022
It is not badly written, and the heroine is definitely of interest. (One seldom sees a fifty year old given a prominent slot in a fantasy, even in a book.) Turns out that this book was first in a series of four books (with NO announcement anywhere on the cover) that it wasn't stand-alone. Too many loose ends - and I have just decided I am not going to hunt down the rest in this series.
December 5, 2019
This book and series are completely awesome!! Fantasy and reality bending writing presented as it never has been before. A whole new twist on the genre and I loved it. Read and enjoy!
December 28, 2023
Good, fun, interesting story of a middle aged woman who wasn't willing to believe her heritage. But eventually couldn't deny it.
August 24, 2008
couldn't finish
September 1, 2012
Now available for Kindle at $3.99.
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