Review Tuesday: Until We Met Again by JL Peridot -- #sciencefiction #timetravel #ReviewTuesday

Until We Met Again by JL Peridot

Muscoca Media, 2025

In a future world devastated by environmental collapse, the remnants of humanity cling to a precarious existence. Burrowing underground to escape toxic sandstorms, conserving every precious drop of fresh water, consuming fungus and vat-grown protein paste, some of the survivors try to repair the present by undoing the mistakes of the past.

Qing is one of these, bound by the Lace to omniscient Origin. Leaving her body behind in a vat of nutrient gel, Qing’s consciousness follows Origin’s call to specific moments long ago where some apparently minor shift in events will reroute time into new, more favorable paths. Changing the past, though, has multiple and unexpected consequences beyond the intended remediation of apocalypse. During one such “stitch” in time, the love of her life is simply erased. No one else remembers him, but Qinq can’t forget their connection or his hypnotic eyes.

Every stitch she executes changes the world to which she returns. Memories are slippery; weren’t things always this way? Her mission is to serve Origin and the human race. What an empty victory, though, if she must accept that love is gone forever.

I have read quite a bit of science fiction, including time-travel tales. Until We Met Again has little in common with any of them. From its first paragraphs, it is fabulously original. There are no time machines here, no matter transmitters or cross-dimensional teleportation devices. This is not about matter at all, but about mind. Time itself is a mental construct. If we did not remember the past, would it exist?

JL Peridot acknowledges the frequently-discussed paradoxes of traveling in time, but presents them in an intensely personal way. She also explores the conflict between individual freedom and the common good. Qinq is ready to become an outlaw in order to reclaim her lover. Yet even her rebellion has been woven into the tapestry that is Origin.

I will not go into greater detail here regarding the plot and the resolution of this conflict—indeed, I am not sure the ending could be called a resolution. Until We Met Again is mystifying and yes, somewhat confusing. I read it twice through, but I still don’t completely understand it.

Still, I enjoyed every sentence, every phrase. The gorgeous language alternates between poetic and stark. Desire flows like a buried river beneath Qing’s reality. Reality flickers and reforms like a dream.

If you’re looking for a straightforward scifi romance, don’t buy this book. On the other hand, if you’re willing to release the need to explain everything, if you want to be challenged to think and to question your own reality, I recommend it highly.