Review: Operation Reboot by James Hallenbeck

The future of humanity depends on returning to the past in Operation Reboot by James Hallenbeck, an imaginative time travel novel that rings with contemporary significance.

At the turn of the 22nd century, as the world spirals into chaos and barbarism, a secretive group of scientists finally unlocks the mystery of time travel. Their ambitions are risky, yet simple: travel five centuries into the past and start a new timeline for the species, one where European colonizers are prevented from spreading and slaughtering their way across America.

Upon arriving in the year 1607 in the lands of the Mohawk, the crew encounters a bewildered tribe at Broken Rock and establishes a tenuous alliance with the promise of novel goods and advanced technology in exchange for training, knowledge sharing, and manpower to make tools and weapons. From building kilns and digging latrines to introducing written language and making gunpowder, the injection of modern thinking and practices is revolutionary, but some members of the tribe are wary of this culture swapping with strange outsiders.

Little Feather is a young brave who is doubtful of his manhood, but an eager sponge for knowledge and strategy, and he forms a powerful connection with the visitors. However, his spirit journey has also warned him of a coming danger, and he wrestles with his already complicated identity as he grows into himself, while drawing ever closer to the wise Visitors from another world. As relationships deepen, bloodlines merge, sicknesses rage, and conflicts loom, more foreigners arrive on America’s shores, testing carefully forged bonds of unity and putting the Visitors’ long-term mission in jeopardy.

The time travelers came to teach, but ended up discovering just how much they still had to learn – a recurring and satisfying theme of the plot that counters the white savior or neo-colonial tropes that could have easily taken root in the prose. The story is also peppered with powerful moments of philosophical discussion about the ethics of innovation, the implicit responsibility of power, finding joy in struggle, and the balance of technology with social evolution. The spectrum of specialties in both the Mohawks and the visitors lays the groundwork for a diverse range of conversations and points of contention in the novel, from the fields of anthropology and medicine to agriculture, warfare, religion, and existential questions of dominance, sex, and love.

In an era when the sprawl of modern technology is taking the world in dangerous new directions, this is the type of dystopian sci-fi that functions as both an ideological inspiration and a dire prophecy. There has also been increasing awareness and attention towards indigenous practices of care for the environment, so the premise of this novel is broadly appealing for advocates of sustainable solutions to modern crises, and for anti-colonialists who support the growing Land Back movement.

Some sci-fi purists will note that the minimal technological exposition, without clear explanations about how time travel is achieved, or how life spans are extended, aside from some fairly vague allusions to AI and telomerase treatments. The plot also sidesteps classic conundrums of time travel, e.g., the Grandfather Paradox, with its multiple timeline explanation, but in general, the story leans closer to historical fiction than traditional sci-fi.

Fortunately, these minor critiques never overshadow this thought-provoking and immersive story, which is an exceptionally original work of time travel fiction, braided through with timely reminders of our shared humanity.