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The World That Was
Planet Earth is broken.
Civilisation was plunged back into the Dark Age when the Sun spewed forth the largest solar flare in recorded history. But amidst the ashes, a lone physicist made humanity's greatest scientific breakthrough - time travel.
A decade later, the fledgling technology is ready to send a pair of daring pioneers on a one-way journey into the past. When the portal shuts there will be no communication. And no coming back.
Even then Matilda and Harry were enthusiastic volunteers, eager to impart their futuristic knowledge so a future civilisation might mitigate the inevitable celestial cataclysm.
But when the inaugural mission goes awry in its opening heartbeats, Matilda finds herself trapped and alone in 12th Century England.
She is Chronomad One. Humanity's first time traveller.
Civilisation was plunged back into the Dark Age when the Sun spewed forth the largest solar flare in recorded history. But amidst the ashes, a lone physicist made humanity's greatest scientific breakthrough - time travel.
A decade later, the fledgling technology is ready to send a pair of daring pioneers on a one-way journey into the past. When the portal shuts there will be no communication. And no coming back.
Even then Matilda and Harry were enthusiastic volunteers, eager to impart their futuristic knowledge so a future civilisation might mitigate the inevitable celestial cataclysm.
But when the inaugural mission goes awry in its opening heartbeats, Matilda finds herself trapped and alone in 12th Century England.
She is Chronomad One. Humanity's first time traveller.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
324 pages, Hardcover
First published March 29, 2024
About the author
Jay Pelchen
1 book24 followersJay Pelchen started his working life in an Aussie chocolate shop.
At university he studied mechanical engineering and physics, though his friends always said he liked reading too much to be a “real” engineer.
He has spent his professional career working to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons, first as an analyst for the Australian Department of Defence and now at the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
The World That Was is his first novel.
Jay lives in Vienna, Austria with his wife Joti.
At university he studied mechanical engineering and physics, though his friends always said he liked reading too much to be a “real” engineer.
He has spent his professional career working to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons, first as an analyst for the Australian Department of Defence and now at the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
The World That Was is his first novel.
Jay lives in Vienna, Austria with his wife Joti.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 24, 2024
3.5 stars. I have mixed feelings about this book. Sometimes I loved it and sometimes I didn’t. I enjoyed the main character and reading about her journey. But sometimes it dragged too slow but I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know how it ended. The cover is 5 stars amazing. Just gorgeous! I will def keep an eye on this author and patiently await to see what he releases next.
March 2, 2024
First I would like to thank the author Jay Pelchen for reaching out on Goodreads and offering me the chance to have a early read of this truly awe inspiring book…
It’s the year 2037 and the earth has experienced a solar flare causing devastation and disease… hundreds of millions die… but there is hope as a lone physicist makes a scientific breakthrough and discovers the key to time travel!
Thus begins the story of the Chronomads, Harry and Matilda, trained and then sent back in time “to kickstart an early Renaissance in their timeline”. They arrive in the year 1123 with a mission to bring todays science and medicine to the King in London. Things don’t go as planned but on the journey you meet wonderful characters and you will be inspired by them!
You will feel Matilda’s triumphs and tragedies…
I looooooooooved this book! I finished it in 3.5 days and I didn’t want to stop reading even to make dinner! Such wonderful character and world development. You will be cheering for Matilda and William and the town of Holford. You will be hating on the antagonist Bishop Godfrey and his cohorts! I seriously wanted to step into the book and kick his ass! Lol 😂 Beautifully written and I truly never wanted the story to end!
Thank you again Jay!
Pick up a copy for yourself, you won’t regret it!
It’s the year 2037 and the earth has experienced a solar flare causing devastation and disease… hundreds of millions die… but there is hope as a lone physicist makes a scientific breakthrough and discovers the key to time travel!
Thus begins the story of the Chronomads, Harry and Matilda, trained and then sent back in time “to kickstart an early Renaissance in their timeline”. They arrive in the year 1123 with a mission to bring todays science and medicine to the King in London. Things don’t go as planned but on the journey you meet wonderful characters and you will be inspired by them!
You will feel Matilda’s triumphs and tragedies…
I looooooooooved this book! I finished it in 3.5 days and I didn’t want to stop reading even to make dinner! Such wonderful character and world development. You will be cheering for Matilda and William and the town of Holford. You will be hating on the antagonist Bishop Godfrey and his cohorts! I seriously wanted to step into the book and kick his ass! Lol 😂 Beautifully written and I truly never wanted the story to end!
Thank you again Jay!
Pick up a copy for yourself, you won’t regret it!
March 9, 2024
Please note.. this is a very good book. It is just very very rarely I give 5 stars.
OK.. let me begin by saying that Jay very kindly gave me an advance copy to read. However, this has not affected my rating at all, (except to say "Thanks Jay"). To be clear, the rating 4 means I really liked it. I save 5 stars for e.g. Saga of the Exiles, LOTR, and a very small number of other books which I still continue to re-read. It was a great book. I would have been more than happy to pay money for it and more than happy afterwards with the fact that I had paid money for it. Now on to the review.
TLDR: Buy the book, enjoy the book, you won't regret it.
The WTW is an interesting take on the modern-person-travels-back-in time story. Instead of a strange freak event like a storm leading to stranded time like Eric Flint, or a deus-ex-machina style of the Baron books, in this case it is because they are deliberately sending people back in time in order to boostrap progress faster. This leads to the central plot.
The trigger point on the plot was a useful one, and I found the characters believable. Jay tries to make sure that they are not overpowered, and a "Mary Sue" kind of trope. To the extent that a couple of times I felt the MC could be a little stronger, but that is just an opinion.
I loved the fact that the Author took time to work on editing, and spell checking and grammar. Lots of little things. For example... In the early stage of the book he said that a character's "Interest was piqued". It drives me CRAZY when I see lazy writing in bookes that says "their interest was peaked". Therefore that means that their interest goes down from there! .. and so does mine :-).
There are very interesting descriptions in the book, and little turns of phrase such as when he describes a couple as being almost a "fluid synchronised team". Using this and some other phrases managed to colour in the married history of that couple very well without having to resort to heavy exposition. Overall the use of language is very well done, and helps to pull you into the story.
It's very easy to read, and while I was tapping the next page screen reasonably swiftly, that was because I was enjoying the book, rather than the "oh just skip and skim the pages " that you get with a lot of other books.
The central plot moves well, and at a measured pace, the MC is both lucky and unlucky. Adversarial characters are coloured in reasonably well and I feel their characters have substance. Some of the not-exactly-adversarial-but-irritating characters were well.... irritating, but in the end that's probably ok because they are intended to be so. . It's better to have a shorter book and think.. "oh, it's over.. that's a pity" than have a longer book and think "OMG this could have been 200 pages shorter" (HP + Order Phoenix anyone? :-) )
The end of the book comes together almost a little too neatly (tiny bit), however it comes to a satisfying conclusion as a stand-alone-novel. The epilogue was a nice touch and a bit cheeky.
The writing style showed that this was a book written early in a writer's career. If I compare for example to some of the writing style of a very polished author such as the Preston Child Pendergast books which are mature but still very easy to read, it's not as nuanced. But this does not stop it still being enjoyable. If anything it makes it a little more accessible.
Where to go from here? I'm not sure. Will the Author go back to the original plot with additional time travellers in different places? There's probably more to explore but it risks being repetitive. Will the author go back to the original point and continue to walk-forward? Could be interesting if done well, but again a little risky. Or will the author have an idea for something entirely different? Either way I really enjoyed the book and will watch Jay for the next one.
Thanks Jay, time well spent
OK.. let me begin by saying that Jay very kindly gave me an advance copy to read. However, this has not affected my rating at all, (except to say "Thanks Jay"). To be clear, the rating 4 means I really liked it. I save 5 stars for e.g. Saga of the Exiles, LOTR, and a very small number of other books which I still continue to re-read. It was a great book. I would have been more than happy to pay money for it and more than happy afterwards with the fact that I had paid money for it. Now on to the review.
TLDR: Buy the book, enjoy the book, you won't regret it.
The WTW is an interesting take on the modern-person-travels-back-in time story. Instead of a strange freak event like a storm leading to stranded time like Eric Flint, or a deus-ex-machina style of the Baron books, in this case it is because they are deliberately sending people back in time in order to boostrap progress faster. This leads to the central plot.
The trigger point on the plot was a useful one, and I found the characters believable. Jay tries to make sure that they are not overpowered, and a "Mary Sue" kind of trope. To the extent that a couple of times I felt the MC could be a little stronger, but that is just an opinion.
I loved the fact that the Author took time to work on editing, and spell checking and grammar. Lots of little things. For example... In the early stage of the book he said that a character's "Interest was piqued". It drives me CRAZY when I see lazy writing in bookes that says "their interest was peaked". Therefore that means that their interest goes down from there! .. and so does mine :-).
There are very interesting descriptions in the book, and little turns of phrase such as when he describes a couple as being almost a "fluid synchronised team". Using this and some other phrases managed to colour in the married history of that couple very well without having to resort to heavy exposition. Overall the use of language is very well done, and helps to pull you into the story.
It's very easy to read, and while I was tapping the next page screen reasonably swiftly, that was because I was enjoying the book, rather than the "oh just skip and skim the pages " that you get with a lot of other books.
The central plot moves well, and at a measured pace, the MC is both lucky and unlucky. Adversarial characters are coloured in reasonably well and I feel their characters have substance. Some of the not-exactly-adversarial-but-irritating characters were well.... irritating, but in the end that's probably ok because they are intended to be so. . It's better to have a shorter book and think.. "oh, it's over.. that's a pity" than have a longer book and think "OMG this could have been 200 pages shorter" (HP + Order Phoenix anyone? :-) )
The end of the book comes together almost a little too neatly (tiny bit), however it comes to a satisfying conclusion as a stand-alone-novel. The epilogue was a nice touch and a bit cheeky.
The writing style showed that this was a book written early in a writer's career. If I compare for example to some of the writing style of a very polished author such as the Preston Child Pendergast books which are mature but still very easy to read, it's not as nuanced. But this does not stop it still being enjoyable. If anything it makes it a little more accessible.
Where to go from here? I'm not sure. Will the Author go back to the original plot with additional time travellers in different places? There's probably more to explore but it risks being repetitive. Will the author go back to the original point and continue to walk-forward? Could be interesting if done well, but again a little risky. Or will the author have an idea for something entirely different? Either way I really enjoyed the book and will watch Jay for the next one.
Thanks Jay, time well spent
March 31, 2024
The World That Was is a suspenseful and thought-provoking work of speculative fiction. It takes a refreshingly different approach to time travel than many contemporary novels in the genre do. Instead of having the time traveler (chronomad) scrupulously avoid doing anything that could unleash the Butterfly Effect and accidentally change the course of human history, this novel takes the opposite approach. Matilda, the first chronomad, is sent back to twelfth-century England to intentionally alter the trajectory of human progress by introducing as many innovations as possible. Think electric lights, flush toilets, printing presses, and telescopes!
As might be expected, Matilda’s efforts meet with suspicion and accusations of sorcery, and she quickly makes a powerful enemy. But there are also plenty of open-minded, good-hearted villagers who befriend Matilda and see the value in her teachings. The question is, can she survive long enough to fulfill her dangerous solo mission? The novel is mostly good fun but also highlights some important modern problems such as distrust in science and fear of change. I only wish the book had been proofed a bit better and that the medieval characters didn’t use blatantly modern words like “OK.” (Disclaimer: I received the Kindle version of the book in a Goodreads giveaway, and this is my honest review.)
As might be expected, Matilda’s efforts meet with suspicion and accusations of sorcery, and she quickly makes a powerful enemy. But there are also plenty of open-minded, good-hearted villagers who befriend Matilda and see the value in her teachings. The question is, can she survive long enough to fulfill her dangerous solo mission? The novel is mostly good fun but also highlights some important modern problems such as distrust in science and fear of change. I only wish the book had been proofed a bit better and that the medieval characters didn’t use blatantly modern words like “OK.” (Disclaimer: I received the Kindle version of the book in a Goodreads giveaway, and this is my honest review.)
March 19, 2024
I’ll try my best to put my feelings on this incredible book into words, though that is fairly hard in this case.
Firstly, I want to thank Jay for the early digital copy he sent out to the backers on Kickstarter; it’s only made me more excited for my physical copy, and I’m sure others feel the same.
I’ll put it simply; this book blows all of the other historical fiction I’ve read out of the water. The attention to detail Jay gives everything in the novel was great; he even managed to bring in the lack of buttons being used as fastening during that time period, something I at least would completely overlook writing something like this.
The plot is great too, as is the pacing, though I’m likely not giving them credit here.
One of the biggest things I found was Jay releasing his writing resources on his website; his Engineers method spreadsheet provided me with an idea of how I could actually go about writing a novel, when, similarly to his experience, things like NaNoWriMo didn’t work particularly well.
I realised this turned out just a tad too long, so…
TL;DR The book was brilliant, with great accuracy and good plot and pacing, can’t recommend it enough.
Firstly, I want to thank Jay for the early digital copy he sent out to the backers on Kickstarter; it’s only made me more excited for my physical copy, and I’m sure others feel the same.
I’ll put it simply; this book blows all of the other historical fiction I’ve read out of the water. The attention to detail Jay gives everything in the novel was great; he even managed to bring in the lack of buttons being used as fastening during that time period, something I at least would completely overlook writing something like this.
The plot is great too, as is the pacing, though I’m likely not giving them credit here.
One of the biggest things I found was Jay releasing his writing resources on his website; his Engineers method spreadsheet provided me with an idea of how I could actually go about writing a novel, when, similarly to his experience, things like NaNoWriMo didn’t work particularly well.
I realised this turned out just a tad too long, so…
TL;DR The book was brilliant, with great accuracy and good plot and pacing, can’t recommend it enough.
March 27, 2024
Great story with futuristic and historic themes.
Very good read and well written. I enjoyed Matilda's adventures and the way the author blended futuristic technology an education with historic background of life.
Very good read and well written. I enjoyed Matilda's adventures and the way the author blended futuristic technology an education with historic background of life.
March 27, 2024
I absolutely loved this story.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews