25. Rewinder by Brett Battles

listened to on Audible
2014 Creative Space Independent Publishing
272 pgs.
Unabridged 7:48)
YA Fantasy/Time Travel
Finished Wednesday, 4/26/16
Goodreads rating: 3.87 - 2737 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Time Travel, but much is contemporary America....sort of.....

From chapter 2:  " I read somewhere that everyone is the hero of his or her own story.  Maybe that's true for most people, but not for me.  Of all the rules we were taught before we were allowed to travel in time, one stands above all:  Don't screw anything up.
     I didn't mean to, but, well...
     Here I am, Denny Younger, destroyer of worlds.
     You wouldn't be here if not for me."

My comments:  I think this one's a five!  Every now and then I come across a book I just can't put down.  This is one of them.  What would've happened if American had always stayed a British colony?  There are really two parts to the book, and both were intense - the steps building up to the climactic changing point and what happened because of it.  I had to think clearly in order to follow all the time traveling that was going on, but I was able to do it.  I was afraid at the end I would be left hanging, but although the ending entices me to want to read the next volume, I was quite satisfied.

Goodreads synopsis:  You will never read Denny Younger’s name in any history book, will never know what he's done. 
          But even if you did, you’d never believe it.
          The world as you know it wouldn't be the same without him. 
          Denny was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his bleak fortunes abruptly change when the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruits him to be a Rewinder, a verifier of personal histories. The job at first sounds like it involves researching old books and records, but Denny soon learns it's far from it. 
          A Rewinder's job is to observe history.
          In person.
          Embracing his new duties with enthusiasm, Denny witnesses things he could never even imagine before. But as exciting as the adventures into the past are, there are dangers, too. For even the smallest error can have consequences. 
          Life-altering consequences. 
          Time, after all, is merely a reference point.