The Winding (Time Corrector Series Book 1)
2022 Global Book Award’s Gold Medal Winner
Honorable Mention as the top five Sci Fi-Time Travel books of 2022 by Reader’s Favorite
Finalist at American Book Fest 2023, General Science Fiction Category
Would you alter reality for love?
Morally complex, orphan, and absolute genius Vincent Abajian is hellbent to uncover all he can on Artificial Intelligence. His relentless pursuit distracts him from a traumatic childhood loss—his childhood best friend Akane was engulfed in a time-turbulence, a random rift in space and time.
But when a beautiful, temperamental, post-doctoral scientist, Emika Amari, joins his Center, everything changes. Vincent is convinced that Akane is inside the irresistible Emika. As they begin a life together, Vincent’s past and his connection with a time turbulence survivor challenge everything they’ve created and push them into a spiral of politics and conspiracy. Vincent’s silence to protect Emika threatens to tear them apart. Unknowingly, Emika is torn between what she wants and what Akane wants from her. With his newfound power, Vincent struggles with whether or not he should create another time-turbulence to free Emika from the grasp of Akane once and for all. But will tinkering with time be more destructive than anything he has ever encountered before?
“An engaging SF tale whose cause-effect plotline takes a licking and keeps on ticking…” —Kirkus
“This is definitely a science fiction story that will provoke not only questions about reality, but also about the things we carry through life, and how these things can impact our destiny.”—Steven Robson for Readers’ Favorite
“Avi Datta spins an intricate and inventive sci-fi narrative that engages the mind and merges several interesting themes: loss, love, politics, fantasy, martial arts, orphanhood, friendship, racism, artificial intelligence, and more.” —The Manhattan Book Review
“The book is closer to Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003) in dealing with matters of the heart. But just when readers might have the plot strands all decoded, a concluding twist and a surreal-vision finale turn the storyline into a dense, snarled mesh of gears and escapements. The knotty narrative is captivating in stretches…” —Kirkus
“Datta enlivens his protagonists’ lives with captivating detail, making them remain richly engaging for the reader…An intelligent, transporting time-travel tale brimming with music, ideas, emotion, imagination, and possibility. This is a stunner” —The BookView Review
“Ingenious plot… felt like watching a great movie… The Winding is a masterpiece, so far the best science fiction book I’ve ever read…”—Keith Mbuya of Reader’s Favorite
“Suspenseful…Kept me glued to the book. The plot was arranged so perfectly that it was easy to understand, even when the author used flashbacks.”—Online Book Club
“The Winding is an innovative science fiction tale that mixes action with deep introspection to create an engaging and surprising narrative.”—San Francisco Book Review
“A compelling, extraordinarily readable book… The cliffhanger ending will raise readers’ fervor for the next installment. Datta is an author to watch…” —The Prairies Book Review
“The Winding succeeds in holding adventurous readers in thrall with a fast-paced storyline, a strong narrative voice, and polished prose that often is touched with beauty…”—BookLife
“This is the kind of sci-fi story that like-minded readers will talk about in their circles for its intelligent plotting, stunning imagery, and larger-than-life characters. And for that, The Winding is an absolute must-read.” —Vincent Dudlado for Readers’ Favorite
“You find yourself glued to the pages as the reveals keep churning out with each turn of the page….With an intricate plot and some creative concepts incorporated seamlessly into the narrative, author Avi Datta weaves an engaging sci-fi tale that is bound to woo readers who love stories based on time travel and alternate realities.” —Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite
“The Winding is an intricately detailed story full of emotion. It also makes the improbable seem possible. However, what really stands out is not just how well the plot is constructed with all of its connections but how deeply the characters connect to one another…If you just love great stories, this is a must read book.” —Adam Wright for Reedsy Discovery