The fourth and final part of the Hourglass Read-a-long is here! If you missed it, be sure to check out part one, part two, and part three!

Chapters 41-56 Discussion Questions

1) Do you think the time-travel theme was handled well? Why do you think Emerson had to be accompanied by Liam to go back and save Michael? How come – if Michael died in the past – it didn’t disrupt the time-continuum, since there were now two bodies in the lab? Finally, the chicken-or-egg situation: Emerson from the future travels to the past to give Michael the formula, but present Emerson learned about the formula through Michael – so what was first?
If you’re looking for a complex yet all around rational time-travel book, I’d recommend going to classic sci-fi books or watching a movie like Looper. This is not on that level, so what do you expect? Bottom line though, no matter how well done time travel is in any medium, there will always be issues. Now, I assume it would have been in Liam’s best interest to stay with Michael or Emerson during this whole ordeal to keep the balance of those three in the same place at the same time across all the times they went to that specific time. The two bodies question was answered in the book…and I’m hoping the last answer is dealt with in the sequel. It wouldn’t be fun if the first book in a series held all the answers, now would it?

2) What did you think of the love triangle? Both Michael and Kaleb seem to be really into Emerson, who in turn appears to be at least slightly confused about her own feelings. Do you think what Michael saw in Emerson’s future (Emerson being taken care of by Kaleb) might still come true? Or was the future once again altered by the fact that Emerson saved Michael’s life?
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…I’m not a romantic person. So, really, love triangle or no love triangle, I just found the whole lovey dovey stuff to take away from what could have been even more awesome time travel stuff. That said, I don’t believe there was a love triangle in the book. Michael and Emerson are happy together and in the event that Michael dies and there’s no bringing him back, it’s clear that Kaleb will be the one to swoop in. But I don’t see a love triangle. Kaleb is not fighting for Em’s affection and Em is not interested in Kaleb. And Michael is perfectly fine with any outcome it seems since his mind is set on the greater good. Kaleb is just a charming guy and I can’t say that I’m invested enough in this alleged love triangle to care but if the time comes, he’ll be there for Em and that’s perfectly fine. Love is love is love and all parties here seem to know and respect that.

3) The big mystery behind Jack’s character was revealed and Emerson got her real memories of the accident back. Jack possesses the ability to take away and give back memories. Do you think it’s a useful talent? If you could wipe away one or more of your own painful/traumatic memories, would you do that?
I do think that Jack’s abilities are a useful gift in the right hands. Everyone has a few memories they’d like to swipe but I’d rather keep things the way they are for the same reasons I mentioned in a similar question in an earlier Hourglass discussion post.

4) What did you think of the conclusion? Were you satisfied with the ending?
The last third of the book was as action packed as I had expected the entire book to be, so I was excited to finally get to this part. The last few chapters had a handful of twists that were fun to read through and my overall thought coming out of this is that this sure would have made a greater impression on me when I was younger. I would have gotten a kick out of this! I’m a big fan of time travel, always have been, so I do set the bar pretty high, especially as I’ve gotten older and been exposed to more time travel goodness. So I can’t say that this is one of my favorite time travel pieces but it definitely did its job for its intended audience.

To buy Hourglass by Myra McEntire, click here.