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Up the Line
Time travel spelled problems for the couriers of the Time Service. Shuttling backwards and forwards over the centuries they had to be wary of creating paradoxes - like meeting themselves watching the sack of Rome, or sleeping with their own ancestors.
Of course, it also gave them the chance to amass wealth by the discreet use of their prior knowledge. The penalties were fierce and the Time Police implacable in their pursuit of lawbreakers. But it was still worth taking the risk.
Jud Elliot took it when he met the marvellous transemporal paradox called the Pulcheria. He couldn't resist her charms - the effects spanned generations, and set the Time Police on his trail!
Of course, it also gave them the chance to amass wealth by the discreet use of their prior knowledge. The penalties were fierce and the Time Police implacable in their pursuit of lawbreakers. But it was still worth taking the risk.
Jud Elliot took it when he met the marvellous transemporal paradox called the Pulcheria. He couldn't resist her charms - the effects spanned generations, and set the Time Police on his trail!
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
175 people are currently reading
2009 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,339 books1,597 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
November 13, 2016
Time travel headache feels like ice cream brain freeze.
Paradox, paradox, discontinuity, paradox, transposal displacement, paradox.
Nothing for a reader to do but drink a beer and keep reading.
Robert Silverberg wrote this libidinous, vulgar carnival ride in 1969 and it was nominated for the Hugo Award. This represents my 25th Silverberg work reviewed and I have come to accept that his lasciviousness makes late era Heinlein look like a boy scout. There is just going to be sex in a Silverberg work, lots of it, and this one has all the sensitivity of a bawdy limerick, reminiscent of Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love and All You Zombies – readers of those books will instantly know what I’m talking about.
Silverberg’s protagonist is a time courier, distinct from a law enforcement time patrol – he’s essentially a tour guide. He and his guests go “up the line” meaning back into history. A fascination with and an adept knowledge of Byzantium colors Silverberg’s canon and this work characterizes that affinity as much of the novel is of history tours of Constantinople. Silverberg’s vivid description of the time is mindful of de Camp’s excellent 1941 novel Lest Darkness Fall.
Told with humor and much locker room language, but also with Silverberg’s gift for storytelling this sexist and sometimes racist story will unsettle some with its over the top vulgarity but if you’re not easily offended and enjoy a good time travel romp, a reader will enjoy.
Paradox, paradox, discontinuity, paradox, transposal displacement, paradox.
Nothing for a reader to do but drink a beer and keep reading.
Robert Silverberg wrote this libidinous, vulgar carnival ride in 1969 and it was nominated for the Hugo Award. This represents my 25th Silverberg work reviewed and I have come to accept that his lasciviousness makes late era Heinlein look like a boy scout. There is just going to be sex in a Silverberg work, lots of it, and this one has all the sensitivity of a bawdy limerick, reminiscent of Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love and All You Zombies – readers of those books will instantly know what I’m talking about.
Silverberg’s protagonist is a time courier, distinct from a law enforcement time patrol – he’s essentially a tour guide. He and his guests go “up the line” meaning back into history. A fascination with and an adept knowledge of Byzantium colors Silverberg’s canon and this work characterizes that affinity as much of the novel is of history tours of Constantinople. Silverberg’s vivid description of the time is mindful of de Camp’s excellent 1941 novel Lest Darkness Fall.
Told with humor and much locker room language, but also with Silverberg’s gift for storytelling this sexist and sometimes racist story will unsettle some with its over the top vulgarity but if you’re not easily offended and enjoy a good time travel romp, a reader will enjoy.
September 25, 2015
Up the Line: Fornicating in ancient Byzantium – shameless time travel porn
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Robert Silverberg was clearly a big fan of sex back in the late 1960s, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. But in Up the Line, he absolutely revels in it. He doesn’t miss a chance for his (all male) characters to fornicate with women at every possible opportunity both in the future and the past, in dozens of exotic time periods in Byzantium, Constantinople, Rome, etc. The act may be as old as time, but that doesn’t stop Time Courier Judd Elliot from trying to bed his great-great-great grandmother Pulcharia with a lusty enthusiasm and complete disregard for all social taboos that have existed for millenia. Sure, it’s generally a serious no-no in society to screw your ancestors, but when she is as saucy a sex-kitten as Pulcharia, well who can blame Judd? At least that is the irreverent tone this book tries to achieve, billing its main character as the “Tom Jones of Time Travel”.
The plot of the story is quite intricate and promising. Time travel is discovered in the early 21st century, and quickly develops into a thriving tourist industry. Time Couriers take small guided tours to see the most momentous moments in history, including the Crucifixion, Sermon on the Mount, assassinations of JFK, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Cezar, famous ancient wars, etc. There is even an exclusive tour of the Black Death for those perverse types who revel in mass death (don’t worry, they’re inoculated against the plague).
So our intrepid hero Judd Elliot gets recruited into the business and initially goes along with a senior Time Courier to learn the trade. There are of course many rules that need to be followed. 1) Keep interactions with people of that time period to a minimum, to avoid altering history and thus the future. 2) Avoid the numerous other time travel tourists, since major historical scenes are extremely popular. 3) Do not impregnate any women or kill off anyone, since you might alter the flow of history. That includes committing retroactive suicide by knocking off your direct ancestor. 4) Be ultra careful to avoid creating multiple versions of yourself by carefully timing the shunts up and down the line of history.
Well, as you can imagine, every one of those rules gets violated (no pun intended) over and over, and the time paradoxes start to pile up as the story proceeds, with multiple versions of different characters crowding various time periods, sometimes recognizing each other and sometimes not. And one of the biggest problems the Time Service faces is rogue Couriers who decide to profit by stealing various artifacts and coins from the past and selling it to future collectors. Or trying to set yourself up as a Wall Street tycoon by cheating the markets. Or just making your own kingdom in the jungle like Colonel Kurtz.
So the Time Service has another branch of time travel cops called the Time Patrol. Their job is to hunt down rogue time travellers and retroactively fix all the mayhem caused and restore the “real time line” back to its original state. The key conceit in Silverberg’s book is that time lines can be repeatedly edited and “fixed” retroactively, so that you can go back in time and, for instance, kill your great grandfather, but you will not instantly disappear while you are back in the past. You may have erased your future self by altering the time line, but your physical time-traveling self remains. That means that history can be altered, such as going back and killing Hitler in the cradle, but the Time Patrol routinely goes up and down the line to monitor the flow of history, and since they are outside of time they retain memory of the “main time line” and if they find alterations they will relentlessly pursue the offender, go back in time, stop them from their meddling, and punish them in the future (including termination). This keeps the Time Patrol very busy.
I didn’t pretend to understand the ever-increasing number of time paradoxes and conundrums that Up the Line presented. My approach to time travel books is that time travel is impossible, so whatever mechanism the author makes up doesn’t matter as long as the story is convincing and entertaining. Silverberg carefully explains how it is that the Crucifixion can have literally thousands of time tourists attending, disguised in period attire, including the same Time Couriers bringing group after group, without overwhelming the actual people of the time or blowing their cover. It’s pretty implausible, but still a fun idea to imagine. How many of these tourists are in disguise watching the grassy knoll, in the theater with Lincoln, in the Coliseum cheering the gladiators, watching the battle of Gettysburg, etc?
This book could have been a lot of harmless fun if it weren’t for all the incessant sex. I’m not a prude by any means, but there is such a thing as too much! Every couple of pages Judd was getting horny and rarely if ever did he have trouble satisfying himself. The women in this book are eager to rip off their clothes, jump in bed, and pleasure the male characters for hours. Seriously? This goes beyond sexist to just plain ridiculous. I’m sure that Silverberg was having fun trying to push the boundaries of the newly-liberated times, but it feels very dated and embarrassing to read now.
Up the Line reminded me of the books of Piers Anthony back in junior high school (Xanth, Apprentice Adept, Incarnations of Immortality), and Robert Heinlein’s creepy tributes to mother-xxxxxxx, Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. I blundered into those books as an innocent teen, and have regretted reading them ever since.
Robert Silverberg is a venerable SF grandmaster and I’ve been enjoying his best works from that period recently. Who would have thought he could deliver schlock like this? In a world where Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are household names, where sex is just another commodity peddled by popular culture, I still felt disturbed by the shameless raunchiness of Up the Line. There are some passages that have to be exposed to the light of day to be believed, and this book was published in 1969! Here are some dreadful examples (there are worse, actually) which made me cringe:
She didn’t seem like my great-great-grandmother. She was lush, fertile, abundant. It was lust at first sight. I felt a familiar tickling in the scrotum. I longed to rip away her clothing and sink myself deep…
To ease my rage and anguish, I dropped down on my bed and rammed myself into her. She was a little startled, but began to cooperate once she realized what was up. I came in half a minute and left her to finished off by…
But there came a point where Silverberg simply crossed the line and decided that pedophilia is a legitimate subject matter for a humorous sci-fi romp, which made me want to throw up. I will quote it here but keep in mind I do NOT condone it in any way:
Just then, a sleepy and completely naked five-year old girl came out of one of the bedrooms. How sweet, I thought, that saucy little rump, how clean little girls always look when then they are naked, before puberty messes them up.
What more can you say? This ruined the whole book completely for me, and I returned it to Audible for a refund (promptly granted). Silverberg is a prolific and accomplished writer, but this may be one of his worst moments. Consider yourselves warned!
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Robert Silverberg was clearly a big fan of sex back in the late 1960s, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. But in Up the Line, he absolutely revels in it. He doesn’t miss a chance for his (all male) characters to fornicate with women at every possible opportunity both in the future and the past, in dozens of exotic time periods in Byzantium, Constantinople, Rome, etc. The act may be as old as time, but that doesn’t stop Time Courier Judd Elliot from trying to bed his great-great-great grandmother Pulcharia with a lusty enthusiasm and complete disregard for all social taboos that have existed for millenia. Sure, it’s generally a serious no-no in society to screw your ancestors, but when she is as saucy a sex-kitten as Pulcharia, well who can blame Judd? At least that is the irreverent tone this book tries to achieve, billing its main character as the “Tom Jones of Time Travel”.
The plot of the story is quite intricate and promising. Time travel is discovered in the early 21st century, and quickly develops into a thriving tourist industry. Time Couriers take small guided tours to see the most momentous moments in history, including the Crucifixion, Sermon on the Mount, assassinations of JFK, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Cezar, famous ancient wars, etc. There is even an exclusive tour of the Black Death for those perverse types who revel in mass death (don’t worry, they’re inoculated against the plague).
So our intrepid hero Judd Elliot gets recruited into the business and initially goes along with a senior Time Courier to learn the trade. There are of course many rules that need to be followed. 1) Keep interactions with people of that time period to a minimum, to avoid altering history and thus the future. 2) Avoid the numerous other time travel tourists, since major historical scenes are extremely popular. 3) Do not impregnate any women or kill off anyone, since you might alter the flow of history. That includes committing retroactive suicide by knocking off your direct ancestor. 4) Be ultra careful to avoid creating multiple versions of yourself by carefully timing the shunts up and down the line of history.
Well, as you can imagine, every one of those rules gets violated (no pun intended) over and over, and the time paradoxes start to pile up as the story proceeds, with multiple versions of different characters crowding various time periods, sometimes recognizing each other and sometimes not. And one of the biggest problems the Time Service faces is rogue Couriers who decide to profit by stealing various artifacts and coins from the past and selling it to future collectors. Or trying to set yourself up as a Wall Street tycoon by cheating the markets. Or just making your own kingdom in the jungle like Colonel Kurtz.
So the Time Service has another branch of time travel cops called the Time Patrol. Their job is to hunt down rogue time travellers and retroactively fix all the mayhem caused and restore the “real time line” back to its original state. The key conceit in Silverberg’s book is that time lines can be repeatedly edited and “fixed” retroactively, so that you can go back in time and, for instance, kill your great grandfather, but you will not instantly disappear while you are back in the past. You may have erased your future self by altering the time line, but your physical time-traveling self remains. That means that history can be altered, such as going back and killing Hitler in the cradle, but the Time Patrol routinely goes up and down the line to monitor the flow of history, and since they are outside of time they retain memory of the “main time line” and if they find alterations they will relentlessly pursue the offender, go back in time, stop them from their meddling, and punish them in the future (including termination). This keeps the Time Patrol very busy.
I didn’t pretend to understand the ever-increasing number of time paradoxes and conundrums that Up the Line presented. My approach to time travel books is that time travel is impossible, so whatever mechanism the author makes up doesn’t matter as long as the story is convincing and entertaining. Silverberg carefully explains how it is that the Crucifixion can have literally thousands of time tourists attending, disguised in period attire, including the same Time Couriers bringing group after group, without overwhelming the actual people of the time or blowing their cover. It’s pretty implausible, but still a fun idea to imagine. How many of these tourists are in disguise watching the grassy knoll, in the theater with Lincoln, in the Coliseum cheering the gladiators, watching the battle of Gettysburg, etc?
This book could have been a lot of harmless fun if it weren’t for all the incessant sex. I’m not a prude by any means, but there is such a thing as too much! Every couple of pages Judd was getting horny and rarely if ever did he have trouble satisfying himself. The women in this book are eager to rip off their clothes, jump in bed, and pleasure the male characters for hours. Seriously? This goes beyond sexist to just plain ridiculous. I’m sure that Silverberg was having fun trying to push the boundaries of the newly-liberated times, but it feels very dated and embarrassing to read now.
Up the Line reminded me of the books of Piers Anthony back in junior high school (Xanth, Apprentice Adept, Incarnations of Immortality), and Robert Heinlein’s creepy tributes to mother-xxxxxxx, Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. I blundered into those books as an innocent teen, and have regretted reading them ever since.
Robert Silverberg is a venerable SF grandmaster and I’ve been enjoying his best works from that period recently. Who would have thought he could deliver schlock like this? In a world where Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are household names, where sex is just another commodity peddled by popular culture, I still felt disturbed by the shameless raunchiness of Up the Line. There are some passages that have to be exposed to the light of day to be believed, and this book was published in 1969! Here are some dreadful examples (there are worse, actually) which made me cringe:
She didn’t seem like my great-great-grandmother. She was lush, fertile, abundant. It was lust at first sight. I felt a familiar tickling in the scrotum. I longed to rip away her clothing and sink myself deep…
To ease my rage and anguish, I dropped down on my bed and rammed myself into her. She was a little startled, but began to cooperate once she realized what was up. I came in half a minute and left her to finished off by…
But there came a point where Silverberg simply crossed the line and decided that pedophilia is a legitimate subject matter for a humorous sci-fi romp, which made me want to throw up. I will quote it here but keep in mind I do NOT condone it in any way:
Just then, a sleepy and completely naked five-year old girl came out of one of the bedrooms. How sweet, I thought, that saucy little rump, how clean little girls always look when then they are naked, before puberty messes them up.
What more can you say? This ruined the whole book completely for me, and I returned it to Audible for a refund (promptly granted). Silverberg is a prolific and accomplished writer, but this may be one of his worst moments. Consider yourselves warned!
June 20, 2024
Entre 3 y 3,5 ⭐
Novela de viajes en el tiempo que no está mal. No es ni la mejor que he leído sobre el tema ni la que más me ha gustado de Silverberg, pero tiene a su favor un enfoque original que, desde entonces, se ha llevado más veces a la literatura y al cine.
Año 2059. Los viajes en el tiempo son una realidad y un negocio. Los ciudadanos pueden contratar viajes turísticos al pasado bajo supervisión. Para ello el estado ha creado dos tipos de estructuras. Los guías temporales que acompañan a los turistas en sus viajes y la patrulla temporal, encargada de cuidar que el pasado no sufra alteraciones.
Jud Elliot, un joven de futuro incierto, con estudios especializados en Bizancio, se alista como guía temporal, trabajo que aprovechará para buscar a sus antepasados. Hasta aquí la sinopsis.
¿Qué destaco del libro?
Está escrito con el estilo que caracteriza al autor. Una prosa directa, fluida, sin florituras, con reflexiones interesantes y algunos toques de humor. La novela no es muy extensa, poco más de doscientas páginas y se lee bien.
El enfoque es original. Silverberg fue el primero en acuñar la figura del turista temporal, que tanto juego ha dado después tanto en la literatura como en el cine. Junto a lo anterior, el autor se plantea qué podría ocurrir si se pudiera viajar en el tiempo. Como respuesta a esta pregunta desarrolla una teoría de paradojas temporales que están muy bien planteadas. La paradoja de la acumulación, la de la duplicación, etc. De lo mejor que tiene el libro.
El principio de la trama, en la que nos presenta la sociedad del 2059, el aprendizaje de Jud como guía y las paradojas temporales. Esa parte es entretenida y engancha.
La ambientación de los viajes en el Bizancio medieval. En una novela de tan corta extensión los viajes por la época nos dan una visión bastante ajustada.
Tanto el protagonista, Jud, como alguno de los personajes secundarios, Capistrano, Metaxas y Sam, están francamente bien.
El final, como resultado de la acumulación de paradojas. Inteligente y bien llevado.
¿Y qué me ha fallado?
El libro carece del efecto sorpresa. Desde el principio sabemos de los amoríos entre Jud y su antepasada, Pulcheria, y de que la cosa ha provocado problemas. Por otro lado desde que Jud empieza a ejercer como guía y hasta que comienza el desenlace, hay como un 50% de trama en la que este se limita a viajar y poco más. Da la impresión de no avanzar y se hace lento.
Silverberg no es autor que pierda tiempo con explicaciones científicas. Eso va a favor del ritmo, pero también deja muchas preguntas sin respuesta. En este caso me hubiera gustado saber más acerca del funcionamiento del crono, la máquina que utilizan para los saltos temporales.
La obsesión con el sexo, que es una constante durante toda la novela. Entendámonos, no se trata de escenas continuas de sexo explícito, que no las hay, pero tampoco se pueden leer cinco renglones sin que aparezca el tema. Al hilo de ello, hay dos escenas/comentarios que implican a menores y que me han resultado sumamente desagradables. Por muy desinhibida y liberada que sea la sociedad futura que imaginó Silverberg, en ese aspecto se ha pasado mucho de frenada.
En conclusión, una novela de viajes en el tiempo, que se ha convertido en un clásico por su enfoque original, aunque a mí no ha terminado de convencerme.
Novela de viajes en el tiempo que no está mal. No es ni la mejor que he leído sobre el tema ni la que más me ha gustado de Silverberg, pero tiene a su favor un enfoque original que, desde entonces, se ha llevado más veces a la literatura y al cine.
Año 2059. Los viajes en el tiempo son una realidad y un negocio. Los ciudadanos pueden contratar viajes turísticos al pasado bajo supervisión. Para ello el estado ha creado dos tipos de estructuras. Los guías temporales que acompañan a los turistas en sus viajes y la patrulla temporal, encargada de cuidar que el pasado no sufra alteraciones.
Jud Elliot, un joven de futuro incierto, con estudios especializados en Bizancio, se alista como guía temporal, trabajo que aprovechará para buscar a sus antepasados. Hasta aquí la sinopsis.
¿Qué destaco del libro?
Está escrito con el estilo que caracteriza al autor. Una prosa directa, fluida, sin florituras, con reflexiones interesantes y algunos toques de humor. La novela no es muy extensa, poco más de doscientas páginas y se lee bien.
El enfoque es original. Silverberg fue el primero en acuñar la figura del turista temporal, que tanto juego ha dado después tanto en la literatura como en el cine. Junto a lo anterior, el autor se plantea qué podría ocurrir si se pudiera viajar en el tiempo. Como respuesta a esta pregunta desarrolla una teoría de paradojas temporales que están muy bien planteadas. La paradoja de la acumulación, la de la duplicación, etc. De lo mejor que tiene el libro.
El principio de la trama, en la que nos presenta la sociedad del 2059, el aprendizaje de Jud como guía y las paradojas temporales. Esa parte es entretenida y engancha.
La ambientación de los viajes en el Bizancio medieval. En una novela de tan corta extensión los viajes por la época nos dan una visión bastante ajustada.
Tanto el protagonista, Jud, como alguno de los personajes secundarios, Capistrano, Metaxas y Sam, están francamente bien.
El final, como resultado de la acumulación de paradojas. Inteligente y bien llevado.
¿Y qué me ha fallado?
El libro carece del efecto sorpresa. Desde el principio sabemos de los amoríos entre Jud y su antepasada, Pulcheria, y de que la cosa ha provocado problemas. Por otro lado desde que Jud empieza a ejercer como guía y hasta que comienza el desenlace, hay como un 50% de trama en la que este se limita a viajar y poco más. Da la impresión de no avanzar y se hace lento.
Silverberg no es autor que pierda tiempo con explicaciones científicas. Eso va a favor del ritmo, pero también deja muchas preguntas sin respuesta. En este caso me hubiera gustado saber más acerca del funcionamiento del crono, la máquina que utilizan para los saltos temporales.
La obsesión con el sexo, que es una constante durante toda la novela. Entendámonos, no se trata de escenas continuas de sexo explícito, que no las hay, pero tampoco se pueden leer cinco renglones sin que aparezca el tema. Al hilo de ello, hay dos escenas/comentarios que implican a menores y que me han resultado sumamente desagradables. Por muy desinhibida y liberada que sea la sociedad futura que imaginó Silverberg, en ese aspecto se ha pasado mucho de frenada.
En conclusión, una novela de viajes en el tiempo, que se ha convertido en un clásico por su enfoque original, aunque a mí no ha terminado de convencerme.
March 15, 2013
Let's keep this simple....
1) This book has not aged well. It's almost laughable today, but maybe it seemed trendy back in the 60's.
2) The amount of sex in this book is really very unfortunate.
3) The historical descriptions make the book of interest, but are also a bit dry.
4) The plot doesn't really make an appearance until the last 20% of the book or so. Things pick up quite a bit. It tempted me to rate this book one star higher, but I have resisted.
5) The time travel gimmickry may have been cutting-edge back in the day, but today's audience is a bit more savvy. We've seen this on tv so often... but done better.
6) Oh, and the amount of sex is really a shame.
1) This book has not aged well. It's almost laughable today, but maybe it seemed trendy back in the 60's.
2) The amount of sex in this book is really very unfortunate.
3) The historical descriptions make the book of interest, but are also a bit dry.
4) The plot doesn't really make an appearance until the last 20% of the book or so. Things pick up quite a bit. It tempted me to rate this book one star higher, but I have resisted.
5) The time travel gimmickry may have been cutting-edge back in the day, but today's audience is a bit more savvy. We've seen this on tv so often... but done better.
6) Oh, and the amount of sex is really a shame.
August 29, 2020
Una bogeria canalla de paradoxes temporals molt divertida i paròdica, situada a Constantinoble, un lloc poc habitual en què se situen històries de viatges en el temps. En certs aspectes ha envellit una mica malament i hi ha bromes i situacions que amb la perspectiva actual serien inadmissibles. Però òbviament s’ha de situar en llibre en la seua època, que era una reacció en contra dels valors puritans i catòlics que imperaven la guerra cultural, i Silverberg es va passar de frenada amb certes qüestions sexuals. Tot i així és un llibre imprescindible si t’agraden els viatges en el temps, en certs aspectes recorda molt a Back to the Future i això encara m’ha fet més gràcia.
June 1, 2025
It strikes me as curious that some of the radium-age science fiction of the 1920s or '30s has aged better than some of the New Wave speculative fiction of the 1960's and '70s. Up the Line is a time-travel comedy, cleverly examining some of the potential paradoxes and problems of visiting the past, such as encountering yourself or how many tourists would want to visit popular destinations like the Crucifixion. (Aside: Remember the episode of Buffy where Spike says that if all of the vampires who claim to have been at the Crucifixion were actually there it would've been as crowded as Woodstock?) Anyway, it's got some well-described historical visits, and some clever time-wimey shenanigans, and it's a well-written novel, but it appeared in 1969 at the height of what was called (by Hefner, probably) the sexual revolution, and if the sex descriptions were removed from the volume, you'd probably only have a short story left. The female characters of all ages are not treated with respect; I'll leave it at that. Up the Line was serialized in Amazing Stories magazine's July and September issues in 1969,the first year that Ted White was the editor, and then appeared as a mass-market paperback from Ballantine in August of that year. It was on both the final Hugo and Nebula Awards ballots for the best novel of the year but lost both to LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. (There were a lot of good books eligible that year, including Zelazny's Isle of the Dead, Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron, Anthony's Macroscope, Brunner's The Jagged Orbit, and my vote would have gone to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.) Pretty good book depending on what you're looking for, but I'd recommend Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself instead.
May 10, 2012
I like time travel books, and so I was actually looking forward to this piece of boring, dated, sexist drivel. Oh, and I left out racist. The main character refers to his always "magnificently oiled" black friend as Sambo.
Silverberg wrote it when he was in his early thirties and it was published in 1969. Maybe he was pissed that he was just a little too old for the summer of love and all the drug-inhanced screwing he imagined went on then. In any case with Up the Line he took his always libido-heavy prose in absurd new directions. The mid 21st century is not so much sexually liberated as it is in constant rut. This is a time when pedophiles can casually admit their preferences, and a father can watch a grossly fat molester grope his thirteen year old daughter and think the experience might do her some good. His fourteen year old son, meanwhile, is frequently screwing a woman ten years his senior during the morning orientation sessions this small band of time-traveling tourists gets from their increasingly irritated guide. He's grumpy because he would rather be sneaking back another century in time to screw a distant relative named Pulcheria. (Did Silverberg get these names from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?)
The book is untroubled by plot until the last fifty pages or so. Tour groups are given two week visits to the history of Byzantium, catching all the high points of plunder, high court ceremony, and of course public rape. As a history lesson, John Julius Norwich's three volume history of Byzantium could not possibly be a tedious as the first 200 pages of Up the Line.
Up the Line was nominated by both the Nebula and Hugo. The juries that year must of been composed of adolescent boys look for jack off material,
Silverberg wrote it when he was in his early thirties and it was published in 1969. Maybe he was pissed that he was just a little too old for the summer of love and all the drug-inhanced screwing he imagined went on then. In any case with Up the Line he took his always libido-heavy prose in absurd new directions. The mid 21st century is not so much sexually liberated as it is in constant rut. This is a time when pedophiles can casually admit their preferences, and a father can watch a grossly fat molester grope his thirteen year old daughter and think the experience might do her some good. His fourteen year old son, meanwhile, is frequently screwing a woman ten years his senior during the morning orientation sessions this small band of time-traveling tourists gets from their increasingly irritated guide. He's grumpy because he would rather be sneaking back another century in time to screw a distant relative named Pulcheria. (Did Silverberg get these names from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?)
The book is untroubled by plot until the last fifty pages or so. Tour groups are given two week visits to the history of Byzantium, catching all the high points of plunder, high court ceremony, and of course public rape. As a history lesson, John Julius Norwich's three volume history of Byzantium could not possibly be a tedious as the first 200 pages of Up the Line.
Up the Line was nominated by both the Nebula and Hugo. The juries that year must of been composed of adolescent boys look for jack off material,
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September 10, 2020Sempre he tingut les meues reticències amb els llibres sobre viatges en el temps. Les paradoxes temporals exageradament enrevessades i les repetitives trames de visites al passat per intentar canviar-lo —espòiler, gairebé mai ho acaben aconseguint— em treuen bastant de polleguera. Sé que estic generalitzant i, per descomptat també tinc una llista d’honroses excepcions que, de fet, puc comptar amb els dits de la mà: La màquina del temps, d’H.G. Wells; La fi de l’eternitat, d’Isaac Asimov; «El so d’un tro», de Ray Bradbury; i Retorn al futur, de Robert Zemeckis. Per això, m’enorgulleix afegir un nou títol en la meua llista: Els vents del temps, de Robert Silverberg.
Podeu valorar el llibre i llegir completa la ressenya d'Edgar Cotes a: https://elbiblionauta.com/ca/2020/09/...
Podeu valorar el llibre i llegir completa la ressenya d'Edgar Cotes a: https://elbiblionauta.com/ca/2020/09/...
February 10, 2023
This is a time travel comedy SF from 1969 with sex, drugs (but no rock’n’roll) playing with a Freudian theme. I guess it tried to be novel, daring and progressive when it was written, but actually hasn’t aged well. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for February 2023 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The novel was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula in 1970 but lost both to The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, an immeasurably better book.
This is a story originally set in the second half of the 21st century. Time travel was invented in the late 20th century and now wealthy tourists can travel with guides to any epoch. The narrator/protagonist is one Judson “Jud” Daniel Elliott III, a disillusioned clerk working at a job he despises but which was given to him because of political patronage. He is a bit similar to a much better-outlined protagonist of Dying Inside by the same author.
The very first page hints on Freudian issue I noted above:
Pulcheria!
Great-great-multi-great-grandmother!
…
If dark eyes and olive skin and high breasts had meant nothing to me, Pulcheria—
My love. My lustful ancestress. You ache me in my dreams. You sing to me from up the line.
He meets a Blackman Sambo Sambo “Sam the guru”, with whom they debauch a bit – just to show readers how hedonistic the world has become, where you can quickly get laid with any stranger and were race or homosexuality is not a problem, as an ad says: “Sado, maso, homo, lesbo, inter, outer, upper, downer and all the variants and deviants.” He indicated the charge plate. “Take your pick and put your thumb right here.”
After some sex and weed, Sam informs that he works with the Time Service and suggests that Jud joins, which he swiftly does. The idea of the Time Patrol, promoted among others by H. Beam Piper and Poul Anderson by the time of writing was already a classic SF trope, so the 60s answer to the Time Patrol, which is a version of the police force, is the time tourist guides, who stick to the Patrol’s rules only when they are convenient, with the attitude that “anything goes as long as you don’t get caught.” So, there is a smuggling of artifacts from the past for materially inclined and more risky stuff like bedding queens for those who would like it.
Jud is a graduate student in Byzantine history, so this is where he goes as a guide. As he studies, he finds out that all guides are a bit abnormal in the sense that they like to break rules. There is an outline of how time travel paradoxes are solved (usually by jumping before the change happened to undo it) and starts of his work with a lot of info about Constantinople thru the ages.
One of the things that haven’t aged well is sex. On a lighter note, the author goes that if in the 60s the skirts got so short then in another hundred years breasts will be open and a lusty tweaking of the nipples of a non-consenting female is ‘normal’. Much more serious is an attitude that I know from the 1920s Soviet move to ‘sexual freedom’, which meant that a man has his needs and a woman shouldn’t stick to old-time norms but satisfy these needs. The reverse hasn’t sprung into the minds of the people who promoted it. The same is here – all women are able and willing, there is no jealousy and asking for consent is superficial.
The book is a-ok, especially if a reader is fine with the fact that what seemed progressive in the 60s may be quite cringy now. I won’t recommend it as a starter glimpse at Robert Silverberg’s work, he has much stronger books.
This is a story originally set in the second half of the 21st century. Time travel was invented in the late 20th century and now wealthy tourists can travel with guides to any epoch. The narrator/protagonist is one Judson “Jud” Daniel Elliott III, a disillusioned clerk working at a job he despises but which was given to him because of political patronage. He is a bit similar to a much better-outlined protagonist of Dying Inside by the same author.
The very first page hints on Freudian issue I noted above:
Pulcheria!
Great-great-multi-great-grandmother!
…
If dark eyes and olive skin and high breasts had meant nothing to me, Pulcheria—
My love. My lustful ancestress. You ache me in my dreams. You sing to me from up the line.
He meets a Blackman Sambo Sambo “Sam the guru”, with whom they debauch a bit – just to show readers how hedonistic the world has become, where you can quickly get laid with any stranger and were race or homosexuality is not a problem, as an ad says: “Sado, maso, homo, lesbo, inter, outer, upper, downer and all the variants and deviants.” He indicated the charge plate. “Take your pick and put your thumb right here.”
After some sex and weed, Sam informs that he works with the Time Service and suggests that Jud joins, which he swiftly does. The idea of the Time Patrol, promoted among others by H. Beam Piper and Poul Anderson by the time of writing was already a classic SF trope, so the 60s answer to the Time Patrol, which is a version of the police force, is the time tourist guides, who stick to the Patrol’s rules only when they are convenient, with the attitude that “anything goes as long as you don’t get caught.” So, there is a smuggling of artifacts from the past for materially inclined and more risky stuff like bedding queens for those who would like it.
Jud is a graduate student in Byzantine history, so this is where he goes as a guide. As he studies, he finds out that all guides are a bit abnormal in the sense that they like to break rules. There is an outline of how time travel paradoxes are solved (usually by jumping before the change happened to undo it) and starts of his work with a lot of info about Constantinople thru the ages.
One of the things that haven’t aged well is sex. On a lighter note, the author goes that if in the 60s the skirts got so short then in another hundred years breasts will be open and a lusty tweaking of the nipples of a non-consenting female is ‘normal’. Much more serious is an attitude that I know from the 1920s Soviet move to ‘sexual freedom’, which meant that a man has his needs and a woman shouldn’t stick to old-time norms but satisfy these needs. The reverse hasn’t sprung into the minds of the people who promoted it. The same is here – all women are able and willing, there is no jealousy and asking for consent is superficial.
The book is a-ok, especially if a reader is fine with the fact that what seemed progressive in the 60s may be quite cringy now. I won’t recommend it as a starter glimpse at Robert Silverberg’s work, he has much stronger books.
September 25, 2020
Si s'haguessin descobert els viatges en el temps, estic segura que, tal com passa en aquest llibre, els farien servir les persones riques per fer turisme. La novel·la de Silverberg planteja unes paradoxes interessantíssimes, també m'ha agradat que sigui un llibre molt fresc i lleuger. Però a mi m'ha provocat moltes contradiccions, totes les dones que hi apareixen són només objectes sexuals que serveixen per satisfer les "necessitats" dels homes, tant si elles volen com si no. Entenc que el context en el qual es va escriure és molt diferent del meu, però m'ha fet sentir molt incòmode. També se m'ha fet pesat com l'autor es recrea en la història, tot i que potser això és perquè jo la d'aquell territori la conec poc i els salts en el temps feien que els esdeveniments no tinguessin sentit al meu cap.
November 12, 2012
A peculiar book, containing some delightful time-travel shenanigans and some of the very best science fictional handwaving and lampshading ever written about the paradoxes involved. Truly, that section of the book is a glory and a wonder. Up the Line is also very, very much of its time in one unfortunate fashion-- its women are furniture. A scene in which the narrator angrily forces sex with a semi-willing woman is uncomfortable enough, but the way in which an adult male pedophile's constant physical overtures to a 12-year-old girl are painted as a sort of merely comical nuisance to both the narrator and the girl's father (!) is just unsavory as hell.
November 7, 2012
It was good. It was real good. Really really good. You know my favorite thing about reading time-travel books is the paradoxes. I like a good yarn with a lot of temporal paradoxes. And this had a lot of those.
It also had a lot more Greek history than I cared to know. Really, he beat the shit out of me with the tours, going too deeply into what the tour guides were teaching. Okay, Mr. Silverberg, we get it. You know your Byzantium history. Impressive, and I do love history. But not in this context, and not in the middle of a temporal tale.
Written in the late 60s, this was quite well versed. He didn't encounter enough high-tech situations to reveal himself as anachronistic in and of himself. He didn't, in other words, need to know the future tech he wrote about. It therefore stands out as a solid novel, and - seriously, no pun intended - stands the test of time. It really does hold up well. I will enjoy reading this one again in the future. There I go again. Wow. I think I'll just skip the history lessons next time.
Oh, and as a side note - this guy talks about breasts more than I do. Every female character he introduces must go through the same descriptive net. He must describe how beautiful she is, and what her breasts look like. And the protagonist, Jud, sleeps with more women than the hero in a romance novel. "She jumped on the bed and said 'I'm drunk, do me!' so I did her." Yeah. It's ludicrous.
It also had a lot more Greek history than I cared to know. Really, he beat the shit out of me with the tours, going too deeply into what the tour guides were teaching. Okay, Mr. Silverberg, we get it. You know your Byzantium history. Impressive, and I do love history. But not in this context, and not in the middle of a temporal tale.
Written in the late 60s, this was quite well versed. He didn't encounter enough high-tech situations to reveal himself as anachronistic in and of himself. He didn't, in other words, need to know the future tech he wrote about. It therefore stands out as a solid novel, and - seriously, no pun intended - stands the test of time. It really does hold up well. I will enjoy reading this one again in the future. There I go again. Wow. I think I'll just skip the history lessons next time.
Oh, and as a side note - this guy talks about breasts more than I do. Every female character he introduces must go through the same descriptive net. He must describe how beautiful she is, and what her breasts look like. And the protagonist, Jud, sleeps with more women than the hero in a romance novel. "She jumped on the bed and said 'I'm drunk, do me!' so I did her." Yeah. It's ludicrous.
January 21, 2013
I'm starting to think that, sometimes, 1950s SF holds up better than 1960s SF, especially the 1960s SF that extrapolates the society of the swingin' generation into a future that's full of tie-dye, love-ins and general grooviness, babe.
Sadly, 'Up the Line' suffers from this. I say 'sadly' because when I first read this book (in the mid-1970s ...) I enjoyed it immensely. On this re-reading, I find that the years haven't been kind to this tale. The good stuff is still good - great historical background, nice&knotty time travel paradoxes, Silverberg's usual deft characterisation, but some of the other stuff was wince-worthy, especially the race relations and some of the depictions of women. Sigh.
Sadly, 'Up the Line' suffers from this. I say 'sadly' because when I first read this book (in the mid-1970s ...) I enjoyed it immensely. On this re-reading, I find that the years haven't been kind to this tale. The good stuff is still good - great historical background, nice&knotty time travel paradoxes, Silverberg's usual deft characterisation, but some of the other stuff was wince-worthy, especially the race relations and some of the depictions of women. Sigh.
May 21, 2014
I enjoyed this book a lot, but it is not for the pious. It is an well written, clever time-travel novel, with humorous passages. Jud Elliott bails on his job as a law clerk, moving to New Orleans in 2059. He blunders into a job as a Time Courier, taking tourists "up the line" (into the past) to Byzantium, one of his few areas of interest and knowledge. His mentor Metaxas helps bring teaches Jud how to bring the past to life for tourists, but also builds himself a comfortable life in the past, risking discovery and sanction by the Time Patrol. He encourages Jud to sleep around with women in the past, leading Jud to fall in love with an ancestor. Then, Jud begins to make mistakes and paradoxes result. 4.5 stars.
September 8, 2012
read this 3 times. I generally hate sci fi but was recommended this book by a family member. though it can be offensive, the story is amazing and the mental visuals of the ancient times described are addictive. An excellent though not for everyone book. Very hard to mentally take in a lot of the paradoxes though reading it a couple times seems to make it easier. I had trouble putting this book down.
December 27, 2020
Силвърбърг има някои чудесни книги, но тази не е между тях. Тук имаме обикновена конвейерна продукция, нахвърляна набързо, за да изкара авторът някой долар. (Тъкмо с подобни полуфабрикати той си е спечелил славата на "плодовит писател".) Невзрачен етюд на тема пътуване във времето, в който чичо Боб даже не си напъва мозъка да дава някакви обяснения на парадоксите, а се измъква по допирателната с номера "аз (разказвачът) не го разбирам, ама е така". Освен това в света на Силвърбърг явно хората си нямат друга работа, освен да се плющят като зайци с който им падне. Ясно, че навремето това се е харчело (сексуална революция, разбиване на табутата и т.н.), ама в днешно време трябва да си много смотан загорял тийнейджър, за да те влече подобен тип литература. Слабичко, другарю Силвърбърг, двойчица.
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June 10, 2011Dated science fiction is hilarious. I am reminded of the "classic" stuff where a man is flying across the galaxy in an aluminum rocket-ship, chain-smoking cigarettes with a floating anti-gravity ashtray, and wearing a polyester spacesuit. I don't recall how I ended up with this paperback, but it's old. 1969. And the story is from front to back like those Austin Powers movies. This guy thought that a hundred years in the future people would still be using the stupid slang of the day. Calling each other groovy cats, having orgies, and so on. Even better he shamelessly puts himself in the fantasy as the main character- a short of stature, always hip to the scene, sexually adventurous NY Jew who just can't work for the Man. So this guy is a tour guide for time-travelling tourists that go back to watch battles, coronations, and other moments of interest. He basically bounces around history getting laid by historic babes. At one point he is pursuing his own great-many-times grandmother. A quote from page 172, "When you've jazzed one snatch, you've jazzed them all."
August 10, 2021
Una novel·la que enganxa des de la primera pàgina pel seu to desacomplexat i que juga amb intel·ligència amb les paradoxes temporals. Silverberg ens explica la història d'en Jud, un guia turístic temporal especialitzat a passejar grups per la història de l'imperi Bizantí.
L'Imperi Romà d'Orient, poc visitat en les històries de viatges en el temps, és un dels elements que atorga originalitat i personalitat a la novel·la, l'altre, la seva desinhibició en el tractament del sexe, sobretot si tenim en compte que va ser publicada el 1969. Crec que tots estarem d'acord que si algun dia podem viatjar en el temps, el personal es llençarà al timefucking (que diria en Sergi Álvarez) com si s'acabés el món. Aquesta lascívia intertemporal és tractada per l'autor amb sentit de l'humor, malgrat el to masclista que refleteixen algunes actituds de la història, i és el motor de la majoria de mal de caps amb què ha de bregar en Jud. Les picors de l'entrecuix d'uns i altres els portaran a actuar de manera irresponsable i a generar tota mena d'embolics d'allò més entretinguts mentre es van passant les pàgines i un no pot deixar de preguntar-se si el nostre (anti)heroi podrà sortir-se'n sense que arribi a intervenir la temuda Patrulla del temps, garant del continu espaitemporal.
L'Imperi Romà d'Orient, poc visitat en les històries de viatges en el temps, és un dels elements que atorga originalitat i personalitat a la novel·la, l'altre, la seva desinhibició en el tractament del sexe, sobretot si tenim en compte que va ser publicada el 1969. Crec que tots estarem d'acord que si algun dia podem viatjar en el temps, el personal es llençarà al timefucking (que diria en Sergi Álvarez) com si s'acabés el món. Aquesta lascívia intertemporal és tractada per l'autor amb sentit de l'humor, malgrat el to masclista que refleteixen algunes actituds de la història, i és el motor de la majoria de mal de caps amb què ha de bregar en Jud. Les picors de l'entrecuix d'uns i altres els portaran a actuar de manera irresponsable i a generar tota mena d'embolics d'allò més entretinguts mentre es van passant les pàgines i un no pot deixar de preguntar-se si el nostre (anti)heroi podrà sortir-se'n sense que arribi a intervenir la temuda Patrulla del temps, garant del continu espaitemporal.
November 17, 2020
Últimament em costa entrar a les històries, i aquest llibre, tot i el ritme inicial que imposa l'autor, no ha estat una excepció. Però aquesta història enganxa, i et fa patir, i rius, i t'ho passes rebé amb les aventures del protagonista i amb un final de traca et deixa amb ganes d'anar més enllà, però hauràs de ser en un altre llibre de Silverberg.
Genial.
Genial.
August 29, 2013
If anyone would have told me some weirdo from GR was going to get me to start reading more Sci-fi and actually really liking it I would have laughed in their face. But here I am, so, thank you, Hugh.
I loved this. Loved. I thought it was brilliant. I've read a lot of snarky reviews for this one and I'm not really sure why. Nobody has a sense of humor anymore? Maybe. Maybe it just takes a lot to offend me, because not one thing in this book bothered me a bit. There are also a lot of people saying this is very dated. Well. Can you imagine writing a time travel book in 1969 and coming up with half the shit in here? Genius. The paradoxes all the way through were such fun they took me by surprise. It wasn't predictable, and it was exceedingly witty. All in all an immensely readable book that I LOVED.
I loved this. Loved. I thought it was brilliant. I've read a lot of snarky reviews for this one and I'm not really sure why. Nobody has a sense of humor anymore? Maybe. Maybe it just takes a lot to offend me, because not one thing in this book bothered me a bit. There are also a lot of people saying this is very dated. Well. Can you imagine writing a time travel book in 1969 and coming up with half the shit in here? Genius. The paradoxes all the way through were such fun they took me by surprise. It wasn't predictable, and it was exceedingly witty. All in all an immensely readable book that I LOVED.
September 5, 2011
This book was selected as our monthly pick for our Time Travel Book Club on Goodreads. The book gets a little bogged down in the middle with pages and pages of Byzantine history that at times is about as exciting as reading an encyclopedia. However, the final twelve chapters make up for it. The excessive sexual content throughout the book might also turn off some readers. This book would have been just as enjoyable with a "PG-13" rating instead of "R." I'm giving this book four stars primarily based on its time travel content and its imaginative ending (which some might argue is a little unorthodox).
September 26, 2011
I like the Time Patrol element of this novel, making sure time tourists don't cause paradoxes and historical changes. I've not seen time travel approached from a tourist aspect before. I also liked the creative ending. I can't say I've seen such an ending before, so nicely done. However, I think Silverberg forgot he was writing one of his sci-fi novels rather than one of his sex novels, and made this a bit rated X in parts. The ideas behind the story get at least 4 stars, but the creepy incestuous parts take it down several notches. Ew.
August 29, 2017
В началото ми беше тъпо. Не това, което очаквах. Ако не бяха последните 50стр. щях да дам 2/5 оценка. Ще имам ревю в блога си до няколко дена!
May 30, 2023
Доста ме изкефи. Началото бе страхотно, средата ми се видя малко поразтеглена, но финалът ме отвя! Има еди куп яки моменти, доволно количество допадащ ми хумор, много горещи сцени, както и един наистина интересен главен персонаж. Сами разбирате, че тематиката на книгата е повече от интересна, а аз не всеки ден чета за пътуване във времето. По десетобалната "Назад по линията" за мен е едно солидно 8.3, като финалът много вдига оценката. Но каквото и да ви кажа, трябва със сигурност да знаете, че
April 16, 2019
After the fact, I liked the story. The paradoxes were interesting to think about. It is really a different look at time travel and the characters were entertaining. Overlook the sex talk and hubris and think about the history and what we, as vacationers are willing to put up with to get away from it all.
June 24, 2025
I know the chronology is backwards, but this book is basically what happens when a male author reads the critique of men writing women "breasting boobily down the stairs" and says "HOLD MY BEER." This book is basically nothing but Silverberg's obsession with boobs. So much 60s sexism, but throw in time-travel slave-girls and pedophilia into the mix and you get a book that has aged horribly. I'd give it one star but the prose was actually good enough that I find it hard to do; well-written, but what Silverberg chose to write about was a real, real bad idea.
edit: Nope, on second thought, any book that normalizes and belittles violence against women to this degree should be left behind by history. Do not read it. 1 star.
edit: Nope, on second thought, any book that normalizes and belittles violence against women to this degree should be left behind by history. Do not read it. 1 star.
September 2, 2016
No tenia controlada aquesta novel·la de viatges en el temps i ha estat tota una sorpresa.
La premisa és senzilla: una empresa es dedica a organitzar rutes turístiques a través de la Història. Fa gràcia que la hi hagi massificació de turistes en moments claus (la crucifixió de Crist és un descontrol) i que la màxima aspiració de gairebé tots els viatgers sigui el turisme sexual.
Després de passar el primer terç de la novel·la explicant els fonaments del viatge temporal amb una de les millors concepcions d'aquest que he llegit fins a dia d'avui, el protagonista comença a fer de guia especialitzat en Bizanci. Aquesta és la part més rutinària: no deixa d'anar amunt i avall per ser testimoni d'un grapat de fets històrics mentre fa escapades per xerrar amb un altre dels guies, que viu una segona vida a l'edat mitjana. A més, el protagonista s'encaparra amb una rebesàvia seva i perd el nord per traginar-se-la.
La qual cosa ens porta a un desenllaç dels bons: paradoxes temporals, duplicacions, línies interrompudes, multiversos i tot el que es pot esperar d'una novel·la de viatges en el temps, traçat de forma brillant per Silverberg.
Em queda un dubte, però, i a partir d'aquí, es podria considerar spòiler. Hi ha un moment en què una de les turistes s'abraona sobre l'emperador Alexis per oferir-se sexualment i aquest la mata. Jud Elliott torna al passat i ho evita. Per què no crea una duplicació, com si passa al final de la novel·la amb l'aventura de Pulcheria? Quan ell retorna a la seva línia, el seu anterior jo no té cap motiu per saltar enrere a evitar res, així que s'haurien de trobar. Crec que Silverberg diu que la Paradoxa del Desplaçament ho evita, però no em queda gaire clar, i menys veient tot l'embolic que hi ha al final de la història, on es juga precisament a això.
La premisa és senzilla: una empresa es dedica a organitzar rutes turístiques a través de la Història. Fa gràcia que la hi hagi massificació de turistes en moments claus (la crucifixió de Crist és un descontrol) i que la màxima aspiració de gairebé tots els viatgers sigui el turisme sexual.
Després de passar el primer terç de la novel·la explicant els fonaments del viatge temporal amb una de les millors concepcions d'aquest que he llegit fins a dia d'avui, el protagonista comença a fer de guia especialitzat en Bizanci. Aquesta és la part més rutinària: no deixa d'anar amunt i avall per ser testimoni d'un grapat de fets històrics mentre fa escapades per xerrar amb un altre dels guies, que viu una segona vida a l'edat mitjana. A més, el protagonista s'encaparra amb una rebesàvia seva i perd el nord per traginar-se-la.
La qual cosa ens porta a un desenllaç dels bons: paradoxes temporals, duplicacions, línies interrompudes, multiversos i tot el que es pot esperar d'una novel·la de viatges en el temps, traçat de forma brillant per Silverberg.
Em queda un dubte, però, i a partir d'aquí, es podria considerar spòiler. Hi ha un moment en què una de les turistes s'abraona sobre l'emperador Alexis per oferir-se sexualment i aquest la mata. Jud Elliott torna al passat i ho evita. Per què no crea una duplicació, com si passa al final de la novel·la amb l'aventura de Pulcheria? Quan ell retorna a la seva línia, el seu anterior jo no té cap motiu per saltar enrere a evitar res, així que s'haurien de trobar. Crec que Silverberg diu que la Paradoxa del Desplaçament ho evita, però no em queda gaire clar, i menys veient tot l'embolic que hi ha al final de la història, on es juga precisament a això.
October 13, 2012
Parts of me wanted to give this book five stars, other parts, one star, so to compromise, three seems a good bet.
This is a ludicrous book, truly, it is a bizarre and incredibly dated read which includes the best and worst of timetravel stories, often on each page.
The structure of the story is magnificent - the details, nuances and generally neat workings out of some of the most complex parts of timetravel tales are the highlight of this. Really, it's not easy to construct this kind of thing so well, and to dip through history with such ease. I much prefer Silverberg's timetravel novels that stick with this excellence, rather than painting it with the colours this does.
The main character's desire to bang a distant descendent of his I found completely bizarre and increasingly unpleasant, but it wasn't so much that as the fact that it felt as if even the author wasn't quite sure why he'd decided to put that bit in there, being as he's constantly trying to make it more explicable from the moment the idea crops up.
The sexism and 'casual' racism you can in considerable part put down to the age of the book and, I think, the intended characterisation of a man who's grown up in this very genetically fussy, perfection-seeking, sexually free society. It isn't particularly palatable to read now, but I'd say an author writing such a character now would caveat those aspects every bit as much as Silverberg here does the incest taboo. That said, it gets harder and harder to understand why you're reading the book when everyone you encounter is progressively gross.
January 30, 2017
Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 3/5
Raunchy.
Up the Line is an insistent confrontation with the paradoxes of time travel delivered with maximum irreverence. There were moments comical in their absurdity, but to get there the author directed many characters to take a lot of dumb, preposterous steps. That all proved a stark contrast with what turned out to be a persuasive (to my uneducated mind, anyway) historical fiction tale set in Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul.
Silverberg's iconoclasm read more as perverse delight than any sort of thoughtful inquiry. The book is heavy on the theme of "transtemporal incest" (I'll let you figure out what that means) and repeatedly features pedophilic flings with 12, 13, and 14 year olds. Our main characters delight in forcefully groping or sexually assaulting women - passersby, charges, and the mostly unconscious. All this is cast with jaunty camaraderie leaving the reader little doubt but that the author was permitting us a look into what he thought would be great fun. I didn't share in the fun.
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 3/5
Raunchy.
Up the Line is an insistent confrontation with the paradoxes of time travel delivered with maximum irreverence. There were moments comical in their absurdity, but to get there the author directed many characters to take a lot of dumb, preposterous steps. That all proved a stark contrast with what turned out to be a persuasive (to my uneducated mind, anyway) historical fiction tale set in Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul.
Silverberg's iconoclasm read more as perverse delight than any sort of thoughtful inquiry. The book is heavy on the theme of "transtemporal incest" (I'll let you figure out what that means) and repeatedly features pedophilic flings with 12, 13, and 14 year olds. Our main characters delight in forcefully groping or sexually assaulting women - passersby, charges, and the mostly unconscious. All this is cast with jaunty camaraderie leaving the reader little doubt but that the author was permitting us a look into what he thought would be great fun. I didn't share in the fun.
October 9, 2014
Garbage.
An intriguing premise, but way too much unnecessarily graphic sex. The main character is a lecher who's every female interaction is entirely sexual. He stops at incest, but otherwise not a passing thought for a woman's emotions or personality or character. Women are for men's amusement, according to him. Disgusting.
A shame, because the title concept is a rather good one. But it comes at too high a price. I stopped reading this halfway through, fed up with the gratuitous sex. Don't bother polluting your mind. Skip this one. Or better yet, do as I did, and throw your copy away. Make room for more quality material.
An intriguing premise, but way too much unnecessarily graphic sex. The main character is a lecher who's every female interaction is entirely sexual. He stops at incest, but otherwise not a passing thought for a woman's emotions or personality or character. Women are for men's amusement, according to him. Disgusting.
A shame, because the title concept is a rather good one. But it comes at too high a price. I stopped reading this halfway through, fed up with the gratuitous sex. Don't bother polluting your mind. Skip this one. Or better yet, do as I did, and throw your copy away. Make room for more quality material.
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