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Tunnels door de tijd
Een intrigerende en meeslepend geschreven roman, die er mede oorzaak van was dat de Amerikaanse auteur Poul Anderson in één klap doordrong tot de kleine groep topauteurs van het SF-genre en internationaal furore maakte.
Wie is de beeldschone Storm Darroway? En wat verwacht zij van Malcolm Lockridge?
Het zijn vragen die de zojuist uit de gevangenis ontslagen Lockridge nauwelijks interesseren. Voor hem is zij immers in de eerste plaats een redder in hoge nood en al spoedig daarna - en onder wat voor onvermoede omstandigheden! - zijn minnares.
Toch zijn er mensen die haar met andere ogen bezien. De Tenil Orugaray noemen haar vol ontzag 'De Storm'. Anderen zien haar als de onsterfelijke godin die leven schenkt. Voor Brann en zijn gardisten is zij onmiskenbaar een misdadige avonturierster, een meedogenloze vijand die even meedogenloos vernietigd dient te worden.
Samen met deze raadselachtige vrouw betreedt Lockridge de tunnels van de tijd, een web van tijdlijnen dat toegang geeft tot verleden, heden en toekomst. Daar, tijdens de talrijke, gevaarvolle zwerftochten die het uiterste van zijn geest en lichaam vergen, leert hij vele aspecten van haar wezen kennen. Maar helemaal doorgronden kan hij haar nooit.
Bovendien woedt rondom hem een oorlog waarin hem, zo blijkt al spoedig, een belangrijke rol is toebedeeld. Een oorlog ook die hem dwingt een keuze te maken: voor of tegen Storm. Een keuze die niet alleen voor hem, maar ook voor de toekomst van onpeilbaar groot belang is...
Wie is de beeldschone Storm Darroway? En wat verwacht zij van Malcolm Lockridge?
Het zijn vragen die de zojuist uit de gevangenis ontslagen Lockridge nauwelijks interesseren. Voor hem is zij immers in de eerste plaats een redder in hoge nood en al spoedig daarna - en onder wat voor onvermoede omstandigheden! - zijn minnares.
Toch zijn er mensen die haar met andere ogen bezien. De Tenil Orugaray noemen haar vol ontzag 'De Storm'. Anderen zien haar als de onsterfelijke godin die leven schenkt. Voor Brann en zijn gardisten is zij onmiskenbaar een misdadige avonturierster, een meedogenloze vijand die even meedogenloos vernietigd dient te worden.
Samen met deze raadselachtige vrouw betreedt Lockridge de tunnels van de tijd, een web van tijdlijnen dat toegang geeft tot verleden, heden en toekomst. Daar, tijdens de talrijke, gevaarvolle zwerftochten die het uiterste van zijn geest en lichaam vergen, leert hij vele aspecten van haar wezen kennen. Maar helemaal doorgronden kan hij haar nooit.
Bovendien woedt rondom hem een oorlog waarin hem, zo blijkt al spoedig, een belangrijke rol is toebedeeld. Een oorlog ook die hem dwingt een keuze te maken: voor of tegen Storm. Een keuze die niet alleen voor hem, maar ook voor de toekomst van onpeilbaar groot belang is...
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Poul Anderson
1,624 books1,125 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
March 2, 2017
The Corridors of Time was first published by Poul Anderson in 1965. It concerns an imaginative approach to time travel and has as its central conflict an ageless battle between two forces: the Wardens, representing an Earth Mother set of values and mythos and the Rangers, a group who worship a mechanical ideal and through whom have influenced much of Western Civilization.
Time travel novels always leave me asking more questions about the details and what-ifs and sometimes just leave me guessing and with a headache (see Piers Anthony’s Bearing An Hourglass) but Anderson does an above average job of providing some basic concepts and then going on with the adventure.
What I liked best about this novel is Anderson’s brilliant use of history and anthropology to add valuable detail to an already exciting story. As in other novels, Anderson gives equal time to both sides of a struggle and the depth of characterization is improved by not allowing straw man, or flat, one-sided depictions. Very good.
Time travel novels always leave me asking more questions about the details and what-ifs and sometimes just leave me guessing and with a headache (see Piers Anthony’s Bearing An Hourglass) but Anderson does an above average job of providing some basic concepts and then going on with the adventure.
What I liked best about this novel is Anderson’s brilliant use of history and anthropology to add valuable detail to an already exciting story. As in other novels, Anderson gives equal time to both sides of a struggle and the depth of characterization is improved by not allowing straw man, or flat, one-sided depictions. Very good.
June 5, 2015
The Corridors of Time is my second Poul Anderson. (My first was the very impressive The Broken Sword.) And like The Broken Sword, Anderson draws heavily on what must have been an extensive knowledge of ancient Denmark (before Beowulf), mythology in general, history, anthropology, and linguistics. Also, to keep thinks humming, science fiction. Whew! That’s a lot to cram into 186 page novel. With a lesser writer all of those would have probably sank such a short novel. But Anderson sprinkles (usually) his knowledge lightly, with the characters, and their fates (important to Anderson), being the main focus.
The story starts out with former Marine, and current anthropology student (“I like primitive people”) Malcolm Lockridge, in trouble and in jail awaiting trial for accidentally killing a member of a gang trying to mug him. He is visited by a tall, beautiful, dark-haired woman who reminds him of a swimming champion or Diana the Huntress. Her name is the very cool Storm Darroway. After briefly hearing the details of Malcolm’s case, she offers legal assistance (the best money can buy), for, upon acquittal, Malcolm’s “assistance” in a dangerous task that requires a “lion” like Malcolm.
The opening is probably creakiest part of the novel, but even then it’s dominated by Storm’s presence, and Anderson’s own economy in storytelling. As you will soon see, he can cover a lot of ground (not to mention centuries) in a matter of a few pages. Malcolm and Storm enter what turns out to be an unguarded time portal, which contain these trippy sleds that glide down a “time corridor.” There is a shootout with another bunch called Rangers (who serve the Machine), and they escape into near stone-age Denmark. It’s goofy in a real Star Trek sort of way, but also violent, with smoking bodies and light pistols and such. Anderson can surprise when it comes to quick and sudden violence.
It’s at about this point that things started getting a little murky for me. Storm is considered a goddess among the various tribal types, and is high up with her own group, the Wardens. It’s here Anderson dumps what he knows about goddesses, myth, and probably the Virgin Mary. Malcolm himself is conflicted, as Storm (who often walks around naked) really seems to like him. But is he also being used? And then there’s that sweet little hippie-like stone-age chick that might be as young as 14, who Malcolm seems to take a shine to. Loving jail-bait or the Goddess? (Anderson loves having his characters, primitive or way in the future, running around naked.) As the novel went on, I found myself really invested in how this triangle would play out.
What’s harder to follow is the nature of the war between the Rangers and the Wardens, how it is fought, and Malcolm’s role in it. Also, it’s not (as it first seemed) a good guy – bad guy situation. Anderson makes things gray, as both the Wardens and the Rangers have their warts. The ambiguity, and at times confusion from the reader’s POV, is not really an obstacle to enjoying the book, as long as you don’t insist on connecting the dots and allow Anderson’s first-rate imagination to zoom you back and forth on his funny sleds. The ending is a killer.
The story starts out with former Marine, and current anthropology student (“I like primitive people”) Malcolm Lockridge, in trouble and in jail awaiting trial for accidentally killing a member of a gang trying to mug him. He is visited by a tall, beautiful, dark-haired woman who reminds him of a swimming champion or Diana the Huntress. Her name is the very cool Storm Darroway. After briefly hearing the details of Malcolm’s case, she offers legal assistance (the best money can buy), for, upon acquittal, Malcolm’s “assistance” in a dangerous task that requires a “lion” like Malcolm.
The opening is probably creakiest part of the novel, but even then it’s dominated by Storm’s presence, and Anderson’s own economy in storytelling. As you will soon see, he can cover a lot of ground (not to mention centuries) in a matter of a few pages. Malcolm and Storm enter what turns out to be an unguarded time portal, which contain these trippy sleds that glide down a “time corridor.” There is a shootout with another bunch called Rangers (who serve the Machine), and they escape into near stone-age Denmark. It’s goofy in a real Star Trek sort of way, but also violent, with smoking bodies and light pistols and such. Anderson can surprise when it comes to quick and sudden violence.
It’s at about this point that things started getting a little murky for me. Storm is considered a goddess among the various tribal types, and is high up with her own group, the Wardens. It’s here Anderson dumps what he knows about goddesses, myth, and probably the Virgin Mary. Malcolm himself is conflicted, as Storm (who often walks around naked) really seems to like him. But is he also being used? And then there’s that sweet little hippie-like stone-age chick that might be as young as 14, who Malcolm seems to take a shine to. Loving jail-bait or the Goddess? (Anderson loves having his characters, primitive or way in the future, running around naked.) As the novel went on, I found myself really invested in how this triangle would play out.
What’s harder to follow is the nature of the war between the Rangers and the Wardens, how it is fought, and Malcolm’s role in it. Also, it’s not (as it first seemed) a good guy – bad guy situation. Anderson makes things gray, as both the Wardens and the Rangers have their warts. The ambiguity, and at times confusion from the reader’s POV, is not really an obstacle to enjoying the book, as long as you don’t insist on connecting the dots and allow Anderson’s first-rate imagination to zoom you back and forth on his funny sleds. The ending is a killer.
November 28, 2023
Sigh. I wanted to like this, as I do with everything by Anderson. He introduces some neat concepts surrounding the temporal war and the means by which time travel is undertaken, but the story quickly got way too confusing due to abrupt transitions, capricious developments, and an overdose of intrigue and esoteric anthropological and political theorizing that just seemed to go in endless circles like a snake eating its own tail.
June 19, 2014
I went on a sci-fi binge in my early teens, and this is one of the few titles acquired then that have stuck with me through the years. I keep it on a shelf beside Chad Oliver's Winds of Time, not that the two stories have much in common beyond the similarity of their titles. It's about an ordinary guy being pulled out of recognizable circumstances and thrust into something very extraordinary, and in that regard is closer to the Edgar Rice Burroughs format. However, my recollection is that character development is handled much more carefully than with Burroughs.
UPDATE: Because my copy of this book happens to be in a very visible location on the shelf, I picked it up to refresh my memory with another quick read.
First the negatives, which aren't significant (and in fact I just added another star to the rating): The manner in which Malcolm is first recruited into this adventure feels contrived. Also, there are points--generally when providing background information on a culture or historical period--at which the author veers into an artificial voice that makes me want to skim over a paragraph or so. And despite involvement of a future technology that makes possible tunnels for accessing different historical periods, this doesn't quite fit into what I think of as science fiction.
But it remains very decent fiction, not only by addressing the fascination with time travel that readers have had at least since HG Wells (how else are we going to juxtapose our own culture with those of our distant ancestors and/or descendants?) but also because of well-handled narrative tension. Malcolm finds himself forced to take sides in a conflict that spans millennia between rivals reportedly espousing "two ways of thought and life--of being ... life as it is imagined to be against life as it is." (I took note of that distinction more so than in past readings because it does seem to be a big part of the problem in today's world at least.) But having taken sides, has Malcolm chosen the right side? The more he sees, the less enthused he is with either. His decisions--again in the context of movements over a span of about 7,000 years (4,000 years into the past and 3,000 into the future) keep those pages turning right up to the end.
UPDATE: Because my copy of this book happens to be in a very visible location on the shelf, I picked it up to refresh my memory with another quick read.
First the negatives, which aren't significant (and in fact I just added another star to the rating): The manner in which Malcolm is first recruited into this adventure feels contrived. Also, there are points--generally when providing background information on a culture or historical period--at which the author veers into an artificial voice that makes me want to skim over a paragraph or so. And despite involvement of a future technology that makes possible tunnels for accessing different historical periods, this doesn't quite fit into what I think of as science fiction.
But it remains very decent fiction, not only by addressing the fascination with time travel that readers have had at least since HG Wells (how else are we going to juxtapose our own culture with those of our distant ancestors and/or descendants?) but also because of well-handled narrative tension. Malcolm finds himself forced to take sides in a conflict that spans millennia between rivals reportedly espousing "two ways of thought and life--of being ... life as it is imagined to be against life as it is." (I took note of that distinction more so than in past readings because it does seem to be a big part of the problem in today's world at least.) But having taken sides, has Malcolm chosen the right side? The more he sees, the less enthused he is with either. His decisions--again in the context of movements over a span of about 7,000 years (4,000 years into the past and 3,000 into the future) keep those pages turning right up to the end.
May 17, 2018
Poul Anderson’s novel, “The Corridors of Time”, originally published in 1965, may seem somewhat dated, but, considering it’s a novel about time travel, that may not necessarily be considered a negative.
Time travel stories can be tricky, which is why it’s probably one of my least favorite sub-genres of science fiction, second only to alternative history stories. That said, stories involving time travel can also be fun, if you’re willing to not think too hard about the inevitable paradoxes that might ensue. Never mind the science involved.
The best time travel stories, in my opinion, tend to focus on the human element and less on the whys and hows of the time traveling itself. This is why Quantum Leap was one of my favorite TV shows and why movies like “Back to the Future” were so successful: their focus was on the characters, not the science.
“The Corridors of Time” may seem outdated primarily because it shares certain similarities to another popular TV show, also about a time traveller, “Doctor Who”. Interestingly, Anderson had to have been aware of the show, as it first aired on BBC in 1963, two years before the publication of his novel. Granted, the show was in its infancy, and many of the elements that have become mythos for the Whoniverse (the Time War, Gallifrey, Daleks) did not appear until much later in the show.
The plot of Anderson’s novel involves a man from the present-day United States, Malcolm Lockridge, who is recruited by the mysterious and beautiful Storm Dalloway to be an assistant in her time-traveling escapades.
Over the course of the novel, Malcolm learns that Storm is part of a much-larger time war, being waged by two main factions. While the politics are involved, the main idea is that the Wardens (of which Storm is a member) are a group that is fighting for the preservation of nature and the environment, fighting against the Rangers, which is a group that is for industrialization and mechanization.
Both factions have agents and “stations” set up throughout different eras in human history, and they travel back and forth through literal underground corridors.
At one station, in the Stone Age, Malcolm meets and falls in love with a primitive girl named Auri. Needless to say, this creates conflict between Storm and Malcolm (whose relationship goes slightly beyond the professional) and has repercussions for the time war.
Anderson’s novel is a fast-paced science fiction novel with enough fascinating hard science to make it plausible but interspersed with plenty of action and suspense to make it entertaining. Considering it was written almost 50 years ago, the book surprisingly stands the test of time.
Time travel stories can be tricky, which is why it’s probably one of my least favorite sub-genres of science fiction, second only to alternative history stories. That said, stories involving time travel can also be fun, if you’re willing to not think too hard about the inevitable paradoxes that might ensue. Never mind the science involved.
The best time travel stories, in my opinion, tend to focus on the human element and less on the whys and hows of the time traveling itself. This is why Quantum Leap was one of my favorite TV shows and why movies like “Back to the Future” were so successful: their focus was on the characters, not the science.
“The Corridors of Time” may seem outdated primarily because it shares certain similarities to another popular TV show, also about a time traveller, “Doctor Who”. Interestingly, Anderson had to have been aware of the show, as it first aired on BBC in 1963, two years before the publication of his novel. Granted, the show was in its infancy, and many of the elements that have become mythos for the Whoniverse (the Time War, Gallifrey, Daleks) did not appear until much later in the show.
The plot of Anderson’s novel involves a man from the present-day United States, Malcolm Lockridge, who is recruited by the mysterious and beautiful Storm Dalloway to be an assistant in her time-traveling escapades.
Over the course of the novel, Malcolm learns that Storm is part of a much-larger time war, being waged by two main factions. While the politics are involved, the main idea is that the Wardens (of which Storm is a member) are a group that is fighting for the preservation of nature and the environment, fighting against the Rangers, which is a group that is for industrialization and mechanization.
Both factions have agents and “stations” set up throughout different eras in human history, and they travel back and forth through literal underground corridors.
At one station, in the Stone Age, Malcolm meets and falls in love with a primitive girl named Auri. Needless to say, this creates conflict between Storm and Malcolm (whose relationship goes slightly beyond the professional) and has repercussions for the time war.
Anderson’s novel is a fast-paced science fiction novel with enough fascinating hard science to make it plausible but interspersed with plenty of action and suspense to make it entertaining. Considering it was written almost 50 years ago, the book surprisingly stands the test of time.
August 10, 2020
This review contains no spoilers.
As a long-time sci-fi fan, I had, of course, heard of Poul Anderson, but this was the first book of his that I'd ever read. Based on its publication date (1965), I was expecting a light piece of sci-fi pulp. Instead, I was surprised to discover a deeper inspection of historical progress which was itself couched in a relatively slow-paced time war adventure. Coupled with Anderson's vast vocabulary (thank goodness I was reading it on a Kindle so I could learn some of the archaic but spot-on perfect word choices he made for the various time periods) and his Shakespearean propensity to invent words when an already existing one wouldn't fit perfectly (a skill that I have to admit is pretty amazing because I always knew what he meant, even though I'd obviously never seen the word before), it wound up being a much more plodding slog than I anticipated.
So was it a bad book? No, I wouldn't say that. There were some interesting characters, and the progress of the time war was something I was curious about. But I could tell as I was reading that I wasn't reading anything particularly memorable, and I had to push through to the end. The explanation for the titular "corridors of time" seemed vague and lacking. I don't necessarily view that as a showstopper for a time travel story, but the justification here seemed particularly arbitrary. And the story more or less ignored exploring the fascinating elements of what time travel could imply. Finally, it wasn't the case that all of the characters were multi-dimensional and compelling.
In the end, my rating comes down to a simple question: would I recommend this to a fellow fan of sci-fi time travel stories? Unfortunately, I would have to say no. There are many, many outstanding time travel stories. This is not one of them.
As a long-time sci-fi fan, I had, of course, heard of Poul Anderson, but this was the first book of his that I'd ever read. Based on its publication date (1965), I was expecting a light piece of sci-fi pulp. Instead, I was surprised to discover a deeper inspection of historical progress which was itself couched in a relatively slow-paced time war adventure. Coupled with Anderson's vast vocabulary (thank goodness I was reading it on a Kindle so I could learn some of the archaic but spot-on perfect word choices he made for the various time periods) and his Shakespearean propensity to invent words when an already existing one wouldn't fit perfectly (a skill that I have to admit is pretty amazing because I always knew what he meant, even though I'd obviously never seen the word before), it wound up being a much more plodding slog than I anticipated.
So was it a bad book? No, I wouldn't say that. There were some interesting characters, and the progress of the time war was something I was curious about. But I could tell as I was reading that I wasn't reading anything particularly memorable, and I had to push through to the end. The explanation for the titular "corridors of time" seemed vague and lacking. I don't necessarily view that as a showstopper for a time travel story, but the justification here seemed particularly arbitrary. And the story more or less ignored exploring the fascinating elements of what time travel could imply. Finally, it wasn't the case that all of the characters were multi-dimensional and compelling.
In the end, my rating comes down to a simple question: would I recommend this to a fellow fan of sci-fi time travel stories? Unfortunately, I would have to say no. There are many, many outstanding time travel stories. This is not one of them.
September 17, 2010
One of the better SF love triangles: 20th century guy has to choose between a far-future goddess and Ms. Average Nice Bronze-Age Chick. Both women are sympathetically portrayed. I'd better not tell you what happens - it's fun, and there's a terrific ending!
August 6, 2017
An old SF work involving an unusual sort of time travel.
Malcolm Lockridge is in jail when a strange woman, Storm Darroway, comes to him and offers a high-powered lawyer and private detectives to clear his name. All she wants in return is for him to take a job for her. Even at the time, he notices her unusual appearance -- unplaceable by ethnicitiy or race -- especially with the Anglo-Saxon name. His name cleared, he follows her directions to Denmark, where she spins him a story about retrieving a treasure left behind by Resistance members.
When they get there, they actually move through time -- down one of the title corridors, which have their own time and turn our time to a spacial dimension -- to a Denmark still in the neolithic age -- though elsewhere in the world they have reached the Bronze Age. She explains that she is a leader in one side of a time war. Her side, she explains, is trying to resist the other side's attempts to rationalize human life into machinery. But an actual war in their time would destory the earth, so they fight through time. While history is fixed, they can work through the gaps. She had been ambushed and stranded in his time, where she desperately needed a man to be safe in this era.
This story goes on, involving a native young woman who named Lockridge "Lynx", an invasion, an attempt to force an arranged marriage, traveling through time, a glimpse of the future Storm comes from, and a glimpse of the world past it. Lockridge finds himself crucial in a manner he had never expected.
Malcolm Lockridge is in jail when a strange woman, Storm Darroway, comes to him and offers a high-powered lawyer and private detectives to clear his name. All she wants in return is for him to take a job for her. Even at the time, he notices her unusual appearance -- unplaceable by ethnicitiy or race -- especially with the Anglo-Saxon name. His name cleared, he follows her directions to Denmark, where she spins him a story about retrieving a treasure left behind by Resistance members.
When they get there, they actually move through time -- down one of the title corridors, which have their own time and turn our time to a spacial dimension -- to a Denmark still in the neolithic age -- though elsewhere in the world they have reached the Bronze Age. She explains that she is a leader in one side of a time war. Her side, she explains, is trying to resist the other side's attempts to rationalize human life into machinery. But an actual war in their time would destory the earth, so they fight through time. While history is fixed, they can work through the gaps. She had been ambushed and stranded in his time, where she desperately needed a man to be safe in this era.
This story goes on, involving a native young woman who named Lockridge "Lynx", an invasion, an attempt to force an arranged marriage, traveling through time, a glimpse of the future Storm comes from, and a glimpse of the world past it. Lockridge finds himself crucial in a manner he had never expected.
October 10, 2022
Ooit gelezen voor Nederlands, als ik eraan terug denk echt een fever dream 11/10
May 7, 2026
A sense o’ destiny makes a slave.
I remember the day I picked this book up. My roommates and I were at a book drive and we were about halfway through when I got word… Kendrick dropped Not Like Us. After freaking out and listening through several times, I saw a box of sci-fi books and decided to pick up a few. I have had an abiding love for the genre for years and figured that I should get back into it considering how much I loved Dune: Part Two. The book proceeded to sit in a box untouched when I moved to Vancouver, and when I returned I did not give it a second thought.
I expected this book to be a cheap throwaway from a time long gone by. I did not anticipate how much I would enjoy how anthropology, religion, and the mechanics of time travel are all weaved together in the world building. I also didn’t expect the male author to have a pro-Goddess, pro-matriarch, and somewhat anti-Western perspective on things.
I do have to say though that unfortunately much of the language is… dated and uhhhhh a relationship between a teenager and adult is justified. So maybe it was prophetic of Kendrick to release that song the day I bought it.
I remember the day I picked this book up. My roommates and I were at a book drive and we were about halfway through when I got word… Kendrick dropped Not Like Us. After freaking out and listening through several times, I saw a box of sci-fi books and decided to pick up a few. I have had an abiding love for the genre for years and figured that I should get back into it considering how much I loved Dune: Part Two. The book proceeded to sit in a box untouched when I moved to Vancouver, and when I returned I did not give it a second thought.
Lockridge strained to hold onto the calm they had somehow instilled into him. "But time is fixed. Isn't it?"
"From a divine view, perhaps," John said. "Men, though, are not gods. Look into yourself. You know you make free choices. Don't you? In the time war they rationalized every horrible thing they did by claimin' it was bound to happen anyway. Yet they were themselves, directly, responsible for more tyranny, more death, more hate, more sufferin' than I can stand to count up.”
I expected this book to be a cheap throwaway from a time long gone by. I did not anticipate how much I would enjoy how anthropology, religion, and the mechanics of time travel are all weaved together in the world building. I also didn’t expect the male author to have a pro-Goddess, pro-matriarch, and somewhat anti-Western perspective on things.
The Warden went on to speak of potions and incenses that opened the door to a sense of Her veritable presence in everything which existed. "But those are kept for the most solemn rites. Man is too weak to endure long the godhead in him."
"Woman may do so oftener," said the Lady Yuria.
I do have to say though that unfortunately much of the language is… dated and uhhhhh a relationship between a teenager and adult is justified. So maybe it was prophetic of Kendrick to release that song the day I bought it.
October 13, 2025
Standard Poul Anderson (1926-2001), which means I liked it. I've been reading Anderson's books since I was a kid and, for some reason, I missed this one, published in 1965. It's a time travel story but I don't think it's connected to the Time Patrol series.
Our hero is Malcolm Lockridge, ex-Marine, a very competent guy. He's recruited by a gorgeous dark-haired woman known as "Storm" to aid her side in a great war, which is being fought across time. Lockridge comes to question what the war is really all about...
Anderson, as usual, has done his homework and recreates the Neolithic society of Denmark of 1827 BC. It's mainly a society of fishermen facing the expanding Indo-European language group/culture which is spreading from Ukraine ( if I remember correctly) across Europe. The conflict in prehistoric Denmark gets caught up in the time war...
3.5 stars bumped up to 4. Poul Anderson passed away about a quarter-century ago but I'm happy I'm still able to find books of his that I haven't read!
Our hero is Malcolm Lockridge, ex-Marine, a very competent guy. He's recruited by a gorgeous dark-haired woman known as "Storm" to aid her side in a great war, which is being fought across time. Lockridge comes to question what the war is really all about...
Anderson, as usual, has done his homework and recreates the Neolithic society of Denmark of 1827 BC. It's mainly a society of fishermen facing the expanding Indo-European language group/culture which is spreading from Ukraine ( if I remember correctly) across Europe. The conflict in prehistoric Denmark gets caught up in the time war...
3.5 stars bumped up to 4. Poul Anderson passed away about a quarter-century ago but I'm happy I'm still able to find books of his that I haven't read!
June 14, 2022
Very interesting concept.
The story doest have some key character acting sometimes too conveniently, but the concept is pretty good.
The story doest have some key character acting sometimes too conveniently, but the concept is pretty good.
May 26, 2023
How Malcolm Lockridge from the 1960’s gets sucked into a timewar thru the millennia. And is caught between two factions who believe each has the right ideas.
A swashbucking journey thru time. Lots of action. Simple heroes. Not much depth in them. This book is more about history and ideas: a Timewar between two factions: one who believes science and reason is the saviour of mankind, the other one stays close to the soul, a wholeness with the earth. ”Plan against organic development.”
Christendom entered ”With books and logic and the first god who ever punished incorrect beliefs about his own nature.” Anderson seems to lean towards the soul faction. And he uses this timewar to make his point. At p.84 I wondered where it will all lead to? What will Lockridge decide in the end? That propelled the story forwards for me.
As such it was a simple story. Just ok. A vehicle for Anderson to venture some ideas.
Nevertheless, there are wonderful descriptions of ancient times. Very immersive.
Also, Anderson made sure that timetravelers can not change the future. Time holds its own. So that is a relief! No worries whatever one does. We travel from 2000 BC Denmark, to 16th century Viborg (De), to the far future.
In the end it’s still all about what leaders think is the right thing and how they persue their goal ruthlessly.
Some wisdom about religion; p. 84: “Man’s history was the history of religion.” “Every primitive race [..] was wholeness of spirit.” [..] “They were one with earth and sky and sea in a way that those who set the gods apart from themselves, or who denied any gods, could never be.”
Anderson clearly makes a point about mankind. They are way too brainy he believes: “What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt.”
written: 1965.
Poul Anderson: 1926-2001.
A swashbucking journey thru time. Lots of action. Simple heroes. Not much depth in them. This book is more about history and ideas: a Timewar between two factions: one who believes science and reason is the saviour of mankind, the other one stays close to the soul, a wholeness with the earth. ”Plan against organic development.”
Christendom entered ”With books and logic and the first god who ever punished incorrect beliefs about his own nature.” Anderson seems to lean towards the soul faction. And he uses this timewar to make his point. At p.84 I wondered where it will all lead to? What will Lockridge decide in the end? That propelled the story forwards for me.
As such it was a simple story. Just ok. A vehicle for Anderson to venture some ideas.
Nevertheless, there are wonderful descriptions of ancient times. Very immersive.
Also, Anderson made sure that timetravelers can not change the future. Time holds its own. So that is a relief! No worries whatever one does. We travel from 2000 BC Denmark, to 16th century Viborg (De), to the far future.
In the end it’s still all about what leaders think is the right thing and how they persue their goal ruthlessly.
Some wisdom about religion; p. 84: “Man’s history was the history of religion.” “Every primitive race [..] was wholeness of spirit.” [..] “They were one with earth and sky and sea in a way that those who set the gods apart from themselves, or who denied any gods, could never be.”
Anderson clearly makes a point about mankind. They are way too brainy he believes: “What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt.”
written: 1965.
Poul Anderson: 1926-2001.
July 19, 2018
As a fan of Poul Anderson, I was looking forward to this book, but after finishing it I have to conclude it's not his best effort. It still has the "happy ending" that I like, but that may be about it.
You can read the summary of the book and that kind of encapsulates what's happening, though it makes it into something that I never felt in the book. The different time periods were vague and "blurry" to me and I never got a true feel for any of them. The two main actors in the story aside from our hero Malcolm, Storm and Brann, were never likable or dislikable. I wanted to root for or against them, but I never felt like I was drawn into the story enough to care.
And I guess that's the real crux of the matter. I never could get emotionally attached to any of the characters. Storm was distant, Brann was brief, Malcolm was a pawn until he turned into a nondescriptive actor, and Auri wasn't focused on enough to truly bring her out (though she was the only one whose happiness I cared about).
All in all, a decent book, but I've read much better from Anderson. Won't say stay away, but can't recommend.
You can read the summary of the book and that kind of encapsulates what's happening, though it makes it into something that I never felt in the book. The different time periods were vague and "blurry" to me and I never got a true feel for any of them. The two main actors in the story aside from our hero Malcolm, Storm and Brann, were never likable or dislikable. I wanted to root for or against them, but I never felt like I was drawn into the story enough to care.
And I guess that's the real crux of the matter. I never could get emotionally attached to any of the characters. Storm was distant, Brann was brief, Malcolm was a pawn until he turned into a nondescriptive actor, and Auri wasn't focused on enough to truly bring her out (though she was the only one whose happiness I cared about).
All in all, a decent book, but I've read much better from Anderson. Won't say stay away, but can't recommend.
March 9, 2019
De eerste helft van dit boek verdient een dikke 5 sterren, gewoon subliem. Een originele benadering van het begrip tijdreizen. Voeg daarbij een onverwachte held uit onze tijd die gerecruteerd wordt door een bloedmooie vrouw met de bedoeling haar te helpen in de strijd tegen het kwaad. Technologie uit de toekomst, universele vertalen annex encycolpedie, reizen door de tijd en zijn konsekwenties. Gevangenschap, ontsnappen, zoeken in de tijd naar hulp. Alles samengevat in 1 woord: mooi.
Maar dan komt ruwweg het 2de deel (zoals vaak bij Anderson) en dat is heel wat minder mooi. Zeg maar een complete ontnuchtering. Twijfel tussen goed en kwaad, verraad, tirannie, achterbaksheid, egoïsme. Het zou geen Anderson zijn zonder een min of meer bevredigend einde maar de vieze smaak raak je toch niet meer helemaal kwijt. Wat begint als pure ontspanning gaat in deel twee over in een sociaal geweten en vraagt om na te denken.
Maar dan komt ruwweg het 2de deel (zoals vaak bij Anderson) en dat is heel wat minder mooi. Zeg maar een complete ontnuchtering. Twijfel tussen goed en kwaad, verraad, tirannie, achterbaksheid, egoïsme. Het zou geen Anderson zijn zonder een min of meer bevredigend einde maar de vieze smaak raak je toch niet meer helemaal kwijt. Wat begint als pure ontspanning gaat in deel twee over in een sociaal geweten en vraagt om na te denken.
October 23, 2025
I can’t do better than quote this paragraph from Jo Walton’s 2012 review in Reactor:
“It’s a time travel novel in which two groups of time travelers from the future are fighting it out through the timeline, recruiting locals and trying to encourage their philosophies. A twentieth century man is recruited from his prison cell and travels as part of the conflict to the Bronze Age, to the Seventeenth Century and to the future. So far so ordinary, but what makes this extraordinary is the subtlety. “Evil is good turned cancerous,” one of the characters says, and Anderson sees the good and evil of both sides in this time war. It’s also beautifully written—Anderson’s best writing reaches an almost mythic level.”
The whole review can be found here: https://reactormag.com/what-is-living...
“It’s a time travel novel in which two groups of time travelers from the future are fighting it out through the timeline, recruiting locals and trying to encourage their philosophies. A twentieth century man is recruited from his prison cell and travels as part of the conflict to the Bronze Age, to the Seventeenth Century and to the future. So far so ordinary, but what makes this extraordinary is the subtlety. “Evil is good turned cancerous,” one of the characters says, and Anderson sees the good and evil of both sides in this time war. It’s also beautifully written—Anderson’s best writing reaches an almost mythic level.”
The whole review can be found here: https://reactormag.com/what-is-living...
July 28, 2018
ENGLISH: A war that takes place in time and using time. A mixture of golden ages in the past and in the future, interspersed with evil atheistic epochs where both sides are equally undesirable. There are time loops everywhere, but the past cannot be changed, in accord with Novikov's principle of consistency, and against Anderson's own famous series "Guardians of time."
ESPAÑOL: Relato sobre una guerra en el tiempo que se aprovecha del tiempo. Una mezcla de edades de oro en el pasado y en el futuro, entre las que se interponen épocas ateas malignas, en las que ambos lados son igualmente indeseables. Bucles temporales por todas partes, pero el pasado no se puede cambiar, de acuerdo con el principio de consistencia de Novikov, y en contra de la famosa serie de Anderson "La Patrulla del Tiempo".
March 3, 2015
Poprilična trashina u maniri pustolovnih SF-ova zlatnog doba, pa je i bez inovacije u svakom pogledu. Čak je i sama premisa izvučena iz Heinleinovog Glory Road-a (prezgodna žena novači muškarca za avanturu, a zašto to čini ostaje maglovito i polu nerazjašnjeno).
Radnja u svakom trenutku želi biti brza, akcijska, pa u nekim trenucima i je takva, ali više vremena je pokušaj i ostaje na pokušaju. I kao svaki dobar tresh na kraju ima zaokret pa tako i ovo - ko fol neočekivano, ali iz aviona se vidjelo što će se dogoditi. Pozitivno je to što je kratka, pa ne umara.
Pročitati ako se baš baš mora ili ako ste Andersonov gorljivi fan. U protivnom, slobodno preskočite.
Radnja u svakom trenutku želi biti brza, akcijska, pa u nekim trenucima i je takva, ali više vremena je pokušaj i ostaje na pokušaju. I kao svaki dobar tresh na kraju ima zaokret pa tako i ovo - ko fol neočekivano, ali iz aviona se vidjelo što će se dogoditi. Pozitivno je to što je kratka, pa ne umara.
Pročitati ako se baš baš mora ili ako ste Andersonov gorljivi fan. U protivnom, slobodno preskočite.
February 18, 2020
Lockridge is a 20th century man falsely accused of murder, and then rescued into other times by a woman named Storm. He gets caught up in the middle of a time travel conflict between the Wardens and the Rangers that spans history. Not a literary masterpiece, but fun.
June 19, 2025
This is actually a… really smart book?
I really like Poul Anderson in general, but this was a novel I’d never heard of and it seemed to just be one of those novels sci-fi writers in the 50s-70s knocked off in three months to pay the bills while writing on their major works. It’s not a masterpiece by any means, but it’s clear Anderson was doing some pretty deep thinking about a whole bunch of topics around the time he wrote the novel, and a lot of those thoughts ended up in there.
This is a novel about a time war between two factions, The Rangers and the Wardens. The main character is a 20th century American who more or less accidentally enlists with the Wardens. They (obviously) present themselves repeatedly as the good guys; Cold War metaphors abound. As it turns out though, they aren’t. They’re essentially as bad as the Rangers, just in a way that’s less immediately obvious.
Here's the thing Anderson never really spends too much time on, but he’s obviously considering: the Wardens and the Rangers are both essentially post-scarcity elite movements. They both live in societies that have entirely mechanized away labor; vast factories with only a few engineers produce all the goods they could need. In both societies, however, this has not guaranteed broad-base prosperity. Instead, elites have used their control of the means of production to create rentier states. The population is no longer a useful resource, except as a consumption good for the elites, who use them for entertainment, a source of new lower elites, and a means of psychological self-satisfaction (look how much better I am than these dirty animals!). The main character reflexively thinks that neither system can stand, that no one can rule without the consent of the governed, but it’s implied that that was never an issue- because the people are not governed. They are useless to the elites, practically devoid of economic value, so they are treated more like wild animals that occasionally need to be culled.
Without the need to consider the will of the people, the elites are free to use their vast resources almost entirely ideologically- imagine a Cold War where neither the leadership of the USSR or the US had to care if the majority of their populations were starving to death and instead were entirely focused on contesting control of Madagascar. This really isn’t too far away from the behavior of our own rentier states, like Saddam Hussein gleefully charging into war after war or Nicolas Maduro collapsing his entire country because his population were irrelevant to his own wealth and power. Anderson is giving a more extreme version of that, a pair of utopia-building dystopias where the prospect of the vast majority ever being allowed into the final victorious utopia is nil.
I really like Poul Anderson in general, but this was a novel I’d never heard of and it seemed to just be one of those novels sci-fi writers in the 50s-70s knocked off in three months to pay the bills while writing on their major works. It’s not a masterpiece by any means, but it’s clear Anderson was doing some pretty deep thinking about a whole bunch of topics around the time he wrote the novel, and a lot of those thoughts ended up in there.
This is a novel about a time war between two factions, The Rangers and the Wardens. The main character is a 20th century American who more or less accidentally enlists with the Wardens. They (obviously) present themselves repeatedly as the good guys; Cold War metaphors abound. As it turns out though, they aren’t. They’re essentially as bad as the Rangers, just in a way that’s less immediately obvious.
Here's the thing Anderson never really spends too much time on, but he’s obviously considering: the Wardens and the Rangers are both essentially post-scarcity elite movements. They both live in societies that have entirely mechanized away labor; vast factories with only a few engineers produce all the goods they could need. In both societies, however, this has not guaranteed broad-base prosperity. Instead, elites have used their control of the means of production to create rentier states. The population is no longer a useful resource, except as a consumption good for the elites, who use them for entertainment, a source of new lower elites, and a means of psychological self-satisfaction (look how much better I am than these dirty animals!). The main character reflexively thinks that neither system can stand, that no one can rule without the consent of the governed, but it’s implied that that was never an issue- because the people are not governed. They are useless to the elites, practically devoid of economic value, so they are treated more like wild animals that occasionally need to be culled.
Without the need to consider the will of the people, the elites are free to use their vast resources almost entirely ideologically- imagine a Cold War where neither the leadership of the USSR or the US had to care if the majority of their populations were starving to death and instead were entirely focused on contesting control of Madagascar. This really isn’t too far away from the behavior of our own rentier states, like Saddam Hussein gleefully charging into war after war or Nicolas Maduro collapsing his entire country because his population were irrelevant to his own wealth and power. Anderson is giving a more extreme version of that, a pair of utopia-building dystopias where the prospect of the vast majority ever being allowed into the final victorious utopia is nil.
July 2, 2018
This book made a tremendous impression on me when I first read it as a teenager. After 50 years, I found that I did not remember very many of the details. The initial setup, the extrication of the protagonist and his recruitment to the side of the Wardens in their perpetual battle with the Rangers throughout time for the domination of the Earth seems archaic to the 21st century reader. Anderson's protagonist, being an educated man, remarks about how racial prejudice is unsupported by science, but he attitudes toward women are mired in the conventions of the day.
Another feature of this book that makes it seem old-fashioned, is that the two factions seem to have two diametrically opposed attitudes toward religion. The protagonist wonders if the whole of human history has been a struggle of religion.
But then the plot turns, and everything becomes more complex. Adversaries demonstrate their own nobility of character. The major, and some of the minor characters develop depth and and some degree of nuance. Midway through, the pace picks up. Plot arcs involving causal loops in time that are executed deftly. And the ending is quite satisfying.
Poul Anderson was a master story teller. I can see now why I was so impressed when I read it the first time.
Another feature of this book that makes it seem old-fashioned, is that the two factions seem to have two diametrically opposed attitudes toward religion. The protagonist wonders if the whole of human history has been a struggle of religion.
But then the plot turns, and everything becomes more complex. Adversaries demonstrate their own nobility of character. The major, and some of the minor characters develop depth and and some degree of nuance. Midway through, the pace picks up. Plot arcs involving causal loops in time that are executed deftly. And the ending is quite satisfying.
Poul Anderson was a master story teller. I can see now why I was so impressed when I read it the first time.
January 16, 2020
Bravo! What a great book! First time with Anderson and I am really impressed. A time war between two factions who use history to advance their agendas. Highly recommended to science fiction fans! Will def be reading more.
November 17, 2023
Kind of drops a bit in the middle after a strong opening, but a very entertaining and unexpected ending knocks it back up a star.
September 11, 2020
Found this in a well put together British edition, and took it with me for waiting at appointments etc. It became quite interesting and then quite complex and it is almost as though the story blossomed as Anderson wrote it. Our hero is pulled into what is literally a Time War. Two sides, the Wardens and the Rangers. Eventually the narrator is able to gain a bit of objective distance from the brainy beauty who sucked him into it all, only giving out information in bits. But then he is brought back in time to the Late Neolithic when the easy going Sea Peoples are being overrun by the violent Yuthroaz. The first group is her Wardens, the second, equally obsessed Brann's Rangers. Our narrator finds a real nice girl instead of the harsh goddess, and he is dragged forward and back by other forces into the far future to look at how life would be post 20th Century with first the Rangers-totalitarian, strict, punitive Patriarchy--and then the Wardens--no cities but primitive superstitions and impulsive tribal leaders.
Anderson's time setting choices are by no means ordinary nor expected and that's part of the interest here. Surprisingly gripping by this erstwhile Sci Fi master.
Anderson's time setting choices are by no means ordinary nor expected and that's part of the interest here. Surprisingly gripping by this erstwhile Sci Fi master.
December 18, 2024
This story starts out strong but bogs down a bit in the middle of the book. The last 20 percent or so is really exciting. I was afraid we were headed for a cliffhanger ending, but the story wraps up nicely. I like the premise of competing bands of time travelers trying to influence history. I wasn't familiar with this author, who passed away decades ago, but he knew how to write!
July 27, 2020
The Danish-American author Poul Anderson (1926-2001) won seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards as well as many other science fiction and fantasy awards for the innumerable novels and short stories he wrote in a career spanning the last six decades of the twentieth century. But his 1965 novel, the Corridors of Time, was not one of the award-winners, and no wonder. Although the book has its strengths—Anderson was, without question, a professional—it’s weak both in its premise and its execution.
Poul Anderson knew Danish history
Anderson was the son of Danish immigrants and grew up in the United States bilingual in English and Danish. And it’s clear from The Corridors of Time that he was also steeped in ancient Danish history. The novel reeks of it. Grounded in 1964, the story’s protagonist, an imprisoned former Marine named Malcolm Lockridge, whisks through—yes, you’ve got it: actual corridors through time—to Denmark in 1827 BCE, and later to Denmark and England in the sixteenth century CE. The person who miraculously manages to spring Malcolm and speed him through the corridors is a woman named Storm Darroway, whom he later discovers has come from the future. (And that’s not her name.) Everywhere Malcolm alights he finds a richly imagined past that conforms with what archaeologists and historians know of those distant periods. Anderson, it seems, knows his history.
A shaky premise
Unfortunately, the premise on which this novel is based is—well, not to put too fine an edge on it—silly. Some two thousand years in the future humankind is grouped in two warring factions, the Wardens and the Rangers. The Wardens are the good guys . . . or are they, really? They embody the feminist principle, the Rangers the masculine. And, yes, the Rangers hold sway in—just one guess: North America. The Wardens’ home base is Europe.
Despite this juvenile premise, Poul Anderson might have managed to write a truly interesting story . . . if only he hadn’t insisted on contriving so many hard-to-believe twists and turns in the plot. At times, The Corridors of Time becomes downright baffling.
Poul Anderson knew Danish history
Anderson was the son of Danish immigrants and grew up in the United States bilingual in English and Danish. And it’s clear from The Corridors of Time that he was also steeped in ancient Danish history. The novel reeks of it. Grounded in 1964, the story’s protagonist, an imprisoned former Marine named Malcolm Lockridge, whisks through—yes, you’ve got it: actual corridors through time—to Denmark in 1827 BCE, and later to Denmark and England in the sixteenth century CE. The person who miraculously manages to spring Malcolm and speed him through the corridors is a woman named Storm Darroway, whom he later discovers has come from the future. (And that’s not her name.) Everywhere Malcolm alights he finds a richly imagined past that conforms with what archaeologists and historians know of those distant periods. Anderson, it seems, knows his history.
A shaky premise
Unfortunately, the premise on which this novel is based is—well, not to put too fine an edge on it—silly. Some two thousand years in the future humankind is grouped in two warring factions, the Wardens and the Rangers. The Wardens are the good guys . . . or are they, really? They embody the feminist principle, the Rangers the masculine. And, yes, the Rangers hold sway in—just one guess: North America. The Wardens’ home base is Europe.
Despite this juvenile premise, Poul Anderson might have managed to write a truly interesting story . . . if only he hadn’t insisted on contriving so many hard-to-believe twists and turns in the plot. At times, The Corridors of Time becomes downright baffling.
June 22, 2020
I generally enjoy time travel stories, and I like Poul Anderson's work. This one, not so much. There were too many unexplained plot items in the book. For instance, one moment the main character is in the far future, telling someone that he realizes there are no good sides in the time war. Then, a character comes into the room and says in a villainous way something to the effect of "I'm sorry you think that". Next page, he's back in the past with absolutely no explanation of what happened. This occurs multiple times in the story, and it really detracted from the story.
August 8, 2009
Anderson's time war stories allowed him to explore all down through the ages and I thought he did a very good job. These weren't my favorite stories by him but Anderson really didn't do bad books.
February 5, 2012
This book just didn't grab me at all, by the end all I wanted was the end. The story seems told well enough but the characters never clicked with me and I was kind of bored with the plot.
January 1, 2026
Poul Anderson’s sci-fi novel The Corridors of Time was published in 1965. Modern American Malcolm Lockridge is hired to work for the beautiful mysterious Storm Darroway. She believes he is suited to the dangerous task that involves travelling through certain corridors of time. ‘There are many corridors of varying lengths throughout the space-time of this planet... the traveller can find any specific time he wishes...’ (p33). ‘Do you remember that the Ukraine rebelled against the Soviet government? ... the fight lasted long...’ (p16). Over the centuries of the tunnels’ existence, the struggles between the Warders and the Rangers has intensified, ‘so that the original purpose of scientific research was largely shunted aside’ (p33).
Storm is considered a goddess by her people – ‘a triune, Maiden, Mother and Queen of Death’ (p45). ‘Man’s history was the history of religion’ (p95) – an observation that might not bode well. And yet ‘What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt’ (p96). Rangers encouraged warlike tribes and their militant gods, while Warders preserved what was old and found secret ways to make the invaders into its image.
Happily Malcolm was given a diaglossa which enabled him to be fluent in different languages.
Emerging in different time periods, Malcolm is a keen observer: ‘... a workman in his smock, bent from a lifetime’s toil; a serving maid with a basketful of bread; a leper who shook his rattle in warning as he shuffled near; a laden ox-drawn wagon with great wooden wheels...’ (p90).
The conflict between the Rangers and Warders ranged from the past into the future, where gravity belts were normal, where climate control fields pushed storms away.
Is Storm benevolent or not? Is Malcolm being manipulated? He is torn, not only through time, but also through emotional ties that can bind or break.
Thought-provoking. Conflict is waged through time. Perhaps it is the norm, too.
Storm is considered a goddess by her people – ‘a triune, Maiden, Mother and Queen of Death’ (p45). ‘Man’s history was the history of religion’ (p95) – an observation that might not bode well. And yet ‘What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt’ (p96). Rangers encouraged warlike tribes and their militant gods, while Warders preserved what was old and found secret ways to make the invaders into its image.
Happily Malcolm was given a diaglossa which enabled him to be fluent in different languages.
Emerging in different time periods, Malcolm is a keen observer: ‘... a workman in his smock, bent from a lifetime’s toil; a serving maid with a basketful of bread; a leper who shook his rattle in warning as he shuffled near; a laden ox-drawn wagon with great wooden wheels...’ (p90).
The conflict between the Rangers and Warders ranged from the past into the future, where gravity belts were normal, where climate control fields pushed storms away.
Is Storm benevolent or not? Is Malcolm being manipulated? He is torn, not only through time, but also through emotional ties that can bind or break.
Thought-provoking. Conflict is waged through time. Perhaps it is the norm, too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews