What do you think?
Rate this book
Temporal Displacement #1
A Long Time Until Now
Book 1 in a new series from the creator of the best-selling Freehold Universe series. A military unit is thrust back into Paleolithic times with only their guns and portable hardware.
Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth's Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaced: Imperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travelers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travelers may have the means to get back, but they aren't giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era.
About Michael Z. Williamson:
“A fast-paced, compulsive read…will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.” – Kliatt
“Williamson's military expertise is impressive.” –SF Reviews
Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth's Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaced: Imperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travelers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travelers may have the means to get back, but they aren't giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era.
About Michael Z. Williamson:
“A fast-paced, compulsive read…will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.” – Kliatt
“Williamson's military expertise is impressive.” –SF Reviews
23 pages, Audible Audio
First published April 16, 2015
128 people are currently reading
637 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
May 29, 2019
I knew this book was good, but it exceeded all my expectations!
A friend recommended it to me, perhaps a year ago. Probably two, but that would make me feel bad so let's go with one.
Simply put - this book was an amazing inside view into lives of temporal displacement victims. I also had a bunch of notes to fall back on and write about here. The notes that I frequently make while listening, but I kind of might have lost my phone at the airport.
God damn it.
So let's make this a quick review, shall we? No pre-written thoughts, no anecdotes, no inserted images, and fancy formatting. Let's just go with it.
And guess what - the Audible app notes don't sync up with anything!. Or, at least they didn't use to. I see some of my fresh reads display some weird number of notes (hopefully visible only to me) so I assume Audible and Goodreads teams decided to finally play ball. Now if they'd only work on their 10-year-old API...
Anyway, the phone is lost. The notes are lost. And I read this 3 months ago and can't remember 90% of the important points I wanted to make about this book.
I feel that "It's amazing! Go read it, trust me!" somehow isn't going to cut it, so let me try and elaborate a bit. Your fault, stop complaining.
A military squad, made of people with various backgrounds and knowledge, was suddenly teleported back in time. Very, very far in time.
They still got their two trucks, all the gear and weapons, and gadgets. Most importantly, they have knowledge. Some are skilled survivalists, some just watch Discovery channel a lot, but all of them together start creating some very impressive plans for a life in the new era. Rather, the old era.
As it was to be expected, savage humans living at that time was pretty belligerent. Also, as expected, they got pretty easily humbled into submission.
But before the camp can be fully completed. Before all the long-term survival plans are put into motion. Before any kind of comfort was to be made in this savage environment - new people started "arriving".
A Roman legion was displaced, very close to them. Doing as Romans did best, they conquered the Neolits and put them to work. They tried to do the same with the soldiers as well, but with a lot less success. Actually, a very negative result was produced as a dozen of them ended up dead.
The constant threat of conflict, difficulty in communication, fear of never seeing home... issues just piled up and it was a wonder that unit kept their shit together.
Some East Indians appeared as well, with their old-fashioned rifles. Some future humans appeared, with their very futuristic rifles. Shit hit the fan.
But, this is only half of the story. I mean, this is the actual story, but what makes it great are the little things. Getting a perspective from each one of the soldiers, their expectations, hopes, and fears. It all gets very personal, very quickly. All the characters are relatable and, although they can be real idiots at times, their actions make perfect sense. From their point of view.
It is as much a psychological exercise as it was the exploration of the old world and the clash of different technology, knowledge, language, and beliefs.
The book is 22+ hours long. I enjoyed every single one of them. Every time I'd stop listening and picked the book back again it was like seeing a new episode of a show I like very much. This book also saved me during one trip as I forgot to pre-download Archer on Netflix to watch it during the flight :-)
By the way, the official synopsis is very misleading. But I can't tell you how without ruining the fun.
So listen up!
As for the narrator, I had no idea who Dennis Holland was and what I'm getting myself into. However, it turned out that the recommendation was spot-on and 22 hours later I was still friends with the person who recommended it :-) With a clear conscience, I can state that this book deserves a 5.0 rating.
Jeez... this actually turned into a proper book review. Who knew that losing all the notes about the book would be so... useful? I don't know. I have 6 more books to review that don't have them. It will be a hell. And probably a lot of random ratings.
Interesting fact: The first book I ever reviewed without having a single note on it.
A Long Time Until Now (Temporal Displacement #1)
Michael Z. Williamson, Dennis Holland (Narrator)
A friend recommended it to me, perhaps a year ago. Probably two, but that would make me feel bad so let's go with one.
Simply put - this book was an amazing inside view into lives of temporal displacement victims. I also had a bunch of notes to fall back on and write about here. The notes that I frequently make while listening, but I kind of might have lost my phone at the airport.
God damn it.
So let's make this a quick review, shall we? No pre-written thoughts, no anecdotes, no inserted images, and fancy formatting. Let's just go with it.
And guess what - the Audible app notes don't sync up with anything!. Or, at least they didn't use to. I see some of my fresh reads display some weird number of notes (hopefully visible only to me) so I assume Audible and Goodreads teams decided to finally play ball. Now if they'd only work on their 10-year-old API...
Anyway, the phone is lost. The notes are lost. And I read this 3 months ago and can't remember 90% of the important points I wanted to make about this book.
I feel that "It's amazing! Go read it, trust me!" somehow isn't going to cut it, so let me try and elaborate a bit. Your fault, stop complaining.
A military squad, made of people with various backgrounds and knowledge, was suddenly teleported back in time. Very, very far in time.
They still got their two trucks, all the gear and weapons, and gadgets. Most importantly, they have knowledge. Some are skilled survivalists, some just watch Discovery channel a lot, but all of them together start creating some very impressive plans for a life in the new era. Rather, the old era.
As it was to be expected, savage humans living at that time was pretty belligerent. Also, as expected, they got pretty easily humbled into submission.
But before the camp can be fully completed. Before all the long-term survival plans are put into motion. Before any kind of comfort was to be made in this savage environment - new people started "arriving".
A Roman legion was displaced, very close to them. Doing as Romans did best, they conquered the Neolits and put them to work. They tried to do the same with the soldiers as well, but with a lot less success. Actually, a very negative result was produced as a dozen of them ended up dead.
The constant threat of conflict, difficulty in communication, fear of never seeing home... issues just piled up and it was a wonder that unit kept their shit together.
Some East Indians appeared as well, with their old-fashioned rifles. Some future humans appeared, with their very futuristic rifles. Shit hit the fan.
But, this is only half of the story. I mean, this is the actual story, but what makes it great are the little things. Getting a perspective from each one of the soldiers, their expectations, hopes, and fears. It all gets very personal, very quickly. All the characters are relatable and, although they can be real idiots at times, their actions make perfect sense. From their point of view.
It is as much a psychological exercise as it was the exploration of the old world and the clash of different technology, knowledge, language, and beliefs.
The book is 22+ hours long. I enjoyed every single one of them. Every time I'd stop listening and picked the book back again it was like seeing a new episode of a show I like very much. This book also saved me during one trip as I forgot to pre-download Archer on Netflix to watch it during the flight :-)
By the way, the official synopsis is very misleading. But I can't tell you how without ruining the fun.
So listen up!
As for the narrator, I had no idea who Dennis Holland was and what I'm getting myself into. However, it turned out that the recommendation was spot-on and 22 hours later I was still friends with the person who recommended it :-) With a clear conscience, I can state that this book deserves a 5.0 rating.
Jeez... this actually turned into a proper book review. Who knew that losing all the notes about the book would be so... useful? I don't know. I have 6 more books to review that don't have them. It will be a hell. And probably a lot of random ratings.
Interesting fact: The first book I ever reviewed without having a single note on it.
A Long Time Until Now (Temporal Displacement #1)
Michael Z. Williamson, Dennis Holland (Narrator)
Verdict 22+ hours of pure enjoyment
Runtime 22:10
Overall
Performance
Story
June 11, 2015
Gutted it out all the way to page 77, at which point a female character decides that since she's likely to be gang raped and sexually enslaved, she should just kill herself now to spare the men in the group all the trouble of having to defend her. Book met wall at high speed, and Williamson earned a new spot next to John Ringo on the shelf of Authors Whose Distasteful Portrayal of Female Characters Really Irks Me.
May 7, 2015
A modern military squad deployed in Afghanistan finds itself in the stone age. More than just finding a way to survive without all the modern conveniences, they must deal with the local tribes and unfriendly military units from across time.
On the face of it, it's a standard time-travel piece, which can be fun. This one has a few technical wrinkles that may adjust a reader's enjoyment downward. Those who are intimately familiar with the US Army will recognize (and may even understand) all of the jargon that that Williamson throws around with no explanation. Even with Wikipedia at my disposal, I found it almost enough to cause me to put it down. The point of view shifts freely and annoyingly frequently between the ten characters in the modern US Army squad, with one bizarre switch to the point of view of a pet, making for a confusing read at times. As a result, I found myself uninvested in the characters, though I did have a flash of compassion for the pet. Go figure. The squad's implausible level of knowledge of languages, astronomy, agriculture, ancient plants, ancient military, spinning, weaving, woodworking, construction, and steel-making, was so encyclopedic that I had the sense that it was more Williamson showing off for the reader. If the team had been handpicked to go back in time, using experts in each field, I doubt they'd have done any better. Even the picture on the cover depicts a scene that never happens. The description of the book suggests the "treacherous agenda" of a group from the far future, so during the last half of the book, I kept waiting for that twist to reveal itself. Instead, the last half was anti-climax.
I think it should have been named, A Long Time Until the End of This Book. Probably more fun for folks in the US Army than it was for me, but not a bad read.
On the face of it, it's a standard time-travel piece, which can be fun. This one has a few technical wrinkles that may adjust a reader's enjoyment downward. Those who are intimately familiar with the US Army will recognize (and may even understand) all of the jargon that that Williamson throws around with no explanation. Even with Wikipedia at my disposal, I found it almost enough to cause me to put it down. The point of view shifts freely and annoyingly frequently between the ten characters in the modern US Army squad, with one bizarre switch to the point of view of a pet, making for a confusing read at times. As a result, I found myself uninvested in the characters, though I did have a flash of compassion for the pet. Go figure. The squad's implausible level of knowledge of languages, astronomy, agriculture, ancient plants, ancient military, spinning, weaving, woodworking, construction, and steel-making, was so encyclopedic that I had the sense that it was more Williamson showing off for the reader. If the team had been handpicked to go back in time, using experts in each field, I doubt they'd have done any better. Even the picture on the cover depicts a scene that never happens. The description of the book suggests the "treacherous agenda" of a group from the far future, so during the last half of the book, I kept waiting for that twist to reveal itself. Instead, the last half was anti-climax.
I think it should have been named, A Long Time Until the End of This Book. Probably more fun for folks in the US Army than it was for me, but not a bad read.
January 30, 2021
Quite good.
August 19, 2016
I finished this book a few days ago but hadn't got around to writing the review because the review is problematic. Did I enjoy the book - yes. Did it have a character I hated to the point of wanting to give up the book - yes. Did Michael Z. Williamson's normal very particular politics shine through - yes (just like every book of Heinlein is unmistakably Heinlein politics).
What I liked - Riproaring action of being shoved into the past. Figuring out how to survive with a wide variety of skill sets - each character brought something to the plate. I really liked how everyone has learned something in their life; no one is one dimensional and side interests from your normal day-job can take you down some really interesting paths and impacted by how and where you grew up. This part was just so much fun.
What made me react - Hate is a little strong, but two characters have the potential to really get someone's ire up. One is an educated-without-life-tempering-experience feminist and one is a fundamentalist/creationist Christian (hereafter referred to as Fundie). I think the Fundie was well done. Stuck in the past with no determinable reason, people will talk about religion. The majority of the Americans were Christian, as is appropriate for the youth-oriented military group; the two that diverged from the "standard" were the two oldest members of the group who had time to develop their own world views different from their upbringing in America. The Fundie really had a time of it being in the BC - Before Christ - and tried so hard to be evangelistic to the locals, against specific orders of the leadership. His conversations with the atheist of the group were spot on and to be expected where stuck in the past with no chance to return home. The Fundie views were well presented and overall treated fairly and with respect. I think Mr. Williamson had these conversations with people he liked.
Not so much the feminist. While the Fundie ended up well-explained and with a good closure for his beliefs, the feminist was treated as a unexplained reactionist the whole time and the closure did not reaffirm her beliefs but was a wishy-washy end. I wish I could say I haven't see people act this way or had conversations around the topic - but nearly all of the people are over-educated and haven't had time mellow their education-stuffing from college with the real-world activity.
I think Mr. Williamson doesn't understands the character. He knows this type of person enough to want to make a character, maybe even trying to get inside their head for this book to understand them, but even after nearly 1,000 pages still doesn't "get it" and therefore was unable to create sympathy for her. I don't think he truly understand the terror of being a woman (let alone a beautiful woman) in an all-male organization - that (nearly) any man is innately stronger than any female. Mr. Williamson does present the masculine reactions and intrinsic sociology which makes the fear a real healthy thing instead of just paranoia, to which I applaud him even though the feminist is presented as though it is just paranoia at unhealthy levels (it's not paranoia if they are out to get you; and note that these guys did not just have the natural mental fantasies, they actively - all of them - took pictures and stored them. Without the discipline of the military, things not only could, but WOULD have turned out very different for her. As it is, it was close (good job there Mr. Williamson)).
I wish the character had time to grow and mellow beyond the excessive paranoia from her college-education like the Fundie did, toward the well-rounded caution of the older woman character. I know a lot of people (women and men) stopped reading this book because of this character.
Overall a good book. Loved the attempts at herding, the interaction with varying cultures stuck out-of-time with them, the interactions between cultures, language building, the military discipline - where it stuck and where it slipped ... lots of things to think about and discuss from the book. Lots to love.
What I liked - Riproaring action of being shoved into the past. Figuring out how to survive with a wide variety of skill sets - each character brought something to the plate. I really liked how everyone has learned something in their life; no one is one dimensional and side interests from your normal day-job can take you down some really interesting paths and impacted by how and where you grew up. This part was just so much fun.
What made me react - Hate is a little strong, but two characters have the potential to really get someone's ire up. One is an educated-without-life-tempering-experience feminist and one is a fundamentalist/creationist Christian (hereafter referred to as Fundie). I think the Fundie was well done. Stuck in the past with no determinable reason, people will talk about religion. The majority of the Americans were Christian, as is appropriate for the youth-oriented military group; the two that diverged from the "standard" were the two oldest members of the group who had time to develop their own world views different from their upbringing in America. The Fundie really had a time of it being in the BC - Before Christ - and tried so hard to be evangelistic to the locals, against specific orders of the leadership. His conversations with the atheist of the group were spot on and to be expected where stuck in the past with no chance to return home. The Fundie views were well presented and overall treated fairly and with respect. I think Mr. Williamson had these conversations with people he liked.
Not so much the feminist. While the Fundie ended up well-explained and with a good closure for his beliefs, the feminist was treated as a unexplained reactionist the whole time and the closure did not reaffirm her beliefs but was a wishy-washy end. I wish I could say I haven't see people act this way or had conversations around the topic - but nearly all of the people are over-educated and haven't had time mellow their education-stuffing from college with the real-world activity.
I think Mr. Williamson doesn't understands the character. He knows this type of person enough to want to make a character, maybe even trying to get inside their head for this book to understand them, but even after nearly 1,000 pages still doesn't "get it" and therefore was unable to create sympathy for her. I don't think he truly understand the terror of being a woman (let alone a beautiful woman) in an all-male organization - that (nearly) any man is innately stronger than any female. Mr. Williamson does present the masculine reactions and intrinsic sociology which makes the fear a real healthy thing instead of just paranoia, to which I applaud him even though the feminist is presented as though it is just paranoia at unhealthy levels (it's not paranoia if they are out to get you; and note that these guys did not just have the natural mental fantasies, they actively - all of them - took pictures and stored them. Without the discipline of the military, things not only could, but WOULD have turned out very different for her. As it is, it was close (good job there Mr. Williamson)).
I wish the character had time to grow and mellow beyond the excessive paranoia from her college-education like the Fundie did, toward the well-rounded caution of the older woman character. I know a lot of people (women and men) stopped reading this book because of this character.
Overall a good book. Loved the attempts at herding, the interaction with varying cultures stuck out-of-time with them, the interactions between cultures, language building, the military discipline - where it stuck and where it slipped ... lots of things to think about and discuss from the book. Lots to love.
March 15, 2016
Michael Z. Williamson writes good action-adventure fiction, mostly with lots of explodey things and plenty of tension. (There is an exception to that: "Contact With Chaos", an alien-civilization first-contact novel with plenty of nice plot twists and a mix of smart and stupid people that makes for a very fun read.) His books are all well written and well edited (he has professional editors, and believe me you can tell when someone doesn't. KDP, I'm looking at you even though I buy stuff from you).
I'm partly through "A Long Time Until Now" and have found it a good read; he writes realistically about a mix of ordinary soldiers, with ordinary problems, from the modern age, giving each character his/her turn on the stage. By means unknown -- a sudden change with no before or after explanation (so far), reminiscent of teleportation -- they are thrown, with their vehicles and the clothes and equipment on their backs, into a prehistoric era when humans were not yet civilized (civilization: living in cities). The events from there spin out, so far, in utterly believable ways. No one understands what is happening at first, and it is only when they recognize the mountains and terrain about them that they begin to suspect they have actually traveled in time. Denial comes and runs its course, and one of the party nearly goes catatonic for a while. Believable, yes?
There has been no violence in what I've read so far (I'm less than half way done), and the POV of the local folks is presented on an equal footing with that of the uptimers.
Looking forward to finishing the novel on the 15th, when it is fully released by baenebooks.
I found his first (?) novel, "Freehold," a little preachy in places but it's full of good space and land action, so much so that it overwhelms any other issues I might have had with it. Also, Really Tough Babe is the protagonist and she doesn't come off as either whiney or two-dimensional comic-book-hero. Also, she doesn't _start_ as Really Tough Babe, she starts off as Ordinary Citizen Suddenly Framed For Bad Shit.
Mike's stuff is available on www.baenebooks.com and Amazon (at least). If you like space opera or action-adventure fiction (or both!), he's worth a look.
I'm partly through "A Long Time Until Now" and have found it a good read; he writes realistically about a mix of ordinary soldiers, with ordinary problems, from the modern age, giving each character his/her turn on the stage. By means unknown -- a sudden change with no before or after explanation (so far), reminiscent of teleportation -- they are thrown, with their vehicles and the clothes and equipment on their backs, into a prehistoric era when humans were not yet civilized (civilization: living in cities). The events from there spin out, so far, in utterly believable ways. No one understands what is happening at first, and it is only when they recognize the mountains and terrain about them that they begin to suspect they have actually traveled in time. Denial comes and runs its course, and one of the party nearly goes catatonic for a while. Believable, yes?
There has been no violence in what I've read so far (I'm less than half way done), and the POV of the local folks is presented on an equal footing with that of the uptimers.
Looking forward to finishing the novel on the 15th, when it is fully released by baenebooks.
I found his first (?) novel, "Freehold," a little preachy in places but it's full of good space and land action, so much so that it overwhelms any other issues I might have had with it. Also, Really Tough Babe is the protagonist and she doesn't come off as either whiney or two-dimensional comic-book-hero. Also, she doesn't _start_ as Really Tough Babe, she starts off as Ordinary Citizen Suddenly Framed For Bad Shit.
Mike's stuff is available on www.baenebooks.com and Amazon (at least). If you like space opera or action-adventure fiction (or both!), he's worth a look.
May 21, 2022
I loved this book for about the first 80% of the novel, then I felt like it (or maybe it was me) ran out of steam just about the time we were hitting the climax. On its basic level this is a story of ingenuity and survival in the far past. Ten U.S. soldiers are mysteriously transported through time to the remote past where they have to learn to survive without any support from modern civilization. That in and of itself is quite interesting, but Williamson spices things up considerably first by having the soldiers encounter stone age peoples and then by having them encounter other accidental time travelers.
It's all quite fascinating until you start to think about just how much this random ten soldiers knows about living in the stone age. The tech specialist makes sense, she’s trying to keep the modern tech working. The medic has knowledge that makes sense as well. But honestly, do we really think that a random ten soldiers will know how to weave, tan leather, forge metals, etc. It was a bit too much and that started to be really driven home for me somewhere around the 80% mark when the future time travelers were seriously impacting the storyline.
I also frankly didn’t like the resolution of the story. I don’t want to give spoilers here, but I liked the setup and thought that there was a whole series to be developed on that idea. The resolution felt a little too close to a deus ex machina to me. It wasn’t quite that, but it felt close to it.
So, in summation, this is a good book if you’d like to read about 10 people trying to recreate civilization in the ultimate wild.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
It's all quite fascinating until you start to think about just how much this random ten soldiers knows about living in the stone age. The tech specialist makes sense, she’s trying to keep the modern tech working. The medic has knowledge that makes sense as well. But honestly, do we really think that a random ten soldiers will know how to weave, tan leather, forge metals, etc. It was a bit too much and that started to be really driven home for me somewhere around the 80% mark when the future time travelers were seriously impacting the storyline.
I also frankly didn’t like the resolution of the story. I don’t want to give spoilers here, but I liked the setup and thought that there was a whole series to be developed on that idea. The resolution felt a little too close to a deus ex machina to me. It wasn’t quite that, but it felt close to it.
So, in summation, this is a good book if you’d like to read about 10 people trying to recreate civilization in the ultimate wild.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
October 31, 2015
Way better than you think it will be.
There are plenty of "fish out of water" and "lost in time" stories out there. None have the kind of detail this one does. The distant past is as alien as any bug-eyed monster. If you're thinking, "ah, another time travel story," and you're about to scroll past this, think again. You need to read this book.
There are plenty of "fish out of water" and "lost in time" stories out there. None have the kind of detail this one does. The distant past is as alien as any bug-eyed monster. If you're thinking, "ah, another time travel story," and you're about to scroll past this, think again. You need to read this book.
February 3, 2016
Boring, characters have no personality and although the premise was very interesting the plot and story were flat. The characters could of been lost on a deserted island for all it was worth and had the same story line. Felt too much like an alpha survivalist ex military, chest thumping, macho ideal. I The writing was just flat and both the characters and and storyline need development.
August 6, 2017
When I heard Michael Z Williamson was writing a time travel novel, I began to drool in anticipation. I love the entire time travel sub-genre, especially jaunts into the past. (Just to be aboveboard with y'all, yes, I have met Michael Williamson, I'm Facebook Friends with him, and I like him personally. Doesn't mean I wouldn't savage him for a lame book.) As you can see from the full load of stars, I was not disappointed in this one. Let me tell you why.
As the architects say, the form fits the function. Or maybe I should say the style fits the substance. We have all read a lot of authors in varying styles. The Victorian period was the epitome of the flowery prose style. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are still read with pleasure by thousands. I have read books that meandered like rivers and sang like music in my head. I have also admired tough spare prose that barked out action and reduced emotions to their barest bones. Ernest Hemingway was the mega-daddy of this type of author.) Williamson is writing an adventure novel with a cast of military men and women and he writes it in a lean smooth style that escorts us through his world building and gets us into the action. He gives us sufficient description to ground us firmly in his setting while still skillfully maneuvering us from incident to incident without slacking. That takes a certain skill-set and he has clearly mastered it. He is also able to include us into those inevitable period of claustrophobic boredom suffered by his protagonists. The story does not limp but we are deeply aware that the characters are as stressed by ennui as they are by terror.
The voice of the narrative skips from character to character in turn. Each one has certain skills and experiences that allow them to contribute to the team's survival in paleolithic Afghanistan. Without lecturing us, the author reveals his characters' knowledge and the depth of research that he put into this book. I particularly love a story that shows people working together to solve problems. This is a rousing example of that type of book. But it is not just a laundry list of chores to be done, it is a narrative of how a group of totally different persons can become a people, a unit, a family. This aspect of the narrative was handled in a very sensitive fashion. I have been told that Williamson has received criticism for his handling of the characters' religion or lack thereof. If so, those readers clearly did not read carefully. Perhaps they only skimmed? Or possibly they are just insensitive themselves.
I won't regale you with the plot, because I want you to read it and enjoy it for yourselves. I will simply urge you to run, not saunter, down to the nearest bookstore and purchase this one. It's a keeper.
As the architects say, the form fits the function. Or maybe I should say the style fits the substance. We have all read a lot of authors in varying styles. The Victorian period was the epitome of the flowery prose style. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are still read with pleasure by thousands. I have read books that meandered like rivers and sang like music in my head. I have also admired tough spare prose that barked out action and reduced emotions to their barest bones. Ernest Hemingway was the mega-daddy of this type of author.) Williamson is writing an adventure novel with a cast of military men and women and he writes it in a lean smooth style that escorts us through his world building and gets us into the action. He gives us sufficient description to ground us firmly in his setting while still skillfully maneuvering us from incident to incident without slacking. That takes a certain skill-set and he has clearly mastered it. He is also able to include us into those inevitable period of claustrophobic boredom suffered by his protagonists. The story does not limp but we are deeply aware that the characters are as stressed by ennui as they are by terror.
The voice of the narrative skips from character to character in turn. Each one has certain skills and experiences that allow them to contribute to the team's survival in paleolithic Afghanistan. Without lecturing us, the author reveals his characters' knowledge and the depth of research that he put into this book. I particularly love a story that shows people working together to solve problems. This is a rousing example of that type of book. But it is not just a laundry list of chores to be done, it is a narrative of how a group of totally different persons can become a people, a unit, a family. This aspect of the narrative was handled in a very sensitive fashion. I have been told that Williamson has received criticism for his handling of the characters' religion or lack thereof. If so, those readers clearly did not read carefully. Perhaps they only skimmed? Or possibly they are just insensitive themselves.
I won't regale you with the plot, because I want you to read it and enjoy it for yourselves. I will simply urge you to run, not saunter, down to the nearest bookstore and purchase this one. It's a keeper.
February 1, 2016
I tried this one because it's getting some love from the Puppy crowd for possible Hugo nomination.
What I found: it's boring -- and there are too many unexplained military terms, too many POVs, and too many experts in fields that were too convenient for words (aka plot devices). I did appreciate that none of the POV characters are purely evil or purely good, however -- they all had strengths and weaknesses and essentially meant well. And I did crack up when it turns out that one of the characters is Wiccan.
I gave this one 5 hours in the audio version before giving up. I was hoping to meet some of the other displaced groups (as the blurb tells us, there will be Romans and Indians and even visitors from the far future) -- but it just wasn't worth wasting another 15 hours to see how everything turned out.
As for the audio version -- The narrator, Dennis Holland, has narrated a lot of other books, but I haven't heard him before. He wasn't exceptional in any way, but I didn't find anything to complain about.
eta -- Up til now I haven't rated books that I dnf. But I've been thinking about it, and I've decided that really isn't fair -- I'm essentially giving free passes to books that weren't even good enough to finish. So I'm changing my policy.
From now on, if I dnf a book for cause (in other words, it isn't just that I wasn't in the mood for that particular book), I'm going to give it a 2-star rating. I still don't think 1 star would be fair, since I haven't gotten the full picture from reading the entire book -- but if it can't even hold my attention well enough to finish the book, I think I ought to apply a rating to reflect that. So -- 2 stars it is!
What I found: it's boring -- and there are too many unexplained military terms, too many POVs, and too many experts in fields that were too convenient for words (aka plot devices). I did appreciate that none of the POV characters are purely evil or purely good, however -- they all had strengths and weaknesses and essentially meant well. And I did crack up when it turns out that one of the characters is Wiccan.
I gave this one 5 hours in the audio version before giving up. I was hoping to meet some of the other displaced groups (as the blurb tells us, there will be Romans and Indians and even visitors from the far future) -- but it just wasn't worth wasting another 15 hours to see how everything turned out.
As for the audio version -- The narrator, Dennis Holland, has narrated a lot of other books, but I haven't heard him before. He wasn't exceptional in any way, but I didn't find anything to complain about.
eta -- Up til now I haven't rated books that I dnf. But I've been thinking about it, and I've decided that really isn't fair -- I'm essentially giving free passes to books that weren't even good enough to finish. So I'm changing my policy.
From now on, if I dnf a book for cause (in other words, it isn't just that I wasn't in the mood for that particular book), I'm going to give it a 2-star rating. I still don't think 1 star would be fair, since I haven't gotten the full picture from reading the entire book -- but if it can't even hold my attention well enough to finish the book, I think I ought to apply a rating to reflect that. So -- 2 stars it is!
June 9, 2015
I enjoyed the book. Reminds me of the Destroyer men Series in some ways. The military lingo is heavy in the book. Impromptu use of the cell phones with only a adhoc laptop network was kinda annoying and so was how easy they "cracked" laptop software. The climate and time periods are pretty much correct for the settings. Descriptions of the flora and fauna of the time period is also pretty good. Author did put some research into this book and wasn't pure fantasy which was good. Some character traits were a bit too over the top, Could have used a little more character depth on others. Book has flaws. lacks some common sense in places. Skips obvious outcomes in others. Its clearly apparent the author does not hunt. You don't "headshot" every kill when your hunting nor do you never miss a shot. With all that said and the fact I wish the author would have consulted more with experts in the fields he wrote about. I did enjoy the book. 5 stars in the entertainment rating. 4 stars for the setting and 3 stars on the subject matter included in the book.
March 22, 2017
I do not know how to start out talking about this book. There were elements I liked and enjoyed. There were parts that possibly could have been either cut down or cut out completely. It truly is a book about 'world-building' [or trying to build a "modern" or semi-modern society] involving a small unit that has been displaced in time. It details just over two years for this unit, which partly explains the length of the book. That other is that the author gets down to mundane details involving a day or two, and then jumps ahead "in time" to a week or so later (or even a season later). It does have some typos and other errors scattered throughout the book (although the majority of those do occur in the latter half of the book).
It strongly reminded me of The Lost Regiment series by William R. Forstchen (except that his series involved a space-displaced Civil War regiment instead of a time-displace unit of ten soldiers).
The character development is so-so; some characters are definitely more developed than others (which is kind of funny and disappointing at the same time; one would think with a unit as small as the one described in the book each character would have better development over the course of the book instead of some seeming to have disappeared over the course of the book). So this was both a strength and a weakness for the book.
There was another weakness in the book involving the characters.
Aaaaaand.......I just discovered there is a map at the front of the book showing the 'finished compound' in which they lived. hahahahah that's funny! Wish I had discovered it sooner [like, when I first started reading the book], but it was pretty close to what my mind's eye had pictured. hahahah
I guess a third "weakness" for me had to do with the mechanics of the narrative.
I have to admit, I am glad I am finally finished with this book. It felt like it was longer than it actually was. I realize I had started it before starting a paper for an online course, so part of that length of time to read it was because I had to set it aside to focus on the paper. It was weird; it held my interest throughout most (if not all) of the book, but it also felt liked it dragged (especially at the end) while still plodding forward toward the ending.
The comments about how the "ancients" living in "simpler times" were both hysterical and, I am sure, pretty spot-on. It is funny how we "moderns" think we are so much better than the ancients in everything and are so quick to judge them and downplay what they were able to do with the knowledge, tools, and abilities they had at the time.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. I admit, I read it on a whim. The cover got me [and it was a dratted misleading cover, as what is portrayed never happens in the book]. The blurb on the inside of the dust jacket is also misleading; I kept waiting for some kind of "Big Reveal" to occur, and it never did, making the ending somewhat anticlimactic and disappointing (in some respects).
Overall, though, I did enjoy the book. I am glad I read it. I may not read any other books in this series (if it does become a series), but I am glad I read this one.
It strongly reminded me of The Lost Regiment series by William R. Forstchen (except that his series involved a space-displaced Civil War regiment instead of a time-displace unit of ten soldiers).
The character development is so-so; some characters are definitely more developed than others (which is kind of funny and disappointing at the same time; one would think with a unit as small as the one described in the book each character would have better development over the course of the book instead of some seeming to have disappeared over the course of the book). So this was both a strength and a weakness for the book.
There was another weakness in the book involving the characters.
Aaaaaand.......I just discovered there is a map at the front of the book showing the 'finished compound' in which they lived. hahahahah that's funny! Wish I had discovered it sooner [like, when I first started reading the book], but it was pretty close to what my mind's eye had pictured. hahahah
I guess a third "weakness" for me had to do with the mechanics of the narrative.
I have to admit, I am glad I am finally finished with this book. It felt like it was longer than it actually was. I realize I had started it before starting a paper for an online course, so part of that length of time to read it was because I had to set it aside to focus on the paper. It was weird; it held my interest throughout most (if not all) of the book, but it also felt liked it dragged (especially at the end) while still plodding forward toward the ending.
The comments about how the "ancients" living in "simpler times" were both hysterical and, I am sure, pretty spot-on. It is funny how we "moderns" think we are so much better than the ancients in everything and are so quick to judge them and downplay what they were able to do with the knowledge, tools, and abilities they had at the time.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. I admit, I read it on a whim. The cover got me [and it was a dratted misleading cover, as what is portrayed never happens in the book]. The blurb on the inside of the dust jacket is also misleading; I kept waiting for some kind of "Big Reveal" to occur, and it never did, making the ending somewhat anticlimactic and disappointing (in some respects).
Overall, though, I did enjoy the book. I am glad I read it. I may not read any other books in this series (if it does become a series), but I am glad I read this one.
October 26, 2019
My full review can be found on my website! Check out the link below to read the review in it's entirety.
https://jrhandley.com/2019/10/25/book...
Okay, let’s get into the weeds on this one! I’m a huge Alt History fan, so obviously, the time travel aspect was a hit with me. It was my jam, and I had the bread ready and waiting. Because of that, the novel’s cover spoke to me. I really loved it; that image is why I bought the book. However, when I finish the story Michael Z Williamson told and realized that the scene from the cover wasn’t included, I was pissed. There was a missed opportunity with those Latin time travelers. The Roman Legions are where modern militaries trace their roots back too, so the side by side comparison could’ve strengthened this adventure saga. They could’ve done so much more with the Romans and taken this book to the next level.
Speaking of time travel novels, this one was one of the most plausible ones in this category that I’ve ever read. The way they entered the time anomaly and everything that happened as a result of this felt grounded in some reality, no matter how implausible. The author ingeniously created a theme of man versus nature survival. The way in which this was carried out kept my attention for all 22 hours of the audiobook. I loved seeing how various skills were used to allow the soldiers to survive and thrive in the Neolithic era.
However, this brings me to my major complaint. The soldiers that were on the two vehicles were almost too perfect for this mission. Soldiers are generally smart people, and I certainly served with some extremely well-educated individuals. Unfortunately, where the author lost me was in how useful everyone’s skills were. The odds of having just the right skill set for this novel to work always struck me as farcical. That said, I know that this was as much a plot device to allow the story to work as anything else. As such, I was able to bite my tongue and drive on to see what else was in store for these stranded soldiers.
Another area where I was less than satisfied with the characters, was how they were portrayed. Namely, I felt many felt flat. They lacked depth beyond their role as the possessor of whatever their skill set was. Oh, and Sergeant Casswell pissed me off. She was such a whiner, the antithesis of every female warrior I served with. Part of what I didn’t like about her I can’t mention on my family-friendly blog post, so we’ll move on.
My dislike of Casswell, however, tied into my other complaint about this book. I’m no prude, but there was too damn much talk about sex and sexuality. We get it, soldiers are generally young and virile, operating during their peak sexual years. I’m aware of what that entails, and so is your average reader. There was no need to dwell on it to the degree that it was, making me think that this aspect was more about the author and less about the story. I have to leave part of what I mean by this out of the review because I wanted to be family-friendly. What I can’t say is that reproduction and consent were harped on in a way that took away from what was otherwise an amazing story. Seriously, it really felt gratuitous at the end.
There was a lot about this story that I really loved. Part of what made me love this story was the world-building and descriptions. The author did a bang-up job here, which I detailed above but it’s worth repeating. I could imagine myself inside his story, fighting the Urushu primitives and fending off the woolly rhinos. This was the saving grace for this story and what I want more of from the sequel that the author is currently writing. This alone was worth the price of admission into the Afghanistan pre-history!
One part of the story that I initially didn’t like was how preachy the religious aspect felt. However, I grew to appreciate what the author was doing. It was very obviously pro-pagan and antagonistic to Christianity, but there were scenes at the end that brought it all together in a way that I appreciated. Further, as the story developed we begin to see this evolve into a more nuanced approach. If this type of angle bugs you, I promise it’s worth hanging in for the big reveal.
I know this review sounds a little negative, but I really did love the novel. I liked it enough that I’m trying to thoroughly and critically analyze it, partly so I can learn from what I didn’t enjoy. Just so my review doesn’t come off wrong, let’s focus on more about what I did enjoy. One place that the author got right, and it fit with what we know of human nature, was how all of the groups interacted. The plausibility and authenticity of these interactions shown are bright as the North Star. While there wasn’t nearly as much interacting as I would’ve liked, what was there was done superbly. I do not know if the author is a trained historian, or merely did his research, but he sold me on his knowledge base. I was convinced, and with a Bachelor of History, I’m practically an expert!
Before I put this review to bed, another aspect of the storytelling that I really appreciated was how the author resisted the urge to have the soldiers enter the past drastically oversupplied. The gear that they carried was exactly what you would expect from a mission they were on, which limited the soldier’s ability to cope. Further, the lack of supplies meant that the characters had to improvise, adapt and overcome. Their journey of survival was what made me love this novel. We took the basic soldier skills and then got to see them use the nonstandard manner. If it was my story, I might’ve been tempted give them more goodies to make it through their ordeal. Seriously, hats off to the author for resisting the temptation. The story was better because of it.
Overall, it’s an amazing adventure, a look into Michael Z Williamson’s twisted imagination, and leaves you wishing that his therapist has a therapist. This is a book I would happily recommend, and an author I will definitely read again. Heck, I would even recommend that you buy the novel! But hey, it’s easy to spend someone else’s money! This is definitely a novel worth buying, versus merely reading for free at the library. I give this novel a solid 4 out of 5 Grenades!
If this book sounds like it’s right up your alley, check it out! You won’t regret it! Well, unless it keeps you up all night and you’re late to work… and then your boss fires you because you became a book addict and a rabid Mad Mike fan. And then you track him down and climb into his window in your skivvies and he shoots you with grapeshot. Okay, the fanboy/fangirl syndrome MIGHT kill you. Be warned but enjoy the high!
https://jrhandley.com/2019/10/25/book...
Okay, let’s get into the weeds on this one! I’m a huge Alt History fan, so obviously, the time travel aspect was a hit with me. It was my jam, and I had the bread ready and waiting. Because of that, the novel’s cover spoke to me. I really loved it; that image is why I bought the book. However, when I finish the story Michael Z Williamson told and realized that the scene from the cover wasn’t included, I was pissed. There was a missed opportunity with those Latin time travelers. The Roman Legions are where modern militaries trace their roots back too, so the side by side comparison could’ve strengthened this adventure saga. They could’ve done so much more with the Romans and taken this book to the next level.
Speaking of time travel novels, this one was one of the most plausible ones in this category that I’ve ever read. The way they entered the time anomaly and everything that happened as a result of this felt grounded in some reality, no matter how implausible. The author ingeniously created a theme of man versus nature survival. The way in which this was carried out kept my attention for all 22 hours of the audiobook. I loved seeing how various skills were used to allow the soldiers to survive and thrive in the Neolithic era.
However, this brings me to my major complaint. The soldiers that were on the two vehicles were almost too perfect for this mission. Soldiers are generally smart people, and I certainly served with some extremely well-educated individuals. Unfortunately, where the author lost me was in how useful everyone’s skills were. The odds of having just the right skill set for this novel to work always struck me as farcical. That said, I know that this was as much a plot device to allow the story to work as anything else. As such, I was able to bite my tongue and drive on to see what else was in store for these stranded soldiers.
Another area where I was less than satisfied with the characters, was how they were portrayed. Namely, I felt many felt flat. They lacked depth beyond their role as the possessor of whatever their skill set was. Oh, and Sergeant Casswell pissed me off. She was such a whiner, the antithesis of every female warrior I served with. Part of what I didn’t like about her I can’t mention on my family-friendly blog post, so we’ll move on.
My dislike of Casswell, however, tied into my other complaint about this book. I’m no prude, but there was too damn much talk about sex and sexuality. We get it, soldiers are generally young and virile, operating during their peak sexual years. I’m aware of what that entails, and so is your average reader. There was no need to dwell on it to the degree that it was, making me think that this aspect was more about the author and less about the story. I have to leave part of what I mean by this out of the review because I wanted to be family-friendly. What I can’t say is that reproduction and consent were harped on in a way that took away from what was otherwise an amazing story. Seriously, it really felt gratuitous at the end.
There was a lot about this story that I really loved. Part of what made me love this story was the world-building and descriptions. The author did a bang-up job here, which I detailed above but it’s worth repeating. I could imagine myself inside his story, fighting the Urushu primitives and fending off the woolly rhinos. This was the saving grace for this story and what I want more of from the sequel that the author is currently writing. This alone was worth the price of admission into the Afghanistan pre-history!
One part of the story that I initially didn’t like was how preachy the religious aspect felt. However, I grew to appreciate what the author was doing. It was very obviously pro-pagan and antagonistic to Christianity, but there were scenes at the end that brought it all together in a way that I appreciated. Further, as the story developed we begin to see this evolve into a more nuanced approach. If this type of angle bugs you, I promise it’s worth hanging in for the big reveal.
I know this review sounds a little negative, but I really did love the novel. I liked it enough that I’m trying to thoroughly and critically analyze it, partly so I can learn from what I didn’t enjoy. Just so my review doesn’t come off wrong, let’s focus on more about what I did enjoy. One place that the author got right, and it fit with what we know of human nature, was how all of the groups interacted. The plausibility and authenticity of these interactions shown are bright as the North Star. While there wasn’t nearly as much interacting as I would’ve liked, what was there was done superbly. I do not know if the author is a trained historian, or merely did his research, but he sold me on his knowledge base. I was convinced, and with a Bachelor of History, I’m practically an expert!
Before I put this review to bed, another aspect of the storytelling that I really appreciated was how the author resisted the urge to have the soldiers enter the past drastically oversupplied. The gear that they carried was exactly what you would expect from a mission they were on, which limited the soldier’s ability to cope. Further, the lack of supplies meant that the characters had to improvise, adapt and overcome. Their journey of survival was what made me love this novel. We took the basic soldier skills and then got to see them use the nonstandard manner. If it was my story, I might’ve been tempted give them more goodies to make it through their ordeal. Seriously, hats off to the author for resisting the temptation. The story was better because of it.
Overall, it’s an amazing adventure, a look into Michael Z Williamson’s twisted imagination, and leaves you wishing that his therapist has a therapist. This is a book I would happily recommend, and an author I will definitely read again. Heck, I would even recommend that you buy the novel! But hey, it’s easy to spend someone else’s money! This is definitely a novel worth buying, versus merely reading for free at the library. I give this novel a solid 4 out of 5 Grenades!
If this book sounds like it’s right up your alley, check it out! You won’t regret it! Well, unless it keeps you up all night and you’re late to work… and then your boss fires you because you became a book addict and a rabid Mad Mike fan. And then you track him down and climb into his window in your skivvies and he shoots you with grapeshot. Okay, the fanboy/fangirl syndrome MIGHT kill you. Be warned but enjoy the high!
July 21, 2017
Great military time travel.
Fantastic novel by a veteran who has been out there, gets all the details right and the characters are great.
Fantastic novel by a veteran who has been out there, gets all the details right and the characters are great.
October 13, 2019
Struggling through the book. About 20% in and these are my observations EDIT: (Decided to stop listenin).
1. The characters suffer from what I call "id/ego" syndrome - in that they are all just manifestations of one character - the author. That is - they know what the author knows and there is no real differentiation (or character development) between them.
2. They are all incredibly calm and even nonchalant about being thrust 15,000 years into the past. Is this supposed to be a positive statement on the military training? Regardless it is very unrealistic.
3. Speaking of unrealistic, one character has learned how to speak to the tribes-people of 15,000 years ago - within a week.
4. The characters, are all eerily equipped to adapt and survive -even when suddenly thrust into the past - many of the characters seem to have a complete understanding of the physiology, psychology, and sociology of the tribes in the Middle East of 15,000 years earlier. Many of the characters seem to have a complete understanding of horticulture and zoology from the era as well.
More than that, collectively and individually they have a ridiculous level of knowledge of languages, astronomy, agriculture, crafting and construction. This is by far the most talented and well-educated 10 people in the history of the US Military.
5. The Military jargon is super annoying. There seems to be an expectation that you are or were in the military before reading the book - and little is explained.
6. The dialogue simply sucks. I am not sure how so many people describe this book as well-written. The dialogue is trite, and expected - with a complete lack of the introspection 'normal' people would experience if they were put into this situation.
The book is ponderous and slow-moving, despite being so vapid.
1. The characters suffer from what I call "id/ego" syndrome - in that they are all just manifestations of one character - the author. That is - they know what the author knows and there is no real differentiation (or character development) between them.
2. They are all incredibly calm and even nonchalant about being thrust 15,000 years into the past. Is this supposed to be a positive statement on the military training? Regardless it is very unrealistic.
3. Speaking of unrealistic, one character has learned how to speak to the tribes-people of 15,000 years ago - within a week.
4. The characters, are all eerily equipped to adapt and survive -even when suddenly thrust into the past - many of the characters seem to have a complete understanding of the physiology, psychology, and sociology of the tribes in the Middle East of 15,000 years earlier. Many of the characters seem to have a complete understanding of horticulture and zoology from the era as well.
More than that, collectively and individually they have a ridiculous level of knowledge of languages, astronomy, agriculture, crafting and construction. This is by far the most talented and well-educated 10 people in the history of the US Military.
5. The Military jargon is super annoying. There seems to be an expectation that you are or were in the military before reading the book - and little is explained.
6. The dialogue simply sucks. I am not sure how so many people describe this book as well-written. The dialogue is trite, and expected - with a complete lack of the introspection 'normal' people would experience if they were put into this situation.
The book is ponderous and slow-moving, despite being so vapid.
July 24, 2016
Je ne peux pas dire que j'ai été embarqué Le début est long et répétitif (confus même) sans pour autant rendre les 10 soldats plus attachants ou crédibles Caswell est particulièrement agaçante avec sa peur d'être violée (psychologiquement instable ... que fait elle dans une armée de métier ??? ) Le déroulé est peu crédible même si je veux bien croire que le hasard fait souvent bien les choses Mais plus que tout c'est l'écriture qui m'a gêné, simpliste, répétitive, manquant de rythme et de détails ou de ressentis authentiques (en dehors des turpitudes hormonales des hommes tous branchés porno...) qui auraient plongé le lecteur dans le passé
Rien à voir par ex avec la série de Mike Moscoe Lost Millenium (First down etc)
Pour moi, une lecture très décevante Je ne lirai pas les suites
Rien à voir par ex avec la série de Mike Moscoe Lost Millenium (First down etc)
Pour moi, une lecture très décevante Je ne lirai pas les suites
June 21, 2015
Great time-travel sci-fi story. Best part though was the rich cast of characters, and you spend so much time connecting with the characters on a personal level. Spencer, Caswell, Elliott, Alexander, Dalton, Barker, Trinidad, Oglesby, Devereaux, Ortiz, I feel like I've been living with these people.
And just like in real life, you're going to have a couple people who you both really like and yet want to slap upside the head on a regular basis.
Williamson said of the book, "I liked the characters, even the ones I didn't like. I knew where I wanted them to go. I knew their feelings and motivations. They were consistent, and they were human."
And they were. The man hit the mark.
And just like in real life, you're going to have a couple people who you both really like and yet want to slap upside the head on a regular basis.
Williamson said of the book, "I liked the characters, even the ones I didn't like. I knew where I wanted them to go. I knew their feelings and motivations. They were consistent, and they were human."
And they were. The man hit the mark.
June 3, 2016
Looking forward to book 2
I read a review where the reader stopped reading because one of two females was thinking of suicide, do to a fear of rape and or gang rape, by the males she was trapped in the distant past with.
I wish that person had kept reading as this was an interesting read. Personally if I was a female trapped in the past with 8 males I think that I too would spend some time worrying about rape as well. The fact that the author thought of this and included it in the story just made it that much better.
I read a review where the reader stopped reading because one of two females was thinking of suicide, do to a fear of rape and or gang rape, by the males she was trapped in the distant past with.
I wish that person had kept reading as this was an interesting read. Personally if I was a female trapped in the past with 8 males I think that I too would spend some time worrying about rape as well. The fact that the author thought of this and included it in the story just made it that much better.
October 9, 2017
Overall the story was very good. It was written like a military team would write a journal etc with some mental thoughts and dialogue thrown it.
Good - It was a good portrayal of how those specific groups would have reacted to each other in that situation.
- I also found the commentary on how women were/are treated in those times also very accurate.
Bad - It was difficult at times to figure out who was speaking or thinking.
- The characters were a little flat. It was probably because it was written in a reporting type style.
Good - It was a good portrayal of how those specific groups would have reacted to each other in that situation.
- I also found the commentary on how women were/are treated in those times also very accurate.
Bad - It was difficult at times to figure out who was speaking or thinking.
- The characters were a little flat. It was probably because it was written in a reporting type style.
April 12, 2022
I did not finish this book. I stopped reading on page 400.
I wanted to love this book so badly. I loved the premise of U.S. soldiers (because I'm a soldier!) falling back into the Stone Ages and finding others displaced by their time, like Romans. Though the soldiers fell back in the first chapter, by page 400 they STILL had done nothing but build their fortress. So, boring and lacked tension, to start, but that's not all. There were ten soldiers, and I struggled and finally gave up keeping track of character POVs because the author used pronouns far more often than names.
The personality of the group felt toxic; their interactions were very off-putting and felt like they all walked on eggshells around each other. Both females constantly worried the men were going to rape them and the men were over paranoid that the local spear-throwing tribe were going to attack them and steal everything, which is why they spent 400 pages building a fortress and nothing else. One female was an over-kill feminist and appeared to hate men and was almost the reason why I stopped reading sooner.
I wanted to love this book so badly. I loved the premise of U.S. soldiers (because I'm a soldier!) falling back into the Stone Ages and finding others displaced by their time, like Romans. Though the soldiers fell back in the first chapter, by page 400 they STILL had done nothing but build their fortress. So, boring and lacked tension, to start, but that's not all. There were ten soldiers, and I struggled and finally gave up keeping track of character POVs because the author used pronouns far more often than names.
The personality of the group felt toxic; their interactions were very off-putting and felt like they all walked on eggshells around each other. Both females constantly worried the men were going to rape them and the men were over paranoid that the local spear-throwing tribe were going to attack them and steal everything, which is why they spent 400 pages building a fortress and nothing else. One female was an over-kill feminist and appeared to hate men and was almost the reason why I stopped reading sooner.
April 2, 2020
I had been wanting to try a long form story by Michael Z. Williamson for a while. BUt I was trying to not get drawn into a series. Picked this up. I loved it. Here is why. In a lot of time travel stories or any situation where on intrepid protagonist have superior tech, there may be struggle, but it is often minor. Here, the struggle is real. :) No spoilers, but that whole aspect of it, from all sides, and even as you meet other groups never stops being relevant.
Secondly, he has some characters, who it seems obvious to anyone who knows anything about the author, holds to a worldview on life that he completely disagrees with, and some who are closer in POC to his. But he is FAIR to all his characters. No one is perfect. No one is irrealistically imperfect either. Every character has strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, shows growth. If he does write a sequel, I will definately pick it up.
Secondly, he has some characters, who it seems obvious to anyone who knows anything about the author, holds to a worldview on life that he completely disagrees with, and some who are closer in POC to his. But he is FAIR to all his characters. No one is perfect. No one is irrealistically imperfect either. Every character has strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, shows growth. If he does write a sequel, I will definately pick it up.
July 22, 2021
3.5 stars. What happens if a couple of vehicles in an army convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves time-shifted 25,000 years into the past. The story primarily revolves around them trying to figure out what happened, where/when they are, and how to survive dealing with the wildlife, natives and other groups of time displaced folks. It's military science fiction but not so jargon heavy as many of those stories can be, rather it deals with how a small unit of 10 people try and keep discipline and hold together in a unprecedented situation.
While I enjoyed the story and it avoided all the usual time-travel tropes, it got really slow and kinda dragged in the middle so I docked it half-star.
While I enjoyed the story and it avoided all the usual time-travel tropes, it got really slow and kinda dragged in the middle so I docked it half-star.
September 5, 2015
This is my first Williamson book. It's an intriguing premise - time travel is a wide-open genre, and this is a different spin, managing to span millennia while still maintaining a claustrophobic environment for the small US military unit that needs to stick close together to survive, while dealing with the cabin fever that inevitably follows.
I read the Kindle edition shortly after it was released, which had some text issues (errant copy symbols, other items needing proofreading cleanup). Newer editions may not have this issue.
I'd have preferred a faster pace early on, and a better distinction between the members of the unit. It also took me a while to make a firm connection between names and characters, so for the first several dozen pages everyone blended together. It was easier to keep track by rank than names while I acclimated. But once you've established that connection, the book accelerates, and becomes hard to put down for the last 2/3 or 3/4 of the book.
The length lets you spend time inside each character's head, and that is both a blessing and a curse. It's a claustrophobic setting, and some characters you'd happily spend less time with if the situation would let you. These aren't archetypes; they're individuals, with traits to appreciate and to annoy, sometimes simultaneously. Two standouts: Dalton, the "creationist," at times treads on toes with his beliefs in such close quarters, He strives to be respectful, but his bedrock convictions are sometimes too much for his unit, even his fellow Christians. Many of the words aimed at him in the book are harsh, but he stays true to himself in circumstances that are believably faith-testing, and which earn him respect over the long haul. Caswell, the "feminist," struggles more with her deeply-held conviction that all the men in her proximity are one step away from manhandling her, or worse...and, as one of only two women in the camp, the only single woman, and the only Hot Redhead on the planet at that time and place in history who is surrounded by history's Greatest Hits of testosterone-driven warrior cultures...she's not entirely wrong. Caswell, too, is not a mere stereotype; she has a variety of skills indispensable to the unit's survival, from marksmanship to a knowledge of flora, and she both gives and earns respect more often than I initially expeced. I get the sense we'll learn more about Caswell in future books, so her story isn't entirely explained. Spencer and Alexander, the two older team members, also get significant page time; everyone gets some fleshing out, but these four plus the lieutenant stood out the most to me.
There is a tremendous attention to detail in the book, down to the ingredients and preparation of the meals; I'm sure a recipe book or website is in the works, if not already available. It can be overwhelming. The attention paid to the passage of time, the complexity and ingredients of the meals, the relative degree of comfort they enjoy in their camp, help to mark progress in the book. The 21st century unit has limitations - their vehicles aren't good off-road, they aren't equipped for an extended campaign when they are displaced, so the amount of food, power for gadgets, ammunition, hygeine supplies, etc. are issues from the beginning, and only get more strained as they encounter other cultures. Rear Eschelon skills get some attaboys in this book.
For me it was a daunting book, but worth the lost sleep. As the book progresses, so does the pace. The interaction of cultures from various periods in humanity's development is interesting, and the reason each culture was picked made sense. I'm curious, again, to see where book 2 goes; much is wrapped up in this volume; Williamson introduces the "temporal displacement" concept in a way that doesn't require all or any of the people we met in this book to continue the series, though I hope we will meet again with at least some of them.
I read the Kindle edition shortly after it was released, which had some text issues (errant copy symbols, other items needing proofreading cleanup). Newer editions may not have this issue.
I'd have preferred a faster pace early on, and a better distinction between the members of the unit. It also took me a while to make a firm connection between names and characters, so for the first several dozen pages everyone blended together. It was easier to keep track by rank than names while I acclimated. But once you've established that connection, the book accelerates, and becomes hard to put down for the last 2/3 or 3/4 of the book.
The length lets you spend time inside each character's head, and that is both a blessing and a curse. It's a claustrophobic setting, and some characters you'd happily spend less time with if the situation would let you. These aren't archetypes; they're individuals, with traits to appreciate and to annoy, sometimes simultaneously. Two standouts: Dalton, the "creationist," at times treads on toes with his beliefs in such close quarters, He strives to be respectful, but his bedrock convictions are sometimes too much for his unit, even his fellow Christians. Many of the words aimed at him in the book are harsh, but he stays true to himself in circumstances that are believably faith-testing, and which earn him respect over the long haul. Caswell, the "feminist," struggles more with her deeply-held conviction that all the men in her proximity are one step away from manhandling her, or worse...and, as one of only two women in the camp, the only single woman, and the only Hot Redhead on the planet at that time and place in history who is surrounded by history's Greatest Hits of testosterone-driven warrior cultures...she's not entirely wrong. Caswell, too, is not a mere stereotype; she has a variety of skills indispensable to the unit's survival, from marksmanship to a knowledge of flora, and she both gives and earns respect more often than I initially expeced. I get the sense we'll learn more about Caswell in future books, so her story isn't entirely explained. Spencer and Alexander, the two older team members, also get significant page time; everyone gets some fleshing out, but these four plus the lieutenant stood out the most to me.
There is a tremendous attention to detail in the book, down to the ingredients and preparation of the meals; I'm sure a recipe book or website is in the works, if not already available. It can be overwhelming. The attention paid to the passage of time, the complexity and ingredients of the meals, the relative degree of comfort they enjoy in their camp, help to mark progress in the book. The 21st century unit has limitations - their vehicles aren't good off-road, they aren't equipped for an extended campaign when they are displaced, so the amount of food, power for gadgets, ammunition, hygeine supplies, etc. are issues from the beginning, and only get more strained as they encounter other cultures. Rear Eschelon skills get some attaboys in this book.
For me it was a daunting book, but worth the lost sleep. As the book progresses, so does the pace. The interaction of cultures from various periods in humanity's development is interesting, and the reason each culture was picked made sense. I'm curious, again, to see where book 2 goes; much is wrapped up in this volume; Williamson introduces the "temporal displacement" concept in a way that doesn't require all or any of the people we met in this book to continue the series, though I hope we will meet again with at least some of them.
January 29, 2021
A Shaggy Dog Tale: Spoilers.
Cross posting my review from Audible:
The narration is average. I've heard better. Some of the tones, especially for Dalton? were just stereotypical. I won't seek this narrator out, and I'll be mildly disappointed if he's narrating something I would like to listen to. I sped this up to 1.7X to get through his slow pacing.
I usually love details packed in, and I did enjoy some of them in this book. But the lists of edible plants were only in passing and this is the part I personally would have far more enjoyed being expanded on. More time was spent on a ridiculous amount of animal butchering.
Those Romans on the cover and in the description? Show up over half way through, having virtually no impact on the story. Someone else mentioned this could have taken place on a deserted island with some natives sprinkled in instead of primitives and other time displaced persons. That is absolutely true.
Of two female characters neither of which is a strong character. Gina is a Wiccan, and besides burning some herbs in a few lines of text this has absolutely no importance. I knew a Wiccan in college, and it would have been neat to have a little more detail on this aspect of the character. The other, Jenny, is paranoid about being assaulted by her teammates to the point that literally every single conversation she has brings up that she's uncomfortable with them and her internal thoughts drag on about this. And to be fair the men she is trapped with *are* perverts in that they literally take naked photographs of her and the other female bathing. So she is justified in thinking they aren't decent dudes. The men basically complain about her personality being too off standish and feminist to make her a good bed warmer. That is extent of her character arc. Sure, there are feminists like this in real life, but wasting one of two female character slots on this stock trope? That's a disservice to women. It felt like the author was perplexed on how to write a strong, highly trained female soldier with a chip on her soldier as anything else besides unpleasant and combative. Each man's internal process reflects on her unpleasant personality and this perception is depicted as justified and their interactions never do much to set her at ease. Some senior officers basically acknowledge that men are regarding her as a lust object, and what can she expect? It's a natural reaction for men. Boys will be boys. One man out of eight feels bad about taking naked photographs and deletes them. One.
The men drone on and on about needing to take wives, or just needing some hook ups, among the local women within a month of being trapped in the past. This is brought up in what feels like every single chapter or point of view. A few times, or even just general loneliness would have been far better to emphasize. The ethical implications of these men getting involved with teenagers and young women is glossed over. Sure, primitive women had different concepts, life experiences, etc. and from their perspective there was no issue. But none of these modern men expressed discomfort at the ages of the women.
So much of this story has points that it could have picked up and become more fast paced. It could have went into a more nuanced direction. The author clearly didn't want to address the complexities of any of the modern men or women falling for a primitive person or even having more than a superficial friendship after two years. What was the point of harping on about the inevitability of going native if none of them slid into at least opening themselves up to friendships?
The others lost in time and or space were blips in the story. A few were given names, and nothing deeper than that. The Indian contingent, as far as I recall, have absolutely no dialogue. Their purpose and the perspective from their point in time? Absolutely pointless. They aren't even given names, as few as they were.
That Serval cat Gina spent a bit of the book domesticating in passing lines? Gina leaves him in the future after he bothered to track down their exodus and sneak into camp before they were sent ahead in time. What was the point of that?
The future tech whoopsie that displaced the military group and the others in time comes full circle eventually and they are whisked to the future timeline for a brief interlude, debrief and scientific study. And the future? Very Caucasian. This is a bizarre factoid that is never expanded on and is most likely meant to be a sequel hook. Along with the aside from the military commander when the Americans are back in the proper timeline that other troops had gone MIA. For a few beats I expected a Wooly Mammoth herd to be on base, fully channeling the SyFy. That some characters guesstimated only a hundred years had passed was hysterical. The level of technology alone would require a couple of hundred years, let alone the social aspects having shifted so dramatically. Culture doesn't change overnight, or over decades to these extremes. And the future got one last dig in at the Token Creationist Christian member of the squad. Religion is considered an abstract philosophy in the future, not a literal truth. The lengths the book went to have a stock Christian character be mocked was predictable and just felt petty at the end.
There are two main failings of this book. The first is attempting to have so many points of view without first establishing strong characterization for a single charater. Multiple perspectives work best if they build up organically, not shift around every few pages. I failed to connect to any of the characters, and so I didn't care about any of them in the end. If you can't care about a single character, then spending so much time on a bloated book is disappointing.
The second failing is that they had things way, way to easy. There was an excessive amount of expertise skill in crafts and sciences for such a small unit. Like someone else said, if they had been handpicked to go to the past I would have bought it. This was like reading a team description from Stargate. What are the odds in modern America of a single person in ten random individuals having the skill and knowledge to build a forge? Seriously, I need to know that statistic. And the forge had no use after a few chapters once it was up and running. The plant knowledge I absolutely believe is possible, but there should have been more caution when testing these due to material drift from wild to agriculture stock of today. And they were absurdly lucky. Even with technology, body armor, etc., the odds of living two years in the past with not one but two hostile parties in the same vicinity and no attack being anything but "Guns=victory"? Great for the charaters, pretty unfortunate for the story line. This is unrealistic even with tight training and discipline. None of their men/women are ambushed. The only attacks happen at their camp, and when they visited the Romans (which was accurately predicted). Not a single member of the unit died at the end. And as far as illnesses? There was that round of intestinal distress nobody dodged. And they kind of had that coming not insisting that raw meat be cooked completely. Two members have preexisting health conditions, both of which seemed to define their characters and dialogue. One has GERD and Gina has Thyroid issues. But injuries? Both happen to the only two female characters. Jenny is a vegetarian for ethical reasons. So of course, because of her brash personality and need to prove herself she opted to go on a ritual rhino hunt. Because ethics don't mean a thing to someone who needs to prove they are equal to others. Gina gets the honor of foot stabbing during an attack. And one of the women, I think Gina, was the only member of their party to get jumped by a wild animal within days of landing in the past; of course there were no injuries, bites, etc.
This read was a let down and I won't be picking up anything else from this author.
Cross posting my review from Audible:
The narration is average. I've heard better. Some of the tones, especially for Dalton? were just stereotypical. I won't seek this narrator out, and I'll be mildly disappointed if he's narrating something I would like to listen to. I sped this up to 1.7X to get through his slow pacing.
I usually love details packed in, and I did enjoy some of them in this book. But the lists of edible plants were only in passing and this is the part I personally would have far more enjoyed being expanded on. More time was spent on a ridiculous amount of animal butchering.
Those Romans on the cover and in the description? Show up over half way through, having virtually no impact on the story. Someone else mentioned this could have taken place on a deserted island with some natives sprinkled in instead of primitives and other time displaced persons. That is absolutely true.
Of two female characters neither of which is a strong character. Gina is a Wiccan, and besides burning some herbs in a few lines of text this has absolutely no importance. I knew a Wiccan in college, and it would have been neat to have a little more detail on this aspect of the character. The other, Jenny, is paranoid about being assaulted by her teammates to the point that literally every single conversation she has brings up that she's uncomfortable with them and her internal thoughts drag on about this. And to be fair the men she is trapped with *are* perverts in that they literally take naked photographs of her and the other female bathing. So she is justified in thinking they aren't decent dudes. The men basically complain about her personality being too off standish and feminist to make her a good bed warmer. That is extent of her character arc. Sure, there are feminists like this in real life, but wasting one of two female character slots on this stock trope? That's a disservice to women. It felt like the author was perplexed on how to write a strong, highly trained female soldier with a chip on her soldier as anything else besides unpleasant and combative. Each man's internal process reflects on her unpleasant personality and this perception is depicted as justified and their interactions never do much to set her at ease. Some senior officers basically acknowledge that men are regarding her as a lust object, and what can she expect? It's a natural reaction for men. Boys will be boys. One man out of eight feels bad about taking naked photographs and deletes them. One.
The men drone on and on about needing to take wives, or just needing some hook ups, among the local women within a month of being trapped in the past. This is brought up in what feels like every single chapter or point of view. A few times, or even just general loneliness would have been far better to emphasize. The ethical implications of these men getting involved with teenagers and young women is glossed over. Sure, primitive women had different concepts, life experiences, etc. and from their perspective there was no issue. But none of these modern men expressed discomfort at the ages of the women.
So much of this story has points that it could have picked up and become more fast paced. It could have went into a more nuanced direction. The author clearly didn't want to address the complexities of any of the modern men or women falling for a primitive person or even having more than a superficial friendship after two years. What was the point of harping on about the inevitability of going native if none of them slid into at least opening themselves up to friendships?
The others lost in time and or space were blips in the story. A few were given names, and nothing deeper than that. The Indian contingent, as far as I recall, have absolutely no dialogue. Their purpose and the perspective from their point in time? Absolutely pointless. They aren't even given names, as few as they were.
That Serval cat Gina spent a bit of the book domesticating in passing lines? Gina leaves him in the future after he bothered to track down their exodus and sneak into camp before they were sent ahead in time. What was the point of that?
The future tech whoopsie that displaced the military group and the others in time comes full circle eventually and they are whisked to the future timeline for a brief interlude, debrief and scientific study. And the future? Very Caucasian. This is a bizarre factoid that is never expanded on and is most likely meant to be a sequel hook. Along with the aside from the military commander when the Americans are back in the proper timeline that other troops had gone MIA. For a few beats I expected a Wooly Mammoth herd to be on base, fully channeling the SyFy. That some characters guesstimated only a hundred years had passed was hysterical. The level of technology alone would require a couple of hundred years, let alone the social aspects having shifted so dramatically. Culture doesn't change overnight, or over decades to these extremes. And the future got one last dig in at the Token Creationist Christian member of the squad. Religion is considered an abstract philosophy in the future, not a literal truth. The lengths the book went to have a stock Christian character be mocked was predictable and just felt petty at the end.
There are two main failings of this book. The first is attempting to have so many points of view without first establishing strong characterization for a single charater. Multiple perspectives work best if they build up organically, not shift around every few pages. I failed to connect to any of the characters, and so I didn't care about any of them in the end. If you can't care about a single character, then spending so much time on a bloated book is disappointing.
The second failing is that they had things way, way to easy. There was an excessive amount of expertise skill in crafts and sciences for such a small unit. Like someone else said, if they had been handpicked to go to the past I would have bought it. This was like reading a team description from Stargate. What are the odds in modern America of a single person in ten random individuals having the skill and knowledge to build a forge? Seriously, I need to know that statistic. And the forge had no use after a few chapters once it was up and running. The plant knowledge I absolutely believe is possible, but there should have been more caution when testing these due to material drift from wild to agriculture stock of today. And they were absurdly lucky. Even with technology, body armor, etc., the odds of living two years in the past with not one but two hostile parties in the same vicinity and no attack being anything but "Guns=victory"? Great for the charaters, pretty unfortunate for the story line. This is unrealistic even with tight training and discipline. None of their men/women are ambushed. The only attacks happen at their camp, and when they visited the Romans (which was accurately predicted). Not a single member of the unit died at the end. And as far as illnesses? There was that round of intestinal distress nobody dodged. And they kind of had that coming not insisting that raw meat be cooked completely. Two members have preexisting health conditions, both of which seemed to define their characters and dialogue. One has GERD and Gina has Thyroid issues. But injuries? Both happen to the only two female characters. Jenny is a vegetarian for ethical reasons. So of course, because of her brash personality and need to prove herself she opted to go on a ritual rhino hunt. Because ethics don't mean a thing to someone who needs to prove they are equal to others. Gina gets the honor of foot stabbing during an attack. And one of the women, I think Gina, was the only member of their party to get jumped by a wild animal within days of landing in the past; of course there were no injuries, bites, etc.
This read was a let down and I won't be picking up anything else from this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2020
Reasonable read but a lot long. More interested in the thoughts and feelings of the characters rather than bring a more exciting storyline.
November 2, 2017
I love "thrown back in time" stories so I was happy to read this.
The author really does a good job with showing realistic human reactions to being in an incredible SF-like event like this.
Most of the story is frontier type stuff - how to survive in the wilderness with just the stuff you have, and possibly hostile neighbors. If you like that stuff you'll love this.
I actually prefer more culture clash type of time travel stories, so I wished it was more in that vein.
I took one star off because of these flaws:
- Confusing ensemble cast, I actually wished for a dramatis personae list. I wouldn't have known there were ten people in the party if I hadn't read the blurb. I also think the author had too many POV characters and I wished he had picked one or two to focus on as protagonists. I think then I would have cared more about them.
- A little too convenient that the soldiers sent back happened to have hobbies & interests that are so useful.
Looking forward to the sequel.
The author really does a good job with showing realistic human reactions to being in an incredible SF-like event like this.
Most of the story is frontier type stuff - how to survive in the wilderness with just the stuff you have, and possibly hostile neighbors. If you like that stuff you'll love this.
I actually prefer more culture clash type of time travel stories, so I wished it was more in that vein.
I took one star off because of these flaws:
- Confusing ensemble cast, I actually wished for a dramatis personae list. I wouldn't have known there were ten people in the party if I hadn't read the blurb. I also think the author had too many POV characters and I wished he had picked one or two to focus on as protagonists. I think then I would have cared more about them.
- A little too convenient that the soldiers sent back happened to have hobbies & interests that are so useful.
Looking forward to the sequel.
June 23, 2015
Excellent storytelling from start to finish; however, if you are given to kneejerk reactions to dialogue without reading further then you might have some trouble as Williamson plays with people’s social triggers, but in the end his characters come out as strong individuals who are able to set aside differences and work as a team. Any weakness that develops is realistic and as he states in the book due to people getting “Army old” and wearing down. The handling of the sexual situation was realistic and had a bit of humor at times, the conversations in that regard will ring true to many veterans and the lack of violence towards females should be a surprise for those that go into these books looking for such issues.
The living conditions and capabilities were spot-on, none of the near magical ability to master ancient technology such as iron forging or even gardening that you see in some time travel books. The author’s depictions of the other time travelers and the local inhabitant’s appeared to be historically accurate, in as much as we know their behavior to have been. The depiction of the future people was also reasonable, given our current culture and high-tech dependence. There are also a few jabs at the federal bureaucracy are also included and worth a chuckle unless you work in that bureaucracy.
Overall, this was an exceptional book, more in-depth than the author’s previous work and look forward to more books if this is indeed an ongoing series. Mr. Williamson’s day-to-day politics and opinions can anger some people, but it is best to remember that the work is what is important and to that end, he has created his best work here, in this book. I would recommend this book to any Sci-Fi reader looking for thought-provoking, action sci-fi.
The living conditions and capabilities were spot-on, none of the near magical ability to master ancient technology such as iron forging or even gardening that you see in some time travel books. The author’s depictions of the other time travelers and the local inhabitant’s appeared to be historically accurate, in as much as we know their behavior to have been. The depiction of the future people was also reasonable, given our current culture and high-tech dependence. There are also a few jabs at the federal bureaucracy are also included and worth a chuckle unless you work in that bureaucracy.
Overall, this was an exceptional book, more in-depth than the author’s previous work and look forward to more books if this is indeed an ongoing series. Mr. Williamson’s day-to-day politics and opinions can anger some people, but it is best to remember that the work is what is important and to that end, he has created his best work here, in this book. I would recommend this book to any Sci-Fi reader looking for thought-provoking, action sci-fi.
August 10, 2016
Please tell me why every time-displacement novel must include EXCRUIATING detail on how to build anydamnthing at all. Our modern colonists transplanted to ancient and barbaric times always has some mechanical genius that has to reverse-engineer an iron forge so as to maintain the voyager's technological advantage. I get that. Do I need to know EVERYSINGLEDETAIL of how they did it? For everything from plumbing to shelters, weapons to water filtration?
Some readers must eat this stuff up. It's not my favorite thing, as you might have guessed. My eyes blurred over about a third of this book, as Mr. Williamson has a real desire to impart his skills at world-building.
Another negative for me was his use of multiple viewpoints that all "sounded" very similar. The characters were each unique, and they stayed in-character throughout, but the voice rarely changed. It was easy to forget which viewpoint I was in at a particular time.
Still. Mr. Williamson kept me interested to find out how the displaced travelers would survive their trip back in time, so I continued through to the end, which turned out quite different that I expected. Kudos for a unique ending, if indeed it's an ending and not the start of a trilogy. It read like a standalone, but I could see more coming ... in the future. Get it? In the future...
Some readers must eat this stuff up. It's not my favorite thing, as you might have guessed. My eyes blurred over about a third of this book, as Mr. Williamson has a real desire to impart his skills at world-building.
Another negative for me was his use of multiple viewpoints that all "sounded" very similar. The characters were each unique, and they stayed in-character throughout, but the voice rarely changed. It was easy to forget which viewpoint I was in at a particular time.
Still. Mr. Williamson kept me interested to find out how the displaced travelers would survive their trip back in time, so I continued through to the end, which turned out quite different that I expected. Kudos for a unique ending, if indeed it's an ending and not the start of a trilogy. It read like a standalone, but I could see more coming ... in the future. Get it? In the future...
April 4, 2017
A scify SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Long Time Until Now (Temporal Displacement Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This novel strongly reminds me of SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. It has the same emphasis on the details of the ingenuity used to make things for survival and comfort. Instead of the pirates which Disney added to the story, there are others displaced in time who are accustomed to taking what they want by force. The point of the story is the survival of the displaced soldiers and how they cope with becoming castaways.
In today's America, I have become sensitive to Christian bashing as some of the other reviews call it. However, the very strong Christian character in this novel grows in faith and strength which strengthens the group. In the end, it is the agnostic who is sitting in the back and participating in the religious services led by the chaplain.
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Long Time Until Now (Temporal Displacement Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This novel strongly reminds me of SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. It has the same emphasis on the details of the ingenuity used to make things for survival and comfort. Instead of the pirates which Disney added to the story, there are others displaced in time who are accustomed to taking what they want by force. The point of the story is the survival of the displaced soldiers and how they cope with becoming castaways.
In today's America, I have become sensitive to Christian bashing as some of the other reviews call it. However, the very strong Christian character in this novel grows in faith and strength which strengthens the group. In the end, it is the agnostic who is sitting in the back and participating in the religious services led by the chaplain.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews