La Cité du futur

by Robert Charles Wilson, Henry-Luc Planchat (Traduction)

Pour cinq ans seulement, jusqu’en 1877, la cité de Futurity dresse ses immenses tours jumelles au-dessus des grandes plaines de l'Illinois. Depuis Futurity, des hommes du futur viennent visiter le XIXe siècle. Et, contre une fortune en métaux précieux, les autochtones peuvent dormir dans la tour n° 1, véritable vitrine technologique d’un incompréhensible XXIe siècle.
C’est dans cette cité, construite à partir d’un futur parallèle, que travaille, comme agent de sécurité, Jesse Cullum, un autochtone. Parce qu’il a sauvé le président Ulysse Grant d’une tentative d’assassinat, Jesse se voit proposer une promotion : assisté d’une femme du XXIe siècle, il va devoir mener l’enquête.
Mais que va-t-il réellement découvrir ? Un complot pour tuer le président… ou les inavouables secrets de Futurity ?
Après avoir imaginé le futur des réseaux sociaux dans Les Affinités, Robert Charles Wilson revient avec ce roman de voyage dans le temps a priori plus classique, où les surprises s’enchaînent à un rythme vertigineux.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Alternate History, Audiobook, Historical, Historical Fiction

464 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 6, 2016

About the author

I've been writing science fiction professionally since my first novel A Hidden Place was published in 1986. My books include Darwinia, Blind Lake, and the Hugo Award-winning Spin. My newest novel is The Affinities (April 2015).

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4ish stars.

For a time travel book this is surprisingly not infuriating. And for a "sci-fi thriller" there's surprisingly more focus on characterization than action (mostly). Sure, there's the requisite doomed lovers side plot, but even that is bearable.

Probably why the time travel premise works so well is because the actual travel through time isn't much of a focus. The book takes place completely in late-19th century US where travelers from our near future have found a way to open a "mirror" into some point in the past. The book is explicit that the "future" from which the visitors come is just one of an infinite number of futures and the past to which they've traveled is identical to theirs up until the moment when the mirror was opened. So none of that awful plotline about accidentally re-writing history and screwing up the future. Well, at least not the future where the visitors come from. The future of this timeline, the one being visited, will obviously follow a different course. I'm making it sound confusing but it's really not.

One of the focuses of the book actually concerns the time-traveling actions of these visitors from the future. Does it make it any more okay morally for them to waltz in and basically set up shop knowing that it doesn't affect them and their timeline? Sure they may give you vaccinations and technology but is it their right to do so?

Anyway the plot is well thought out and executed. Most of the characterizations are natural and believable. The action seems a little forced and, even then, isn't as tense as it apparently tries to be. Wilson, the author, wrote a Hugo-winning novel (Spin) in 2005 and has been writing since the late '80s so he knows his stuff. It's a solid book if not quite a great one. It was a good, fun read and I really enjoyed it but I probably won't remember it in a year or two.

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

Time Travel. Alternate timelines. Dystopian themes. Action and adventure. Love story. All these themes and more integrated by Robert Charles Wilson into an intriguing story, appropriately called Last Year.

Time travel is now real! People from the 21st century having developed a way to open stable time portals to the past. Quickly, these scientific endeavors becoming monetized, as the “past” is turned into resort destinations, where — for a kingly price — people can have the ultimate vacation experience!

There is only one draw back to all this: the “past” is transformed into an alternate world. A timeline which diverges from the future and goes its own way. But, thankfully, this doesn’t cause any negative consequences for the 21st century, rather the new, modified past peacefully co-exists side-by-side with infinite alternate times.

One such vacation destination is Jesse Cullum’s late 19th century Ohio. A time where a luxurious resort of sorts has sprung up around the time portal from the future. The local residents becoming part of the vacation experience, as well as holding all sorts of jobs at this time resort. And this includes Jesse, who is part of the security force.

Together with his partner Elizabeth (who is from the future), Jesse spends his days tracking down illegal contraband being smuggled in from the 21st century, things like electronic devices, unpublished novels, drugs, and many other things — both large and small. The job suiting Jesse, especially since he and Elizabeth are lovers.

But then something horrible happens. An event Jesse knew might happen, but one he tried not to think about. Because time portals can only be kept open for certain time frames, and now it is time for Jesse’s portal to close, causing Elizabeth to return to the future. And Jesse must either let her go or expose a huge secret in order to stay with the woman he loves.

Overall, Last Year is a rousing time travel tale, which introduces some cool ideas, and takes the plots to interesting conclusions. There is very little focus on the actually time travel aspect, except in its effects on individuals in the past, but when Wilson focus on this element the narrative succeeds wonderfully.

As for the love story between Jesse and Elizabeth, it was well crafted, fairly realistic under the circumstances portrayed, and quite entertaining for the most part. At times I did have to suspend my disbelief at some of the lengths Jesse goes to for love, but since I’m a fully recovered romantic my struggles with this theme isn’t really surprising or noteworthy.

Where the narrative faltered for me was the action and adventure plot line. It started off strong, then fell into fairly traditional, unsurprising paths. Nothing inherently wrong with a standard thriller story line. I know many people will love it. I was just hoping for something a bit different and unexpected, I suppose.

Definitely, Last Year is a fine time travel story, one many people will find immensely entertaining. While I didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would, I still found Robert Charles Wilson’s ideas and writing style to my liking and look forward to reading more of his works in the future.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

”The clock turned minutes into seconds, today into yesterday. The boundary between past and future was called the present, Jesse thought. It was where he lived. It was where everyone lived. He took her in his arms and danced.”

As this year is coming to an end, this was a most appropriate story to read. It’s a story about leaving the past behind and start anew, about not being afraid of taking new chances. It’s also a love story between two very different people, whose relationship was doomed from the very beginning, but which, in the end, defied all odds. But don’t even think that the book is a romance.

There are other layers to the story too, because RCW never writes a linear one. His characters are never heroes, always ordinary and with flaws, but that’s what makes them so damn real.

One can view the story as an allegory for the clash between generations, and it would be right. Others complain it starts well but turns too political after half. I disagree; although there are political machinations, they are well embedded into the story, to have a complete picture of those times.

I have always found RCW’s writing so versatile: he touches a myriad of topics and emotions with a simple yet deeply touching writing; each reader may find something different in his works. And all these wrapped up here in a riveting time-travel/alternate history tale.

I always find solace in reading his words; it’s like they emanate comfort, even if the plot is often not. He is one of my favorite writers and I can’t recommend him enough.

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5 stars. A time travelling story with a main character whose primary quality seems to be placidity. The author avoids some of the usual pitfalls of time travel stories thankfully, and also presents some ethical questions about what a future traveller should do, say and use from the past. The book was a pleasant read, but I can't say that it was particularly memorable.

[Sara Cutaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of - no, THE - best time-traveling book I've ever read. The story takes place in 1876, but people from the 21st century have traveled back in time and are making a "resort" out of the time period. Visitors are able to travel back in time - for a hefty price - and see the world as it was before. However, once this portal to the past has been opened, it is immediately changed. It will never progress into the same future from whence the travelers came. But that's ok - all of these histories are different worlds, all side-by-side each other, going on infinitely. What happens in this past will not affect the future the visitors came from.

Jesse, a '76 local, rises in the ranks of security and gets teamed up with Elizabeth, a visitor from the future who also works security. Together, they must track down some contraband that has been coming through the "Mirror" from the future - iPods, books that have yet to be written, and most importantly, weapons. With a plot that amps up with each chapter, our heroes must fight against corruption and time itself. And what will happen when Elizabeth must return to her time period? These two have formed a connection that might be forever broken by time and space.

I loved the balance of character development and plot progression. I was taken as much by Jesse and Elizabeth's stories as I was by the action/adventure narrative. Wilson is a beautiful writer, and I'd recommend this novel to anyone who likes a fun science-fiction read!

[Ira (SF Words of Wonder) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my full, spoiler-free, video review HERE.
This was a fun, fast read.

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts great and despite being a bit so-so on its blurb, the narrative pull of the first few pages was so great that I kept turning them and reading; unfortunately about half on, the book turned into a political screed and we had enough of such in real life this year, while simultaneously the utter ridiculousness of the book's premise surfaced and I lost all suspension of disbelief when from a cool adventure/romance it turned into a "bad rich guy trying to conquer the universe" stuff

Seems that like with the author's last book, while his narrative power pulled me into the novel, his trying to fit the book into the current political orientation of the genre, started putting me off badly as the novel started reading very forced and the suspension of disbelief just died...

[ash | songsforafuturepoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, fleshed-out, thought-provoking.

I love Wilson’s storytelling. He’s great at balancing all aspects of the story in relation to each other, such that there’s not one overpowering part of the story. It makes his stories really solid – good pacing, reasonable length, thrilling-enough plot, fleshed-out characters, inevitable side love story, some underlying moral that he wants to put forth about the state of the world… the whole shebang. And I appreciate it. It’s a great formula and it worked well for Spin (the only other novel I read, to be honest.). This particular one however just seems to be missing something. If I had to put my finger down on something, I’d say it uses too many tropes, even though they were enjoyable, non-cheesy tropes. It actually isn’t a problem, and I’m sure it is a plus for many readers actually. I think I’m having overly high expectations after Spin.

I really shouldn’t compare it to Spin. I apologise for that somber introductory paragraph. I just want to say I devoured the book. I enjoyed it. It brought me into a vivid world, and I was as awe-struck as Jesse from the 1800’s at the promised utopic future, my world, at the gleaming florescent lights, the moving elevators, the pocket-sized iPods and iPhones that contain anything you can dream of. Jesse is an endearing character, a humble man who readily accepts things that are supposed to be beyond his time. And his partner is your typical 21st century single mother struggling to make ends meet, whose first impression to Jesse was someone out of reach just because she came from the future. I loved this duo, and reading about their exploration of each other’s worlds through themselves.

"I had an idea that sobriety was a weapon. I thought it would give me an advantage over my enemies. I wasn't sober for moral reasons-I was sober for the same reason a man carries a concealed pistol."

The plot was a thought exercise in the ethics of going to a ‘lesser developed’ world as a tourist activity – quite akin to voluntourism in our world, where people from more developed places travelling to less-fortunate countries not just to tour around, but to bring some sort of perceived help to them. The ‘help’ given to the people of the 1800’s, in the case of Last Year, was medical knowledge, or the invention of the electrical light, but given in bits and pieces so as to not screw up timelines. But is it helpful? Inevitably the people of the future have shown the people of the past how much they did not have. And to add to that, they are unable to provide the knowledge to help. Like Jesse said, people of the future have the means to lower infant mortality rates drastically, but they are not going to. And of course sometimes, when such disparity is made known, there comes about resentment and unrest.

I actually urge people to read this, not just for the great story and character development, but also for the parallels the book draws between the events in the story and current events. Quite eye-opening, that. 4.5 stars.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a real shame that Gore Vidal didn't go all in on Science Fiction, bringing Glocks and mobile phones into his visions of the past.

If he had, I reckon he would have written something like Robert Charles Wilson's Last Year.

This is A-grade stuff, SF/Historical fiction of the first order. I've read plenty of historical fiction and even one - Vidal's 1876 - set in the same year as Wilson's novel, and Last Year captures the vibe of that era perfectly.

Last Year is set in an 1876 where visitors from our time are able to cross both the years and the multiverse to visit the pasts of near identical realities, without impacting our own present. Due to limitations in the tech, the 1800s are the easiest era a portal can be opened to, so throngs of people pony up big bucks to experience the old-timey USA up close and personal in all it's glory and ugliness (mostly, it's ugliness).

As you would expect, this technology has been monopolized and commercialized by rapacious corporate interests, who have used it to make like bandits, charging top dollar to tourists wanting to visit the past, and shipping tonnes of ill-gotten gold back to the present. The corporate behemoth behind the program runs on a five year program. It opens a portal to the past of another timeline, floods it with tourists, ships out the gold then at the half-decade mark closes the portal before the influence it has wreaked on the past makes it so different that no-one wants to visit anymore.

As the story opens, our protagonist, local-born man Jesse Cullum, is standing guard outside the buildings that house the time portal, wearing his treasured possession from the future - a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Ulysses S. Grant is on his way to visit the time portal and speak with the future folk, and as you can probably guess, his visit doesn't go entirely smoothly. Jesse finds himself propelled into the machinations of the time travel company, and paired up with a scandalously liberated 21st century ex-soldier named Elizabeth. Together they will have to navigate the dangers of the past, while dealing with the demands of the company from the future as it prepares to abandon Jesse's reality.

From here, the story is fantastic fun, and it races along like a river in flood.

Wilson's genius is to make the main character a person from 1876, instead of one of the gawking tourists leering at the nineteenth century zoo. Jesse is a great character to follow through the story, his 19th century values and attitudes making him a compelling witness to the both the socially liberal travellers from our time and the ruthlessness of the time portal organisation. Wisely, the action stays in the past, never showing us our own future, which is revealed to Jesse through the stories he overhears from tourists and in the cultural flotsam (and some very dangerous jetsam) from our age that is beginning to alter his. In one memorable scene a dealer in peculiarities tries to sell Jesse a bootleg copy of Stephen King's The Shining, reprinted from a book accidentally left behind by a careless time traveller.

It's fantastic fun, the sort of book that can (and in my case, did) keep you reading into the witching hours.

Buy it and read it. This is Wilson at his exciting best.


Four point five glocks in the hands of 19th century American agitators out of five.

[Shaun Hutchinson]

This was a book full of ideas. It was about a group of people from the future who found a way into the past and set up a way to make money there. It could have explored a lot of things. How did they learn to travel to the past? What were the ramifications of people from the future traveling to the past? Instead, it decided not to explore any of the interesting ideas and instead focused on a pretty standard "adventure" type story. It wasn't bad, but I was disappointed because the last book of Wilson's I read was Spin, and it was so interesting. This book could have been as interesting, but sadly it wasn't.

I think this was a case of me wanting the book to be something it wasn't. I'm sure there are readers who will really enjoy this.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure who wrote the synopsis but it sounded like they read like a slightly different version of this story than I did.

The time-travel in this story was well done but not the real focus. No paradoxes to be found. The travel itself creates a new and separate timeline. Welcome to the multiverse.

The real story is that contraband is being smuggled from the future to the past. Jessie, a man from the past is teamed up with a woman from the future to track down the criminals. They uncover a lot more truths than they were looking for.

It was fun to read but it won’t blow your socks off. Recommended, but if your looking for hard sci-fi, you won’t find it here.

[Chris Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing take on time travel, mainly focused on its characters, and the ethical and moral implications of influencing the past and future of a world that doesn't affect our own. Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSdw...

[Standback · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, though it kind of doesn't make it to where it's trying to go.

The future has opened up a window into the past. They're sending through tourists, they're opening up trade. They're selling the future to the past, and the past to the future. And they've done everything for this to run smoothly, securely, and with excellent administration.

The premise is great and well executed, and all surrounding the theme of exploitation -- the future is basically saying "Eff the Prime Directive" and interfering with an alternate variation of its own past. It's especially effective because:

(A) The exploitation feels real and plausible. It's not mustache-twirling villainy, it's all things that have rationalizations, that take the past-people into consideration (always in second place, of course, to the future-people), and aren't directly destructive. The future visitors don't come across as unreasonable; indeed, they've made great efforts to be considerate. But at the same time, you can see how it adds up to and where it's heading to.
(B) The future-people's visit to the alternate past has a time limit -- this is their Last Year there. This does a great job of driving home how fickle the future's "help" is, how what's really making this thing work for them is the complete freedom from consequence.

There is a "But" to this, though. At some point, the book veers off into a side-track that just doesn't do anything for me. For the last 1/2-1/3 of the book, the premise becomes so much backdrop, while the protagonist goes off to Face The Enemy From His Shadowy Past. The book shifts from social-SF into thriller, and... ooof. I kind of felt like the premise was the core of the book. but the author wasn't able to weave an actual story out of it. It was a shame :-/

All that being said, I enjoyed the book a lot. Even if the latter half is exasperating, the first half is worthwhile. Three stars for a good, intriguing book, albeit with some significant flaws.

[Jamie Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good time travel story. Opportunists from the year 2032 have established a tourist destination in 1887 Ohio. History buffs from the future come to gawk at 19th century America, while the locals come to marvel at a careful selection of futuristic wonders.

This book stands out partly because of the lack of concern over altering history: apparently there are endless parallel timelines, so nothing done in this 1887 will affect this version of 2032. As a result there are only cursory attempts to prevent the inevitable smuggling and political activism - some people have philosophical objections to interference in any timeline. We do get the obligatory attempt to prevent the birth of Hitler, but it’s only a tiny sideline.

The story is mostly narrated by a man from 1887 (with an improbably colorful past including a childhood spent in a brothel) who is employed by the “City of Futurity”. He’s partnered with a rather somber female soldier from 2016, and they make at least a token effort to figure out who is smuggling weapons to the past and cocaine to the future.

[Danielle Tremblay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in GoodReads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

This book was written expressly for me. You don't believe me ? But it contains everything I've loved most in the novels I've read: science fiction, mystery and suspense. I've been a reader of science fiction novels forever; I've even written some. And for many years, I've been reading thrillers. So, yes, this novel was written for me.

Mr Wilson is a very good author. Nothing bad to say about his writing; on the contrary. So I recommend this book to everyone who, like me, likes suspense and science fiction.

P.-S.1 : I bought Spin. ;)
P.-S.2 : If there are mistakes in my short review, you can tell me. My English is not as fluent as it could become with your help: French is my native language.

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/201...

[Danny Tyran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse, the MC, is a guy from the past (circa 1820) who works for Futurity: city including some sort of door between Jesse's time period and ours. Kemp, the Futurity's boss, stole the technology from some visitors from our future to build Futurity. All this creates a lot of trouble in Jesse's time.

As several reviewers have pointed out, this book is a mix of genres: science fiction, historical novel, thriller. As I like these 3 genres and their blend is rather successful, I liked to read it.

It is well written, although the introduction and conclusion are a little slow for my taste.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel, please? I don't want this story to end the way it did, I want to know more. So...tell me more? In the form of a sequel? Please???

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. Been a fan of Wilson's since first reading his classic novel Spin. Last Year didn't really interest me but I picked it up from the library on a whim and am again impressed with his writing after a long time away.

I'll be putting his remaining books on my to read list for the future.

[❤Marie Gentilcore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting concept of alternative realities. Imagine being able to visit a place 100 years in the past. It was also kind of sad as once the visits start, the other world is eventually corrupted by the visitors from the future. I’m glad I read this.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along my reading 'career', I've come across several authors who seem to just write exactly the way that I enjoy. It feels like just about anything they write is catered to me, in some weird way. Past members of this club have been Pierce Brown, John Scalzi, Jeff Salyards, Daniel Polansky, and more recently Sylvain Neuvel. Basically, I feel like even if these books aren't perfect, just that *something* about the way the author writes bumps them up a bit for me.

Starting with Spin, I've been on a bit of a journey starting to go through Robert Charles Wilson's works, and so far, it's shaping up that RCW is another one of those 'catered' writers for me. His books remind me of Scalzi's in that they all just have some intangible 'it' factor for me, an edge, a tone, a style that invest me heavily, that I find myself daydreaming less while reading or listening, that just hook me.

Last Year follows Jesse Cullum, a security guard in the city of Futurity - literally, a city from the future. The decade is the 1870s, and 'future' humans from around our current time suddenly appear in Ohio, and start building a huge walled city with two towers. They reveal that they have a device they call the "mirror", which is essentially a stargate for time travel, and are able to come back in time. They come clean to the government that they are from the future, providing proof of current items, and make a deal to set up sort of a 'amusement park' for both the people of the 1800s, as well as the time traveling tourists who want to tour and see true-to-life old America. The local population gain employment and economic boost, the future people make huge amounts of money in gold to send forward in time, and when the project is over, they agree to provide medical equipment, knowledge, science etc to help Americans advance faster.

After a heroic act to save the life of President Ulysses Grant, Jesse is fast tracked up the ladder at Futurity and soon finds himself in league with the shady businessman who spearheads the entire Futurity operation, as one of the few 'natives' to work in Tower 1, the futuristic tower for future employees and time traveling tourists, complete with modern amenities, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. Jesse is paired with Elizabeth, a 21st century veteran who signed on with the company to earn enough money to take her daughter and escape from her abusive husband.

The two of them are sent on missions to uncover the source of some smuggled items from the future into the past, obviously something they are looking to avoid. However, soon things become more and more complicated as more futuristic devices and information are leaked to newspapers and other important figures of the 1870s, and soon there's large amounts of unrest and a growing uprising against the future delegation, as well as the entire idea of letting Futurity exist and take advantage of the 'natives'. However, Jesse's own shady past is slowly unveiled, and upon being sent to San Francisco to recover the daughter of the czar of Futurity, is stuck in the middle of his own personal history, protecting his family, completing his duties for August Kemp, and his growing love for Elizabeth.

Last Year was a creative novel, which delves into some of the complications, theories and drama surrounding what this kind of time travel and event might involve, without spending needless pages on hard science and taking the reader out of the suspension of belief. It keeps things entertaining and flowing, even when the stakes are high and some real major pieces are removed from the story. There's plenty of very well done emotion, an entertaining and not overdone romantic storyline, and a very bright cast of characters. And, as I mentioned, that certain 'something' that I'm finding in Wilson's writing, that piece that ties it all together for me.

It's certainly not as good of a book as Spin was, but on it's own merits, it's still a really entertaining, witty, and intriguing read. It's light without lacking substance, very addictive, and certainly pulled the rare feat of making me actually care about characters and actively root for them.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting mixture of alternate history and time traveling - 1870s with present time. Other cool ideas include altering a parallel universe's past that is almost identical to ours and the monetization of time travel. The characters are done well and the plot holds up for the most part. The main theme is should we be ultra-critical of our past selves' behavior or was it just how we are/were. The venue includes the plains of Illinois, quaint towns of New England and the wild west of San Francisco. There is a love story but it is somewhat weak.

[Horia Ursu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid work by one of my favourite writers. Robert Charles Wilson approaches again the theme of time travel, from a new and interesting angle, as he's previously done before in some of his novels I had the chance to read (The ChronolithsChronoliths, A Bridge of Years, Darwinia). This time, what he chose to examine is (another) what if: a meeting between twenty-first century people and nineteenth century people, as the travelers from a future (very similar to our present) make of the past a tourist resort for wealthy people, at the same time offering the residents of that past a glimpse into the (not so) utopic era from where they are coming. What's great is the clashing of mentalities between the two centuries, which could also be interpreted as a metaphor of the current state of the world, of the clash between progress and the archaic views of the world that still exist.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fascinating and by far different time travel story. You never know what you are going to get, so I pick up each one of his novels with openness and expectation. I always get a good read, no matter where the story takes me. No other author quite does this like Robert. I love his work and loved this novel.

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

We [the reader] arrive at Futurity City in 1876, in its final year before the people of the future pack up and go home. It's sort of a theme park. People from the twenty first century visit to get a glimpse of the past. The locals come to the City to get a glimpse of the future. When they arrived the past was the known past, but from that minute on it became a separate world. No grandfather paradox, it is not the past that leads to their present.

Jesse Cullum is a local who has been in City employ almost from the start. President Grant is visiting the city when Jesse, working security, spots a man with a gun and is able to thwart the assassination attempt. That opening scene is really well done and gave me an instant liking for Jesse. There's more. The assassin was using a gun from the future. Jesse gets teamed up with Elizabeth to crack the smuggling ring. That isn't the end of the story either.

Fun fast read, I really got into the story from the get go. Totally invested in the Jesse Cullum character and when it became a partnership, I enjoyed that thoroughly. 4.95 stars. Did a nice job of bringing in elements that were peripheral at the start of the story and making them integral at the end. Clever.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Civil War veteran Jesse Cullum saves the life of President Ulysses S. Grant, on the same day that he loses his favorite Oakley® sunglasses...

That jarring juxtaposition—the sort of twist that Robert Charles Wilson has come close to making a trademark—throws us at high momentum into Last Year.

Wilson's twist on time travel in Last Year is quickly explained, both in the book and here. Jesse Cullum and U.S. Grant are historical contemporaries, but not exactly in our history. Rather, their year 1876 is the present of a nearby universe, one of a whole sheaf of parallel timelines that exist in and are reachable through "Hilbert space." This particular parallel past was identical to ours, up to a point—the point when time travelers from the 21st Century arrived, sunglasses and all, to establish the shining City of Futurity, with only the noblest of goals in mind: making a profit.

The way time travel works in Last Year, you see, neatly sidesteps the "grandfather paradox." You can never go to your own past through Hilbert space, only to a closely parallel timeline—which can then be changed at will, without affecting your own future existence. What that does to the future of the universe you've arrived in, though... well, your grandparents had better watch their backs.

This conceit makes Last Year entertaining, but also more... realistic? A strange word to use, perhaps—but the notion of travel across separate-but-equal time streams is, at least in Wilson's hands, substantially more plausible than the usual tangle of time loops and paradoxes we get in such fiction.

"If there is such a thing as moral progress, the future will inevitably seem to admonish us for our sins."
—Abbie Hauser, p.241

Not everybody in late 19th-century America is happy about the new arrivals, of course. These are troubled times, both socially and economically. The United States have just been forcibly reunited, and in the aftermath corruption has reached hitherto unprecedented levels. This is the start of the so-called "Gilded Age" as well, when the rich not only exploit the poor, but are self-righteously smug about it. The people of Futurity bring marvels, it's true, and hint of more—but they don't give their marvels away, and there's a lot about the future that they're unwilling to share at all.

And these people from the future are strange—scandalously so. The time travelers aren't much concerned about race-mixing, or the proper way for women to behave, or appropriate attire for worship on Sundays, or indeed about propriety in general. They say "fuck"—a lot (possibly more than your average 21st-century adult does, truth be told)—while at the same time being oddly prudish about other common words. If that's the future... well, a lot of red-blooded Americans would say the future can just keep its d—d helicopters and smartphones.

For that matter, not everyone who comes to Futurity from our time is on the same page about the ethics of changing history—even if that history is really someone else's.

As Jesse tackles Grant's assailant, all of this is coming to a head—because Futurity was never intended to be a permanent fixture, and if all goes to plan, 1877 will be the City's very last year.

"They're only letters. The world's cheapest weapon."
—Elizabeth DePaul, p.168

One more parting shot: seriously, publishing houses (not just Tor; this is a general failing) really need to hire and use more human proofreaders, at least until their software is capable of distinguishing homophones. I don't want to see another "much vaster track of land" (p.28) or anyone "tying down a palette of boxes" (p.123) again—not in this timeline or any other!

[D. H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you start reading this and are put off by the gimmicky writing style that pops up now and again in the beginning, keep going. I was put off by that too. These cheeky, snarky, look how cool I am sentences seem to be there just to keep the impatient, inexperienced reader focused long enough to make it through act one.

After going on like that, I should provided an example, and I couldn't ask for any better than the first few sentences:

Two events made the first of September a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant.

This writing seems edited in and doesn't reflect how well the story is told overall. I'm not saying it's brilliant, but it's well-put together. And there are interesting moral issues which are presented and left open. What moral obligations does a group from the future have towards a group from the past?

A good, light story. I'm glad I kept reading.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been a fan of Robert Charles Wilson, having read every novel he has published. This newest release is a good solid story with robust main characters – on a par with, but unrelated to, his Julian Comstock novel. It is a time travel plot utilizing an open doorway between contemporary times and the late 19th century of an independent parallel history. Contemporary people (and it is pretty clearly right now 2016 or so) are going back to a resort city that has been built in post-civil war rural Illinois. Conceptually, this set-up bears some relationship to Eric Flint’s 1632. I hesitated to even mention that, because the writing in 1632 is atrocious, and RCW’s writing is on an altogether higher level.

The setting is mostly on the 19th century side, during the last year of the five-year opening of the mirror technology. Because it is a parallel universe, there has been no concern about changing history, only about maximizing return of investment by the developers, and avoiding contamination of the authenticity of the experience for guests. After 4 or 5 years though, plenty of interference with technology and political affairs has already taken place. The POV character is Jesse Collum, a 19th century “local” laborer. He is paired with 21st century ex-soldier and security agent Elizabeth DePaul, with a predictable result, but providing for a close examination of the change in behaviors and mores of the two times. These two characters are well developed, and I never fail to notice that RCW characters embody the layered feelings of being a parent (or caretaker sibling). Some of the side characters are 2-dimensional (billionaire August Kemp) or with inadequate motivation for their actions in the thriller plot (Mercy Kemp), but I chose to focus on the main characters.

I did not get a theme beyond the overall tone of the novel, which is against economic exploitation, and perhaps how good intentions of anti-exploitation activists do not translate well across cultures. One observation I did find interesting was when Jesse learns of post-traumatic stress syndrome, he diagnoses his American society at large of it. “The whole nation has PTSD, Jesse thought. It was a plague that had started at Fort Sumter and grown virulent at Manassas. Its nightmares were lynchings, Indian wars, and the pick-handle brigades that hunted Chinamen on the docks of San Francisco. And if we ever wake up from such dreams, he thought, then yes, we’ll likely wake up screaming.”

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Year is my favorite type of science fiction novel. There is time travel and there isn’t a lot of technical and scientific explanations about how the time travel was created or how it works. You just have to go with the story and trust that everything works. It’s a very entertaining story of how a portal from the near future is created and it opens onto the plains of Illinois in 1876. The portal is used as a tourist site for people from both the past and the present. Folks from the current day pay to go back and spend a week in 1876 and visit cities and hear long-dead actors, politicians and musicians. A museum is built for the folks of 1876 to visit and see what the future will hold – they are not allowed to travel to the future and are only given limited information on what the future will hold. The book has 2 sections. The first section covers Jesse Cullum saving the life of President Ulysses S. Grant from an assassin and then being charged with the task of finding out how guns from the future were smuggled into the past. The second part of the book covers Jesse being assigned to find “runners” – people from the future who have decided to stay and live in the past. There is a lot of action, adventure and a love interest. I’m giving it 4 stars because I read for entertainment and this was a very entertaining book!

[Gendou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about Glocks in the 1800s. It's a story about an Iraq war vet falling in love with a man who grew up in a whore house. The characters and plot are superb. The science fiction aspects are of course minimal, it reads more like an alternate history. Without giving too much away, it literally is an alternate history!

Classic to Robert Charles Wilson, there are some dubious moral lessons. For example, the capitalist isn't a bad guy, but he gets sidled with some very contrived folly, apparently to show how bad capitalism is. But because it's so contrived, I rather think the author just has an axe to grind. There's also a sort of false equivalence drawn between the tribulations of the 1800s and of today. They aren't compatible. Ours is absolutely a paradise compared to that world. Finally, the conspiracy theorist seems to be vindicated in this story. Which is always gross.

I wanted to learn more about the future humans who gave the mirror technology to the 21st century humans. Wilson often leaves us hanging with his "little red people".