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The Fall of Chronopolis
The mighty ships of the Third Time Fleet relentlessly patrolled the Chronotic Empire's thousand-year frontier, blotting out an error of history here or there before swooping back to challenge other time-travelling civilisations far into the future. Captain Mond Aton had been proud to serve in such a fleet. But now, falsely convicted of cowardice and dereliction of duty, he had been given the cruellest of sentences: to be sent unprotected into time as a lone messenger between the cruising timeships. After such an inconceivable experience in the endless voids there was only one option left to him. To be allowed to die.
191 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1974
4 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Barrington J. Bayley
72 books40 followersBarrington J. Bayley published work principally under his own name but also using the pseudonyms ofAlan Aumbry, Michael Barrington (with Michael Moorcock), John Diamond and P.F. Woods.
Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked in a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force in 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had seen print the year before in UK-only publication Vargo Statten Magazine.
During the 1960s, Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and later in its successor, the paperback anthologies of the same name. He became friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock, who largely instigated science fiction's New Wave movement. Bayley himself was part of the movement.
Bayley's first book, Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy approach to novel writing has been cited as influential on the works of M. John Harrison, Brian Stableford and Bruce Sterling.
Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked in a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force in 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had seen print the year before in UK-only publication Vargo Statten Magazine.
During the 1960s, Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and later in its successor, the paperback anthologies of the same name. He became friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock, who largely instigated science fiction's New Wave movement. Bayley himself was part of the movement.
Bayley's first book, Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy approach to novel writing has been cited as influential on the works of M. John Harrison, Brian Stableford and Bruce Sterling.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 16, 2020
DAW Collectors #105
Cover Artist: Kelly Freas
Name: Bayley, Barrington John, Birthplace: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, UK, (9 April 1937 - 14 October 2008).
Alternate Names: Alan Aumbry, James Colvin, John Diamond, P. F. Woods, Peter Woods.
The Chronotic Empire spans centuries, creating a utopian world of seemingly limitless potential, but there are cracks growing in the utopia; dissident heretics and a war with another time travelling civilisation from the future. Both are coming to a head and threaten not just the empire but all humanity.
Written, some eighteen months after "Collision with Chronos","The Fall of Chronopolis" is another time travel story and, though the two are often linked and even published together in an omnibus, they do not share quite the same time travel science; in Collision Bayley introduced a theory of time travel that quite neatly side stepped paradox problems whilst in the Fall of Chrons he positively embraces paradoxes. The entire model of time that he presents here is so fantastical that it really slips into the realm of science fantasy and even if mind expanding drugs were not involved in the writing, the reading certainly does a good dose of mind expansion.
Barrington J. Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and then later in various New Worlds paperback anthologies, becoming friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock and joining science fiction's New Wave movement.
Collision Course (1973)
The Fall of Chronopolis (1974)
Cover Artist: Kelly Freas
Name: Bayley, Barrington John, Birthplace: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, UK, (9 April 1937 - 14 October 2008).
Alternate Names: Alan Aumbry, James Colvin, John Diamond, P. F. Woods, Peter Woods.
The Chronotic Empire spans centuries, creating a utopian world of seemingly limitless potential, but there are cracks growing in the utopia; dissident heretics and a war with another time travelling civilisation from the future. Both are coming to a head and threaten not just the empire but all humanity.
Written, some eighteen months after "Collision with Chronos","The Fall of Chronopolis" is another time travel story and, though the two are often linked and even published together in an omnibus, they do not share quite the same time travel science; in Collision Bayley introduced a theory of time travel that quite neatly side stepped paradox problems whilst in the Fall of Chrons he positively embraces paradoxes. The entire model of time that he presents here is so fantastical that it really slips into the realm of science fantasy and even if mind expanding drugs were not involved in the writing, the reading certainly does a good dose of mind expansion.
Barrington J. Bayley's short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and then later in various New Worlds paperback anthologies, becoming friends with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock and joining science fiction's New Wave movement.
Collision Course (1973)
The Fall of Chronopolis (1974)
April 13, 2015
I don't think Bayley even understood what he was writing. Possibly, he didn't even care. It doesn't matter. The ideas are big, conflicting, paradoxical, and sort of hammer the reader into submission. It's weird and brain-warping and plays with the nature of existence and the meaning of existence, merging science and religion and resurrection and past lives and potential time and deep, dark entities lurking on the verge of quasi-existence, looking for a way into normal space-time.
Bayley may be bullshitting all of us, but the bullshit is necessary. The confusion is necessary, because paradoxes should be confusing. He is playing a deeper game than the simple hard science.
The book's final moments have true power, as the secrets are unveiled and the nature and necessity of the Chronotic Empire is shown.
Bayley may be bullshitting all of us, but the bullshit is necessary. The confusion is necessary, because paradoxes should be confusing. He is playing a deeper game than the simple hard science.
The book's final moments have true power, as the secrets are unveiled and the nature and necessity of the Chronotic Empire is shown.
March 28, 2010
Bayley's most inventive book, and that's saying something. Ridiculously imaginative cosmology, seriously strange meditations on the nature of time, and a plot that mostly sticks together.
August 26, 2024
I recently read collision course by Barrington Bailey and really enjoyed it. I thought this book was a sequel, or at least connected somehow but it doesn’t seem that way.
The time travel rules are different in this one. This is a bit more overtly pulpy and fun but I think collision course is the superior book.
I do love the giant computer “imperator” that trundles out on a track to give cryptic predictions.
October 7, 2017
The Chronotic Empire spans centuries, creating a utopian world of seemingly limitless potential, but there are cracks growing in the utopia; dissident heretics and a war with another time travelling civilisation from the future. Both are coming to a head and threaten not just the empire but all humanity.
Written, I believe, some eighteen months after Collision with Chronos, the Fall of Chronopolis is another time travel story from innovative, SF classic writer Barrington J Bayley and, though the two are often linked and even published together in an omnibus, they do not share quite the same time travel science; in Collision Bayley introduced a theory of time travel that quite neatly side stepped paradox problems whilst in the Fall of Chrons he positively embraces paradoxes. The entire model of time that he presents here is so fantastical that it really slips into the realm of science fantasy and even if mind expanding drugs were not involved in the writing, the reading certainly does a good dose of mind expansion. My best advice is to just go with the flow and not worry too much about the detail and brace yourself for a wild ride. It’s all huge fun, if you don’t let it tie your mind into too many knots.
Bayley is often accused of poor character development and that is undoubtedly true, his characters are shallow clichés living in an unashamedly male oriented society, the few women that appear are distinctly second class characters who are never play any major roles are always subservient to the male characters. This shouldn’t be too surprising for when the book was written but it is always something I find annoying when reading books from this ‘classic’ era. Setting that aside this is a great space operatic style adventure that maintains a fast pace throughout. That latter being another difference from Collision which was at times a touch pedestrian.
A great little read that I would recommend to lovers of early SF just don’t expect to make sense of everything; I rather suspect even Bayley himself struggled to make sense of everything.
Written, I believe, some eighteen months after Collision with Chronos, the Fall of Chronopolis is another time travel story from innovative, SF classic writer Barrington J Bayley and, though the two are often linked and even published together in an omnibus, they do not share quite the same time travel science; in Collision Bayley introduced a theory of time travel that quite neatly side stepped paradox problems whilst in the Fall of Chrons he positively embraces paradoxes. The entire model of time that he presents here is so fantastical that it really slips into the realm of science fantasy and even if mind expanding drugs were not involved in the writing, the reading certainly does a good dose of mind expansion. My best advice is to just go with the flow and not worry too much about the detail and brace yourself for a wild ride. It’s all huge fun, if you don’t let it tie your mind into too many knots.
Bayley is often accused of poor character development and that is undoubtedly true, his characters are shallow clichés living in an unashamedly male oriented society, the few women that appear are distinctly second class characters who are never play any major roles are always subservient to the male characters. This shouldn’t be too surprising for when the book was written but it is always something I find annoying when reading books from this ‘classic’ era. Setting that aside this is a great space operatic style adventure that maintains a fast pace throughout. That latter being another difference from Collision which was at times a touch pedestrian.
A great little read that I would recommend to lovers of early SF just don’t expect to make sense of everything; I rather suspect even Bayley himself struggled to make sense of everything.
June 27, 2023
It seems I am an idiot. This novel follows Collision Course and I Didn't knew about it. So I've read this one and was lost for more than half the way. It can be read alone but probably I lost some stuff. Oh well.
So this novel is another novel with time travelling schemes and we've got an empire that not rules in space but in time. Barrington tries to explain how would this work without any shenanigans of kill your own father but in the end I still couldn't see the appeal.
Another one that I read and wasn't convinced. It's strange because I've read some of his works on black library anthologies and they were good. Oh well, maybe I have to read the first but with all the novels to read, I won't.
So this novel is another novel with time travelling schemes and we've got an empire that not rules in space but in time. Barrington tries to explain how would this work without any shenanigans of kill your own father but in the end I still couldn't see the appeal.
Another one that I read and wasn't convinced. It's strange because I've read some of his works on black library anthologies and they were good. Oh well, maybe I have to read the first but with all the novels to read, I won't.
August 18, 2025
The Fall of Chronopolis is Bayley at his most vertiginous, an empire-spanning space opera where time itself is a battlefield, and chronology a fragile condition to be manipulated and weaponized.
Chronopolis, the eponymous city, is a temporal lattice: an empire extending across orthogonal centuries, strung along “nodes”, which are stable anchor-points in the temporal flux where causation holds long enough to build societies. Every citizen exists in multiple iterations across different nodes in a living recursion. The imperial fleet, known as “time men”, sail through potential time in the stratum, a turbulent medium of possibility where all events flicker, overlap, and dissolve, effectively a fractal ocean of multi-dimensional chaos that may or may not achieve emergence in orthogonal time.
A story this entropic should be a complete disaster, and yet Bayley pulls it off. Perhaps writing about this level of paradoxical pseudo-science is one thing, but the places he takes you are always unexpected; good luck predicting any of this. Though the novel is not without critique. Chronopolis relies on golden age literary tropes that evoke Alfred Bester and Van Vogt, so you’ll find the typical useless female protagonists who need saving. But Bayley gets a pass from me here: the creativity literally has no ceiling, and the story is electric and feverishly readable.
While this isn’t his strongest work, I heartily recommend it to all SF lovers. Get ready for a 160-page Mandelbrot set: endlessly mesmerizing and uniquely bizarre.
Chronopolis, the eponymous city, is a temporal lattice: an empire extending across orthogonal centuries, strung along “nodes”, which are stable anchor-points in the temporal flux where causation holds long enough to build societies. Every citizen exists in multiple iterations across different nodes in a living recursion. The imperial fleet, known as “time men”, sail through potential time in the stratum, a turbulent medium of possibility where all events flicker, overlap, and dissolve, effectively a fractal ocean of multi-dimensional chaos that may or may not achieve emergence in orthogonal time.
A story this entropic should be a complete disaster, and yet Bayley pulls it off. Perhaps writing about this level of paradoxical pseudo-science is one thing, but the places he takes you are always unexpected; good luck predicting any of this. Though the novel is not without critique. Chronopolis relies on golden age literary tropes that evoke Alfred Bester and Van Vogt, so you’ll find the typical useless female protagonists who need saving. But Bayley gets a pass from me here: the creativity literally has no ceiling, and the story is electric and feverishly readable.
While this isn’t his strongest work, I heartily recommend it to all SF lovers. Get ready for a 160-page Mandelbrot set: endlessly mesmerizing and uniquely bizarre.
September 16, 2025
Barrington J Bayley has been on my radar for about two years now thanks to SF Literature YouTube content from the likes of Stephen E. Andrew (the Outlaw Bookseller), and everything I'd heard about him from there and beyond had made me really excited to read from him; he sounded like just my kind of colorful, literary SF. I chose to start with *The Fall of Chronopolis* (I had a good selection to pick from at a used bookshop) because the time travel genre is one of my favorite tropes and I was pretty interested to see how Bayley would play in the temporal sandbox. To my delight, he actually did some really unique things in this book, and the concepts he spins up can be seen represented in both good and bad works of SF across all forms of media over the next several decades. So on some levels this feels like an important work, but on others, it seems like a totally bananas story that's not worth taking too seriously. It's a pretty interesting dichotomy, so let's get down to summarizing, and then to business...
*The Fall of Chronopolis* has a patchwork plot that I actually took notes on while reading so I'd be able to coherently write about it (honestly, that's a good sign as far as I'm concerned). The book starts with two military commanders from the Third Time Fleet making a man who we don't know much about commit suicide with a codeword. Their temporal fleet is positioned over a planet which hosted a city before their enemy (the Hegemony) literally wiped it out of the timestream. As they prepare to battle the Hegemony the perspective shifts to Captain Aton, who leads his own ship and discovers that some of his gunnery officers are Traumatics (worshippers of the evil false idol Hulmu) right before the battle. Their ship ends up getting disabled during that battle, and the only people who make it out on a lifeboat are Aton and the Traumatics he wants to expose... we then get introduced to Chronopolis, the heart of this empire which exists in Node 1 (I'll get to temporal theory in a little bit) through various lenses: a teacher, the head of the Achronal Archives who seeks to record history so it doesn't get wiped by changes in the timeline, a prince whose lover/sister's corpse was stolen (and evidence can't be found due to errors in cause and effect), and the Traumatist cultists who start hunting down an innocent woman named Inpriss to emotionally and physically torture her. Once we see this kaliedescope of a world we shift back to ...
I've read more novels about time travel than those about most subjects in my time, which makes me a bit of a snob when it comes to time travel stories. While I can appreciate the simple elegance of classics like Wells' *The Time Machine*, I'm not convinced by the rather fuzzy Marvel Comics-esque approach to time travel and temporal operations that make up a lot of twenty-first century SF like Tom Meritt's dreadfully boring *Pilot X*, Baker's Company series (starting with *In the Garden of Iden*), or even the more mainstream attempts like *The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August* which just didn't dig into the mechanics enough for me. Of these, the first and third are most relevant to the concepts in *The Fall of Chronopolis*, in part due to their setup of organizations which rule (or at least oversee) certain swathes of time. This has also been done in many other books like *The Overlords of War* (which I just read), but I'd only seen the temporal empire done right once, in *The End of Eternity* by Isaac Asimov. That is, until this book, because it has the most unique time travel concepts of all of those. This temporal empire is based upon the existence of seven different Nodes, each of them being a hundred and some years apart. These nodes are like the crests of waves in the ocean, and time travel is mostly performed going from Node to Node. The Empire rules from the first Node, but it seems like as the Nodes (or the waves) wash throughout the timestream that the earliest moments of the Empire fade out of its grasp - this is a rolling rule, not a governing body that rules the same static pieces of history, which makes this a stark improvement compared to, say, Klein's *The Overlords of War*. And the way that this interacts with plot points is really well done, and I get the sense the Bayley really does stick to his very strange rules. This also seems to influence works, too, or at least came up with ideas decades before I've seen them used otherwise; for example, Hayford Pierce's 1989 novel *The Thirteenth Majestral* (later reprinted as *Dinosaur Park* to cash in on the success of Speilberg's *Jurassic Park*) uses a very similar idea to this book's Achronal Archive, where the titular organization exists inside a field of time which is protected from temporal change so they can keep track of it. This denizens of the Achronal Archives go through the same mental struggles as those of the Thirteenth Majestral do. While *The Fall of Chronopolis* certainly owes some debt to *The End of Eternity*, I think you'll find that a lot of works owe it some debt as well, even if very few of its successors committed to the rolling nature of time nearly as much...
There's a battle between ... this ending is crazy and a bit convoluted, but don't let anyone tell you it wasn't at least kind of epic.
But even if the ending was kind of epic, I want to highlight the "convoluted" bit now because... well... the plot has almost as many cons as it does pros. While it does a really interesting job of setting up the world and temporal mechanics early in the book thanks to a variety of viewpoints (military officers, the Achronal Archives, a teacher, etc) that feel pretty inspired and even set up a few really interesting novums through miniature conceptual breakthroughs (like how Bayley sets up couriers in the opening scene and then ), the back half of the book kind of becomes a mess. I'm really glad I wrote down what happened, because if I didn't I would've barely remembered. The ultimate conclusion isn't bad, but the third act feels like it could've been at least twice as long, and I think some added length and explanation would've slowed things down from heroin speeds to being just whiplashing-inducing. I mean, the breakneck pace in the first two acts didn't really bother me - it seemed like the right amount of attention is given to each bunch of characters, and it was all engaging worldbuilding and such - but towards the end it just lost me, and I wish that Bayley had fattened up the ending and gotten this published outside of the DAW "yellow-spine" line. It's still hard to point to anything that was done wrong, but... it lost me. There might be an element of van Vogt-esque plotting to this book, which would explain why I lost interest. The revelations of weren't set up too wonderfully either... but I'm thinking it might've been a length restriction thing because Bayley was on point with his plotting and conceptual framing earlier in the narratives. That being said, it'll take more than some fancy breakthroughs to make me overlook one of my pet peeves...
The it took me away from his character. But honestly, I was never going to be too invested in the characters anyways - Bayley didn't spend too much time caring about them. They were okay and I could always tell different characters apart from each other, even if that was through archetypes (the aging ruler and his malevolent adviser, etc), but no one really grew or changed or made you endeared to them or set against them. They're just kind of there, pawns in a grand story. I'm not personally offended by this and don't find them as self-detrimentally bland as some reviewers nowadays seem to think, but they're also not special. Also, to my surprise, the writing of this novel wasn't all that special either; while he's praised by people who usually love intelligent prose, Bayley is apparently just an okay writer. That's fine, just a bit unexpected; he's perfectly competent and not blocky or choppy like some DAW writers back from the day could've been. Still, his characters and prose are just kinda neutral for me, which leaves me torn between awesome time travel concepts and offputting plotting...
This can't really be a four star read because it's a little too forgettable for that, but it's also pretty interesting and unique, so I think I'm going to give this book a 7.5/10. I do have more Bayley purchased and ready to read, so I hope that that will be less janky and jarring... still, this has revitalized my interest in the time travel trope after it's been beat down by largely subpar uses of it that I've been reading as of late, so this book thoroughly earned my praise. Hopefully the next vintage SF review of mine you see is a little more coherent - until then, best of luck with your own time travelling endeavors, and I'll see you one of these days, be it past, present, or future....
*The Fall of Chronopolis* has a patchwork plot that I actually took notes on while reading so I'd be able to coherently write about it (honestly, that's a good sign as far as I'm concerned). The book starts with two military commanders from the Third Time Fleet making a man who we don't know much about commit suicide with a codeword. Their temporal fleet is positioned over a planet which hosted a city before their enemy (the Hegemony) literally wiped it out of the timestream. As they prepare to battle the Hegemony the perspective shifts to Captain Aton, who leads his own ship and discovers that some of his gunnery officers are Traumatics (worshippers of the evil false idol Hulmu) right before the battle. Their ship ends up getting disabled during that battle, and the only people who make it out on a lifeboat are Aton and the Traumatics he wants to expose... we then get introduced to Chronopolis, the heart of this empire which exists in Node 1 (I'll get to temporal theory in a little bit) through various lenses: a teacher, the head of the Achronal Archives who seeks to record history so it doesn't get wiped by changes in the timeline, a prince whose lover/sister's corpse was stolen (and evidence can't be found due to errors in cause and effect), and the Traumatist cultists who start hunting down an innocent woman named Inpriss to emotionally and physically torture her. Once we see this kaliedescope of a world we shift back to ...
I've read more novels about time travel than those about most subjects in my time, which makes me a bit of a snob when it comes to time travel stories. While I can appreciate the simple elegance of classics like Wells' *The Time Machine*, I'm not convinced by the rather fuzzy Marvel Comics-esque approach to time travel and temporal operations that make up a lot of twenty-first century SF like Tom Meritt's dreadfully boring *Pilot X*, Baker's Company series (starting with *In the Garden of Iden*), or even the more mainstream attempts like *The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August* which just didn't dig into the mechanics enough for me. Of these, the first and third are most relevant to the concepts in *The Fall of Chronopolis*, in part due to their setup of organizations which rule (or at least oversee) certain swathes of time. This has also been done in many other books like *The Overlords of War* (which I just read), but I'd only seen the temporal empire done right once, in *The End of Eternity* by Isaac Asimov. That is, until this book, because it has the most unique time travel concepts of all of those. This temporal empire is based upon the existence of seven different Nodes, each of them being a hundred and some years apart. These nodes are like the crests of waves in the ocean, and time travel is mostly performed going from Node to Node. The Empire rules from the first Node, but it seems like as the Nodes (or the waves) wash throughout the timestream that the earliest moments of the Empire fade out of its grasp - this is a rolling rule, not a governing body that rules the same static pieces of history, which makes this a stark improvement compared to, say, Klein's *The Overlords of War*. And the way that this interacts with plot points is really well done, and I get the sense the Bayley really does stick to his very strange rules. This also seems to influence works, too, or at least came up with ideas decades before I've seen them used otherwise; for example, Hayford Pierce's 1989 novel *The Thirteenth Majestral* (later reprinted as *Dinosaur Park* to cash in on the success of Speilberg's *Jurassic Park*) uses a very similar idea to this book's Achronal Archive, where the titular organization exists inside a field of time which is protected from temporal change so they can keep track of it. This denizens of the Achronal Archives go through the same mental struggles as those of the Thirteenth Majestral do. While *The Fall of Chronopolis* certainly owes some debt to *The End of Eternity*, I think you'll find that a lot of works owe it some debt as well, even if very few of its successors committed to the rolling nature of time nearly as much...
There's a battle between ... this ending is crazy and a bit convoluted, but don't let anyone tell you it wasn't at least kind of epic.
But even if the ending was kind of epic, I want to highlight the "convoluted" bit now because... well... the plot has almost as many cons as it does pros. While it does a really interesting job of setting up the world and temporal mechanics early in the book thanks to a variety of viewpoints (military officers, the Achronal Archives, a teacher, etc) that feel pretty inspired and even set up a few really interesting novums through miniature conceptual breakthroughs (like how Bayley sets up couriers in the opening scene and then ), the back half of the book kind of becomes a mess. I'm really glad I wrote down what happened, because if I didn't I would've barely remembered. The ultimate conclusion isn't bad, but the third act feels like it could've been at least twice as long, and I think some added length and explanation would've slowed things down from heroin speeds to being just whiplashing-inducing. I mean, the breakneck pace in the first two acts didn't really bother me - it seemed like the right amount of attention is given to each bunch of characters, and it was all engaging worldbuilding and such - but towards the end it just lost me, and I wish that Bayley had fattened up the ending and gotten this published outside of the DAW "yellow-spine" line. It's still hard to point to anything that was done wrong, but... it lost me. There might be an element of van Vogt-esque plotting to this book, which would explain why I lost interest. The revelations of weren't set up too wonderfully either... but I'm thinking it might've been a length restriction thing because Bayley was on point with his plotting and conceptual framing earlier in the narratives. That being said, it'll take more than some fancy breakthroughs to make me overlook one of my pet peeves...
The it took me away from his character. But honestly, I was never going to be too invested in the characters anyways - Bayley didn't spend too much time caring about them. They were okay and I could always tell different characters apart from each other, even if that was through archetypes (the aging ruler and his malevolent adviser, etc), but no one really grew or changed or made you endeared to them or set against them. They're just kind of there, pawns in a grand story. I'm not personally offended by this and don't find them as self-detrimentally bland as some reviewers nowadays seem to think, but they're also not special. Also, to my surprise, the writing of this novel wasn't all that special either; while he's praised by people who usually love intelligent prose, Bayley is apparently just an okay writer. That's fine, just a bit unexpected; he's perfectly competent and not blocky or choppy like some DAW writers back from the day could've been. Still, his characters and prose are just kinda neutral for me, which leaves me torn between awesome time travel concepts and offputting plotting...
This can't really be a four star read because it's a little too forgettable for that, but it's also pretty interesting and unique, so I think I'm going to give this book a 7.5/10. I do have more Bayley purchased and ready to read, so I hope that that will be less janky and jarring... still, this has revitalized my interest in the time travel trope after it's been beat down by largely subpar uses of it that I've been reading as of late, so this book thoroughly earned my praise. Hopefully the next vintage SF review of mine you see is a little more coherent - until then, best of luck with your own time travelling endeavors, and I'll see you one of these days, be it past, present, or future....
March 1, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"The Fall of Chronopolis (The Last and Final Days of the Chronotic Empire) by the relatively unknown British sci-fi author, Barrington J. Bayley, is one the best time travel books I’ve ever read. Other reviewers have suggested that this is Bayley’s best as well — I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve read The Garment of Caen. Bayley’s works live off of interesting ideas (often epic feats of the imagination). Without the allure of these ideas, his novels are [...]"
"The Fall of Chronopolis (The Last and Final Days of the Chronotic Empire) by the relatively unknown British sci-fi author, Barrington J. Bayley, is one the best time travel books I’ve ever read. Other reviewers have suggested that this is Bayley’s best as well — I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve read The Garment of Caen. Bayley’s works live off of interesting ideas (often epic feats of the imagination). Without the allure of these ideas, his novels are [...]"
May 22, 2012
I found this interesting when younger - I like time travel books - but this one didn't quite do it for me despite an interesting idea
July 29, 2021
I guess a book about and around time travel shouldn't be linear but this one twists and turns in all of the wrong places.
We begin thrust into a world full of A, B, and C plots that the reader can guess will all intersect at some point but it leaves the beginning rather messy. Then, as one of the plots emerges as the main through line, the book really finds its stride. Our protagonist is interesting and his story is definitely the one we should have been focused on all along. The B and C plots come back in and fit rather well. I was getting into it.
Then the most extraordinary thing happened...
The book too a long and decisive turn into fantasy. *Spoilers* Complete with superpowers and supreme beings and what can only be described as a demon. And ultimately fell apart.
If you like the pulp that comes with Daw books then go for it. But I appreciate the pulp that knows it's pulp and has fun with it. The second act of this book was just that. The other two acts just took itself too seriously.
We begin thrust into a world full of A, B, and C plots that the reader can guess will all intersect at some point but it leaves the beginning rather messy. Then, as one of the plots emerges as the main through line, the book really finds its stride. Our protagonist is interesting and his story is definitely the one we should have been focused on all along. The B and C plots come back in and fit rather well. I was getting into it.
Then the most extraordinary thing happened...
The book too a long and decisive turn into fantasy. *Spoilers* Complete with superpowers and supreme beings and what can only be described as a demon. And ultimately fell apart.
If you like the pulp that comes with Daw books then go for it. But I appreciate the pulp that knows it's pulp and has fun with it. The second act of this book was just that. The other two acts just took itself too seriously.
February 2, 2017
four stars for the conceit, and where he takes it. an important book, in fact, in sf time travel studies. 3 stars for the actual writing, which is... fusty, heavy, and not really equipped to make the sharp sudden turns his plotting requires. but never mind all that, go for it anyway.
December 29, 2017
romanzo breve sul viaggio nel tempo, originale e avvincente, i nodi temporali che differenziano le varie epoche storiche dello stesso mondo sono una genialata...
January 19, 2025
4/5
A very welcome and unexpected surprise. A cross between the weirdness of PKD and the space opera of Alastair Reynolds, The Fall of Chronopolis is time travel story focused on the end of the Chronotic Empire while it struggles for control of time-stable nodes with an adversarial group called the Hegemony, who use a weapon that is capable of deleting entire cities from time itself. A few primary characters are followed, including a former commander of time fleet, members of the ruling self-incestuous aristocracy, and a woman hunted for sacrifice by a heretical religious group. The world as we know it exists "like the skin that forms on the surface of a liquid" surrounded by a sea of potential time, colloquially known as the 'strat', where anything is possible and sanity goes to die.
This is an imaginative world, full of vivid imagery that makes it come alive on the page. Bayley strikes an unrelenting pace that doesn't stop for a moment to smell the roses, a skill that Reynolds could take a lesson in. A sweet little gobstopper of a book, ripe for a fun afternoon of reading as you revel in his creativity. The images that Bayley draws, especially scenes that involve or take place in the 'strat', are memorable, hard, and dark.
Surprisingly Bayley also takes some time to ruminate on the human soul and its passage through time. It's really interesting that he weaves Christianity into a world where resurrection is a fact, and the adversary exists as a demon of deep potential time. Make no mistake, its roots are firmly planted in pulp science fiction, but that doesn't prevent it from delving into the metaphysical.
The Fall of Chronopolis is an idealized version of what I hope all these slim SF books from the 60's and 70's contain. In reality, too many of them are a disappointment, where imaginative ideas fall to the wayside in favor of office drama and bourbon sipping. I'm not saying this is a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination. It's convoluted and sometimes nonsensical, relying far to much on plot conveniences, but in terms of pure entertainment it was a joy. It quenched a very specific and deep-seeded thirst that's hard to sate.
A very welcome and unexpected surprise. A cross between the weirdness of PKD and the space opera of Alastair Reynolds, The Fall of Chronopolis is time travel story focused on the end of the Chronotic Empire while it struggles for control of time-stable nodes with an adversarial group called the Hegemony, who use a weapon that is capable of deleting entire cities from time itself. A few primary characters are followed, including a former commander of time fleet, members of the ruling self-incestuous aristocracy, and a woman hunted for sacrifice by a heretical religious group. The world as we know it exists "like the skin that forms on the surface of a liquid" surrounded by a sea of potential time, colloquially known as the 'strat', where anything is possible and sanity goes to die.
This is an imaginative world, full of vivid imagery that makes it come alive on the page. Bayley strikes an unrelenting pace that doesn't stop for a moment to smell the roses, a skill that Reynolds could take a lesson in. A sweet little gobstopper of a book, ripe for a fun afternoon of reading as you revel in his creativity. The images that Bayley draws, especially scenes that involve or take place in the 'strat', are memorable, hard, and dark.
Surprisingly Bayley also takes some time to ruminate on the human soul and its passage through time. It's really interesting that he weaves Christianity into a world where resurrection is a fact, and the adversary exists as a demon of deep potential time. Make no mistake, its roots are firmly planted in pulp science fiction, but that doesn't prevent it from delving into the metaphysical.
The Fall of Chronopolis is an idealized version of what I hope all these slim SF books from the 60's and 70's contain. In reality, too many of them are a disappointment, where imaginative ideas fall to the wayside in favor of office drama and bourbon sipping. I'm not saying this is a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination. It's convoluted and sometimes nonsensical, relying far to much on plot conveniences, but in terms of pure entertainment it was a joy. It quenched a very specific and deep-seeded thirst that's hard to sate.
June 5, 2023
Bruh what in hell did I just read. This was such a complicated book to read and I barely understood what was going on but man did I just keep reading. Like I have never seen time travel feel so convoluted and yet so interesting to the point where I am annoyed at not understanding how time was being described but like everything else made more than less sense. I might reread just to understand what kind of drugs Bayley was on when he tried creating this concept of his, like why are there like 3 different kinds of time? Why cant I understand it? Am I just dumb? Again, I have no clue but it was enjoyable for most of it so thats what mattered. Also why did they have to rape Sorce? Was that really necessary? I dont think so!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2023
A marvellously well-plotted tale of time travel, religion and philosophy packed into less than two-hundred pages. A fascinating absorbing narrative which resulted in me reading this in one sitting, which doesn’t happen that often. Sublime. Reminded me of Cordwainer Smith with regards to style, ambition and quality. High praise indeed.
February 20, 2019
The 3/4 of the books was interesting, as soon as he makes , that's were I stop enjoying the lecture. Interesting ideas, fast paced, but the religious theme more than I can take.
October 28, 2024
This book excellently illustrates how difficult it is to write a time travel story. There's far too much going on, the 'science' is much too complicated for this type of story, and the plot is not very interesting.
December 15, 2025
I love Bayley but I was confused throughout this book. I'm guessing maybe he was as well. I did finish it but I would recommend starting elsewhere if you're interested in Bayley. This one was all over the place, not cohesive and just plain weird but not in a good way.
September 17, 2022
This fast-paced adventure packs plenty of high octane action and genre weirdness into its brief length.
April 17, 2023
Yes. I did read this book long ago, I forget exactly when. It was a jumble of ideas, but fascinating ideas, wonderfully inventive.
December 5, 2024
A temporal crusade and an empire founded on a scientific discovery.. of gods and demons and men in 176 pgs. Phenomenal!!!
July 5, 2024
(2 August, 2023)
A time empire strove, strives and will strive against a malevolent enemy. Who has won, wins and will win? Fantastically inventive with numerous nutso - and not so nutso - ideas, this was, is and will be awesome to have been read, read and to read (yeah, I know, how to pronounce 'read', right?).
Bayley stuffs this with so many concepts, it's crazy! If one is a fan of ancient Gnosticism, there's Yaldabaoth to soothe you. Do you ponder the nature of reality? How does the Holographic Principle strike you? To add to one's reading pleasure, many of these concepts are discussed throughout.
There is also a union of state and religion, one that seemingly works (imagine that!). Scientific development that becomes the source of humanity's and reality's destruction. A society where ontological thinking is common. The nature of time is often debated, albeit quietly. Although modified, there is also a cyclical model of the Universe discussed, one could go on and on.
The best part is the ending, it does not disappoint. Too often, stories with big ideas - big BIG IDEAS - the denouement of said stories is a gigantic letdown, this is definitely not the case here.
A time empire strove, strives and will strive against a malevolent enemy. Who has won, wins and will win? Fantastically inventive with numerous nutso - and not so nutso - ideas, this was, is and will be awesome to have been read, read and to read (yeah, I know, how to pronounce 'read', right?).
Bayley stuffs this with so many concepts, it's crazy! If one is a fan of ancient Gnosticism, there's Yaldabaoth to soothe you. Do you ponder the nature of reality? How does the Holographic Principle strike you? To add to one's reading pleasure, many of these concepts are discussed throughout.
There is also a union of state and religion, one that seemingly works (imagine that!). Scientific development that becomes the source of humanity's and reality's destruction. A society where ontological thinking is common. The nature of time is often debated, albeit quietly. Although modified, there is also a cyclical model of the Universe discussed, one could go on and on.
The best part is the ending, it does not disappoint. Too often, stories with big ideas - big BIG IDEAS - the denouement of said stories is a gigantic letdown, this is definitely not the case here.
July 10, 2018
Someone once told me that Barrington J. Bayley was a hack writer with a difference. He wrote for the pulps, but he had unusual ideas and post-modernist friends. Someone worth checking out.
Well, at last I have done so...but I rather wish I hadn’t. The Fall of Chronopolis is essentially a space opera – complete with empires and big battles – but set in time rather than space. If you could have a time opera, this would be it. And I get the feeling that when this idea occurred to Barrington J. Bayley, he thought about it for at least two minutes before heading for the typewriter to hammer it out. It certainly reads that way. The time machines resemble battleships, complete with torpedoes. Crew members explain the mechanics of time travel to each other in improbable conversations. Paradoxes are avoided, except when convenient to the plot. Characterization and credibility are avoided completely. Interesting and unusual ideas are not in evidence. The denouement is embarrassingly clumsy.
No grace, no style, no surprises - but it was short.
Well, at last I have done so...but I rather wish I hadn’t. The Fall of Chronopolis is essentially a space opera – complete with empires and big battles – but set in time rather than space. If you could have a time opera, this would be it. And I get the feeling that when this idea occurred to Barrington J. Bayley, he thought about it for at least two minutes before heading for the typewriter to hammer it out. It certainly reads that way. The time machines resemble battleships, complete with torpedoes. Crew members explain the mechanics of time travel to each other in improbable conversations. Paradoxes are avoided, except when convenient to the plot. Characterization and credibility are avoided completely. Interesting and unusual ideas are not in evidence. The denouement is embarrassingly clumsy.
No grace, no style, no surprises - but it was short.
Read
May 1, 2009I first read this book in 1977 when I was twelve years old, and I loved it. So now I just re-read it in 2009 and of course, as an adult I can see what a silly book it really is. But my childhood self still has very fond memories of it :-)
Read
November 8, 2009Very interesting story, twisting time, but not human behaviors. Mayhap a hopeful warning of sorts. The last 6th of the book fit rather oddly with the rest, still, unique, a fast read, worth the time.
April 5, 2010
The version I own is a DAW paperback (noted for the yellow spine)
http://www.oivas.com/bjb/fall.html (leftmost edition)
Cover artwork was by Kelly Freas.
http://www.oivas.com/bjb/fall.html (leftmost edition)
Cover artwork was by Kelly Freas.
May 2, 2023
Bayley is the lost genius of British SF. Fall of Chronopolis is his best.
Read
August 23, 2008isbn,original
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