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Time Traders/Ross Murdock #1
The Time Traders
If it is possible to conquer space, then perhaps it is also possible to conquer time. At least that was the theory American scientists were exploring in an effort to explain the new sources of knowledge the Russians possessed. Perhaps Russian scientists had discovered how to transport themselves back in time in order to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past. That was why young Ross Murdock, above average in intelligence but a belligerently independent nonconformist, found himself on a "hush-hush" government project at a secret base in the Arctic. The very qualities that made him a menace in civilized society were valuable traits in a man who must successfully act the part of a merchant trader of the Beaker people during the Bronze Age.
For once they were transferred by time machine to the remote Baltic region where the Russian post was located, Ross and his partner Ashe were swept into a fantastic action-filled adventure involving Russians, superstitious prehistoric men, and the aliens of a lost galactic civilization that demanded every ounce of courage the Americans possessed.
Approx. 7 hours
For once they were transferred by time machine to the remote Baltic region where the Russian post was located, Ross and his partner Ashe were swept into a fantastic action-filled adventure involving Russians, superstitious prehistoric men, and the aliens of a lost galactic civilization that demanded every ounce of courage the Americans possessed.
Approx. 7 hours
7 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1958
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3584 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
690 books1,391 followersAndre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 461 reviews
February 11, 2018
This book is fine for what it is--a fast-paced, time-travel pulp fiction. I'm not familiar with Andre Norton or 1950s sci-fi pulp, so I don't know if this is standard in the genre. To me, plot, characters, and narration are pretty straightforward, though there isn't much depth to them, and the social climate and politics of the time, mainly the Cold War, feature heavily in the plot.
The story overall didn't interest me. I found it rather bland actually. However, there was lots of action and something was always happening to keep the momentum going. That made it easy to keep turning the page, but I was never drawn into the story and never felt fully engaged. I could have set it down and never pick it back up. I didn't though because it's a book club pick, but probably wouldn't have if I'd read on my own.
Andre Norton has been on my priority list for a long time now, but I never knew where to start with her backlist. Although this book wasn't the right choice as an intro to her work, I'm still interested and will most likely pick up one of her Witch World books next time when the mood for a genre classic strikes.
The story overall didn't interest me. I found it rather bland actually. However, there was lots of action and something was always happening to keep the momentum going. That made it easy to keep turning the page, but I was never drawn into the story and never felt fully engaged. I could have set it down and never pick it back up. I didn't though because it's a book club pick, but probably wouldn't have if I'd read on my own.
Andre Norton has been on my priority list for a long time now, but I never knew where to start with her backlist. Although this book wasn't the right choice as an intro to her work, I'm still interested and will most likely pick up one of her Witch World books next time when the mood for a genre classic strikes.
May 16, 2018
Rating: 3.5* of five
Generic, underdeveloped character of The Rebellious Charmer gets One Last Chance to fix it all. I understand why an adolescent would love this story. I liked it, too, and adolescence was 40-plus years ago for me. In today's bajillion-pages-of-blather world, the spare prose and laconic dialogue are not fashionable. They're stylish, though, and fun, and if one can get past the real weakness of that bygone era's storytelling (flat characters) there is simple pleasure to be had in this tale.
Generic, underdeveloped character of The Rebellious Charmer gets One Last Chance to fix it all. I understand why an adolescent would love this story. I liked it, too, and adolescence was 40-plus years ago for me. In today's bajillion-pages-of-blather world, the spare prose and laconic dialogue are not fashionable. They're stylish, though, and fun, and if one can get past the real weakness of that bygone era's storytelling (flat characters) there is simple pleasure to be had in this tale.
August 1, 2016
Executive Summary: I'm not a great gauge for Science Fiction, especially older works as I generally don't read and enjoy it as much as fantasy. There were elements here I liked, but not enough ever really get into the story. I considered giving this a 2.5 and rounding up, but opted to just stick to 2.
Full Review
Of all the science fiction tropes, time travel has always been one of my favorite. Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Looper, Primer, Terminator among others. You'll notice though that all of those are movies/TV and not books. I tend to enjoy Sci-Fi far more in video form than I do in the written word. I especially don't have the best track record with older works.
I was unfamiliar with Ms. Norton, which probably shouldn't be a surprise. She seems a decent enough writer, but I just never got sucked into this particular story. I read the revised edition of this book. I have no idea how much was revised, but the story itself didn't feel that dated. I grew up during the tail end of the cold war, so I get the context well enough.
Instead of the space race it's now focused on time travel. I'm a little unclear as to why however. There is a brief mention that space travel lost its appeal shortly after the moon landing. But why time travel? Both sides are afraid to change the past, so what do they hope to gain? Maybe that is made clear in later books, as this is the start of a series.
I didn't particularly like Ross Murdock either. I'm not sure how popular the anti-hero was back when this was written, but I've read plenty of anti-hero stories and this one just never pulled off the likable scoundrel that the best ones seem to.
Overall this was a quick read, with some interesting ideas that just seemed to fall flat for me. I'm glad to have given it a shot, and I'm not ruling out trying another story by Ms. Norton in the future, but I'm not rushing out for it, and likely won't read the second story that came with the first one.
Full Review
Of all the science fiction tropes, time travel has always been one of my favorite. Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Looper, Primer, Terminator among others. You'll notice though that all of those are movies/TV and not books. I tend to enjoy Sci-Fi far more in video form than I do in the written word. I especially don't have the best track record with older works.
I was unfamiliar with Ms. Norton, which probably shouldn't be a surprise. She seems a decent enough writer, but I just never got sucked into this particular story. I read the revised edition of this book. I have no idea how much was revised, but the story itself didn't feel that dated. I grew up during the tail end of the cold war, so I get the context well enough.
Instead of the space race it's now focused on time travel. I'm a little unclear as to why however. There is a brief mention that space travel lost its appeal shortly after the moon landing. But why time travel? Both sides are afraid to change the past, so what do they hope to gain? Maybe that is made clear in later books, as this is the start of a series.
I didn't particularly like Ross Murdock either. I'm not sure how popular the anti-hero was back when this was written, but I've read plenty of anti-hero stories and this one just never pulled off the likable scoundrel that the best ones seem to.
Overall this was a quick read, with some interesting ideas that just seemed to fall flat for me. I'm glad to have given it a shot, and I'm not ruling out trying another story by Ms. Norton in the future, but I'm not rushing out for it, and likely won't read the second story that came with the first one.
May 11, 2021
If this book was a meal, it would be steak-with-two-veg, or maybe meatloaf - something straightforward, satisfying, and completely lacking in artifice. There is no narrative equivalent of a lobster-flavoured foam in Time Traders, no convoluted caramelized plot pinenuts or any other cutting edge literary gastronomy.
Time Traders is just a story that goes from the start to the beginning in a satisfying if not particularly challenging way. There are no cuts to distant characters. No parallel narratives. No shifts in perspective. The story starts, people do things, and we follow them along their journey.
After reading modern fiction, this feels kind of weird. Among other things I'm used to the end of a chapter signifying a change or characters, locations, or time periods, and in a story like this chapters seem like arbitrary divisions that serve no purpose - when the chapter ends, we turn to page to... continue off from almost exactly the same spot.
In it's own way this old-school narrative train, choo-chooing along its rigid tracks to its inevitable destination, is kind of refreshing. People do things, stuff happens, and we move on to the next scene. There's no chance you'll get confused and have to check back a few pages to clear anything up - instead you just roll along with the story, letting it wash over you with a minimum of cognitive effort.
It helps that the story is a rollicking adventure.
As the story begins, juvenile delinquent Ross Murdock is having the book chucked at him in court, the book being a choice between prison or enrolment in a secretive government project. Murdock thankfully takes the latter option (sparing us a grueling exploration of the 1950s youth justice system) and finds himself in the arctic, at a secret base where men (and being written in the 1950s they are all men)
Once involved with the project Murdock discovers that agents are being sent back in time to explore pre-history, and that he himself will be trained to pass as a Beaker Folk merchant in ancient Britain. Once trained, he will be sent back in time to try and find the source of mysterious new technologies that are being developed by... (Ominous music) The Russians!
Yep, this is a Cold War novel through and through, with the bete noire of the twentieth century USA - the Soviet Union playing the role of antagonist. Murdock and his comrades (pun intended) will travel through time and fight nefarious Russian agents (who are also posing as ancient primitives) as they search for the wellspring of advanced tech that lies somewhere in the past.
The source of this amazing technology proves to be... ah, you've probably already guessed. Click the spoiler to find out if you're right.
Much of this is fairly standard genre stuff now, but Norton really brings her period to life, making the world of Beaker Folk Britain a living, breathing trip into history. I genuinely enjoyed this book as a result, and while it shows its age a little, Time Traders is still a fun read, and a great introduction to an author genre who published more than 300(!!!) titles over her prolific career.
Three point five Cold War tropes out of five.
P.S: I first encountered Andre Norton's work when I was eleven years old, and to my pleasant surprise, Time Traders is a prequel to the novel I read more than twenty-five years ago - The Defiant Agents. As a child I enjoyed her work to the point of dressing up as one of her characters for a school event.
P.S.S: Despite studying history for four years, my first introduction to the Beaker Folk was via Stewart Lee's masterful comedic routine on the absurdities of the British immigration 'debate'. I both laughed uproariously, and learned something - It really is the work of a comedian at the top of his game: Stewart Lee: Coming Over 'Ere
Time Traders is just a story that goes from the start to the beginning in a satisfying if not particularly challenging way. There are no cuts to distant characters. No parallel narratives. No shifts in perspective. The story starts, people do things, and we follow them along their journey.
After reading modern fiction, this feels kind of weird. Among other things I'm used to the end of a chapter signifying a change or characters, locations, or time periods, and in a story like this chapters seem like arbitrary divisions that serve no purpose - when the chapter ends, we turn to page to... continue off from almost exactly the same spot.
In it's own way this old-school narrative train, choo-chooing along its rigid tracks to its inevitable destination, is kind of refreshing. People do things, stuff happens, and we move on to the next scene. There's no chance you'll get confused and have to check back a few pages to clear anything up - instead you just roll along with the story, letting it wash over you with a minimum of cognitive effort.
It helps that the story is a rollicking adventure.
As the story begins, juvenile delinquent Ross Murdock is having the book chucked at him in court, the book being a choice between prison or enrolment in a secretive government project. Murdock thankfully takes the latter option (sparing us a grueling exploration of the 1950s youth justice system) and finds himself in the arctic, at a secret base where men (and being written in the 1950s they are all men)
Once involved with the project Murdock discovers that agents are being sent back in time to explore pre-history, and that he himself will be trained to pass as a Beaker Folk merchant in ancient Britain. Once trained, he will be sent back in time to try and find the source of mysterious new technologies that are being developed by... (Ominous music) The Russians!
Yep, this is a Cold War novel through and through, with the bete noire of the twentieth century USA - the Soviet Union playing the role of antagonist. Murdock and his comrades (pun intended) will travel through time and fight nefarious Russian agents (who are also posing as ancient primitives) as they search for the wellspring of advanced tech that lies somewhere in the past.
The source of this amazing technology proves to be... ah, you've probably already guessed. Click the spoiler to find out if you're right.
Much of this is fairly standard genre stuff now, but Norton really brings her period to life, making the world of Beaker Folk Britain a living, breathing trip into history. I genuinely enjoyed this book as a result, and while it shows its age a little, Time Traders is still a fun read, and a great introduction to an author genre who published more than 300(!!!) titles over her prolific career.
Three point five Cold War tropes out of five.
P.S: I first encountered Andre Norton's work when I was eleven years old, and to my pleasant surprise, Time Traders is a prequel to the novel I read more than twenty-five years ago - The Defiant Agents. As a child I enjoyed her work to the point of dressing up as one of her characters for a school event.
P.S.S: Despite studying history for four years, my first introduction to the Beaker Folk was via Stewart Lee's masterful comedic routine on the absurdities of the British immigration 'debate'. I both laughed uproariously, and learned something - It really is the work of a comedian at the top of his game: Stewart Lee: Coming Over 'Ere
May 30, 2022
The Time Traders is the first book in Norton's series of YA (called juveniles at the time) adventures featuring reformed delinquent Ross Murdock. The novel first appeared in 1958 (as did I!), and it is a fairly simple and straight forward story of making good through pluck and luck. The characters are a little one-sided, but it was one of the first times I remember reading an outer space story and a time travel story in the same concept. There's a Red Menace aspect of the conflict that is quite reflective of its time. I first read it (along with a ton of other Nortons and Winstons and Heinleins) in grade school, but I enjoyed re-visiting it via the fine folks of Librivox.
July 29, 2017
I don't know how many times I have read this book, but it just gets better with time. It has been some years since last reading it, and I had forgotten the story line. I loved being able to read a book that was new but old at the same time. :D I love almost all the books that Andre Norton has written.
April 9, 2017
To be honest, I didn't read the paperback, but the free digital book offered by Baen. Thank god for them!
I am tired of finding science fiction tailored for today's YA readers with disposable cash and love to be spoon-fed. Classic tales like this one from Andre Norton remind me why I fell in love with science fiction in the first place: stories take place on strange worlds and new technology is met with wonder, not suspicion.
Characters aren't as complex (read: deep) as many in today's best-sellers, but who cares? In this tale, the good guys are traveling back in time and blending in with neolithic tribes in order to find out where the bad guys are getting their advanced technology.
Yeah, I know, time travel isn't advanced enough for these guys?
There are last minute saves that stretch your credulity, but the story is fun and I found that I really didn't mind. Heck, I was willing to accept Harrison Ford as a two-fisted action hero in 'Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull' too.
Part two in this novel introduces a new character who ends up joining the gang on an accidental galactic ride aboard a 10,000 year old (?) UFO. When they get to the destination, they didn't find a stagnant interstellar society waiting to embrace them, but something more realistic -- the aftermath of a collapsed star-faring civilization. I could have read another four books (and may write one) on what an archaeological expedition would find there on a subsequent visit.
If you haven't read some of the novels from the "classic" period, I beg you to pick one up and dive in. These books are filled with imagination, wonder, and exploration in a time when we need it most (rebooting old series, movies, and games doesn't come close!)
I am tired of finding science fiction tailored for today's YA readers with disposable cash and love to be spoon-fed. Classic tales like this one from Andre Norton remind me why I fell in love with science fiction in the first place: stories take place on strange worlds and new technology is met with wonder, not suspicion.
Characters aren't as complex (read: deep) as many in today's best-sellers, but who cares? In this tale, the good guys are traveling back in time and blending in with neolithic tribes in order to find out where the bad guys are getting their advanced technology.
Yeah, I know, time travel isn't advanced enough for these guys?
There are last minute saves that stretch your credulity, but the story is fun and I found that I really didn't mind. Heck, I was willing to accept Harrison Ford as a two-fisted action hero in 'Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull' too.
Part two in this novel introduces a new character who ends up joining the gang on an accidental galactic ride aboard a 10,000 year old (?) UFO. When they get to the destination, they didn't find a stagnant interstellar society waiting to embrace them, but something more realistic -- the aftermath of a collapsed star-faring civilization. I could have read another four books (and may write one) on what an archaeological expedition would find there on a subsequent visit.
If you haven't read some of the novels from the "classic" period, I beg you to pick one up and dive in. These books are filled with imagination, wonder, and exploration in a time when we need it most (rebooting old series, movies, and games doesn't come close!)
Read
October 18, 2021I marked this "read", but now I'm not so sure. Time for a re-read, or a first if I missed it. 1959 first pub for Derelict, and I was reading all the Norton I came across then. But as used pbs, so if I didn't happen see one in the very limited selection in Stillwater OK then .....
Here's JD Nicoll's retro-review, just posted @tor.com:
"Humans and alien Baldies are almost contemporaries. What is a mere 50,000 years compared to geological time? Nevertheless, the fifty millennia between the height of the Baldies’ civilization and the 20th century are sufficient to guarantee that humans and Baldies will never meet face to face. Or rather, they would have never met were it not for Operation Retrograde, America’s time-travel agency.
Involuntarily recruited by Operation Retrograde, Native American archaeologist Travis Fox takes part in an attempted salvage operation. A number of Baldie starships were (for reasons unknown) abandoned on Earth ages ago. If lucky, time travelers might be able to locate and retrieve a functioning space craft. It’s a bold venture and one that succeeds all too well."
Now on the Wish List.
Here's JD Nicoll's retro-review, just posted @tor.com:
"Humans and alien Baldies are almost contemporaries. What is a mere 50,000 years compared to geological time? Nevertheless, the fifty millennia between the height of the Baldies’ civilization and the 20th century are sufficient to guarantee that humans and Baldies will never meet face to face. Or rather, they would have never met were it not for Operation Retrograde, America’s time-travel agency.
Involuntarily recruited by Operation Retrograde, Native American archaeologist Travis Fox takes part in an attempted salvage operation. A number of Baldie starships were (for reasons unknown) abandoned on Earth ages ago. If lucky, time travelers might be able to locate and retrieve a functioning space craft. It’s a bold venture and one that succeeds all too well."
Now on the Wish List.
August 2, 2013
This was one of my favorite science-fiction books when I was a kid. My brothers and I read it over and over. Of course, the cold war setting is now an anachronism, but for us it was everyday reality.
I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the imagery. When we were really exhausted from a long day outdoors, my brother James would say "The red jelly! We need the red jelly!" And of course we'd know exactly what he meant.
I haven't read it for years. I wonder how it would hold up.
P.S. I didn't read the Kindle edition, but at least this shows the Ace cover from the sixties, which is one of the editions I read. (I don't remember who published the hardcover I first read. World? Gollancz? Grosset and Dunlap? Anyway, someone long gone.)
I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the imagery. When we were really exhausted from a long day outdoors, my brother James would say "The red jelly! We need the red jelly!" And of course we'd know exactly what he meant.
I haven't read it for years. I wonder how it would hold up.
P.S. I didn't read the Kindle edition, but at least this shows the Ace cover from the sixties, which is one of the editions I read. (I don't remember who published the hardcover I first read. World? Gollancz? Grosset and Dunlap? Anyway, someone long gone.)
July 24, 2016
The July S&L pick, this was a refreshingly quick read. I like time travel books, so the premise of this one was good to start out with. I think it started strong and got a little weird in the middle/last third or so. But luckily, it didn't have time to meander too long, as it was a rather short book overall. I could point out flaws and concerns with the book, but honestly, it was a quick and fun romp into the past with an unlikeable dude as the narrator, and the flaws didn't kill the book for me. I guess it's the first in a series, and maybe at some point I'll go and read the next one (seeing as I have it already in this edition), but I was pretty good with how it ended. I liked the book.
July 10, 2016
This was not the Andre Norton book I wanted to read. This book borrows from the past, not improving much on the Edgar Rice Burroughsliterary invent of a modern man in a pre-modern society (John Carter). This time instead of a magical cave, Norton uses a time travel plate. I hope this is not representative of Norton's style, rather writing for the literary market of the 1950s with its "go it alone" main protagonist against the "Reds"
March 12, 2015
This story lacks only interest and a good plot. 0 of 10 stars
July 7, 2016
I finished it.
December 21, 2016
So, just to be confusing, I've completed the first novel in this two-in-one edition, which is also called Time Traders.
And it's good reading. Ross Murdock, ne'er do well, is offered the choice of rehabilitation or volunteering by the judge in charge of sentencing. So he signs up for something with the military, that turns out to be time travel. Mostly, though, it's the story of Ross fighting it out with pre-historical people and survival in the wilderness.
For those who care, there isn't any sex or swearing, and the fighting is all in self-defense.
I could see Norton scoring big with the middle-grades for the adventure aspect alone.
Now having completed the second volume, I have a few more thoughts. I'm disappointed that there aren't really any female characters, except one in the first volume. And the science isn't really important, being so advanced as to be magic to the characters.
But there are lots of positives. Both stories are action-packed, from the subtle tension of trying out alien food to see if humans can use it, to thrilling fights with fierce creatures, to the constant tension of survival in a large and unknowable universe. And although the stories are relatively brief, there's time to comment on the architecture, the art, the culture of aliens.
I'd suggest these to younger readers particularly, because there isn't a lot of ambiguity. Our heroes are able to distinguish intelligent beings from animals pretty quickly, and reliably, nor do they encounter any culture they can't quickly identify as such. And the introduction of an Apache in the second book is an opportunity to deal with discrimination without being too heavy-handed.
Fun stuff. The second volume will remind readers of The Time Machine for its quick survey of other beings, thankfully without the moralizing.
Library copy.
And it's good reading. Ross Murdock, ne'er do well, is offered the choice of rehabilitation or volunteering by the judge in charge of sentencing. So he signs up for something with the military, that turns out to be time travel. Mostly, though, it's the story of Ross fighting it out with pre-historical people and survival in the wilderness.
For those who care, there isn't any sex or swearing, and the fighting is all in self-defense.
I could see Norton scoring big with the middle-grades for the adventure aspect alone.
Now having completed the second volume, I have a few more thoughts. I'm disappointed that there aren't really any female characters, except one in the first volume. And the science isn't really important, being so advanced as to be magic to the characters.
But there are lots of positives. Both stories are action-packed, from the subtle tension of trying out alien food to see if humans can use it, to thrilling fights with fierce creatures, to the constant tension of survival in a large and unknowable universe. And although the stories are relatively brief, there's time to comment on the architecture, the art, the culture of aliens.
I'd suggest these to younger readers particularly, because there isn't a lot of ambiguity. Our heroes are able to distinguish intelligent beings from animals pretty quickly, and reliably, nor do they encounter any culture they can't quickly identify as such. And the introduction of an Apache in the second book is an opportunity to deal with discrimination without being too heavy-handed.
Fun stuff. The second volume will remind readers of The Time Machine for its quick survey of other beings, thankfully without the moralizing.
Library copy.
August 29, 2024
Rating: 4.5 stars
Yes, I picked up this book based purely on premise. What can I say, most things involving the words "time travel" are like a siren's song to me. And I seem to have had good fortune with this picking-it-up-because-time-travel recently, because The Time Traders was awesome!
Basically, it is about Ross Murdock, a felon with a criminal record, who "volunteers" for Operation Retrograde, a covert government operation. You can guess what this operation involves: time travel. The Soviets have snuck into an uncharted period of history and, using some outdated technology, created formidable new weaponry. At first unwillingly, but with growing determination, Murdock joins the team engaged in this timey-wimey Cold War conflict.
Now from that description you probably assume it was written in the past 20 years or so. Nope, far from it. This book is the most sneaky classic I have ever read - it was published in 1958! Honestly, I read through all 500 of those pages without even the slightest clue. "Intro to classics" is written all over this book. It should be its tagline: The Time Traders: Read This If You Thought Classics Were Impossible To Understand. No classic author I have read has ever come as close to modern prose as Andre Norton did. And that's not to say either old- nor new-style prose is bad, just that I get how Tolkien's writing can take a bit of getting used to, and some people are reluctant to touch him or his peers with a ten foot pole. But The Time Traders was published literally four years after The Lord of the Rings, and yet it feels more like four decades.
So get ready. As many Time Traders books I can get my hands on, I will be reading.
Yes, I picked up this book based purely on premise. What can I say, most things involving the words "time travel" are like a siren's song to me. And I seem to have had good fortune with this picking-it-up-because-time-travel recently, because The Time Traders was awesome!
Basically, it is about Ross Murdock, a felon with a criminal record, who "volunteers" for Operation Retrograde, a covert government operation. You can guess what this operation involves: time travel. The Soviets have snuck into an uncharted period of history and, using some outdated technology, created formidable new weaponry. At first unwillingly, but with growing determination, Murdock joins the team engaged in this timey-wimey Cold War conflict.
Now from that description you probably assume it was written in the past 20 years or so. Nope, far from it. This book is the most sneaky classic I have ever read - it was published in 1958! Honestly, I read through all 500 of those pages without even the slightest clue. "Intro to classics" is written all over this book. It should be its tagline: The Time Traders: Read This If You Thought Classics Were Impossible To Understand. No classic author I have read has ever come as close to modern prose as Andre Norton did. And that's not to say either old- nor new-style prose is bad, just that I get how Tolkien's writing can take a bit of getting used to, and some people are reluctant to touch him or his peers with a ten foot pole. But The Time Traders was published literally four years after The Lord of the Rings, and yet it feels more like four decades.
So get ready. As many Time Traders books I can get my hands on, I will be reading.
October 14, 2025
This is the first of Andre Norton's Time Traders series featuring Ross Murdock. It's standard Norton, which means it's good enjoyable science fiction aimed at young adults, but adults can enjoy it. Published in 1958, it has a 50s Cold War sensibility which I found interesting. Ross is a petty criminal of the late Twentieth Century who, to avoid prison, volunteers to go on a mission back in time. It seems that the capitalist/communist rivalry is extending back into time and Ross has to foil a Soviet plot which would change history. It was very interesting to me that, instead of going back to, say, Ancient Rome or the Civil War, he goes back to the Bronze Age in Europe of 2000 B.C. His job is to mimic a trader of the Beaker culture of that time. That is interesting in itself, but what is even more interesting is that he discovers aliens in Earth's past, aliens who are meddling with our history ( or pre-history as it is).
Andre Norton was Andre Alice Norton (1912-2005).
Andre Norton was Andre Alice Norton (1912-2005).
July 4, 2016
A slightly revised edition of a book originally published back in the good old pulp days. The overall story had some good ideas and it's not bad, but unfortunately it follows a formula that gets old really quickly if you have read enough of them. It goes something like this:
Protagonist is thrown into an unusual situation.
Gets captured by tribe A, but then escapes.
Gets captured by tribe B but escapes again.
.. repeat several times ..
Is facing certain death from tribe C but is then rescued by an ally he befriended at the beginning while escaping from tribe A.
Throw in a betrayal from someone who appeared to be an friend and you have most of the plot for a large number of books.
Burroughs was the master of this and even his books get weary after a time. Norton is close, but for me fails in the excitement department.
Protagonist is thrown into an unusual situation.
Gets captured by tribe A, but then escapes.
Gets captured by tribe B but escapes again.
.. repeat several times ..
Is facing certain death from tribe C but is then rescued by an ally he befriended at the beginning while escaping from tribe A.
Throw in a betrayal from someone who appeared to be an friend and you have most of the plot for a large number of books.
Burroughs was the master of this and even his books get weary after a time. Norton is close, but for me fails in the excitement department.
July 6, 2016
Let's send criminals back in time to steal alien technology to end the Cold War! Dang. I almost made it sound interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2024
Book #2 of my 24 hour readathon. It wasn’t particularly bad, but I felt like the plot was trying to do too much. We already had time travel and Russians, and then all of the sudden there are aliens and Ax people. It’s always fun reading science fiction from the 1950’s though.
August 5, 2020
Solid, diverting, structured.
August 8, 2016
'The Time Traders' by Andre Norton is a time travel book. I'm usually a sucker for those sort of stories, but this one felt a bit too tied to the time it was written.
It's the Cold War, and the US and Russia have discovered time travel. The race is on to find out what the Russians are doing with it. Ross Murdock is recruited to be part of a team that goes back. After being trained, he is sent out with a small team posing as Beaker traders. From that point on, things go sideways, including things that the team could have never anticipated.
Murdock is the action hero who never fails. He is like James Bond who never gets shot even though armies of people are firing at him. He never gets lost even though he gets lost. Even though he is beat up, he continues to prevail.
The "Russians" are shadowy bad guys who we barely see. The whole Cold War setting of this book just seemed to place it in a specific time, and the novel felt a bit too much like a men's adventure novel from the 1970s. Perhaps the problem is that I've read other better time travel stories lately.
This was a book club pick, but I know there are better Andre Norton books out there and I'd be willing to try a different one.
It's the Cold War, and the US and Russia have discovered time travel. The race is on to find out what the Russians are doing with it. Ross Murdock is recruited to be part of a team that goes back. After being trained, he is sent out with a small team posing as Beaker traders. From that point on, things go sideways, including things that the team could have never anticipated.
Murdock is the action hero who never fails. He is like James Bond who never gets shot even though armies of people are firing at him. He never gets lost even though he gets lost. Even though he is beat up, he continues to prevail.
The "Russians" are shadowy bad guys who we barely see. The whole Cold War setting of this book just seemed to place it in a specific time, and the novel felt a bit too much like a men's adventure novel from the 1970s. Perhaps the problem is that I've read other better time travel stories lately.
This was a book club pick, but I know there are better Andre Norton books out there and I'd be willing to try a different one.
May 9, 2023
This was an interesting read. Definitely a product of its time. (The cold war) Where the reds were behind everything evil and we had to stop them no matter the cost. It did drag on in parts. But the ending has made me curious about the next in the series. I will put it in my rotation but somewhere near the bottom.
November 2, 2016
Okay! I feel a bit like I'm back in an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel! Lovely pulp novels, huzzah! While I'm not a huge ERB fan, Andre Norton is (thus far) moderately more fun, and definitely less full of the racist and sexist norms of the period!
That's not to say that it's an amazing novel - in fact, I balked at reading it based on the title alone. It's not something that really jumps off the shelf at you, and I think it's a bit of a poorly-titled novel in general. Also: it's pulpy as hell - I don't see this baby winning any awards. But, anyway: for something so action-packed, it's certainly selling it short to think that it's about time-traveling traders - that sounds like an absolute dud.
I used to wonder whatever I might do with an English major after I graduated from college (mind you: this is ten+ years ago now, while I've been working in information technology and writing boring stand operating procedures and work instructions and doing data entry and programming and etc. etc.). But here we go: this is what editors are for! Erm. Actually, that may be the domain of marketing as well? But c'mon, you can't tell me a better title wouldn't be worth contracting your friendly neighborhood English major! Speaking for myself, I work for sushi and beer. Contact me at your leisure!
Regardless: I found myself thinking that I'd probably put this novel down at any moment and forget about it. But after 30-40 pages, I found myself fairly immersed - it's a very fun, fast narrative, and while there are holes a-plenty, I didn't find myself obsessing over them (note: this is a rarity for me). Something about the writing and the storyline itself makes you concern yourself more with the bigger picture than any of the glaring oversights (show me the time-travel story that [i]isn't[/i] full of them - please). So, I found myself rather enjoying the novel by the conclusion, and then it was just done and over. I wanted more. I wanted details and some more interesting confrontations. But, that's cool; I have the following novel to read at some point. And I do need a few more quick novels to finish my challenge for the year...
I've written about this before, I suspect, but when I was growing up, my family had this tiny cabin in northern Minnesota. The previous owner, who basically gave the place away to prevent it being seized for tax deliquency, had a whole shelf of yellowing, mouse-chewed old sci-fi and fantasy novels squirreled away in there. I kick myself constantly when I think of the number of novels my dad eventually ended up just trashing or selling off in a garage sale. I wonder if there was anything else in there that was out of print? I know for certain that The Time Traders was one of those novels. There was also a wealth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Varley, and Poul Anderson.
Sigh. To go back in time and save those novels...
That's not to say that it's an amazing novel - in fact, I balked at reading it based on the title alone. It's not something that really jumps off the shelf at you, and I think it's a bit of a poorly-titled novel in general. Also: it's pulpy as hell - I don't see this baby winning any awards. But, anyway: for something so action-packed, it's certainly selling it short to think that it's about time-traveling traders - that sounds like an absolute dud.
I used to wonder whatever I might do with an English major after I graduated from college (mind you: this is ten+ years ago now, while I've been working in information technology and writing boring stand operating procedures and work instructions and doing data entry and programming and etc. etc.). But here we go: this is what editors are for! Erm. Actually, that may be the domain of marketing as well? But c'mon, you can't tell me a better title wouldn't be worth contracting your friendly neighborhood English major! Speaking for myself, I work for sushi and beer. Contact me at your leisure!
Regardless: I found myself thinking that I'd probably put this novel down at any moment and forget about it. But after 30-40 pages, I found myself fairly immersed - it's a very fun, fast narrative, and while there are holes a-plenty, I didn't find myself obsessing over them (note: this is a rarity for me). Something about the writing and the storyline itself makes you concern yourself more with the bigger picture than any of the glaring oversights (show me the time-travel story that [i]isn't[/i] full of them - please). So, I found myself rather enjoying the novel by the conclusion, and then it was just done and over. I wanted more. I wanted details and some more interesting confrontations. But, that's cool; I have the following novel to read at some point. And I do need a few more quick novels to finish my challenge for the year...
I've written about this before, I suspect, but when I was growing up, my family had this tiny cabin in northern Minnesota. The previous owner, who basically gave the place away to prevent it being seized for tax deliquency, had a whole shelf of yellowing, mouse-chewed old sci-fi and fantasy novels squirreled away in there. I kick myself constantly when I think of the number of novels my dad eventually ended up just trashing or selling off in a garage sale. I wonder if there was anything else in there that was out of print? I know for certain that The Time Traders was one of those novels. There was also a wealth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Varley, and Poul Anderson.
Sigh. To go back in time and save those novels...
July 29, 2025
The first book of Andre Nortons series about timetravellers.
As always fantastic world-building.
As always fantastic world-building.
May 4, 2024
The text I read, courtesy of Project Gutenberg, was the second printing of the 1958 edition with the action set in the middle of the Cold War.
Ross Murdock is a typical Norton boy-hero: no observable parents, fiercely independent and individualistic, sometimes in breach of the law yet with his own moral standards, and often put in awe when faced with forceful male personalities and physical prowess. Ross is in trouble again and has been brought before a magistrate for sentencing. His crime is not mentioned, it is just the latest of many. Clearly, for all his self confidence, Ross is not a master criminal. Fearing the worst, he is ready for a stiff punishment but instead he is given the chance to join a mysterious government project.
That project turns out to be time travel - but with a purpose. The government knows that at a period in the Neolithic past the Russians - usually termed the Reds here - have found and are exploiting a derelict alien spacecraft. Ross has to join a group of time travellers led by Gordon Ashe - the kind of man Ross will submit to as an alpha male figure - to go back to the days of the Beaker people in southern Britain.
After many adventures, including being captured here and there, Ross stumbles on the mysterious spaceship and, without meaning to, sends off a signal to its original owners - the evil Baldies. That is Ross' name for them, because they have no visible hair. Considering what happens to him later in their company I am sure he came up with other ruder terms. It seems the Baldies and their bird-like allies are up to no good and therefore are the natural friends of the Reds. Invading the Earth may only be a small part of their ultimate plan. They want the Universe.
The story is very well constructed as an adventure tale and avoids many of Norton's SF tropes: tunnels, caves, cats and telepathy. Possibly the historical setting allows her imaginative side full swing as there is little need for science in the plot. The ending opens up a scenario that was expanded into a whole series, continuing in later years to collaborations with other authors. Because the story sits so heavily in what I believe was Norton's first love, historical novels, it stands out as one of her best early stories.
Ross Murdock is a typical Norton boy-hero: no observable parents, fiercely independent and individualistic, sometimes in breach of the law yet with his own moral standards, and often put in awe when faced with forceful male personalities and physical prowess. Ross is in trouble again and has been brought before a magistrate for sentencing. His crime is not mentioned, it is just the latest of many. Clearly, for all his self confidence, Ross is not a master criminal. Fearing the worst, he is ready for a stiff punishment but instead he is given the chance to join a mysterious government project.
That project turns out to be time travel - but with a purpose. The government knows that at a period in the Neolithic past the Russians - usually termed the Reds here - have found and are exploiting a derelict alien spacecraft. Ross has to join a group of time travellers led by Gordon Ashe - the kind of man Ross will submit to as an alpha male figure - to go back to the days of the Beaker people in southern Britain.
After many adventures, including being captured here and there, Ross stumbles on the mysterious spaceship and, without meaning to, sends off a signal to its original owners - the evil Baldies. That is Ross' name for them, because they have no visible hair. Considering what happens to him later in their company I am sure he came up with other ruder terms. It seems the Baldies and their bird-like allies are up to no good and therefore are the natural friends of the Reds. Invading the Earth may only be a small part of their ultimate plan. They want the Universe.
The story is very well constructed as an adventure tale and avoids many of Norton's SF tropes: tunnels, caves, cats and telepathy. Possibly the historical setting allows her imaginative side full swing as there is little need for science in the plot. The ending opens up a scenario that was expanded into a whole series, continuing in later years to collaborations with other authors. Because the story sits so heavily in what I believe was Norton's first love, historical novels, it stands out as one of her best early stories.
September 26, 2024
Still classic Science fiction!
I'm reading this for the third time this year, just because the tale holds up well despite the anachronistic technology that seems quaint today. The basic story line is character driven with well defined individuals. Good storytelling defies being set in a future that has a mix of tech we don't have yet while not having things we already take for granted.
Ross Murdock is an intelligent juvenile delinquent who is caught up in a situation where instead of the traditional “join the military or go to jail” narrative so often used by authors, instead he is given a different choice. The current situation is a blend of the actual Cold War with the Soviet Union plus a higher level of technology than we currently have. The unnamed USA is involved in a barely cold war against the “Reds” in a race to gain knowledge about intergalactic alien shipwrecks in various time periods in the distant past. Ross begins with the goal of learning what he can before escaping. He is surprised to discover that he is growing increasingly unwilling to leave the people who he is beginning to respect and want to emulate. The task is starting to become important to him despite his early cynicism…
I'm reading this for the third time this year, just because the tale holds up well despite the anachronistic technology that seems quaint today. The basic story line is character driven with well defined individuals. Good storytelling defies being set in a future that has a mix of tech we don't have yet while not having things we already take for granted.
Ross Murdock is an intelligent juvenile delinquent who is caught up in a situation where instead of the traditional “join the military or go to jail” narrative so often used by authors, instead he is given a different choice. The current situation is a blend of the actual Cold War with the Soviet Union plus a higher level of technology than we currently have. The unnamed USA is involved in a barely cold war against the “Reds” in a race to gain knowledge about intergalactic alien shipwrecks in various time periods in the distant past. Ross begins with the goal of learning what he can before escaping. He is surprised to discover that he is growing increasingly unwilling to leave the people who he is beginning to respect and want to emulate. The task is starting to become important to him despite his early cynicism…
January 29, 2016
A free download for Kindle of a classic novel. I knew nothing about this story but I certainly know of Norton and have read some of her work in the past. It's the story of a ne'er-do-well who os given a choice: jail or sign up for a secret mission. He chooses the later. And it turns out the secret mission involves time travel into the past to find out why the Russians have seemingly come upon new technologies they shouldn't have. Murdock is on his first mission into the past and he discovers the source of the Russians' technologies - a derelict alien space craft. And the aliens want their stuff back.
This is classic space opera that I was reading as workout reading material. It started out a bit slow for me but in a rare twist I found myself really getting into the story and starting to care about Murdock. Now I want to read more. There are 8 total books in the series I believe. I have a free download of 1, 3 and 4. But the second book doesn't seem to be available (or I may have to do some more digging around). And it's a good excuse to see what I can find at Half Price. But I liked this enough that I want to pick up where the story continues.
This is classic space opera that I was reading as workout reading material. It started out a bit slow for me but in a rare twist I found myself really getting into the story and starting to care about Murdock. Now I want to read more. There are 8 total books in the series I believe. I have a free download of 1, 3 and 4. But the second book doesn't seem to be available (or I may have to do some more digging around). And it's a good excuse to see what I can find at Half Price. But I liked this enough that I want to pick up where the story continues.
September 8, 2021
There are so many ideas per square inch in this book - we have a temporal cold war - long before Star Trek tried to make it a thing -- there are honest-to-goodness "Reds" as the bad guys. The "Reds" have developed time travel! So "our side" develops it too! Now we're in a race to the Migration Period in Europe because ... alien technology has been found there! Oh, and our time-travel stations are up in the arctic because that way no one's living settlement can disturb it!
It has a lot of survival action - struggling through ice and mud and raging rivers, fighting wolves and bears and vikings. Meeting wise pagan priestesses and cunning double-crossing warriors.
There's also the aliens! And of course they have mind-powers! And bacta tanks. I mean really ... there's a lot packed into this. My only complaint is that there's not much character depth... everyone's too busy nearly dying and running to the next thing. Like many of Norton's works, it's just a set-up for a longer series, so the ending is a bit open. I would like to learn more about these aliens tho.
It has a lot of survival action - struggling through ice and mud and raging rivers, fighting wolves and bears and vikings. Meeting wise pagan priestesses and cunning double-crossing warriors.
There's also the aliens! And of course they have mind-powers! And bacta tanks. I mean really ... there's a lot packed into this. My only complaint is that there's not much character depth... everyone's too busy nearly dying and running to the next thing. Like many of Norton's works, it's just a set-up for a longer series, so the ending is a bit open. I would like to learn more about these aliens tho.
July 27, 2016
Mostly bland Cold-War-infused time travel thriller/adventure with mediocre characters, mediocre writing and not too much exciting done with the science-fiction concepts. Even undoes the fun it could have had just as an action-y adventure via some lame "escapes". For instance, a tip for Russian time travel agents who want to kill an enemy agent:
I still want to read Norton's Lavender-Green Magic because I was intrigued by bits of it I read as a kid, but this was not an encouraging introduction to her work.
I still want to read Norton's Lavender-Green Magic because I was intrigued by bits of it I read as a kid, but this was not an encouraging introduction to her work.
June 28, 2016
I'd compare this book to a Cold War-era version Time Salvager by Wesley Chu. Rather than agents time traveling to collect rare artifacts needed in a future society, it is to compete with the Russians, who are winning, in developing technology.
The book was entertaining at times but all plot developments were brought on from pretty much the same problem cropping up time after time (the problem omitted for spoiler reasons). And that gets boring when it happens the third time.
The free ebook version comes with the 2nd book in the series, but I'm not likely to continue.
The book was entertaining at times but all plot developments were brought on from pretty much the same problem cropping up time after time (the problem omitted for spoiler reasons). And that gets boring when it happens the third time.
The free ebook version comes with the 2nd book in the series, but I'm not likely to continue.
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