The Bird Of Time

The Nick of Time #2

by George Alec Effinger

Far into the future, Hartstein's graduation present from his grandparents was a wonderful trip.into the past. He had a long future in the doughnut industry to look forward to but this trip was the icing on the cake. It had been a long time since that first experiment in time travel was successfully pulled off, although not without its flaws. Now, in the future, time travel was a lucrative tourist industry. But the time travel industry was keeping one little fact to itself: two percent never came back. This cover-up was the work of the Agency. The Agency knew what others did not: that the past wasn't really the past but a complicated dynamic of individual perceptions of what the past might have been. The past isn't real and reality becomes a state of mind. While selling their particular brand of escapist entertainment and vacation packages, the Agency didn't bother to tell its clients or the populace in general that a war was going on- a time war. The Agency was spending its time in a neck and neck battle with the Temporary Underground. The battlefield was none other than the space-time continuum, the weapons time shifts and theoretical mathematics. Hartstein had no idea what his trip would be or where it would take him.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Nick of Time and it's sequel The Bird of Time are slapstick novels in which Effinger tried to throw in every trope and gimmick and consequence that were known in the science fiction stories of the field from the original Wells through Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself. We see competitive bureaus in conflict, tourism and research, and potential paradox upon paradox, all mixed in a zany and humorous manner. Some of the obscure pop-culture references don't work too well because you have to look them up in order to get the context, and when he tries to get serious and philosophical the contrast is too jarring, but after all is said and done they're fun diversions. Effinger was always both clever and witty, and these are both slickly written stories.

[Luke Donlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to classic sci fi...
The time travel system is so smart. How the future holds hope, and the passed romance... And the way it complies to the way the mass thinks...
So, good!
I'm sure there's more to find in a re-read...
Highly recommend.

[Bruno Di Giandomenico · Rating 1 out of 5]

HOnestly it seems to me to be a minor book, and a quite confused one. Hartstein takes off roughly where The bird of time finishes, in a time where time travel for leisure is happening. But we do not exactly travel backward in time to our past but to an idealisation of our past, which Hartstein does not like. So he goes in the future and then joins the Agency which is fighting for the survival of time against the Temporary Underground.
Following there is a romp of travels in a number of ancient eras, all quite confused and honestly not memorable, with quite bad explanation of why the time stream can or cannot be changed, up to the great climax, which is even worse.
As a book it was not necessary, the Nick of Time is much better, it did not need a follow up, especially this confused.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t waste your time

I’ve enjoyed a couple of others of Effinger’s books. This was not one of them.
In my opinion, it is some weird kind of tongue in cheek philosophical argument. It’s characters are flat. It’s plot is no better than a 1950s TV western. I dragged myself through more than two thirds, then skimmed the rest. I want my money back, but, since that won’t happen, I urge you not to waste yours.

[Adam Meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one more than "Nick of Time," perhaps because I am getting more used to Effinger's unique authorial voice. "Bird of Time" exemplifies what is best about scifi, it is a novel about big ideas but it isn't afraid to have fun.

[Jon Stonecash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated and incoherent (at least to me) at the end

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wild! I honestly loved it. It is familiar in certain ways, but keeps you interested. If you like a good sci-fi and historical references, you'll love this.