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Title: Island in the Sea of Time
ISBN: 0451456750
Author:
S. M. Stirling
Publicate Date: 1998-03-01
Publish: 1998-03-01
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.12
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.44
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Predictable
I read of a lot of sci fi and fantasy, and was excited when I found this -- I even bought the two following books at the same time. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll read them. My complaint? Midway through the book, it was obvious how the rest would unfold. I read it anyway, hoping for an interesting twist or surprise, or even some clever moments. Unfortunately, I thought the book plodded forward page by page toward its inevitable and predictable ending -- not even climax, because it just wasn't very interesting.
Very disappointing.
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2: Good story!
The setup is simple - Nantucket in the 1990's one night has an electrical storm and when it clears the stars have changed and all connection to the outside world is gone. The entire island with all its 20th century equipment has been somehow transported back to 1250 BC - the Bronze Age of Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Egypt and Troy. This is never explained and they don't understand it, but after that everything is logical and scientific.
Initially they have to invent their polity and laws, and they use their Coast Guard ship with sails to travel to the British Isles to get agricultural products, trade, etc. They make crossbows which are advanced technology back then before they eventually figure out how to make civil-war style rifles. The battle scenes are a highlight since the natives also pick up using the technology too and there is a goofy mixture of rifles, canons, arrows, ultra-lights, chariots and by book two a zeppelin.
There is a renegade from the 20th that will decide to set up his own empire and that provides the conflict that runs thru all three books but the first one is satifying and ends with his (first) defeat.
Over the course of the 3 novels and 10 plus years, the various Nantucket people get involved in battles and negotiations across all these lands. Agamemnon and Odysseus make there appearances. Odysseus even finds out to his dismay what he would have become if these people from the future didn't intervene.
The first book is almost complete in itself and I would recommend stopping there. The second book is decent but the third book is a real long slog to get thru it. First book - 600 pages, 2nd - maybe 400 and the third another 600. So read the first and call it a day unless you are really into this.
One funny highlight from the series is at the end of book two (sorry) when the renegrade, Walker, has his vast armies facing a defensive force at Troy and one of the Nantucket men goes out to parley under the white flag with the bad guys. Walker tells his fellow 20th foe that "There are no Riders of Rohan coming to save you!"
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3: Excellent Idea and Execution, Subpar Conclusion
The first part was great, I loved the idea of Nantucket being tossed back to the Bronze Age. The contacting new cultures abroad aboard the /Eagle/ and dealing with problems back on the Island were the highlights of the whole book for me. Some parts I would've preferred not to have read; the Olmec jaguar scene for one.
Another thing that bothered me was Alice Hong. Pretty much every scene with her freaked me out. Remember: you have been warned.
When the book switched to dealing with Walker, I just got bored with it--I finished it, but it was forced, and I think that the book would've been far better if the author had stuck primarily with the exploration and contacting of the Bronze Age cultures, or at least make Walker a little more than a cruel ambitious empire builder.
All in all _Island in the Sea of Time_ is a wonderful piece of fiction and certainly much better than _1632_, which takes a much too similar premise. I would recommend this book to anyone who could handle the violence.
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4: A Fantastic, Exciting Read!!
This book was the first - but not the last - that I ever read by S.M. Stirling. After the first twenty or so pages, I was hooked. Forever.
The premise of the novel is simple: an unexplained electrical storm, of some unknown nature, sends the island of Nantucket back in time more than 3,000 years - to 1,250 B.C., the late Bronze Age. This strands seven thousand or so late 20th-century Americans alone in an ancient world. As the book's jacket blurb asks - "How will they survive?"
Stirling's answers to that question are not only brilliant - they are rich in detail, and they create AN ENTIRE, REALIZED WORLD. Many time-travel or alternative history stories interweave interesting ideas, but don't create a sense of actual, living, breathing reality; as a professional archaeologist, that's frustrating, because such stories are an imaginative way to see what might have been happening.
Not so with Stirling's book. The details about the lives of former Nantucket police chief Jared Cofflin, Coast Guard Captain Marian Alston, professor Ian Arnstein, astronomer Doreen Rosenthal, librarian Martha Stoddard, and renegade William Walker, are set in a complete world - with scenes ranging from Archaic period New England tribesmen, to the ancient Olmec city of San Lorenzo, to Bronze Age England - the "White Isle". And his characters from the past - Swindapa, Earth Folk Spear Chosen; Hardcase, clan leader and Native American entrepeneur; Daurthunnicar, lord of the Iraiina clan of warriors; and Isketerol, merchant lord of Tartessos - are believable, real, and FEEL like real characters with attitudes radically different than modern Americans.
This book is fantastic, fun to read, and very well written. I highly recommend it as a great read!!
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5: island in the sea of time
Just enough science fiction to set up a very interesting situation---modern man meets ancient man (from 3000 years ago) in both settings. I am halfway through now, and look forward to the adventures in each chapter. If you like this type of thing, this is a good one.
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