Against the Tide of Years [Hardcover]

S. M. Stirling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1999

An exciting and explosive tale of ambition, ingenuity, intrigue and discovery. The continuation of the saga begun in the author's previous book SEA OF TIME

Product Details

• Hardcover: 458 pages
• Publisher: ROC; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739403168
• ISBN-13: 978-0739403167
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft -- I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good light reading, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Against the Tide of Years (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the better "Americans lost in the past" books, and certainly more realistic than Eric Flint's =1632=.

I'm puzzled, however, by the number of reviewers who seem to believe that a strong female character, like Marian Alston, automatically means that the male author hates his own gender. I'm also puzzled by the references to Alston being "a psychotic lesbian." If being career oriented, strong minded, and loving toward her family is "psychotic," well, I'm a psychotic heterosexual and have been for forty years. It's too bad that a decent female military lead is still intolerable to so many.

I also do not understand this "Stirling is left wing" business. The only way I could see any "leftist influence" is that the female characters were portrayed as equal to the men rather than being stereotypes. Compared to the average military SF book, this *is* liberal, but ultimately this is much more damning of the right wing/libertarian strain in science fiction than of S.M. Stirling. Or maybe the idea of one person, one vote at a New England town meeting is a bit much for some people?

Finally, the "reviewer" who brings up the subject of Bronze Age combat being reliant on brute strength is forgetting a few things (just a few). First, this book is about Americans changing the paradigm by introducing less strength oriented tactics and weapons. Second, modern Americans are larger, stronger and healthier than Bronze Age Mediterraneans. That includes women, believe it or not. Third, Bronze Age warfare depended on brute strength because the tactics and weapons were extremely primitive. The Nantucketers may be *in* the Bronze Age, but they are not *of* the Bronze Age. Their weapons are steel, not Bronze (and thus stronger and lighter), they eat a better diet and are in better shape, and they have the benefit of several thousand years' worth of later military tactics and battle accounts. Of course they would cream the Bronze Agers in battle.

Stirling has done a nice job with what is rapidly becoming a cliche in science fiction. Definitely worth reading.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new standard in alternate history novels. Excellent., May 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against the Tide of Years (Mass Market Paperback)

AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS, the second book in S.M. Stirling's Nantucket trilogy, is a riveting, delightful, novel of war on a global scale, of people in love, and of great deeds and high adventure. It is also an exploration of the nature of sacrifice, the concepts of duty and honor, and each person's responsibility for each other. It's not an overstatement to say that along with its predecessor, it sets a new standard in the alternate history genre of SF. It is one hell of a read. In the first novel, ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME, the island of Nantucket off the Massachusetts coast is inexplicably thrown three thousand years back in time. The Coast Guard cutter EAGLE, near Nantucket at the time, goes with it.

The people of the island deal with this miraculous event and start to build a community. Jared Cofflin, the town Sheriff, is made Chief Executive of the small nation. Marian Alston, Captain of the Eagle, heads its armed forces, which everyone thought were not going to be necessary for a while. Then William Walker, a junior Coast Guard officer, steals a ship, weapons, and technology, and takes off for Bronze Age England to make himself king of the world. Nantucket raises an army, travels to England, and defeats him in battle, though he escapes to the mainland with his small group of evil rebels.

In AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS, it is eight years later. The fledgling Republic of Nantucket(RON) has achieved economic stability and is pushing into the American continent, while maintaining close relations with the Fiernan and the Sun People of the British Isles. Walker has traveled to Greece, where he's become a favorite noble of King Agamemnon. As Walker's political and military power grows, it becomes clear he's preparing for a war of conquest. The Republic of Nantucket decides it's time to stop their wayward sociopath, even if it means war.

Thus a series of global conflicts begins, in which RON establishes a treaty with Babylon takes part in the siege of Troy, in which Nantucket defends itself on the ground and on the high seas in a pitched naval battle.

The brother-sister team of Kathryn and Kenneth Hollard, career soldiers both, are dispatched to Babylon to offer military aid and instruction. They find themselves quickly mired in a full-scale war as well as the political intrigue of Babylon itself.

While the fighting and the strategy is interesting, the best parts of the book are the living characters who inhabit its heart. Marian Alston and her Fiernan lover Swindapa are complex people. Loving parents, excellent soldiers, deeply committed, and just plain fun. William Walker is a depraved portrait of evil. The truly chilling thing about him is his humanity--he loves his children, he takes care of his people. If he weren't a mass-murdering sociopath, he'd almost be likeable.

As you can tell, AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS is a bit complex; it is also a delight for anyone who has ever studied history, for anyone who enjoys a good love story, for anyone who enjoys military strategy, and for anyone who likes a good book. I can't recommend it enough.

--Marshall Moseley

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm ordering another set!, October 17, 2000

By 

Janedb "DVDlover" (Jackson, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Against the Tide of Years (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this series. I've lost track of my initial purchases, since I've lent them out to so many people. This is a series I love to read and reread. There's so much depth to the characters and so many different plot threads I notice something new each time.

Stirling has done a masterful job at engaging the reader in the "time & place." Those reviewers here who balk at the "PC" correctness they see as prevalent must have a personal agenda. I find it fairly realistic that in this situation of being suddenly thrust into the past, the islanders bring their 20th century values with them. Would they really ignore the contribution the women in their midst are able to make? I don't think so.

I'm not a big fan of military fiction, but his descriptions of the battles grip my imagination as much as do his sailing scenes and there I do have a personal reference. He makes better use of the power of smells to evoke memory than any other writer I know. You can smell the woodsmoke, the tang of iron, the dank mud, the clean sweep of the sea. His characters are engaging and believable.

I heartily recommend all three books in this series. You'll get hooked! I just hope Steve Stirling continues to add to the three books. He left plenty of loose ends to be picked up and woven into another 3 books.