Customer Reviews

Island in the Sea of Time

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Don't let some of the reviews fool you--this book is not at all a politically correct screed. I have always really loved alternative history/time travel books, and have read tons over the years. This one is definitely among the top few, and my 5 star rating is a rare honest 5 star rating.

All the fun stuff--the anachronisms, the brilliant re-creation of modern technology in an ancient era, changing the course of history--are all here and done extremely well. With this book, Stirling has upped the ante for the entire genre. For example, merely shooting a "thunderstick" does not send the natives fleeing in terror. Stirling demands far more cleverness from his characters.

As for the complaints about the supposed political correctness, come on already! Every author imposes a point of view. I heartily disagreed with Stirling on some points, but he didn't lecture me, and it didn't detract from the story. It was far less clumbsy than say, Turtledove's Guns of the South (a favorite nonetheless), where he inexplicably has a female pretend to be a man so she can enlist in the Confederate army. You know what? There actually are some really ridiculously PC characters in this book, but they are portrayed as utter fools and losers.

I guess if you can't deal with a strong, positive lesbian main character, then stay away. But honestly, she is not used as a device to lecture the reader on how great lesbianism is. I am very quick to roll my eyes at such nonsense and never felt the urge to do so.

If you love this type of story, you have to read this book. A new classic of the genre.

Engrossing and fun to read. Stirling's style puts you in the story with the characters, as if this were truly happening. There are a number of alternative history/time-travel stories out there in which there is a lot of fighting, a lot of action and adventure, a lot of moments of surprise at the new people's amazing technology. But they take little advantage of the opportunity to explore new cultures and the clashes of people groups. Such is no the case with Stirling. He has long segments where he focuses on nothing but anthropology- and how to learn languages, and cultures, and respect of people groups, and the interactions of subcultures within Nantucket Island . . . This is what makes interesting reading. People that we can relate to, people that we want to be with, if we were to be thrown back 3000 years in time. Stirling seems to have copiously researched his cultures, time periods, and technology, in order to make everything appear as realistic as possible.

Stirling well balances out the need for the good guys to succeed with the need for drama, risk, and tragedy. It is not a morose book with no hope; it is not a surface book with no hope for despair. It is a very good read.

A bit less recommendable than it would be otherwise do to a number of rather strange, highly aberrant gratuitous sex scenes.

Imagine a group of 20th century people suddenly transported to the bronze age, c.1250 B.C. That is the premise behind this book. The "moderns" are the inhabitants of the island of Nantucket, some 7000 of them and they are now forced to deal with the diffcultly of adapting to totally alien life style, not to mention avoiding starvation... Some of the other reviewers of this book have mentioned Stirling's liberal viewpoint, and I admit having as a main character a gay black woman was a bit of a jolt, and the concept of the island just "happening to have" people with nessary skills seems a bit far-fetched, but these are no more than ripples in a sea of smooth flowing narrative. I would have personally prefered to have seen more about the "Nantucketers" struggle to adapt to their new world rather than jumping into the actions of renagde William Walker, but I am aware that that would have slowed the book more...Now that all three books in the series are available I can say this is one of the masterpieces of the alternative history genre, from first to last....

The premise is obviously an improbable one: Nantucket is thrown into the bronze age, and a Coast Guard sailing ship just happens to be thrown back with them, providing them with a lifeline to the rest of the world. Stirling does a good job of exploring how a modern group of folks would deal with the hard work of integrating a formerly modern fragment of the global economy into the pre-modern world, and the excitement of exploration all over again. That aspect of the book deserves high praise. What doesn't?

The improbabilities pile up, from the ease of learning languages to the protagonist's habit of getting almost killed, blacking out, and coming to with the problem solved (or, at least, being rescued from the problem). Many have commented on the improbability of the Coast Guard captain being a black lesbian super-ninja babe, or the improbable evilness of the antagonist. Improbabilities are inherent in the genre, but at some point you might say "come on." Some are probably simply oversights: what are the odds, for example, that native bronze-age Americans would be virtually wiped out by exposure to modern diseases but native bronze-age Europeans would be unaffected?

Too many words spent on the battles. It's apparent that Stirling is influenced by O'Brian's "Master and Commander" books, and O'Brian spends a lot of time discussing the minutiae of action. O'Brian's a better writer, and can mostly get away with it. Stirling lays it on a little thick.

Many reviews have focused on the politics and age-appropriateness of the book. First, the politics: Stirling, obviously, has no problem with black lesbian super-ninja babes, but he attacks a number of "left" ideas, from gun control to whale rights. I wouldn't describe the book as a "PC drumbeat."

Age-appropriateness: there's violence, sex, and sexual violence. The violence isn't unusual in the genere and not super-graphic. As I said, too many words are spent on the violence, but it would probably be a PG-13 movie. The sex isn't particularly graphic and would also probably be PG-13, although it seems mostly gratuitous (also, too many words). The sexual violence is mainly there to make the villains seem evil, and anyone too immature to put that into perspective shouldn't read the book (certainly R-rated - don't give this to your nine-year-old).

This is the single greatest piece of black-lesbian-sailboat-captain/ninja fiction ever written. More importantly, it is the most impressive alternative history novel currently available. Stirling's characters, outlandish though they are, are utterly fascinating.

While most books like this are highly formulaic and dull, this novel (like all of Stirling's work) is impecably well researched. Furthermore, it features a much more compelling, creatively structured plot than Eric Flint or the latest work of Harry Turtledove. The whole trilogy is as well written as the first book, and, unlike Turtledove, Stirling had sense enough to leave it be after three books. This novel is definitely worth buying.

One thing I love in fantasy or science fiction which is rarely done is "something amazing happens, no reason is really given - and from there the plot takes off." It worked in Replay by Ken Grimwood, Jumper by Steven Gould, Inferno by Larry Niven and to some extent Rama by Arthur C. Clark. All these Novels take an idea that everyone would like to read about, something with a whole lot of "what if" involved, and immediately begin working on the plot without spending a bunch of time EXPLAINING why the "amazing" event happened - it just does. S.M. Stirling manages to capture this feeling very well in his book "Island in the Sea of Time". In this novel we're presented with a very simple question: what would happen if you took a 20th century community, with all their gadgets and cultural skills, and placed it in the middle of 1300 BC?".
Good points:
1) the historical research involved seemed utterly believable. I'm not a historian, and most folks aren't either, so I think most readers will feel the way I do.
2) All the characters are different. Its as if there was a different writer for each character.
3) There was an incredible "Okay folks, we're trapped in 1300 BC. We have work to do if we're going to survive!" feeling. Organizing a group of 5000 shocked-out-of-their minds Americans to live through the first year was probably the best part of the book.
Bad points:
1) As other reviewers have mentioned, Stirling has a fixation on rape, human waste and bloodshed. To be fair, Vikings raped, people dying do "void" occasionally during their last moments, and violence and humanity have always gone hand in hand. I wish the story had stuck with "brave new world - lets explore it!", and not with "Military, kill, rape, crucify, torture!"
2) Stirling likes to jump around between some of his characters a tad too much for my liking. Plenty of readers don't mind that, and more power to them, but its not my cup of tea.
3) Lots of lesbianism going on. In the case of the captain of the Coast Guard ship I found it believable, don't get me wrong. What bugs me is it kinda drives home the point that this book was written for men. Just about everything in this book was written for men.
Overall I'd say this book is fun, interesting and very readable. But a little....off.

I'm a great fan of this type of 'fish out of water' SF, and the idea of a whole community being transported into the past was intriguing. I started out writing this review by recommending it, with reservations - however, in writing down the things which bothered me, I realized that I don't like it that much after all. I'm not going to bother to go into plot details, as the book has already been reviewed many times over.

I'd like to take issue with some comments in a previous review, specifically comments which stated, 'if you don't approve of homosexuality, you won't like the book". I'd like to point out that there is ONE same-sex relationship in the book. One. And it's between two women. So really, the book is hardly forging new ground here: we have the usual prurient 'lesbians are ok, but don't want no guys doing it'. Also, all the other relationships in the book (and its sequels) are depressingly heterosexist, with even one instance, in a sequel, of polygamy. As long as the guys are happy, anything goes.

Also, if you can't take a depressingly large amount of sexualized violence, and an incessant amount of rapes, I suggest you not read this book. Some times I wish I hadn't either. And before someone comes up with 'that's what life was like then!' I'd like to counter with, 'we don't know what life was like then.' (and Alice Hong is an import from the 20th century) And usually men were victims of sexualized violence too, in real life, but that doesn't happen in this novel. Guess it's more fun for male writers/readers when women and young girls are raped all the time.

As regards political correctness or whatever, I do try to read for enjoyment, and not focus so much on nitpicking. However, when you have (in this or the sequels) an Asian who's a sadist and torturer and a German who's an ex-Stasi and a Nazi throwback, I just have to say, COME ON. Just, please. Add to that all the twee meetings between the main characters and historical figures or characters from Homeric myth, and you're just rolling your eyes.

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!"

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.

I bought this book on the strength of several customer reviews of Eric Flint's 1632 which cited it as better (some said much better) than 1632. After reading it, I disagree, but I am not at all sorry I read it. ISLAND is a very enjoyable book, with great deal to recommend it, and I am looking forward to reading its two sequels, Against the Tide of Years and On the Oceans of Eternity.

The average review gives ISLAND 4.0545 stars and 1632 4.0177; not a significant difference. Poor characterization is a leading complaint against both Eric and Steve, with many saying the other does much better. Come on, folks, these are plot-centered stories, not novels of manners. If you want the latter, read Jane Austen. There are also complaints about Marian Alston being a Lesbian. I count it as one of the strengths of ISLAND that Steve Stirling managed, without being preachy, to present her as a likable human being very worthy of respect, rather than as a stereotyped charicature. Another strength is that he makes it clear that the 1250 B.C.E. natives, while necessarily ignorant of later developments, were not necessarily stupid.

Despite the usual disclaimer that "any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, . . . is entirely coincidental." one wonders about the striking resemblance between the William Walker of ISLAND and the American adventurer William Walker (1824-1860).

Granted, neither Steve nor Eric has done a perfect job of describing the world as it was at the time he focuses on, but both have done exceedingly well. If it is more fun for you to nitpick, ok, you nitpick. I prefer not to let the minor flaws or the fact that Eric isn't Steve and Steve isn't Eric spoil my enjoyment of the wonderful stories both have written.

watziznaym@gmail.com