Customer Reviews

Patton's Spaceship (Timeline Wars)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I admit it. I'm a sucker for time-travel and especially alternate-history novels. I thought that Harry Turtledove was the master at this, until I saw his "Worldwar" series collapse like a deflating balloon with continuing characters losing their appeal and a conclusion lost to a future series. Yes, the protagonist here is thown into meetings with an unlikely series of highly placed people. Yes, he possesses skills that most people don't have. But the story is superbly internally consistent with the premises, and it is a great read. This isn't Shakespeare by any means. But unlike Shakespeare you don't need a dictionary to understand most of the words. You will find that your $5.99 will bring you several hours of enjoyable reading. And you will meet a protagonist you will be happy to revisit in the future. Highly recommended

The title is a bit misleading, but Patton IS in the book! :-) The book starts out fast with a History student moonlighting as a body guard service. He's good, and has reason to get better! Nothing like revenge to keep the reader interested. This book has a Big Plate! Terrorist that are supplied from another Earth. Good guys fron a mirror Earths past ( 2000 years ago ) that WON a war that was lost on our Earth. Bad guys that help Germany of 1938 win the war on other earths, it's up to our body guard hero to stop them. Koool weapons in this book, but not too far out. Occupied America and the bad things that happen, Jews, gassed, blacks are turned back into slaves, but they get to have some fun when America is freed, by..........Patton! :-)

A bit of a cross between Heinlein and Laumer. The science may seem implausible in the Patton reality, but the science was based on mathmatical equations from a book from the distant future. Taken in its entirety the escapes might seem implausible, but individually believable. Isn't that what makes a hero in epic novels? I look forward to future episodes, but hope the main character doesn't learn too much about the weapons that he is using. Makes it more suspenceful. I'm a picky reader. So, I am starting to read the author's other books. I find it very rare to find a writer of this caliber. Try it. The cover is iffy, but the content is marvelous

A decent little light romp. Very implausable, multiple alternate histories requiring intervention by a group of future superscience good guys with, of course, a contemporary dude who just happens to possess the required skills needed to join the fight. Full of heros who can't be beaten no matter what the odds and beautiful busty female sidekicks who can kick ass and take names on their own. Makes you wonder how they got into the mess that they're in. probobly going to be a truly interminable series. Nothing to really sink your teeth into, still, good fun

A Heinleinesque romp -- though a bit more "democratic" in
spirit. Old time military virtues and improbable cliffhanger escapes; future civilizations and nasty enemies.

Old fashioned science fiction -- except that Heinlein's walk-on (and Asimov and the rest of the sci fi team who spent WWII at the Philly Navy Yards) -- is eclipsed by the major role given to a Beat poet I doubt John Campbell would
have approved of.

I love alternate history, especially when it involves time travel. So this series appeared to have all the ingredients I would need to find it enjoyable. Add to that that I had read some of John Barnes earlier works, and while they were nothing profound, I found them enjoyable. This book started out in fine fashion, but the moment the hero, Mark Strang, encounters the Crux agent, things seem to go off track for a while. His entrance into the alternate earth was poorly written, in my opinion. Barnes gets back on track shortly thereafter, but can't seem to sustain any stretch of good writing. The book bounces between periods of excellence and mediocrity. At one point, the protaganist Strang is in a car with electric windows, which have been disabled by gunfire. So he cranks the window down. Huh? I've never seen a car with both electric windows and a crank handle, have you? Well, it IS scifi. Late in the book, Strang makes the revelation that he became a bodyguard because he likes to hurt people. Charming. Also, off target. Throughout the book to this point I got the impression that, while Strang did resort to violence when necessary, it wasn't something he enjoyed. All in all, this book was very uneven in both its tempo and it writing style. I almost gave up on it about a third of the way through, but I muddled through and was glad I did. There was just enough there to make it possible that I will read the subsequent books in the series.

Great and inventive story line, Kennedy commanding a submersable aircraft carrier was cool but (and this is true for the whole serise) it seemed to me that whenever the story was picking up steam Matt would have a flashback to the time when Blade of the Most Merciful nlew up the car this really cut into the story.

hey there sci-fi fans, i've been looking now for about 2 and 1/2 years for a copy of this book. it's been out of print now for most of that time. i read it when i was a senior in high school and then it got stolen from me when i was about 30 pages from the end, so i don't know how it ends, i do have to say that it's one of the best books i've ever read. i had a 3 in 1 book (the whole Timeline Wars trilogy) in one book that i had gotten from the Sci-Fi book club. Anyway, i'd really appreciate if anyone would let me know where i could find a copy, or if you would want to sell yours, i'd be willing to pay at least face value, plus shipping and handling. I'm a Marine, so I'm pretty busy, if i don't get back to you right away, don't worry, i will. thanks, jeff.

I glanced over several of the reviews that people gae this book and found that not to many of you saw it in the same way I did. I found the story to be very interesting and not without merit, however, the main character, Mark Strang, is very egotistical, and the way his family is discribed is as if it is unimaginably perfect. I have read the trilogy several times to try and see it from a different angle, but I have failed to. Many people who read this book will like it, many won't. I guess it depends on your own personal taste.

I really liked this book. I had read Encounter With Tiber (with Buzz Aldrin) before, and it sparked my interest. I recommend both.