Customer Reviews

Pilgrim

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This book is a re-issue of two related books which were originally published separately in the late 80s. I can't speak for the value of this entire collection, but I read one half of it (The one entitled "After the Fact") when it was new around '87 on a long, cross-country car trip. It was merely adequate at best. Without spoiling any of the plot, we find out in the first couple of pages that a mysterious time traveler calling himself "A. Pilgrim" needs to rescue Abraham Lincoln from a certain death in the expensive seats of the Ford Theater in the past because...well, we're never really told why. We're just told that it's massively important. Pilgrim kidnaps a grad student, sending him back in time alone to Washington, 1865. The overwhelming bulk of the book follows the grad student around through various dull misadventures until the final confrontation involving Lincoln.
Does Lincoln survive? Will history be changed? I won't spoil those only-moderately-interesting questions for you, but I will say that "After the fact" was adequate reading for a lengthy car trip with my parents - well, maybe on the low edge of adequate - but I caution you that the ending of the book is *Extremely* frustrating for a number of reasons. Explaining these reasons would include plot spoilers, so I won't do that here.
I will mention that the book is essentially little more than a great big setup for a sequel which, as far as I can tell, was never written. I will also mention that a couple of the central questions of the book are never resolved, and we're left not knowing any more about A. Pilgrim than we did when we came in.
This is really only suited for the absolute Saberhagen completist, but it's far below his usual interesting level, and holds little interest for the rest of us.

This books was previously published as two volumes with the tiles "Pyramids" and "After the Fact", both now out of print.