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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Sequel That Never Should Have Been Written, July 6, 2006
Finney's sequel to Time and Again is a sad attempt at recapturing the success of his first novel. Maybe I was hoping for too much since the first novel was so enjoyable, but as one reviewer said, this historical novel falls flat. The ending to Time and Again was so perfect for the story Finney had created and his attempt to alter the ending was ill-advised. The possibilities with time travel are endless and you could essentially have an infinite number of sequels, but you can only strike gold once, which Finney should have realized. Read the first one and don't bother with this.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the original!, March 10, 1999
Clearly, from reading the other reviews, I must be the only reader who thought this was the better book. As much as I loved TIME AND AGAIN -- and it's a permanent part of my library and a book I've re-read dozens of times -- when I saw this in a bookstore (sorry, Amazon), I grabbed it. At first I was disappointed, but on a second reading began to pick up the magic that was, if anything, stronger the second time around. The opening chapter, of people unrelated to Si Morley who gather at a curious meeting to pinpoint strange alternative versions of history, is intriguing and exciting. And as Rube Prien struggles with his own disjointed memory and sets in motion the return of the Project, things pick up even more. By the way, check out the true stories on the Titanic -- Archibald Butt, a pivotal character in this book, DID in fact travel on its maiden voyage and failed to return home, despite his importance as an aide to President Taft (who beseiged the White Star Line office with inquiries about him). But we've seen so much Titanic lore recently that it's almost a relief that the climactic scenes are so brief. Read it, read it again, and love it!
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Fiction At Its Mind-Numbing Worst, June 18, 2001
Some 25 years after the publication of his classic "Time and Again," Finney succumbed to that storytellers temptress--sequel. Finney brings back the hero of that book, Si Morely, from his cozy existence in 1880s New York for an entirely unentertaining stroll through 1912 New York in an awfully dull attempt to prevent WWI. It should be noted from the get go that this is no sci-fi, time travel extravaganza, rather it's solidly a piece of historical fiction--and if you're not interested in the minutiae of 1912 New York, don't even pick it up. Somewhere in the 25 years between the two books Finney apparently lost all ability to plot: the first chapter of the book (which is actually rather intriguing) has next to nothing to do with the rest of it, Morely is given no real motivation to come back to the present and then return to the past to carry out this mission, but then at the end, he is given a really excellent motivation! Why not just give him the plausible motivation from the beginning? In the meantime, the reader must wade through lengthy descriptions of clothing verbatim reportage from period newspapers, and aimless set pieces that have much less to do with the plot than they do in displaying Finney's ample knowledge on the time and place. A tiresome, lengthy interlude involving a dance demonstration is even more infuriating when it becomes apparent that it's been set up to provide a cameo for a young Al Jolson. Similarly, when Si becomes baffled by the description of a building, he decides he must take an aerial tour of the city, piloted by a new friend. This is a convenient way for a lengthy exploration of the progress of aviation at the time. Never mind that the description of the building he's been given to work with is obviously the Flatiron Building--only one of New York's most famous pieces of architecture. Most egregious is the mind-numbing foray into the world of vaudeville, which Si undertakes in order to grab a glimpse of his father as a child. One part of this has a vaudevillian (who is completely unrelated to the plot) spend six pages recounting his less than interesting life story! Oddly despite expending great effort to glimpse his vaudeville antecedents, he never even thinks of looking up his 1880s wife and son, who live in, oh, Manhattan... Let's not even get started on the "Jatta" girl, who pursues him. She's clearly a time-traveler as well, something he either fails to recognize (is he retarded?), or purposefully ignores (why?). Oh yeah, the climax comes aboard the (sigh) Titanic, on it's rendezvous with an iceberg. I love historical fiction, but in the end, one wishes Finney hadn't been so keen on period detail to the exclusion of any semblance of storytelling. E.L. Doctrow's "Ragtime" covers the same rough time period and place, but manages to tell a good story while doing so.
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