Accompanied by a leopard and a nearly autistic young woman, Marc Despard sets out to locate his wife, who, along with the rest of humanity, was swept away by a time storm. Reprint. AB. PW.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Sci-Fi,
By
This review is from: Time Storm (Paperback)
Gordon Dickson's "Time Storm", first published in 1977, is an excellent post-apocalyptic novel concerning the catastrophic after effects caused by on-going time storms (or time lines that appear as, and are called in the book, `mistwalls') that continually sweep across sections of the Earth, as well as throughout the universe. As a time storm passes, a large swath of land becomes forever changed in time. A side effect is that for most of the population these time sweeps are deadly.Luckily (or you would have no story), a small percentage of the population (including a few animals) seem immuned to the deadly effects of the time storms. The three main characters; the protagonist (Marc Despard), a young teenage girl (known as `Girl'), and a leopard (called Sunday), are all richly defined. Those who have read "Wolf and Iron", another good post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel by Dickson (published thirteen years after "Time Storm"), may see a pattern here (a leopard instead of a wolf, the protagonist searching for his ex-wife instead of his brother, and a young teenage girl whose personality is remarkably similar to the teenager in "Wolf and Iron"). However, that's where the similarities end. This story begins with the three unlikely partners traveling across country where they cross area after area that has been changed in time. The people (and/or creatures) that have been `deposited' into the effected areas (if there are anyone at all), are either from some point in the future or from the past, but like any post-apocalyptic story, few are friendly. Even the survivors of his own time can be, and usually are, extremely dangerous. Unfortunately, a couple of the time-changed situations the group run into aren't treated very deeply by Dickson, thus leaving this reader a little confused and wondering why he mentioned them at all. However, the heart of the story is the Despard's single-minded goal of understanding the time storms, and maybe even doing something about them. He is sort of a freak of nature, being almost a human calculator whose mind will not stop until a problem is solved. And because of this, he is also a man that has extreme difficulty with his emotions toward others, especially those he loves. And whether he likes it or not, his small, motly band soon grows to a community, and the cast of characters are handled quite well. These are not stilted, cardboard characters by any means. Dickson did a wonderful job creating believable characters. Dickson also does a masterful job involving the reader in Despard's attempts to expand his mind and search out the patterns of the time storms so he may understand them. This becomes almost mystical in nature and leads him to reach out to the stars and beyond. I found this particularly fascinating and was quickly drawn into this strange world of the mind, space, and time. There is also the standard (but interesting) sub-plot concerning the "Empress" who wants to control what little is left of the world. And ever present is Depard's inner conflict with people, any people, especially the `Girl', creating and heightening the tension for the reader. "Time Storm" is one of my favorite reads in this sub-genre (actually two sub-genres; time and post-apocalyptic). If you like either of these sub-genres, I think you will really enjoy "Time Storm". I consider it a "page-turner". Between 1 and 10, I give it a solid 8.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Natural Genius,
By
This review is from: Time Storm (Paperback)
Time Storm (1977) is a standalone SF novel. The world is divided into a patchwork of different times by the time storm. Moving mistwalls contain time-change lines that shift the landscape behind them into the past or future. Stationary mistwalls separate adjacent zones of differing times.
In this novel, Marc Despard is overrun by a moving mistwall and doesn't know what hit him. At first, he thinks that he has had another heart attack, but gradually he learns the true cause of his confusion and overwhelming emotions. He finds a squirrel felled by the same time-change and picks it up. The creature seems to imprint on him and follows him around as he explores the area. He finally loses contact with it in his ramblings. As Marc is walking through the woods south of the Twin Cities area, he stumbles over a young black male leopard, who reacts in the same manner as the squirrel. Marc names the leopard Sunday and it follows him thereafter. Later Marc and Sunday run into the girl and she reacts to Sunday much like the leopard behaves toward Marc. The girl doesn't talk, so Marc doesn't know her name. Marc is obsessed with the time-change lines. He finally decides to check the other side of a pair of stationary lines that have apparently collided with each other. He firmly orders Sunday and the girl to stay on their side of the line and then enters it himself. Marc experiences the same kind of overwhelming emotional reactions within the mistwall as he had experienced previously, but this time his reactions seem to be less powerful. On the other side of the line is a pack of dogs and the remains of a house. At first, the owner of the house -- Marie -- threatens him with a rifle and the dogs, so Marc tries to reason with her. Marie and Wendy -- her daughter -- have been waiting for her husband to return from the nearby town, but Marie decides to accompany Marc when he moves on. Heading to the nearby town, they run into Tek and his gang. After Marc and the dogs outmaneuver them, Tek and the others fade back into the woods and disappear. Later, Marc encounters a large concrete building on the other side of another mistwall. The facility is a military testing center with only one inhabitant: Bill Gault. After discussing the situation, Bill asks to join Marc and they stock up on equipment and weapons, then return across the time-change line. Marc and Bill continue crossing mistwalls looking for someone from a future society who can help them understand and alleviate the time storm. Finally, they find an area with future buildings and encounter an alien -- Porniarsk Prime Three -- who is an avatar of the original Porniarsk. Although Porniarsk has better instruments that Marc and Bill, he is himself only studying the time storm. They must find someone from the far future to provide them with any assistance. Eventually, Marc becomes the center of a community studying the time storm. Porniarsk has been using his equipment to extrapolate the time storm patterns to the far future. Then Paula and her army show up to conquer his town. In this story, Marc has internal conflicts from his childhood. Because of his dysfunctional family, he believes that everyone is self-involved, only appearing to love other people out of self-interest. Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting his role and lets his old habits of expressing love get into his relationships. A major element in this story is the series of epiphanies that Marc experiences in his relationships with others. At first Marc is obsessed with finding his ex-wife and resuming their relationships. Then he has to deal with the girl and Sunday leaving the group after Marie and Wendy join them. Later, he rethinks his relationship with the Old Man. After each epiphany, Marc expands his worldview and open himself more to others. This story is built around Marc's talent for finding patterns in seemingly random events. Naturally, his paranormal genius is the key to solving the underlying problem. In many respects, this talent is much the same as the intuitive abilities of Donal Graeme in the Dorsai series. Highly recommended for Dickson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of abnormal events, unusual talents, and fractured relationships. -Arthur W. Jordin
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best time travel books ever...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Time Storm (Paperback)
maybe THE best, though I can't claim to have read them all. This book was my introduction to Gordon Dickson, who has been one of my favorite SF authors ever since. This is a deeply plotted story that develops with the characters. The scope begins at a simple, personal level and builds to galactic proportions. The narrator/main character is a gruff, usually stoic individual (like other Dickson main characters), but his emotions nevertheless come out reluctantly in the telling. I reread it every couple of years and it always seems new. Well worth the time.
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