When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son Shel discovers that he had constructed a time travel device. Following his father's trail through history-from the enlightenment of Renaissance Italy through the American Wild West to the civil-right upheavals of the 20th century-Shel makes a devastating discovery that sends him feeling back through the ages, and changes his life forever.
Time Travelers Never Die
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
--This text refers to the
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
McDevitt (Seeker) avoids flashy action scenes in this tale of two friends using a time machine to take a grand tour of history. When Adrian Shel Shelbourne's physicist father disappears and leaves behind a time-travel device, Shel and his friend Dave Dryden, a language expert, search for Shel's father in Galileo's Italy, Selma during the civil rights marches and other famous times and places. Realizing that time resists paradoxes and history can't be changed, the two friends seize the opportunity to live enriching, truly humane lives from Thermopylae to a few minutes in the future. As the paradoxes begin to pile up and their luck in dodging some of history's villains runs out, McDevitt ingeniously handles a tricky denouement that will leave readers satisfied. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
When scientist Michael Shelburne vanishes, his son Adrian—Shel to his friends—suspects unusual circumstances but not that his father has discovered the secret of time travel. Figuring it out, however, Shel and friend David Dryden use Michael’s devices to find the missing man in a quest that takes them through Depression-era Philadelphia, Renaissance Italy, the bloody civil rights march at Selma, and the as-yet-unburned library of Alexandria’s collection of the classical Greek dramatists. Eventually they succeed, but Shel’s curiosity spurs him to travel into the future, where he discovers his impending death, and then to search for a way to avoid that fate. That search occupies the book’s latter half and becomes a masterpiece of storytelling and exploration of the paradoxes of time travel. In fact, the whole book ranks very highly in McDevitt’s quarter-century of work distinguished by high intelligence, fine world building, and superb characterization. --Roland Green
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Michael Shelbourne is a physicist with broad interests in history and literature. We never learn how he comes into possession of three iPod-like "converters" that allow their owners to travel through time, although he presumably had a hand in inventing them. When Michael disappears, the converters fall into the hands of his son Shel and his multilingual friend Dave. After some initial fumbling to learn the tricks of time travel, the two are off into the past. Their initial goal is to find Shel's father, but the agenda expands to include historical sight-seeing, rescue of lost manuscripts, and lucrative art investing. Big fun!
The story has interesting strengths. No time is wasted with pages of invented pseudoscience justifying time travel technology. Technical concerns are limited to keeping the hand-held time machines charged and dry. There is a constraint that each converter can only transport one person--and there are only three of them. (Actually, with time-hopping and fast-fingered borrowing, there can sometimes be more than three.) This leads to situations where one time traveler gets in trouble and another has to get him out. They range from the mundane "my converter is out of juice" through several varieties of converter theft and loss to more complex scenarios where a time jump might create a paradox.
And there are weaknesses. Big ones, unfortunately. The main characters are disappointingly shallow. Shel and Dave have a few moving experiences, such as attending the Selma civil rights march and spending an evening with Ben Franklin's discussion group. These are exceptions. They more often hop into an historical event, watch the highlights, snap a few pictures, and push the big, black go-home button. Much of their onsite behavior is almost comically out-of-touch. They introduce themselves with their real names, shake hands with everybody, and even get to know some historical figures by "taking them to lunch." Nobody seems to think this strange.
The shallowness extends to the plot. Too many promising subplots never lift off. We see many of Dave's romantic troubles without seeing how they resolve. Lost Greek plays are released into modern times, but we learn little about the public's reaction. Long-time Jack McDevitt fans--and I count myself one--often divide his work into two groups. There are cleverly-written, big-idea stories like A Talent For War and The Engines of God that engage readers in solving a mystery, either scientific or historic. And there are a few directionless meanders like Eternity Road that just don't go anywhere. I must regrettably place Time Travelers Never Die in the second category. It is a tapestry loosely weaved, with many stray threads.
That said, Jack McDevitt fans should read this book and will enjoy it. First-timers should first read one of his stronger works. And both types of reader should contrast this book with David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself to see how a concept-driven time travel story can be done well.
The story has interesting strengths. No time is wasted with pages of invented pseudoscience justifying time travel technology. Technical concerns are limited to keeping the hand-held time machines charged and dry. There is a constraint that each converter can only transport one person--and there are only three of them. (Actually, with time-hopping and fast-fingered borrowing, there can sometimes be more than three.) This leads to situations where one time traveler gets in trouble and another has to get him out. They range from the mundane "my converter is out of juice" through several varieties of converter theft and loss to more complex scenarios where a time jump might create a paradox.
And there are weaknesses. Big ones, unfortunately. The main characters are disappointingly shallow. Shel and Dave have a few moving experiences, such as attending the Selma civil rights march and spending an evening with Ben Franklin's discussion group. These are exceptions. They more often hop into an historical event, watch the highlights, snap a few pictures, and push the big, black go-home button. Much of their onsite behavior is almost comically out-of-touch. They introduce themselves with their real names, shake hands with everybody, and even get to know some historical figures by "taking them to lunch." Nobody seems to think this strange.
The shallowness extends to the plot. Too many promising subplots never lift off. We see many of Dave's romantic troubles without seeing how they resolve. Lost Greek plays are released into modern times, but we learn little about the public's reaction. Long-time Jack McDevitt fans--and I count myself one--often divide his work into two groups. There are cleverly-written, big-idea stories like A Talent For War and The Engines of God that engage readers in solving a mystery, either scientific or historic. And there are a few directionless meanders like Eternity Road that just don't go anywhere. I must regrettably place Time Travelers Never Die in the second category. It is a tapestry loosely weaved, with many stray threads.
That said, Jack McDevitt fans should read this book and will enjoy it. First-timers should first read one of his stronger works. And both types of reader should contrast this book with David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself to see how a concept-driven time travel story can be done well.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Well, the title of my review and one star rating pretty much tells how much I liked the book. What was wrong with it? Almost everything. I am a fan of Jack McDevitt's Priscilla Hutchins ("The Academy Novels") space operas. They were exciting, contained good "hard" science fiction, and were greatly enhanced and made more believable by the military verisimilitude deriving from McDevitt's military and tactical background.
"Time Travelers Never Die" has none of this. There is no science in the fiction. The time machines are little portable devices invented by Shel's [the principal protagonist] father who has gone missing in time but there is no attempt at even the briefest explanation of how they work, how they were invented etc. And when one of them all of a sudden stops working, the inventor father is completely unable to even attempt a diagnosis or repair. Oh really? This is compounded by totally flat characters, no action, nothing original, nada. Just an endless travelogue of two buddies looking through time for Shel's dad. And the travelogue is totally sterile - barren of any local flavor or culture. Every place is like every other place - only the names have changed. There is nothing to distinguish Shakespeare's 16 century England from the Alexandria of 149 B.C. In several places from the Library of Alexandria through the Revolutionary war our heroes show several 21st century photographs of Shel's father, as well as a modern digital camera and cell phone to some extremely well-known and intelligent historical figures. Our ancestors don't seem to have any problem with lame explanations as to what these artifacts are or how they come to be in existence. Talk about suspension of disbelief! I was literally laughing out loud.
There are other huge holes in the plot and logic structure of the novel (e.g., Dad gets stuck in time but doesn't think to leave a note, sign or other artifact that his son would be sure to find in the present explaining his absence - see "Timeline") and in the behavior of the two main characters. Their choices of places and times to visit (and omissions of such) boggles the mind I guess Golgotha around 33 A.D. was too mundane. After all who cares if there really was a Jesus and/or if he was really the son of God etc. But a Babe Ruth baseball game was really important. Who built the pyramids and how, why and when? What happened to the Mayans? And so on. Our two heroes were much more interested in visiting with late Renaissance European artists, poets and the like, but nothing of interest or substance emerges.
I found the entire book boring and pointless, and, as I said in the review title, I think this was the most boring time travel story I have ever read. I am not usually so harsh in my reviews but there was really nothing to recommend here at all. My advice if you're looking for time travel/historical fiction is to read "Guns of the South" by Turtledove, Crichton's "Timeline" and/or Baxter's "The Time Ships" and give McDevitt's latest a big pass.
JM Tepper
"Time Travelers Never Die" has none of this. There is no science in the fiction. The time machines are little portable devices invented by Shel's [the principal protagonist] father who has gone missing in time but there is no attempt at even the briefest explanation of how they work, how they were invented etc. And when one of them all of a sudden stops working, the inventor father is completely unable to even attempt a diagnosis or repair. Oh really? This is compounded by totally flat characters, no action, nothing original, nada. Just an endless travelogue of two buddies looking through time for Shel's dad. And the travelogue is totally sterile - barren of any local flavor or culture. Every place is like every other place - only the names have changed. There is nothing to distinguish Shakespeare's 16 century England from the Alexandria of 149 B.C. In several places from the Library of Alexandria through the Revolutionary war our heroes show several 21st century photographs of Shel's father, as well as a modern digital camera and cell phone to some extremely well-known and intelligent historical figures. Our ancestors don't seem to have any problem with lame explanations as to what these artifacts are or how they come to be in existence. Talk about suspension of disbelief! I was literally laughing out loud.
There are other huge holes in the plot and logic structure of the novel (e.g., Dad gets stuck in time but doesn't think to leave a note, sign or other artifact that his son would be sure to find in the present explaining his absence - see "Timeline") and in the behavior of the two main characters. Their choices of places and times to visit (and omissions of such) boggles the mind I guess Golgotha around 33 A.D. was too mundane. After all who cares if there really was a Jesus and/or if he was really the son of God etc. But a Babe Ruth baseball game was really important. Who built the pyramids and how, why and when? What happened to the Mayans? And so on. Our two heroes were much more interested in visiting with late Renaissance European artists, poets and the like, but nothing of interest or substance emerges.
I found the entire book boring and pointless, and, as I said in the review title, I think this was the most boring time travel story I have ever read. I am not usually so harsh in my reviews but there was really nothing to recommend here at all. My advice if you're looking for time travel/historical fiction is to read "Guns of the South" by Turtledove, Crichton's "Timeline" and/or Baxter's "The Time Ships" and give McDevitt's latest a big pass.
JM Tepper
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Adam Grent
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Being a big fan of time travel stories I had high hopes for this novel. While quite readable, I think it felt like an OK short story idea that had been padded out a bit too far. Time travel seems a little too easy and the characters meet a new famous person every page or so on average (seriously) and any there is no real tension or sense of danger. Definitely not up to the standards of McDevitt's other works.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting time travel adventure
If only time travel machines were the size of an Ipad and you had several of them! Good story and interesting who the guys chose to visit in times past. Interesting paradoxes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by BrianK
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good read
I read a lot. Books I read either end up in a box to be donated or on a shelf if I think I might read them again. This one ended up on a shelf. Read more
Published 1 month ago by John D., Ayer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read!!
Fast paced, with lots of unexpected twists and turns, lots of fun to follow!! Jack McDevitt had now led us off another enjoyable direction.
Published 3 months ago by Kathleen L. Mattson
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Enjoyable Time Travel Adventure.
I love time travel fiction in any genre and have heard many good things about McDevitt, so this book has been on my radar for some time. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Adam Bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book!
This was a fantastic, creative read! The characters were great, the situations were entirely believable. Jack McDevitt never ever disappoints.
Published 4 months ago by M.N.
4.0 out of 5 stars
New twists for time travel
McDivitt provides a provocative look at time travel well as a healthy dose of intriguing conversations with historical figures. Read more
Published 7 months ago by jgtbfh
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Read
As usual, McDevitt has done a good job of holding reader interest and creating a new story with different ideas and concepts than one usually runs into. Read more
Published 8 months ago by David Pryor
1.0 out of 5 stars
How to make time travel boring
A few weeks ago I ran across some reviews of McDevitt's books, proclaiming him to be superb, wonderful, brilliant and all that. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Bartholomew Breva
2.0 out of 5 stars
Time Travelers Never Die, Do They?
I like time travel stories and this one is mildly entertaining but not particularly fulfilling. Call it time travel light. Read more
Published 14 months ago by C. Baker
1.0 out of 5 stars
bad history makes for bad time travel
I'm a big fan of time travel stories, so I don't much mind an indulgent story where nothing much happens, but you just get to enjoy going along for the ride. Read more
Published 15 months ago by traveler
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
