Customer Reviews

Voyager Classics Time Ships

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is the first time I have ever read Stephen Baxter, and already I am anxious for more of his work. This book was probably one of--if not the--most imaginative sci-fi novels I have ever read. It starts out with the Time Traveller, determined to save Weena--the Eloi girl he left behind in the far future--taking another fateful trip into the future. But instead of a repeat of the original Wells book, but with a save-the-damsel-in-distress storyline, it turned into an epic journey through alternate histories and future worlds that are just astonishing as you read the book.

It takes you to visions of alternate futures, as well as pasts, such as a sphere around the sun, a war-torn Earth of 1939, the Paleocene era of fifty-million years ago, an alternate reality with machines as the heirs of man, and finally to the most fantastic vision of an infinite universe created and ruled over by the true power of the human Mind. The book closes with the Traveller being returned to his own reality so that he is able to go and save Weena in the far-off age of 800,000 years hence(I wont give away the ending).

Throughout the book, Stephen Baxter gives you insights into the world of Quantum Physics, an aspect that brings the book to have a more real-world feel than some bizarre odyssey. Stephen Baxter is a true visionary. Someone who is able to see the current trends of science and incorporate them into a masterfully executed story. This book, in my opinion, is among the greatest sci-fi masterpieces of all time. The story never gets too technical, but never reaches down to the level of a child-like fantasy story. It is a story not only about time travel, but about the nature of mankind itself. but the most important thing that this book teaches you is that no matter where you are, or what you do, the future is a world of infinite possibilities and it is up to us choose the right ones throughout our lives. For who knows what the future holds? Possibilities, my friend. Possibilities, indeed.

Only recently did I learn of Stephen Baxter's authorized sequel to Wells' "The Time Machine", one of my favorite books. This is without a doubt the best sci-fi story I have ever read. Baxter's beginning blends beautifully with the ending of Wells' story and explains why the Time Traveller never returned to his home in 1897.

Baxter's creativity brings a sense of wonder to the reader that is pure joy and adventure. (While reading it, I even listened to the sound track from the original "Time Machine" movie and the Russell Garcia score just made the entire experience even better). The story's ending was very emotional and showed that, for all the Time Traveller had seen and experienced - from the beginning of time to the end of the world - it was his human feelings toward another that mattered the most.

One last observation - It was my thinking that Baxter left the story open ended for another possible sequel involving the Time Traveller's adventures with the Morlocks. I can only hope that is true, for he has all the time in the world...

Be prepared to spend more than a few hours reading "The Time Ships", because you won't be able to put it down. Stephen Baxter writes in H.G Well's style that builds on the events found in the original book. The reader can effortlessly follow a seamless transition of the time traveler's adventure to save Weena from the Morlocks, with a few surprises.

As a life-long fan of H.G. Wells, I must say that I avoided picking up Baxter's book for several years. I doubted that anyone could seriously improve upon the original novel. When I came across a relatively undamaged copy of "The Time Ships" in a used bookstore, though, I finally decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I became so engrossed in the story that I finished the five hundred plus page book in three days. Although Stephen Baxter appears to be a scientist by training, he is much better at seizing and maintaining the reader's attention than many authors I have recently read. While continuing the narrative voice of Wells' Victorian Time Traveller, Baxter radically expands the scope and depth of the original universe, incorporating many modern ideas about causality, parallel worlds, and quantum mechanics. The fact he does so without overwhelming the reader but instead inspiring a genuine sense of wonder and awe is an achievement in and of itself. Baxter also makes a number of allusions to Wells' other fiction, including the use of Plattnerite, land ironclads, and a vision of nuclear and conventional warfare between Britain and Germany in the first half of the twentieth century, all of which are amusing to those of us who recognize them as the story progresses. In the end Baxter doesn't so much surpass Wells as simply take the original tale to a whole new level, extending and reinterpreting it for a twenty-first century audience.

Baxter does an excellent job of blending current scientific and ecological theories with the look and feel of the original story of the Eloi and the Morlocks. Most importantly, he does this with the proper mood and writing style of the era of the original--a much more difficult feat than most people would think. He also does a good job of projecting the politics of Wells' characters. The only real drawback for me is that the main character is just insufficiently thoughtful and intelligent about a subject that he has devoted a good portion of his life to. While this provides an expedient way for his Morlock companion to explain many things to him, and thus the reader--a fine literary technique--the main character's rashness and simplicity is sometimes frustrating to an intelligent reader. While this precludes a five star rating, it should not prevent you from picking up and reading this strong novel. Donald J. Bingle, Author of Forced Conversion

Those who enjoyed The Time Machine classic will delight in this sequel--if only H.G. Wells could have lived to read it! This is my first Stephen Baxter book. He is clearly a remarkably intelligent and creative scientist who can write great fiction. I found this novel believable; that is no mean feat when you're reading about Eloi and Morlocks. I can't recommend The Time Ships highly enough...it's like taking the vacation of your dreams.

Writing sequels to the works of others is always a risky business. Authors, by their nature, want to stamp their works with their own style, which is precisely what you don't want to do when expanding someone elses work. This is doubly true for something that is as much a masterpiece and a classic as Well's Time Machine.

Baxter's work clearly respects the original. It is obvious that Baxter did a great deal of study from the original and worked very hard to duplicate the cadence and characterization from the original.

This alone might have lead to a dull doppelganger, but Baxter manages to expand the original story without trying to deviate from its style. The conceit that Baxter uses is to employ all the considerations that science fiction and physics have given to the subject of time travel in the hundred years since the original, and to incorporate them into the story. The result is one where the old novel retains its charm but is enhanced by the new additions to the story.

It is a top flight effort and it succeed brilliantly. Baxter's Time Ships is a worth sequal to the original and deserves to be read by anyone who loved the original.

To be sure, there is really no way to recreate a classic. If the original author did not write a sequel, then there just may not be one. In fact, some stories need no sequel (Napoleon Dynamite), or if a sequel is done, it is never up to snuff (Return to Oz, Ghostbusters II). Added to that is "The Time Machine"'s status as an ace of aces, not to mention the wonderful George Pal film version done in 1960. In sequalizing a classic, Baxter has everything going against him.

Despite all of this, I think he succeeds. Not just in imitating Wells's voice, but in all aspects.

To begin, this book has some prerequisites. To be sure, you need to read The Time Machine (Penguin Classics), and to track down the missing part to chapter 11--alluded to on p.103ff. You will also do well to track down The Chronic Argonauts, the early draft version of "The Time Machine." Watch the names Moses and Nebogipfel! Additionally, "The Time Ships" includes several Wellsian inside-jokes. These are references to several of his lesser-know works: "The World Set Free," (p. 157ff) "Things to Come," (both the book and the movie), and the quick nod to "War of Worlds" with the virus discussion (p. 284ff), and "The First Men in the Moon" with the selenites. I think some of the book's criticism comes from missing these subtle allusions.

(I recommend seeing the 1960's movie BEFORE reading this book, and seeing the 2002 version AFTER reading this book).

By including these easter eggs, Baxter's time travel story double-backs to its roots. The first two time travels stores, Wells's and Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Tor Classics), were works of social criticism, with Twain's included the expected satire. Baxter, by including allusions to Wells's utopian future histories, brings back to square one. This is refreshing. So much of popular time travel stories are just variations on the Grandfather Paradox (The City on the Edge of Foreve, Back To the Future, every episode of Star Trek: Voyager). This book, however, uses time travel as a type of social commentary (akin to Star Trek IV), but on a scale reminiscent of Olaf Stapleton (Last and First Man, the Star-Makers, The Nebula-Makers).

Of course here and there it has a feel of "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing," but so does Wells's work. "War of the Worlds" ends in a Deus Ex Machina, and the Time Traveler abandon Weena in the fire and zips on to 30 million years into the future. The flaws reminds us of Wells's flaws.

The tone/setting of the story also zigzags, almost chiasmically . We start with Wells's setting, then go to the high concept of Morlocks 2.0, then back to Wells's England, then to a steam-punk/pulp 1930's "World Set Free" time line, then back to Jurassic Park/Robinson Crusoe for Humanity 3.0, the New Humans, the to the high concept of the Constructors, and end up in full circle at the correct ending of "The Time Machine." What a ride! What a vision! C. S. Lewis would have loved this book!

Indeed, as I read books 5 and 6, I felt joy. For those of us who felt let down by the direction of Clarke's 2001 series (3001 The Final Odyssey in particular), rest assured that Baxter delivers on the promise Clarke failed to keep, If you see the Time Traveler as Dave Bowman, and Nebogipfel as HAL 9000 (both are cyclopean), and the Constructors as the Monoliths (they were originally pyramids in "The Sentinel"), then you see my point. Plagiarism, no! An unfulfilled promise finally met, yes, yes, yes.

This book has been one of the most refreshing, and invigorating books I have read in recent years. If you have lost faith in SF, read this book and welcome home!

*

PS- If you were confused by Star Trek: Enterprise's "Temporal Cold War," I assume they got the idea from this book.

H.G. Wells told his original time travel tale in just over a hundred pages. Baxter took nearly 600 pages to spin his sequel. This is the only complaint I have for Time Ships. The story is believable. The characters were believable, meaning they seemed the same as the first tale by Wells. A very good book but also very disturbing. I don't mean disturbing in a bad way as far as the book is concerned. It is one of those books that makes you consider your own mortality and insignificance. A truly worthwhile book.

I had a great time reading this book. Steven Baxter tries to keep some of the characters (Weena, Morlocks, the narrator) and some of the plot, I guess maybe not to (upset) a lot of people, but his imagination is so vast that, by the end, the book sprirals off into a tale of cosmic proportions. I love time travel stories, and this is one of the best, imaginative and far-reaching in the tradition of the original novel. Baxter's concept of the gigantic world-ring around the sun is spectacular. His alternate-earth timeline is fascinating, as well as being a message to us all. I simply could not put this book down when I read it a few years ago. It remains on my shelf in a place of prominence so I can get to it again!
Baxter has a way of explaining the concepts of quantum physics and effortlessly weaving these concepts into his stories.
This is a very well-written book that holds together from start to finish, with clever plot-twists and imaginative scenes; I liked it better than the original.