3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Trying to alter history while stumbling around in the dark, February 11, 2008
This review is from: In War Times (Hardcover)
At the outbreak of World War II, Sam Dance's mysterious physics teacher gives him detailed instructions for building a "quantum machine" that can affect human behavior and possibly change the course of history. The next day, he finds out that his brother has been killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. This event sets his resolve to work on this device that may change the timeline and allow him to alter reality.
Throughout his WWII experiences he and his friend Wink try to build the device in their spare time, sometimes secretly receiving updated instructions. Their first finished device doesn't seem to do anything, but they continue in their attempts to make a better one. After the war, Sam begins to notice some curious anomalies.
This book was well-written, the characters likeable, and many scenes interesting, but I wasn't really able to really get into it or find it a page-turner. The characters seemed a little distant. I believe this might be because they have no agency - they are not controlling the flow of the story but reacting, having no idea whether their device will work and what it should do. When it appears changes may finally be occurring, they are still in the dark and so is the reader (one could argue that this is at least realistic - what character could get their head around everything?). History is finally presented as having nexus points at which it may be altered, but I found the choice of event the book focused on at the end to be a bit predictable.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful, touching science fiction, June 27, 2007
This review is from: In War Times (Hardcover)
Goonan used to do more hard science fiction -- nano- and bio-tech. This is much more alternate history, and damn it, but it's good. Part of it is how well she's researched it (I read a review somewhere that said she used her own father's diary from the war), but a lot of it is how well she integrated what she's learned into the story. It's complex, and rich, and it rewards people who re-read books in a way I haven't seen since Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jazzing Through Times, August 16, 2011
This review is from: In War Times (Hardcover)
In War Times (2007) is a standalone SF novel. It follows the main character around the world and through time.
In this novel, Sam Dance has almost three year schooling in chemical engineering at the University of Dayton. Sam plays jazz music on the sax. He has an older brother who is serving within the US Navy.
Elani Hadntz is part Magyar Gypsy. She had trained as a physician, but later became a physicist. She has been studying the quantum nature of the brain.
Bette Elegante is a member of the OSS organization. She also knows Hadntz.
Al Winklemeyer is from upstate New York. Wink also plays jazz music on the cornet.
In this story, Sam had tried to volunteer in 1940, but was rejected because of his poor eyesight. A year later, he finds an aspiring recruiter and is accepted into the US Army. He is pulled out of Camp Sutton and sent to Washington, DC, for special training.
The course meets in a hastily erected structure on the roof of a War Department building and covers a range of esoteric subjects. The fourth instructor is Dr. Hadntz, an exile from Budapest.
On December 6, 1941, Hadntz seduces Sam so that she can give him the plans for an exotic device. According to her, the apparatus will promote world peace. It communicates with human brains to change attitudes, but it obviously is not yet perfected. Hadntz also tells him that it is a time machine of sorts.
The next day, Sam spends his time drinking alcohol and listening to the radio reports on Pearl Harbor. His brother Keenan is serving on the Arizona. Eventually, Sam learns that Keenan is entombed within his ship.
Later, two men in black suits interview Sam about his encounter with Hadntz. The seduction diverts security's attention from other aspects of the meeting. Elegante takes notes during the interview.
Then the Army sends Sam to generator school. He quickly learns that the class is really about the M-9 Director. The device incorporates a new radar device feeding a computer and is much more accurate than the M-7 and earlier models.
Sam travels to Britain by ship to set up the new anti-aircraft guns. After some tweaks, the M-9 becomes very effective. It becomes the main defense against V-1 flying bombs.
Sam meets Hadntz again in England. Afterward, Sam returns to the place where Hadntz had taken him and finds it deserted. From her comments, Sam figures that Hadntz had taken him sideways in time.
This tale takes Sam and his unit to France and then Germany. He meets others who have encountered Hadntz. One such person is Elegante, now a Major in the OSS.
This story is based on current thinking about consciousness. Yet it introduces such theory through very early works on DNA, the brain and quantum mechanics. It talks about some very heavy mathematics, but does not show the formulas.
The story also discusses modern jazz. Sam and Wink hang out at jazz clubs and start a jazz band within their unit. Sam thinks of Hadntz's theories in terms of the music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Sam also has experiences of traveling sideways in time. He and his mother briefly see his dead brother in their attic. He also encounters Wink after his death in his current timeline.
Highly recommended for Goonan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of time travel, alternate timelines, and persons of good will. Read and enjoy!
-Arthur W. Jordin
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