Magic Time (Mass Market Paperback)

by Marc Zicree (Author), Barbara Hambly (Author) "Randy Waller had heard all the stories about Medicine Water Creek..." (more)
Key Phrases: Marc Scott Zicree, Boone's Gap, National Guard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Television writer Zicree teams with fantasy and SF bestselling Hambly (Knight of the Demon Queen, numerous Star Wars and Star Trek novels) on a story straight out of the Hollywood mold for vintage sci-fi disaster films. A government experiment so secret even the president doesn't know about it produces strange energy flows that wreak havoc with the space-time continuum, resurrecting skeletal prairie wolves and disturbing ancient Indian burial grounds. Despite his misgivings, Dr. Fred Wishart continues the questionable experiments, only to blast the United States with a force so destructive all electricity and communications are knocked out nationwide. The bulk of the book concerns various characters' attempts to adjust to the chaos left in the wake of the catastrophe one made still more dangerous by the frightening mutations it produces in the population. Cal Griffin, a young New York City lawyer, finds his vibrant teenage sister turning into a near-translucent ghost of herself. Meanwhile, Cal's boss is transformed into a demonic, reptilian killer who stalks Cal as he tries to lead his sister and a hodgepodge of friends safely out of the city. Zicree's TV experience he's written for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Sliders, among others is obvious in the swift, episodic pacing; unfortunately, that doesn't give Hambly's usual gift for characterization much to work with. Like the pilot for a new television series, this effort promises much and delivers only hints of bigger things. (Dec. 4)Forecast: Before the World Trade Center attack, this would have been a natural candidate for screen adaptation. Chances are the public will now have less of a taste for fictional disasters set in New York City.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
When a top-secret government experiment goes wrong, a burst of energy nullifies the effects of technology and reawakens magical forces that transform some individuals into monsters with supernatural powers. To save his sister from a similar fate, New York lawyer Cal Griffin sets out on a difficult and dangerous trek across a devastated landscape in search of the cause of the transformation. Screenwriter Zicree collaborates with veteran sf and fantasy author Hambly (Knight of the Demon Queen) in this series opener that features a modern world suddenly infused with magic. Complex and unusual characters support a tale of personal heroism and self-sacrifice. A good choice for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Eos (November 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061059579
• ISBN-13: 978-0061059575
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #393,828 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Magic Time, February 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Magic Time (Hardcover)

This book is initially exciting, perhaps buoyed by Hambly's writing skill. But it quickly becomes a sort of cut-rate, bad comic book cross between Stephen King's The Stand and Sean Stewart's Galveston. Something happens -- we don't get the intellectual satisfaction of learning exactly what -- in a top secret government research facility. Technology stops working, and some people metamorphose. Two foci of presumably destructive power appear -- a rather confusing plot point -- and our questing band of heroes must tackle the first one.

There are too many characters for the modest length of the book, and most are not well drawn. The cliched imagery verges on the ridiculous. It really is a comic book -- one person appears to be changing into Catwoman. The plot is fast-moving but shallow and unbelievable. While the basic idea is an interesting one, the book never gets off the ground. It comes across as imitative, lacking themes of its own.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A choppy read, April 24, 2002

By	Merryl Gross (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Magic Time (Hardcover)

A secret research project Goes Horribly Horribly Wrong, messing up a bunch of people's lives. Watch them suffer.

I had a very hard time getting started with this book. At first, a lot of characters got introduced, in snippets no more than two pages long. Then some stuff started to happen... in snippets no more than two pages long. You can really tell that this story started off life as a movie script. But I can tell why they never made it... there are just too many characters thrown at you too fast.

Then stuff starts to happen, and we start checking in with all our characters, round and round and round again. Some of them get together. Some of them just disappear, and you find out later that something more final happened to them. Some of them seem to just achieve their purpose and walk off.

I think this work would benefit greatly if the authors picked one or two viewpoint characters and stuck with them, rather than visiting the viewpoints of so many of them.

Warning: this book is clearly the first in a series. It ends with several serious outstanding questions, and our heroes preparing to deal with more stuff. It never answers the fundamental question of what the heck is really going on... and what might happen if our heroes did manage to "deal" with it all.

At this point, I recommend you wait for the paperback, or even take it out of the library to see if it's to your taste. I don't know Zicree's work, but Hambly fans should look at it only for completeness' sake. There's not much of her 'voice' in here.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Comments on "Magic Time", December 16, 2001

By	Ralph Isovitsch (St. Thomas, VI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic Time (Hardcover)

I am long time fan of Hambly, but cannot recommend this book. One of Hambly's great strengths is her character development skills. I feel that they were stifled here. The characters in this novel are at best two dimensional. Perhaps this is due to the fact that she was working with a writer whose credits mainly include television scripts.

The pace of the book is choppy and lacks the detailed scenes and backdrops that are the hallmark of Hambly's work.

Read any of Hambly's fantasy novels or any of the awesome Benjamin January series for a true representation of what Barbara Hambly is all about.

Hopefully she will avoid any further work with her writing partner for "Magic Time".