Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trace of Memory, June 21, 2001
The librarian at my high school introduced me to this book in 9th grade (1977) I was blown away by the creativity of the story. Today, I read the same tattered text (purchased during a library book sale) bound by the library. The story of Foster and his odd memories creates a world familiar yet surreal. Truly one of the best sci fi books I have ever read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Trace of Memory, April 4, 2000
Always been a fan of Keith Laumer but this is one of his best. His books are full of wit and one liners. Hard to believe this book is out of print. I've read every book I could find by Keith Laumer and this is one of his best. I must have read this book 20 times at least. When I go on a short trip and am not reading anything else, i bring this book to re-read. Its full of action and humor. A great story from a great but under rated writer. I wish the science fiction book club would re-issue this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Man of Two Worlds, October 8, 2008
A Trace of Memory (1963) is the second SF novel by this author. It starts in the far past and continues into contemporary times.
Far in the past, a man awoke in a starship to find himself surrounded by dead men. Only Ammaerlin was still alive, but close to death. He made a recording of Ammaerlin's memories and pocketed the cylinder containing his own memory trace. Then the Hunters found him and he fled the spacecraft.
When the shuttle landed on the world below, he buried Ammaerlin within the landing circles. Then primitives armed with bronze weapons cut him off from the shuttle. The locals looted the landing craft, but they did something that caused it to return to the spaceship in orbit.
In this novel, Legion is a former music student, military intelligence agent, and hard luck case. If it wasn't for bad luck, he would have no luck at all. He reads an advertisement in the Mayport newspaper about adventure, but crumples the paper and returns to his intentions of robbing one of the stores.
Foster had placed the advertisement and others like it in various newspapers for over eight years. Many had answered the ads, but none were suitable for his task. Then he gets a call from the local police about a man claiming to be answering the ad and drives to the station to meet him.
Foster believes that Legion is the man that he wants. Still, Legion lacks self-confidence. Only the appearance of Hunters in the house convinces Legion to stick with him. They manage to elude the Hunters and flee out of state.
In this story, the Mayport police discover that Foster is no longer present in his home. They find various weapons within the house and suspect the structure has been used by criminal elements. They decide that Legion was a northern hoodlum who had murdered Foster and put out an all-points bulletin on him.
Then the local police find Foster's car parked outside the hotel where they are staying. When he returns to the room, Foster has gone through the Change and now remembers nothing of his former life. The car -- with its box of money and papers -- is unattainable, so Legion and Foster take a bus out of town.
Foster has an unusual notebook containing strange writing. Some entries are written in plain English, but the first such are dated in the eighteenth century. Legion starts reading the English entries and discovers that the entries are identical with Foster's handwriting.
Foster notices a scruff mark on the nearly indestructible back cover of the notebook and Legion uses a microscope to see an encryption key. He translates the encrypted middle section and finds some coordinates of the home nest of the Hunters. They interpret the writings to refer to Stonehenge.
This tale takes Legion and Foster inside an ancient control center with instruments and screens. The radar screen shows an object at a very high altitude. Legion pushes a button and the shuttle returns to Earth. Then they board the landing craft and fly off to the mother ship.
The story follows one of the major themes in this author's works. Something strange is found and further investigation reveals an even stranger situation. In Worlds of the Imperium, Bayard finds evidence of alternate worlds. In this story, Legion finds artifacts of an ancient interstellar civilization. Enjoy!
Highly recommended for Laumer fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of ancient civilizations, strange enemies, and high adventure.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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by Keith Laumer
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