Echoes in Time (Time Traders) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific Norton (Wind in the Stone, Forecasts, Oct. 11, etc.) has again returned to her Time Traders series, this time in collaboration with Sherwood Smith. Begun in 1958, the long-dormant series was first revived in the 1994 with Firehand, which Norton co-wrote with P.M. Griffin. But as with their revival of Norton's Solar Queen series, Norton and Smith don't just send an old hero through familiar paces. Ross Murdock has now moved into the laptop era. The tough Time Agent also has gotten himself married to agent Eveleen Riordan, and the two must work together when they are called from their honeymoon back to Project Star, as the secret time patrol is known. Now not only must Murdock and his old partner Gordon Ashe modify their old-boy system to fit Murdock's newlywed status, but they also must join a team of Russians, long-time rivals of Project Star, to track down an earlier team gone missing on a distant planet. The story is slow to start, as background from earlier books is filled in and old cold-war conflicts are ironed out, but once the two teams land on the Yilayil planet and travel back to a time 100 years after the first team disappeared, the narrative picks up. How could the highly cultured Yilayil have become the feral Weaslies of today? Are the malevolent Baldies once again up to no good? The answers prove more complex and ambiguous than a reader of the old series might expect, as the nature of both time and the enemy are explored amid the deepening mystery of the missing comrades. This refashioned Time Traders tale should reward veteran fans of Norton and create some new ones.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

When a group of Russian Time Agents disappears while investigating the planet Yilayil, newlywed agents Ross Murdock and Eveleen Riordan agree to participate in a dangerous rescue mission, despite their misgivings about some of their teammates. Personal rivalries soon give way to greater problems that threaten not only the integrity of the mission but the survival of its members. After their revitalization of the "Solar Queen" series, coauthors Norton and Smith now turn their attention to the world of the Time Traders, updating the series for a new generation of readers who enjoy tales of galactic adventures, time travel, and personal drama. Solid storytelling and intriguing characters make this a solid choice for most sf collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction; 1st edition (July 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812552741
• ISBN-13: 978-0812552744
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #648,216 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far Better than Expected, August 30, 2000

By A Customer

I had misgivings about reading this, as most of these dual author things are a disappointment. The previous one, FIREHAND, was terrible! This author was a far better match with Ms. Norton. The world was fascinating, and the characters finally took on some dimension. As for the writing, it was a relief to get away from the embarrassing cliches of FIREHAND. The pacing was slow, because there was so much explaining about past stories, but once that was over, and they got to the planet, it really picked up speed. I will buy any other books by these two authors.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Update, December 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Echoes In Time (Time Traders) (Hardcover)

I usually avoid these collaborations because I've found them so disappointing in the past, but I love Norton's work, and I recently discovered Sherwood Smith's work, so I gave this one a try. So glad I did! The aliens are fascinating, but even better, there are no obvious bad guys. Everyone has a real motivation, even the evil old Baldies! This is one collaboration that makes both writers look good.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Derelict in Time, January 7, 2003

By	Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Echoes In Time (Time Traders) (Hardcover)

For those who have read and enjoyed the early Time Trader books (The Time Traders, Galactic Derelict, The Defiant Agents, and Key Out of Time), this book will be an enjoyable extension, with just enough difference in emphasis to remind the reader that this is no longer Ms. Norton writing alone.

After some (somewhat slow) preliminaries that help re-establish this series into a somewhat more modern time frame of post-Cold War, the story picks up the loose ends left by Galactic Derelict, with a new expedition to the final destination of that book. Although their ostensible mission is to find the missing members of an earlier Russian exploration team, the book quickly turns to unraveling the mystery of how and why all the current time denizens of the planet appear to be devolved representatives of earlier highly civilized species.

The is the best aspect of this book, as in working out the mystery, there are some fascinating portrayals of multiple different species working within an overall society that may be the ultimate in enforced harmony. There is far more emphasis here on the real sciences of the cultural, anthropological, linguistic and biological variety than was present in the original books, and the basic plot provides for quite a bit of suspense and surprise, invigorating this tale with page-turning expectations. The mind-twisting consequences of time travel are reasonably worked out here, although without really answering the basic paradox inherent in time travel capabilities.

What isn't quite as good is the basic characterizations, usually one of Norton's stronger points. Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe don't quite seem to be the people they were in the earlier books, and most of the Russian contingent seem very sketchily drawn. Murdock's relationship with his new wife Eveleen seems very artificial. However, Saba, a new character for this book, is very competently drawn, and she pretty much carries the book.

Stylistically, this book tends to more complex vocabulary and sentence structure than Ms. Norton normally uses, which I have to attribute to her collaborator. This added complexity seems to help add some muscle and a believable tone to the story.

A competent tale and a worthy new entry to the Time Trader series, a series that helped establish Norton as one of the premier writers in the SF field long before women writers became fashionable.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)