Against the Tide of Years

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Book details

  1. Book 2 of 3
    Island
  2. Print length
    454 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Ace
  5. Publication date
    May 1, 1999
  6. Dimensions
    4.2 x 1.2 x 6.7 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0451457439
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0451457431
  9. See all details
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Book overview

 “STIRLING HAS SURPASSED HIS PREVIOUS WORK,” raved Science Fiction Chronicle of his bestselling novel Island in the Sea of Time, and George R. R. Martin hailed it as “an utterly engaging account of what happens when the isle of Nantucket is whisked back into the Bronze Age.” Now, the adventure continues...

In the years since the Event, the Republic of Nantucket has done its best to recreate the better ideas of the modern age. But the evils of its time resurface in the person of William Walker, renegade Coast Guard officer, who is busy building an empire for himself based on conquest by technology. When Walker reaches Greece and recruits several of their greater kinglets to his cause, the people of Nantucket have no choice. If they are to save the primitive world from being plunged into bloodshed on a twentieth-century scale, they must defeat Walker at his own game: war.

Amazon.com Review

In Stirling's bestselling Island in the Sea of Time, modern Nantucket found itself trapped in the Bronze Age. In the sequel, Against the Tide of Years, the renegade William Walker forges a dangerous alliance with the ancient Greek kings Agamemnon and Odysseus; Commodore Marian Alston faces terrible sea storms and cannon-armed Phoenician ships in an anachronistic Age of Sail; and the outnumbered Nantucketers race Walker to make contact with the Babylonian Empire.

Of course this ambitious, action-packed series is perfect for time-travel, alternate-history, and military-SF fans. But epic-fantasy readers, Burroughs and Haggard fans desiring a modern update of the lost-civilization adventure novel, and anyone who ever read Patrick O'Brian for the terrific sea-battles will enjoy it as well. --Cynthia Ward

Review

“Another exciting and explosive tale of ambition, ingenuity, intrigue, and discovery. Against the Tide of Years is even more compelling than Island in the Sea of Time—but just as much fun.” – Jane Lindskold, author of When the Gods Are Silent

 “Amazingly real. The research is impeccable, the writing excellent.” – Harry Turtledove

About the Author

S. M. Stirling is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Novels of the Change (including Prince of Outcasts, The Desert and the Blade, The Golden Princess, The Given Sacrifice, Lord of Mountains) and the Shadowspawn series (A Taint in the Blood, The Council of Shadows, Shadows of Falling Night).

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S. M. Stirling
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I'm a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft -- I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

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On the Oceans of Eternity
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Island in the Sea of Time

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
772 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book great, fun, and believable. They describe the storyline as compelling, interesting, and complex. Readers praise the writing quality as clever, rich, detailed, and realistic. They say the book makes them interested in the characters and their lives. Reader also mention the series is an excellent continuation of the first book.

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ReadabilityStorylineWriting qualityCharacter developmentSeries quality
27Customers mention
27Positive
0Negative

Customers find the book great, fun, and believable. They also say the trilogy is well-written.

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"...This is the story that makes the book so worth reading." Read more

"...Island in the Sea of Time is my favorite in the series, this is still a good read. I highly recommend picking it up." Read more

"...Still, it was enjoyable enough that I'm now going to buy the third book in the series." Read more

"I've read a lot of scifi and a lot of time travel, this trilogy is very well written, S.M. Stirling has good attention to detail, sometimes almost..." Read more

25Customers mention
22Positive
3Negative

Customers find the storyline compelling, interesting, and complex. They appreciate the excellent integration of real history, modern technology, and engaging characters. Readers also mention the ideas about changing history are fascinating.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

"...this series for those who've not yet started it, as it is excellent alternative history...." Read more

"...Once again S.M.Sterling has done a great job of story telling; and the problems faced by 20 Century sent back to the Bronze Age...." Read more

"...This one is a little of all-of-the-above. The storyline is absorbing and interesting; the action takes place in several locales...." Read more

"...It is fascinating and amazingly, quite believable. I would happily read anything by this author!" Read more

13Customers mention
10Positive
3Negative

Customers find the writing quality clever, well-drawn, and richly detailed. They say the book is realistic and entertaining.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

"...A masterful piece of writing from one of the best alternative history voices." Read more

"As with the previous book in the series, intriguing and well written...." Read more

"...a host of new "local" characters who are quite varied and well-drawn.Unlike the first book, this one spreads itself too thin...." Read more

"...I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by ROC (Penguin) in 1999 that I just bought in 2021...." Read more

11Customers mention
11Positive
0Negative

Customers find the characters interesting and well-realized. They mention the book provides a lot of anthropology and cultural development.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

"...A masterful piece of writing from one of the best alternative history voices." Read more

"...Stirling again makes you interested in the characters and their lives. He balances many different plotlines and characters very neatly...." Read more

"...of the book excellent; consists of highly-immersive and well-realized people and cultures...." Read more

"...The characters are enthralling, and the way the book delves into the arts of the past helped the story continue in new and exciting ways...." Read more

8Customers mention
8Positive
0Negative

Customers find the series excellent and a good addition.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

"...I love the first book and the follow up was spectacular. I can’t wait to read the third book!" Read more

"excellent continuation of the first book in this series, I'm currently working on the third book now...." Read more

"I generally don't like sequels but this book is an excellent follow up to Island in the Sea of Time...." Read more

"Good series" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Lawrence H. Feldman
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Change in the Bronze Age
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014
I gave this book 5 stars because it shows us what would happen if modern Nantucket found itself over a 10 year period. It provides one view of how these changes effected the cultures of Babylonia, Mycenian [sic] Greece, New Kingdom Egypt, the Hittite Empire, the Iberian... See more
I gave this book 5 stars because it shows us what would happen if modern Nantucket found itself over a 10 year period. It provides one view of how these changes effected the cultures of Babylonia, Mycenian [sic] Greece, New Kingdom Egypt, the Hittite Empire, the Iberian peninsula and yes, prehistoric California. It is not just on the initial explorers, if that is the right tells of Greeks, Celts, Iberians, Hittites and especially Babylonians, who came into contact with the explorers from Nantucket. It is the interaction between people of the Bronze age and Modern era that makes this book so interesting. This is the story that makes the book so worth reading.
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AJ Reissig
4.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Great science fiction
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2014
As a scifi writer (Chronicles of Aria Prime, Episode One), I'm a sucker for alternate reality novels. The second in the Nantucket series, Against the Tide of years is set eight years after "the event", as the... See more
As a scifi writer (Chronicles of Aria Prime, Episode One), I'm a sucker for alternate reality novels. The second in the Nantucket series, Against the Tide of years is set eight years after "the event", as the time displacement has come to be called. In that time, the Islanders have fought wars, stabilized the island as an industrial and political powerhouse, and are now living at a much more subsistence level than in the twentieth century. They have met with many of the cultures of the day, and are working to form an alliance that will put an end the renegade William Walker.

Early on, it's apparent that the Islanders are masters at adapting nineteenth and twentieth century technology to 1250 BC. For example, near the beginning of the story, we see a steam powered semi-truck. They've also progressed in what they can build, as the crossbows of book one have been replaced with muzzleloaders. Stirling goes into a lot of detail on many of these inventions, how they were built, and how they were adapted. For some people, this may bog the story down. However, I love the techno-stuff (and I tend to believe most of Stirling's fans do as well), so for me, this added to the story rather than take away.

Much of the plot hangs on the Islanders' formation of an alliance with the Mesopotamian king Shiumash. They hope that by aiding him and increasing stability in the region, he will provide them with the man-power they need to defeat William Walker in Greece. This proves move difficult than originally thought due to Tartessian pirates, working loosely under the command of Isketerol, the native whose power is based on early ties to both the Islanders and the renegade Walker.

Throughout the book, we see a stark difference between the Islanders and Walker. Walker has embraced brutality and slavery to get him what he wants. The Islanders, however, have brought the ideas of late twentieth century to 1250 BC. Freedom, liberty, gender and racial equality are embraced by the people of the island. This is not to say, however, that there are not conflicts. Certain individuals don't mind giving Indians whiskey before a trade, there are disagreements over how to deal with Walker, and so on.

While Island in the Sea of Time is my favorite in the series, this is still a good read. I highly recommend picking it up.
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watzizname
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
A Rarity: A Sequel Even Better than the Original
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2008
Eight years after the Event, the Nantucketers finally decide that William Walker must be brought to justice. (What took them so long?) This is the first (not quite) half of that story, and I found it even more enjoyable than the first book,... See more
Eight years after the Event, the Nantucketers finally decide that William Walker must be brought to justice. (What took them so long?) This is the first (not quite) half of that story, and I found it even more enjoyable than the first book, Island in the Sea of Time (Island), which you should read first because it provides the background.

Most of the action in ATTOY takes place in the (then) fertile crescent where Western civilization began, and some history of which is known, which I think is part of why I enjoyed it more than ISLAND, much of which took place in the British Isles before any recorded history thereof. (Stonehenge was already there, but all we know about it is what was learned from the artifact itself.) ATTOY has to (and does) accord with the known history of the region, except for the changes caused by the Nantucketers.

One jarring note: near the bottom of page 294 (paperback) is the sentence

"That was where the Chamberlain was under repair in the spanking-new dry dock, and a second being was constructed." We never learn the nature of the being that was constructed, and it doesn't figure in the plot, so why even mention it?

Three things I wish were included in these books: (1) maps of the region(s), (2) Cast of characters, both such as are provided in Eric Flint's 1632 (The Assiti Shards) and 1633; and (3) historical notes, such as Miriam Grace Monfredo includes in Seneca Falls Inheritance and its sequels.

Even without those, I greatly enjoyed IITSOT and ATTOY, and am currently enjoying the third book, On the Oceans of Eternity, and I heartily recommend them. Enjoy!

watziznaym@gmail.com
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Shikantaza
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Thought-provoking alternative history
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
Sterling has written a gem of alternative history. Suppose you had year-2000 technology, but you and your town were abruptly transported to 1500BCE - the pre-Classical era - when Odysseus and Agamemnon walked the earth? How does your small group... See more
Sterling has written a gem of alternative history.

Suppose you had year-2000 technology, but you and your town were abruptly transported to 1500BCE - the pre-Classical era - when Odysseus and Agamemnon walked the earth?

How does your small group survive in an age of barbarians? How do you create a harmonious global political order mindful of pollution and sensitive to human rights?
2 people found this helpful
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ROBERT WATTERS
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
excellent sequel from a master writer
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2022
This was a reread on my part but the pacing and structure made it read as fresh. A masterful piece of writing from one of the best alternative history voices.
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Jedidiah Abdul Muhib Carosaari
4.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
It's the 2nd of a Trilogy
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2004
As with the previous book in the series, intriguing and well written. A bit of a Return of the Jedi bit here- things don't finish in this novel (unlike the first one), and not everything is going well for the heroes at the end of the book. You have to have the 3rd in the... See more
As with the previous book in the series, intriguing and well written. A bit of a Return of the Jedi bit here- things don't finish in this novel (unlike the first one), and not everything is going well for the heroes at the end of the book. You have to have the 3rd in the trilogy at the ready. Stirling again makes you interested in the characters and their lives. He balances many different plotlines and characters very neatly. His research is precise and accurate. And he provides a lot of anthropology and cultural development- not just battles and action. I recommend this book for those who have started the series, for they won't be disappointed. I recommend this series for those who've not yet started it, as it is excellent alternative history.

Some minor drawbacks: the time schema is confusing. At the beginning of every chapter are a number of dates, with months and years, some in parenthesis, and I couldn't really figure out what the author was trying to communicate with this. Also for some strange reason there's no Israel. Although history indicates at this time that Gideon is judge of Israel, for some reason Stirling has decided that Moses is just about now leaving Egypt. But since the entire Middle East is thrown into turmoil in this book, perhaps that whole event doesn't happen, including the Jewish nation, the oppression by the Romans, Jesus . . . Lastly, the book is less recommendable due to a number of rather strange, highly aberrant gratuitous sex scenes.
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Kirk
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
See what happens to the bronze age Greece and the Middle East
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2018
Here is a scify story that is believable. Once again S.M.Sterling has done a great job of story telling; and the problems faced by 20 Century sent back to the Bronze Age. There is nothing magical or super natural the time travelers have other then history and a willingness... See more
Here is a scify story that is believable. Once again S.M.Sterling has done a great job of story telling; and the problems faced by 20 Century sent back to the Bronze Age. There is nothing magical or super natural the time travelers have other then history and a willingness to survive. The only things negative about the story, for me, was it ended - I really enjoyed the story and I would think you would as well.
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SarahLawrence Scott
3.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Not as good as the first book, but still entertaining.
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2016
Against the Tide of Years is a step down from Island in the Sea of Time, the first book in the series, but it's still entertaining. The flaws in the first book are still there: everything is just a bit too easy for the good guys. I said in my review of the first... See more
Against the Tide of Years is a step down from Island in the Sea of Time, the first book in the series, but it's still entertaining.

The flaws in the first book are still there: everything is just a bit too easy for the good guys. I said in my review of the first book that it's like watching someone else play a computer game. I'll amend that: it's like watching someone else play a computer game on a difficulty setting that's too easy for them.

In addition, while this book introduces several younger Islander characters to supplement the returning characters from the first book, they're much less interesting than their elders--perhaps that's in part because they all grew up in a similar environment. Fortunately, there are a host of new "local" characters who are quite varied and well-drawn.

Unlike the first book, this one spreads itself too thin. There's a Lewis and Clark type expedition, for example, which is an unnecessary addition. Maybe it's setting up something for the third book, but as it is it needed either more pages devoted to it or fewer. Likewise, Odysseus makes an appearance, and it seems as if he's going to be a major character, but then he fades from the action.

At one point, this even rises to the point of what I'd consider a continuity error. There is a flotilla of Islander ships that get separated by a storm. For a time, we follow the fate of one of them. But then we never find out what happened to the other ships. Given the concern the Islanders usually show for their people, there should be at least a mention somewhere of those ships having made it through safely, or getting destroyed, or being missing--I kept waiting for it, but if it was in there, I missed it.

Finally, a warning: this book ends at a point that seems almost arbitrary. There is no particular final climax or resolution.

Still, it was enjoyable enough that I'm now going to buy the third book in the series.
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Top reviews from other countries

Robert Newman
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Great series
Reviewed in Canada on October 31, 2021
One of the best SF series. Author really knows history and geography. Pleasure to read.

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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Its areally good read!
Reviewed in Australia on July 28, 2018
I read it previously and wished to own a copy, as it s unavailable as an ebook.

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Giulio Bobbo
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Great follow up
Reviewed in Italy on September 21, 2014
Great sequel of a genial book, I liked how the character are well detailed, never banal, and interesting. I could barely took my sight off the reader!

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P. barton
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
more stars for this great book please
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2010
book two continues the adventures of the time slipping island of nantucket, its been almost a year since i read the first one but it was easy to pick up on the storyline, while reading i often wonder what was happening further up the time line in the world they left behind,...See more
book two continues the adventures of the time slipping island of nantucket, its been almost a year since i read the first one but it was easy to pick up on the storyline, while reading i often wonder what was happening further up the time line in the world they left behind, hopefully a subject for a further volume (hint hint) once again mr stirling has put together a superb story, i just wish the print was a little bigger , ah the joys of getting old eh folks !!!!!!!!

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Brian Bell
4.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Fascinating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2020
Second book of good trilogy

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