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Island in the Sea of Time S M Stirling 9780451456755 Books

Download As PDF : Island in the Sea of Time S M Stirling 9780451456755 Books

Island in the Sea of Time S M Stirling 9780451456755 Books

I recently had this book recommended to me (I know it is "older") based on my own experience reading Turtledove and actually reading this author. I mentioned that I read Dies the Fire maybe a decade ago and a friend asked if I had read this, I admitted I had never even heard of it even though it was written before.

This is one of those that like the Flux Capacitor you don't really ask how or why, you just go with it. The point is not why but what are the implications of such an "event". In some ways certain parts seem a little more like guys sitting around (who have a decent knowledge of history) and thinking...ok if we had no electricity what we do to make it...if we had to eat...how would we feed the many...if we needed weapons what would we need to make them. One of the tough parts to swallow is that it seems all the right people with all the right knowledge and skills just so happen to be on the tiny island and just the right (or wrong) time. On the tiny island we just so happen to a lot of blacksmiths and weapons experts, we just so happen to have a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic just inside the event, we just so happen to have an astronomer capable of reading the stars to tell us exactly when we are....and so on.

But with all that, for just a good yarn that you simply need to go with and let it come to you rather than try to dissect this is a good one. One thing that makes this stand out from typical "dystopian" fiction or even time travel fiction is that we have modern society smack in the middle of rather early times. When they talk of running out of spices, my first reaction is they need to get to the mainland and find some in an abandoned city (that is how you do it in dystopian fiction) or with other issues you think of trying to reach others (other civilizations) yet society is not particularly advanced in most areas. So even trying to trade is hampered by the limitations on access even when you do travel to new areas. Interesting concept and I look forward to reading the next two parts.


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Island in the Sea of Time S M Stirling 9780451456755 Books Reviews

When the people of Nantucket find themselves transported thousands of years into the past, they take a while to adapt, but they eventually do with a vigor and inventiveness that makes journeying along with them as readers a real pleasure. Stirling creates a host of interesting, bright and determined characters for us. Some of them rise up and become heroes, some use their advanced knowledge in vile ways. None of them bore us.
This book has kicked off a three book series about the Nantucket folk and a huge and popular series associated with it but focused on the modern world and how the time travel event effected modern times.
Great characters, a brilliantly conceived and evolving society and a rollicking story make this book deserving of its tremendous success. We get our money's worth as readers too. The thing is 600 pages long.
This was an excellent book. The author crafts good English prose (a gift sadly lacking in many quarters), and he has strong characterization skills. The pacing of the novel is generally good, though I am somewhat sympathetic to others' critiques of his long-ish descriptions of technology. Being a technophile, I generally enjoyed them.

***Minor spoilers ahead***

I have only one substantive criticism there was too little social turmoil in the immediate aftermath of the Event. The twentieth century Nantucketers acquiesced too easily to the sudden shift to hard, manual labor in a nearly preindustrial command economy. I suspect that Mr. Sterling was too fascinated with the technical aspects of this adaptation. There should, though, have been more rebellion and resistance by individualist, traumatized Americans to this process. Their leadership certainly could have led them through this successfully. Its absence in the days and weeks after the Event, though, was unrealistic.

The author made up for this with the social fights and cultural stresses described later in the novel, and I really liked the book. Mr. Sterling has a gift for this genre of SF. I recommend this novel.
I was glad to pick this up on sale. It was a suggested read from GoodReads for a long time. The premise is strikingly similar to Eric Flint's "1632" so much so that I wonder if they both came out of a contest or challenge.

Instead of a West Virginia coal town sent back 300 years, Stirling chose the island of Nantucket and sent it back 3000. This is were the similarities end however. Flint in "1632" really focuses on the people and their individual reactions to the 'the event' and Stirling in "Island" tends to focus on the community as a whole. He also spends an inordinate time with various perversions in his characters as if this will give them depth or realism. I like the individual approach.

A well told story with mostly weak or uninteresting characters. I prefer "1632"
As a fan of Stirling's "The Change" novels, I looked forward to reading this series of three beginning with "Island In The Sea of Time." As a sort of "prequel" to his other series, it definitely fills a void that I had wondered about (though I can't mention as it would be a spoiler to those who have not read 'The Change' series yet.)

In this book, Stirling weaves a delightful tale of people thrown out of their own time and deposited back in the Bronze Age, with all of the problems and possibilities that implies. The characters are fresh, modern and very realistic and even though there is action and drama aplenty, Stirling is a master at keeping things grounded in just the right way so that you believe the events in this novel could actually happen in reality.

Can't wait to read the other two in this series as well. Highly recommended for those who love alternate history, fantasy or even steampunk..!
I recently had this book recommended to me (I know it is "older") based on my own experience reading Turtledove and actually reading this author. I mentioned that I read Dies the Fire maybe a decade ago and a friend asked if I had read this, I admitted I had never even heard of it even though it was written before.

This is one of those that like the Flux Capacitor you don't really ask how or why, you just go with it. The point is not why but what are the implications of such an "event". In some ways certain parts seem a little more like guys sitting around (who have a decent knowledge of history) and thinking...ok if we had no electricity what we do to make it...if we had to eat...how would we feed the many...if we needed weapons what would we need to make them. One of the tough parts to swallow is that it seems all the right people with all the right knowledge and skills just so happen to be on the tiny island and just the right (or wrong) time. On the tiny island we just so happen to a lot of blacksmiths and weapons experts, we just so happen to have a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic just inside the event, we just so happen to have an astronomer capable of reading the stars to tell us exactly when we are....and so on.

But with all that, for just a good yarn that you simply need to go with and let it come to you rather than try to dissect this is a good one. One thing that makes this stand out from typical "dystopian" fiction or even time travel fiction is that we have modern society smack in the middle of rather early times. When they talk of running out of spices, my first reaction is they need to get to the mainland and find some in an abandoned city (that is how you do it in dystopian fiction) or with other issues you think of trying to reach others (other civilizations) yet society is not particularly advanced in most areas. So even trying to trade is hampered by the limitations on access even when you do travel to new areas. Interesting concept and I look forward to reading the next two parts.