Time's Eye (Time Odyssey Series #1)

Thumbs up on very good Sci Fi/Alternate Historical Fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed Time's Eye - it's got action, science, and solidly developed characters. It's also got an ancient history battle royale between Alexander the Great and his army v. Genghis Khan and his Mongolian hoard.

Time's Eye is the first in Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke's Time Odyssey series which takes place in the same universe as Clarke's 2001 stories. Inexplicably (at least initially), Earth is sliced up and stitched back together creating a mish-mash of timeframes. This scenario creates the opportunity for Baxter and Clarke to position a Genghis-Alexander battle for control over the new Earth (dubbed "Mir" by the remnant individuals from the 21st century). The story is broad in scope, with multiple storylines intersecting, connecting and culminating in a satisfying conclusion. While the ending isn't quite a cliff-hanger, it certainly sets up book 2 nicely.

Time's Eye has the requisite amount of hard science and pseudo-scientific - and sometimes atheistic - philosophical musings. These are the elements that Baxter and Clarke fans anticipate in their works. The philosophical vignettes are tightly written, and rarely feel forced or out of context with the rest of the story. I was thankful that there wasn't too much rumination on the structure and specifics of time-travel.

The characters are solidly drawn and the authors were able to make the "real" characters like Alexander the Great, some of Alexander's cohorts, and Rudyard Kipling who gets caught in the time shifts, believable and relatively cliché-free.

In addition to the science fiction standbys of time travel and "those-that-watch-us-from-above", the book contains solid historical fiction elements, specifically when dealing with Alexander and the Mongols. The authors take time to detail battle strategy and tactics of each set of warriors as well as a brief history of their rises and falls. There are also shades of Baxter's Evolution while writing on the early hominids that get caught up in the time shifts.

Overall, I strongly recommend this sci-fi / alternative historical fiction from two of the best in the business. I've got book 2 queue on my nook.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Rule of the mighty

Some crazy rift in time-space has partitioned all the surface on Earth (and the space around it), leaving a patchwork of abrupt time jumps between patch of land and sea. After the initial shock and adjustment, the surviving life strives to adjust to the changes just as the planet attempts to correct it climate from the abrupt disturbances. A handful of peacekeepers, a trio of astronauts, and two conquerers from the past end up working towards the ancient city of Babylon to investigate a source of radio signal originating there. The two conquerers are Genghis Khan of the Mongols and Alexander The Great of the Greeks. Although each probably had his own share of blood-letting in actual history, Khan and the Mongols are depicted as little more than savage barbarians while Alexander and the Macedonians are depicted as a graceful prince leading a disciplined army. Such is the expectation of Western literature, I suppose. Oh. And did I mention the various mysterious stationary silver spheres (the titular "eyes") hovering above the ground throughout the planet? The story is not as awe-inspiring as other works of the two authors, probably due to the plot hovering around uninteresting stoic characters. I guess some historic figures are better left in the past.

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