Against the Tide of Years by S. M. Stirling

Stirling Is Great

In Stirlings 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 OBrian for the terrific sea-battles will enjoy

it as well. --Cynthia Ward

Personal Review: Against the Tide of Years by S. M. Stirling

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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