Rating: 
Summary: Good plot, lousy characterization
Review: Stirling does a great job of setting up the problem, and keeping the major plot alive. The book was an enjoyable read, and it has an open enough ending to set up many more stories. The problem is, the focus of the book isn't on the plot, the millieu, or the event - it's focused on the characters.
Unfortunately, the characterization is bad. Essentially, everyone is either a hero or a villain. All of the heroes have the same beliefs (despite being of supposedly different backgrounds, cultures, timelines, and religions), and where there is disagreement, long, rational discussion will always bring them together. This isn't true in the real world - I can't think of anyone that I agree with everything about. In the book, it robs the reader of many smaller conflicts and sub-plots that could have been set up. It also robs you of distinctive characters - the difference isn't in what they believe, but in how many syllables they use to describe what they believe, and whether they throw in a Southern accent or some Yiddish.
The villains are just as bad -- definitely more villains than antagonists, they are easily identified because they not only disagree with the heroes openly, but they are generally vile people. This is taken to ridiculous extremes. There's no loyal opposition, no respect for different points of view. Even people who just want to believe something different are forced into a single mold, as the author concludes that all of Protestantism is equivalent to Universalism, and forms a universal church. Those that dissent are obviously homicidal maniacs in the making.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Read
Review: This is my second Stirling book (first was `Conquistador') and they've both been pretty good. If I can get lost in a book and imagine myself in the character's shoes then I usually consider it a `winner winner chicken dinner', and this definitely achieved that. The idea of managing the process of becoming self-sufficient again was really intriguing as was the impact of several thousand years of warfare knowledge dropped back in the Bronze Age. The sailing terminology, while obviously well researched, began to beat me over the head at times, but overall this was a fun read and I'm anxious to read the next in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: Engrossing and fun to read. Stirling's style puts you in the story with the characters, as if this were truly happening. There are a number of alternative history/time-travel stories out there in which there is a lot of fighting, a lot of action and adventure, a lot of moments of surprise at the new people's amazing technology. But they take little advantage of the opportunity to explore new cultures and the clashes of people groups. Such is no the case with Stirling. He has long segments where he focuses on nothing but anthropology- and how to learn languages, and cultures, and respect of people groups, and the interactions of subcultures within Nantucket Island . . . This is what makes interesting reading. People that we can relate to, people that we want to be with, if we were to be thrown back 3000 years in time. Stirling seems to have copiously researched his cultures, time periods, and technology, in order to make everything appear as realistic as possible.
Stirling well balances out the need for the good guys to succeed with the need for drama, risk, and tragedy. It is not a morose book with no hope; it is not a surface book with no hope for despair. It is a very good read.
A bit less recommendable than it would be otherwise do to a number of rather strange, highly aberrant gratuitous sex scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Very good. If you like alternate history this is a very entertaining book. I have to add that both sequels are also excellent which is a rare feat. Its not very often that you see a writer who creates a follow up that is just as good as the original and S.M Stirling does just that.
Rating: 
Summary: Nantucket RIses Again, Ayup
Review: Island In the Sea of Time is the first novel in the Island In Time series. In the nineteenth century, Nantucket had been the bustling center of the New England whaling industry. Now the island is a quiet resort community of five thousand residents. During the tourist season, however, this island across the sound from Cape Cod is crowded with a population of over sixty thousand.In this novel, Nantucket Island is enclosed in a elliptical dome of fire in March, 1998 AD, and transported back in time to 1249 BC. The Coast Guard training ship Eagle is also trapped in the dome and is taken back in time with the island. Various people recognize that the stars have changed, but Doreen Rosenthal, an astronomy intern for the Margaret Milson Association, is the first on the island to determine their situation, using her scope and stellar progression software to match the current star pattern. The dome of fire caused some panic, but not much rioting; New Englanders tend to be a phlegmatic lot and it was a little early for the "coofs" to arrive. However, the loss of contact with the twentieth century caused widespread depression, with some suicides among people now separated from their families. Even the Eagle lost her executive officer. After the excitement died down a bit, the islanders and their fellow exiles in time began to plan for the future. Three fishing boats were in harbor at the time of the event and cod is thick in the surrounding waters. Luckily, Nantucket also had some truck farms dealing in speciality items as well as family gardens, but these farms needed to be greatly expanded to offset the loss of off-island food sources. Moreover, fabricated goods would have to be produced on the island, recycled from existing materiel, or replaced with something else. Petroleum products, for example, are very limited on the island. However, the islanders can return to whaling, for these sea mammals are very plentiful in this time. Although some of the islanders preferred another approach, whaling was the most feasible alternative for fuel and for food. Since Cape Cod and the mainland are populated by basically neolithic natives, the islanders make minimal contact with them. However, Europe is currently developing a cottage industry that could supply them with metal and fabric stocks. The Eagle is sent to England -- the Tin Isles -- to explore trade possibilities and there they met other traders from the Mediterranean. This story is an alternate history much like de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, where contemporary people accidently travel back in time to create a nexus from which one or more additional timelines diverge. Their sheer presence will change the future, but as they develop anachronistic solutions to their survival problems, the timelines diverge even more radically. What will the future bring? Other reviews have complained about the personality and actions of the various characters. Since there is plenty of historical evidence of similiar behavior in our own past (and present), what should the author have done? He is not writing an utopia (nor a dystopia), but an adventure story of castaways in time. Maybe these other reviewers ought to study the behavior of castaways and learn something about the real world? Highly recommended for Stirling and de Camp fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of exiles in time recreating the world to meet their needs and expectations. -Arthur W. Jordin
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