Rating: 
Summary: Fun and worthwhile despite some flaws.
Review: S. M. Stirling's book, "Island in the Sea of Time," succeeds greatly as a piece of escapist fiction in a speculative history context. The story consists of the late 20th century island of Nantucket being unexplicably (Stirling doesn't even try to explain it) sent back to the Bronze Age. This book details their initial struggle to adapt and survive in this world, at once familiar and alien. The main characters are largely believable. Stirling thankfully takes the time to develop them to be more than talking props for his storyline. One flaw is that by the end of the book, the characters do become rather predictable. Everyone except the villains seems perfectly content with their role and function, and perfectly comfortable with the roles and functions of each other as well. Ambition, unpredictability, and simple growth and change have abandoned the Nantucketers by the end of the book. Also (with the single exception of one Bronze Age woman rescued by the Nantucketers early on) Stirling leaves the Bronze Age characters very two dimensional, predictable, and inferior to modern people in every respect. One notable success in characterization is Stirling's main villain, William Walker. Rather than casting him as stereotypical "evil" man, Walker is depicted as merely ambitious. His love of the Bronze Age and desire to rule it are perfectly understandable and plausible. His Machiavellian tactics and modern knowledge make him very powerful by Bronze Age standards, and therefore immediately and believably threatening to the Nantucketers. Stirling's decision to cast his main hero as a female, black, lesbian is the first example of gratuitous multiculturalism I remember seeing in a book of this sort. There simply was no point to it. The plot would have been far more suited to a black male, or even a white male character. The only point of making this character a "triple minority" seemed to be Stirling's desire to place occasional tired shibboleths about tolerance and diversity awkwardly within the story. This choice truly contributed nothing of value, and forced the reader to ignore some unnecessary implausibility's - like the notion that women and men are absolutely equal in hand-to-hand combat ability, and that lesbianism would be far more accepted by Bronze Age people than modern people. The other major flaw in the book is Stirling's mystical reverence for Eastern martial arts (referred to in the book as simply "the Art"). Characters without combat experience who have studied "the Art" for mere weeks easily stand toe to toe with hulking, powerful, Bronze Age warriors who are veterans of dozens if not hundreds of such battles. Those with more experience in "the Art" win every battle almost without breaking a sweat. This is silly on its face, and quite disappointing to the plot. Stirling's elevated reverence for the Eastern martial arts stifles his exploration of what Bronze Age martial arts might have been like, and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Outside of the flaws, the story is interesting. From the characters' first struggles to survive in their isolation from modern society, to their exploration of Britain, to a few pitched battles described in great detail, there is a lot to enjoy. It is a fun book that only frustrates when one attempts to take it too seriously. Despite the flaws, it is still head and shoulders above most books of this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Stirling Stuff - a gripping read
Review: Well researched, this book oozes detail, and well drawn characters. Nantucket island is cast back in time 3000 and more years where the characters have to create a life for themselves from what is left of the 20th century. Not only that but they must find a way to trade and build a place for themsleves in this new/old world. The story is nicely paced and plotted in a way that makes you want to continue reading well into the night. It fascinates in the way it makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation: how would you measure up to the dislocation and opportunities that 1250bc would bring to a 21st century individual? The only gripes I'd have is that sometimes there is too much detail which distracts from the pace of the action at times. The Euro-centric focus has to be balanced by a black southern lesbian - a little PC contrivance - which makes it hard work for the writer to make believable and for the reader to believe it - the writer is a white, male, northerner afterall ... but I'd have to defer to others myself for an opinion on whether that it is sucessful or not. But it seemed contrived.
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic
Review: I found this novel to be quite irritating. I've recently gotten into the alternate history genre of science fiction and found it sparks my imagination. This book is no exception. What happens when a modern, mostly self-sufficient island is placed in nearly pre-historic times? One star for an interesting, if not very original, premise. Unfortunately, the answers S. M. Stirling gives to "what happens?" are pathetically unbelievable. This author has no clue how people think or how they react to changing situations. He gives no one but his protaganists credit for having backbone, principles, or even intelligence. And even they don't possess an abundance of these assets. No matter how interesting the concept might be, when an author has his characters, both modern and ancient, react in ludicrous ways I find myself totally turned off. In addition, Stirling's failed dreams of socialism that he has his new Nantucket society implement are rather boringly unbelievable. Community property and totalitarianism didn't work for Russia, it didn't work for the English colonists in America when they first tried it (in fact they nearly starved to death until they decided property rights might be a good thing after all), and it would not work for Nantucket in the 1200's (BC).
Rating: 
Summary: I've reread the entire trilogy 3 times so far
Review: Absolutely brilliant! The Island in the Seas of Time Trilogy is the best science fiction I've read in years. The trilogy consists of: Island in the Sea of Time, On the Oceans of Eternity, Against the Tide of Years. After I finished the trilogy, I wanted there to be more books in the series! Stirling obviously did his research. As far as I can tell the factual grounding for his Bronze Age cultures, historical figures, and technological info are dead on. Moreover, ALL the characters are fascinating. And the plot drew me in. Now, my pet peeves:
1. Mr. Stirling, when you describe battles do you REALLY have to transliterate the sound effects? I tired quickly of the sound effects: "Baaaaammmmmm!" You're a talented writer, but this belongs in comic books.
2. Some of the reviewers commented on the lesbian relationship. I don't have a problem with their relationship, but I can't believe a woman of Marian Alston's integrity would appoint her lover, Swindapa, her second in command. (FYI, none of the love passages in this book -- heterosexual or otherwise -- would be rated worse than PG).
3. The hardwood trees that were native to New England in that period would not have grown to the height described in the trilogy. And from my archeaological courses (twenty years ago), I believe the the majority of the forest cover in New England was coniferous, not hardwood. But enough of being picky. This trilogy is a great read (warts and all). Why didn't any of these books win a Hugo or a Nebula!?
Rating:
Summary: Ripping Yarn - Written Well - Politically Charged
Review: Island on the Sea of Time, the first of S.M. Stirling's books on the island of Natucket's journey into the remote past, is a first rate novel of any genre, and one of best examples of current alternative history/time travel fiction. The premise of the books is simple: the island of Nantucket is transported back to appx. 1500 b.c. What do the inhabitants do? Used to modern American ways of living and luxuries, how can they adapt? Stirling's detailed vision of this dilemma is what makes this book and the subsequent books in the series work so well. What these Nantuckers do is perfectly believeable. Fun to read, absorbing, and accurate.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant premise for a story!
Review: The book had so much potential, but unfortunately midway through the plot takes off after the nasty bad guy who nobody cares about reading, and remainder of the book was boring and useless. The second half seemed disjointed from the first half. Why couldn't it be a book about how they survived and trials they went through cultivating land, trading, exploring the bronze age world?!?! Very disappointing. The second half of this book ruined it for me, I felt tortured having to read through it to find out what happened at the end. If Walker is the main story in the second book, I won't be reading it. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Diversion most of the time.
Review: What I liked most about this book was the way the islanders adapted to their situation. All aspects of this, setting up a government, getting food, exploring the mainland, and so on were very good. But, once the bad guy emerged it went downhill pretty fast. This is your typical kind of really evil and really lucky bad guy, he always manages to get away for more evil doings. The following volume to this series is useless, don't bother with it unless you really liked the bad guy from the first book. There is another after that that I didn't even attempt to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not what it could have been
Review: 20th Century Nantucketers cast into the Bronze Age-- what a set-up for a great novel. Unfortunately, this isn't one. It's not bad, and it can be an enjoyable read. But the initial question of survival all too quickly becomes one of "How easy will it be for Nantucket to become the new Western superpower?" The answer is "fairly easy." The book becomes an exploration of how superior 19th and 20th century technology and military know-how are to bronze-age barbarian culture. The characters are mildly interesting, and the fight scenes are well done (but get repetitive... will a main character die? No, she'll black-out from her wounds and fight in the next chapter). Overall, however, the book fails to reach its potential.
A caveat to parents: the book possesses several sex scenes, including ones involving sado-masochism and sexual torture (including sexually motivated murder). The scenes are meant to be a contrast between what the author percieves as "healthy" sexual relationships (both hetero- and homo-) of the heroes and the unhealthy and evil relationships (all hetero-) of the villians. While not hard-core, these scenes are fairly explicit, even for teens or young adults. Keep this book out of the reach of children, or be ready to do some serious explaining. And if gratuitous sex in a novel bothers you, read something else.
Rating:
Summary: Even in the Bronze Age, you can't escape.
Review: I'm surprised that the sexual conservatives, who make it a point to thrust their tedious prudery into something as innocuous as a review of a book about time travel, can wrap their narrow, meager little minds around a concept like alternative history. Why bother with a what-if genre if you don't like different and possibly uncomfortable ideas? I suggest that if you can't deal with bloody barbaric combat, understated lesbian sex scenes (amid plenty of hetero action, of course), and the mechanics of building a microcosm civilization, you should steer well clear of SM Stirling and instead read something safe and unshocking like "Life's Little Instruction Book."
Rating:
Summary: Great Premise, but...
Review: Someone else said that this is, "An excellent book for people who don't like to nitpick." That is probably a perfect summary, but unfortunately, I'm the sort of reader who likes to pick nits. The premise of Island is fantastic. Its back cover grabbed me right away. Who wouldn't want to go back in time with the Nantucketers and rewrite history? And so, the book starts off wonderfully: This guy is over here doing this, and this lady is over there doing that, and here comes a storm... BAM- Everyone is in 1250 B.C.! So, what do we do now? Well, the characters react very believably to the crisis, and Stirling is very thorough in covering almost any type of concern that could have possibly come up. But then, it begins to feel like the Islanders were a bit *too* lucky. Turns out they have almost everything they could have wished for, including a professor of ancient cultures, and an expert sword-smith, both of whom just happened to be visiting the island. Then there's the Coast Guard sailing ship (rare), captained by a black, lesbian, master swordswoman... Followed by many more little things that make you wonder, "Now what are the odds of that?" And this feeling grows worse... for me, it eventually became a case of, "Oh- Gimme a Break!" In fact, I think that their biggest dilemma with being thrown back 3250 years into the past- was that they ran out of coffee. Everything seems to work out overly perfect, and it gives you many little things to nitpick. Even so, I found the book to be somewhat digestible until about it's midpoint. It was then that the islanders' main concern was no longer just survival. Now they have to react to a betrayal by some of their own. I found it kind of boring from this point on. The Islanders decide what they are going to do, and the next three hundred pages or so, play out exactly as they had planned, in a very predictable and insipid manner. Trudge. Trudge. This book does have some terrific aspects and it can really get you thinking. But I found the characterizations to be flat, and the story was slow, predictable, and rather unrealistic at times. It wasn't horrible, but although I'd love to find out what happens next- I'm not compelled to trudge any further through this series.
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