Against the Tide of Years

Rating:
Summary: Another Excellent Book
Review: I agree with the many favorable comments that have been made to date (unfortunately, I must agree that there were an excessive number of typos, but that is hardly the authors fault). In addition to enjoying the book, I really like the community of fans. It is great to be able to discuss the book with people who have read and enjoyed it, and it is a special treat when the author joins the discussion.

Rating:
Summary: FUN! Read this and Island in the Sea of Time and enjoy...
Review: Well worth the time and money. Despite being a transition book establishing the villain in his new kingdom and the Republic of Natucket building alliances, it is a grand read.

Rating:
Summary: A durn good read, but suffering from "middle book" syndrome
Review: After loving _Island in the Sea of Time_, I was looking forward to the sequel. _AtToY_ has all the same elements that I loved in the first book, and advances the plot substantially. However, like the middle books in most series, the ending fails to resolve the main action. I'll appreciate it much more when the series is finished.

Rating:
Summary: A most excellent sequel to Island in the Sea of Time!
Review: Please, sir, may we have some more? "Island" was a very good read and "Tide" is it's most excellent sequel. Stirling continues to write strong, believable female characters. His research is consistently superb. Moreover, he has a wonderful sense of humor, into which he integrates Xena, Spot, Monty Python, and banned books. Most excellent. My only complaint: it ended. So I read it again! <GRIN>

Rating:
Summary: S.M. Stirling writes another great novel!
Review: An excellent sequel to Island in the Sea of Time, which is a great book by itself. The Nantucket trilogy so far is surely among the best books I had the occasion to read. I enjoyed the depiction of the Bronze Age peoples and cultures, dead for millenia, but now living again due to the precise research and admirable depiction skills of the author.

There are some points I would have liked detailed in the book, such as a more detailed account of the Girenas expedition and the peoples it encountered. More Tartessian POVs could also have been added, leading to a deeper understanding of this people and their goals. Maybe the third book will present such things. Some nitpicks, the dates presented in some chapter headings aren't always in the good order, or refers to parts that have been deleted, which led to some confusion. A more thorough editing work would have been nesessary, I believe.

All in all, a book you'll probably read more than once, or twice!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book. Printing/Proofing makes it unreadable
Review: S.M. Sterling is one of my favorite authors. I was looking forward to this book; however, on every page you will find proof-reading errors that make the book unreadable. You will read about "Fishing Boars" (Boats), etc... On each page you'll stop for a minute and say... "What did Sterling really write?"

I recommend you wait for a later printing, and maybe they can get it fixed...

Rating:
Summary: Quite good
Review: Jugding from previous reviews, the people who read it either loved it or hated it.

The book wasn't really that bad at all. The charecters are believable, the descriptions are vivid, and the locations are very invocative. Also, look for clever tributes to everything from Monty Python to MacGyuver.

A previous reviewer made a comparison between Mr. Stirling and Marion Zimmer Bradley. It would be quite difficult to find writers in the same genre who would be more unlike. Not to slight Ms. Bradley, but her approach to the realities of all series is so unreal as to be whimsical. She often violates her own chronologies, and contradicts herself quite often when dealing with the parasciences she herself creates. Mr Stirling's timekeeping is so rigid, it makes a book authored by him so distinctive, it is often the only way one could tell it was written by him, if one dosent bother to read the cover or the title page.

That is not to say that this volume doesn't have ANY faults. The emphasis on the Japanese sword arts of Kenjutsu, Kendo, and Iaido is excessive, (Indeed, Iaido is only useful in duels)and the Katanna has all the drawbacks of being a curved and single edged weapon. But the reviewer before me overstates his case. Against armored opponents, the Franco-Spanish rapier and the techniques that have grown up around it would be much more useless. It is true, though, that it is beter to be focused on the battle and on your opponent than being at one with one's sword. But on the bright side, we don't see any Zen target shooting.

Finally, Fiernan society as depicted in the book(s) is realitively pluasible given the archeological evidence of the period. There are similar societies that come to mind. The one that comes off hand the most quickly is the Tlingit Indians.

All in all, it is a verry good book. Not perfect, but far from the trash the previous reviewer made it out to be.

Rating:
Summary: The saga--the adventures--and the questions--continue!!
Review: In _Island in the Sea of Time_, S. M. Stirling set forth an engaging, original idea: what if this time-line's Nantucket was transported back to the Bronze Age. In his newest book, the second of the series, _Against the Tide of Years_, Stirling has continued the adventure, the romance, the thought-provoking questions that characterize his work in general. The story of the struggle between the Nantucketers and a rebel off-shoot, William Walker, is engaging, absorbing, and will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat while you read! The historical detail--the amount of research embedded in the story line--is amazing, but not intrusive. The characters are very realistic, and you definitely form "relationships" with them as you read through this book. As a sequel to _Island_, this book is great; as a stand-alone--it's very good. Five stars, all the way. More, Mr. Stirling! Write more! It's been a long time since I read alternate history/science fiction that really made me think the way Stirling's books do.

Rating:
Summary: A strong sequel
Review: Very welcome sequel to Island in the Sea of Time, with many of the same virtues, and the weaknesses a tad more apparent. On the plus side, the plot pulled me along - I loved Island, enjoyed Tide, and can't wait for the third of the series to know how it turns out. The numerous characters include a few one-dimensional extras, but many strong and well-written. The "locals" are shown as complex and intelligent, without the gullibility overused in some time travel stories. Minuses - the sex is not integral to the plot, but apparently used for occasional shock value/ titillation, especially female bisexuality. The technological progress is implausible, both on the island and elsewhere, and I can't reconcile the population of the island with the remarkable number of expeditions and settlements that it launches. But these are quibbles - this is speculative fiction and very enjoyable. To anyone who liked Island in the Sea of Time, this is a must-read. For those who haven't read Island in the Sea of Time, read that first and then enjoy this.

Rating:
Summary: I hated it, and you will, too.
Review: This book stunk. The inclusion of a lesbian couple as main characters, the ahistorically large number of (and author's apparent preoccupation with) female warriors, and the too-frequent references to "goddess-centered" religions that never existed made me think I was reading Marion Zimmer Bradley, Starhawk, Marija Gimbutas, or some other, equally historical revisionist, militant feminist writer.

Also, the emphasis placed on the asian martial arts in the book serves only to betray the author's Hollywood-induced romantic notions about said martial arts. Many of the things our author was likely taught in his Kendo and Iaido classes will get you killed in real life. I'm sick of the (also Hollywood-induced) idea that the asian martial arts, and especially the katana, are superior forms of combat. 'Tis a load of crap.

This book absolutely reeks of the historical revisionism inherent in the loopy left's worldview. It would really float their boat if they could, just as do this book's characters, go back in time and cause the world to develop according to their own narrow perception of "how things should be". Sexual harrassment in the Bronze Age??? Please!! Spare me! Fortunately for the sensible majority of us, they'll have to content themselves with the sort of sorry scholarship, feminazi-tainted historical revisionism, and deliberate obsuring of the facts that led to the publications of this book, MZB's "Avalon" series, and most of the books in the "goddess/wicca" movement. They may have misled a very few of the less intelligent members of society, but they've made little headway into the ranks of real academia.

.....and they never will.