There Will Be Time

Rating:
Summary: Anderson's version of time travel
Review: If you read enough Poul Anderson, you'll find similarities amongst his works.

"Avatar" sees a group of people travelling through space, trying to find home.

"The Boat of a Million Years" follows a group of immortals, who start on earth and then head for the stars because they live forever.

"There Will Be Time" tells of a time traveller who influences the future of earth and then, yes!, decides to travel through space because time is only a minor inconvenience.

Anderson lays the ground rules for this time novel: Known events can't be changed, time travelers stay in the same place relative to Earth, you can meet your future/past self. And there's the ever-present suggestion of self-created time loops.

Good as far as time stories go, but unfortunately not a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Anderson's version of time travel
Review: If you read enough Poul Anderson, you'll find similarities amongst his works.

"Avatar" sees a group of people travelling through space, trying to find home.

"The Boat of a Million Years" follows a group of immortals, who start on earth and then head for the stars because they live forever.

"There Will Be Time" tells of a time traveller who influences the future of earth and then, yes!, decides to travel through space because time is only a minor inconvenience.

Anderson lays the ground rules for this time novel: Known events can't be changed, time travelers stay in the same place relative to Earth, you can meet your future/past self. And there's the ever-present suggestion of self-created time loops.

Good as far as time stories go, but unfortunately not a classic.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best time travel stories.
Review: In the genre of time travel stories, travel by will alone is fairly rare. This book posits that some very few people have an innate ability to move through time, as though walking.

The main character has to deal with this reality from birth, and he does so believably. This ability is more a curse than a blessing, and his struggle to find meaning in his bizarre life, isolated from the rest of the human race is poignant and palpable.

This is a love story, and a good one. Though I haven't seen my copy in years, I think about it often. If you can find this book, get it, and read it. You won't regret it.

Update 2.5 years later: I found a signed first edition copy of this book. I am never parting with it.

Rating:
Summary: A mutant who can travel through time at will.
Review: One of the cleverest of time travel novels, in this one a child is born with the mutant power to range through time. Otherwise normal, that power gets him into trouble, especially as he struggles to figure out what to do with it, and how to contact others of his own kind. A mutant who isn't a superman, a time travel story that has many suprising twists in a genre that often seems worn out, this work is HIGHLY recommended

Rating:
Summary: The best book of the genre
Review: Time travel is one of my favorite sci-fi themes, and I've read dozens of books on the topic. Most sci-fi books are like James P. Hogan's hard sci-fi books, full of technology and long discussions between physicists. While There Will Be Time has some tech and some science dialogue, it's really a story about some very human themes like good vs evil, finding your purpose in life, and what obligations the strong have to care for the weak.

I read this first as a teenager, and thought about it for years. I found a used copy in my thirties that I've re-read several times, and I'm starting to wear that one out. This is one of those rare books that I know I'll read over and over until my eyes give out.

Rating:
Summary: The best book of the genre
Review: Time travel is one of my favorite sci-fi themes, and I've read dozens of books on the topic. Most sci-fi books are like James P. Hogan's hard sci-fi books, full of technology and long discussions between physicists. While There Will Be Time has some tech and some science dialogue, it's really a story about some very human themes like good vs evil, finding your purpose in life, and what obligations the strong have to care for the weak.

I read this first as a teenager, and thought about it for years. I found a used copy in my thirties that I've re-read several times, and I'm starting to wear that one out. This is one of those rare books that I know I'll read over and over until my eyes give out.