Rating: 
Summary: Shudderingly Bad
Review: It's taken me some time to get around to this review, since upon completion of the novel I did my best to expunge my mind of every memory related to this debacle. Unfortunately, the nightmares have continued, so in order to achieve closure, I feel obligated to dash off this warning.This book is just plain bad. It reads like the second-rate novelization of some colossally wrong "Babylon 5" episode that was itself so awful that it was never aired. The characters are idiotic and their actions make no sense, the backstory is irrelevant fluff that is awkwardly shoehorned into the main storyline, and the plot is riddled with contradictions. I mean, in order to break the monopoly on FTL travel, everyone within the confederation is all hot and bothered to get their hands, claws, and tentacles on some uber-special starship hyperdrive controlled by one specific alien member race. Yet no one, aside from the alleged heroes on the beleagured station, has any evident problems flitting about at will from one system to the next. From the evidence, quite a few folks have their own very capable FTL drives. So why the big hangup over this one? And as for the heroine of the story, her actions beggar belief. She's in charge of thousands, yet she undertakes every task personally. She gets about one hour of sleep over the course of a week, because she's handling every routine interview, investigation, surgery, repair, and talent show herself. She all but breaks out a mop and bucket and starts doing some janitorial work just to round out the bill. And her detective work fails to impress. Basically, she picks up clues because people walk up to her and say, "I saw someone who looked funny", and she manages to spin elaborate theories out of happenstance. There's no reason why she should believe any particular story told to her, or why any witness should happen to have seen random actions that nevertheless turn out to be critical, or that on a station of thousands of beings, the heroine continually bumbles into the right person to give her the next piece of the puzzle. It's all hogwash. I'm going to gargle with some Drano now to get the foul taste out of my mouth.
Rating: 
Summary: Critical Thinking Under Crash Priority Mode
Review: Look. You have to have been in a crash priority project to really see how well this author has captured the feel of the almost out of control situation. You jetison sleep, food is interesting, but not really necessary, you focus done to the latest disaster. Last week's disaster is no longer a concern. The story is about being out of control and trying desparately to deal with the sinking feeling that everyone is depending on you to make the right decision and people will die if you do not DO something. Nothing in this book makes sense because all the strands of the story are off stage. The central character has so MANY problems that the latest ones just cannot get her full attention. I liked the book, but it is a fever dream with all the hallucination you get in that state. The author has captured the feeling of being JUST short of understanding what is going on you get when events are flying past you so fast you just want to scream for it stop long enough for a long stint in the bed, a good meal and time to sort it all out. C.J Cherryh writes books like this, but does not do it as well as this author. Cherryh always makes it impossible to guess what is going on. This author at least gives you the feeling that you COULD know what is going on.
Rating:
Summary: Critical Thinking Under Crash Priority Mode
Review: Look. You have to have been in a crash priority project to really see how well this author has captured the feel of the almost out of control situation. You jetison sleep, food is interesting, but not really necessary, you focus done to the latest disaster. Last week's disaster is no longer a concern. The story is about being out of control and trying desparately to deal with the sinking feeling that everyone is depending on you to make the right decision and people will die if you do not DO something. Nothing in this book makes sense because all the strands of the story are off stage. The central character has so MANY problems that the latest ones just cannot get her full attention. I liked the book, but it is a fever dream with all the hallucination you get in that state. The author has captured the feeling of being JUST short of understanding what is going on you get when events are flying past you so fast you just want to scream for it stop long enough for a long stint in the bed, a good meal and time to sort it all out. C.J Cherryh writes books like this, but does not do it as well as this author. Cherryh always makes it impossible to guess what is going on. This author at least gives you the feeling that you COULD know what is going on.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting science fiction
Review: One of the best science fiction I have recently read. The time in which the whole story is playing is very interesting and the problems that the heroes encounter are really great!
The aliens in the story are very interesting and original and I always enjoyed learning about a new race.
The beginning of the book is a little slow but it rapidly increases pace and finally becomes glued to your fingers.
I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Time Future is a tense present!
Review: The commander of the deep space station Jocasta is blockaded by hostile creatures, communications & key systems are failing; rations are low & tensions between humans & aliens are at a flashpoint. What a good start for Maxine McArthur! Seldom do I find in an author';s first work the kind of character control that this one brings. She has really captured the cultural shock of first contact & its impact in a near future. From one end of this book to the other, the human characters are able to see their situations' changing advantages & disadvantages. I really like her confrontations of realities. Insofar as what you see is not always what you get & what you get is not always what you think it is. I liked that McArthur allows her characters to think, question & grow. This reader is looking forward to more from this intriguing author.
Rating:
Summary: Time Future is a tense present!
Review: The commander of the deep space station Jocasta is blockaded by hostile creatures, communications & key systems are failing; rations are low & tensions between humans & aliens are at a flashpoint. What a good start for Maxine McArthur! Seldom do I find in an author';s first work the kind of character control that this one brings. She has really captured the cultural shock of first contact & its impact in a near future. From one end of this book to the other, the human characters are able to see their situations' changing advantages & disadvantages. I really like her confrontations of realities. Insofar as what you see is not always what you get & what you get is not always what you think it is. I liked that McArthur allows her characters to think, question & grow. This reader is looking forward to more from this intriguing author.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating and complex tale.
Review: The density of ideas here is vast, with action being of secondary concern. There is an interweaving of storylines, both mystery and science fiction, which creates tension and movement through the pages. I found the constant flashbacks by Commander Halley to her relatives and their political turmoil to be interesting, but not readily relevant, and thus a bit of a distraction. Overall a really interesting book--a 'thinking man's' science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Time wasted
Review: This was supposed to be a wonderful new author, and maybe she is from an english teachers perspective, but if you like Heinlein or Drake, or David Weber, or Glen Cook you will be bored to tears. I read 120 pages before tossing it, hoping all the scene setting would lead somewhere, but it never happened. There isn't much science, but what there was seemed as if the author had skipped high school physics. There was no one to identify with among the characters. The only redeeming aspect of the book was that it helped me get to sleep quickly.
Rating:
Summary: A richly-imagined SF mystery/space opera. "B+"
Review: _________________________________________
New author McArthur is off to a fast start in this classy CJ Cherryh-style
space opera, which opens in media res and never lets up.
Earth is a very junior member of the Confederacy of Allied Worlds, a
David Brin-esque organization where the senior Four Races control the
high-tech goodies and call the shots. Jocasta is a war-surplus Station in
a ruined system, given to Earth as a political sop, but Station
Commander Halley is making lemonade from this lemon -- until the
mysterious Seouras blockade the station. And no one can figure out
what this fleetload of well-armed and (literally) slimy aliens really
wants... There are some first-novel rough spots here, but the characters are
exceptionally well-drawn, even minor ones -- here's Helen Sasaki,
deputy Security chief: "She is tall, shy, brusque, tenacious and
inventive..." And small, rich details abound -- Halley is speaking:
"I once went for three years without seeing another human... It was
very... stressful. You have to constantly think... There's no autopilot.
You can't trust your common sense, because you have nothing in
common with anyone else." There are loose threads dangling at book's end, but a sequel, Time Past,
is promised for next year. I'm looking forward to it. Maxine McCarthur, an Australian, won the George Turner prize for
Time Future. She has lived and worked in the Outback, New Guinea
and Japan, as well as urban Australia -- near-perfect preparation for her
tales of conflict and intrigue among an amazingly mismatched
menagerie of sentients. Review copyright 2001 by Peter D. Tillman
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