Rating: 
Summary: Beyond Ordinary Time Travel Claptrap
Review: A book that deals with time travel in a way beyond anything I've seen before or since. Leiber sees time travel ability as a step in the development of the species, and puts that little philosophical gem into this tight little piece. Not quite a novel (it really does read like a stage play) this actually ends up as a bit of a whodunnit.Characters put the next stage of human development in the context of ordinary human foibles and frailties, and as always Leiber is able to slip in some big ideas without adding slack to the plot. Lord knows there are lots of authors who could have ladeled on a hundred more pages of lard. Yes, if your idea of a time travel story is one more adventure of Biff Beefwhacker battling it out with ancient giant ratbeasts, then this will disappoint. If you think the time travel episodes of Star Trek make perfect sense, this will probably hurt your head. But if you want a tightly written, thoughtful, taut, tense, small scale adventure with large scale ideas underneath, this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Ordinary Time Travel Claptrap
Review: A book that deals with time travel in a way beyond anything I've seen before or since. Leiber sees time travel ability as a step in the development of the species, and puts that little philosophical gem into this tight little piece. Not quite a novel (it really does read like a stage play) this actually ends up as a bit of a whodunnit. Characters put the next stage of human development in the context of ordinary human foibles and frailties, and as always Leiber is able to slip in some big ideas without adding slack to the plot. Lord knows there are lots of authors who could have ladeled on a hundred more pages of lard. Yes, if your idea of a time travel story is one more adventure of Biff Beefwhacker battling it out with ancient giant ratbeasts, then this will disappoint. If you think the time travel episodes of Star Trek make perfect sense, this will probably hurt your head. But if you want a tightly written, thoughtful, taut, tense, small scale adventure with large scale ideas underneath, this is your book.
Rating: 
Summary: No sympathy for the characters
Review: Although the plot of the book drew me to it, I found myself losing interest to the point where the ending had no impact on me. If it were not so short, I would never have finished it. Instead, I was irritated throughout by the small-minded characters who seemed far more concerned with their personal situations and romantic relationships than with the fate of the universe for which they are held responsible. One wonders how they gained this responsibility since they act and speak like high schoolers. When one cannot establish sympathy for the characters, one is not emotionally invested in the plot. Thus, the twist at the end is overshadowed by the feeling of relief at the mere termination of the book. I think I may have persisted in reading it only out of disbelief at the degree to which this acclaimed author bored me.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange, yet appealing
Review: As I march my way through all the Hugo & Nebula winners I came upon this book. The only other Lieber works I've read have been the very likable Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series...a fantasy staple. The Big Time is definately an original piece of time travel fiction, yet there is actually no time travel involved in the book. The prose is light on narrative and very heavy on dialogue. I had little to work with in visualizing the surroundings (basically a large room) in which the characters interacted the entire time. Despite this, I did enjoy it for the most part; although once again I am left a little baffled by the ending (a la Babel-17 by Delany). As someone else pointed out (who I agree with) this book reads like a stage play, and could easily be turned into a strange, yet tense, psuedo-time travel suspense. It's a quick read. If you want to hit all the "classics" and can find a copy, go for it. If you're a casual sci-fi reader, I recommend you skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Strange, yet appealing
Review: As I march my way through all the Hugo & Nebula winners I came upon this book. The only other Lieber works I've read have been the very likable Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series...a fantasy staple. The Big Time is definately an original piece of time travel fiction, yet there is actually no time travel involved in the book. The prose is light on narrative and very heavy on dialogue. I had little to work with in visualizing the surroundings (basically a large room) in which the characters interacted the entire time. Despite this, I did enjoy it for the most part; although once again I am left a little baffled by the ending (a la Babel-17 by Delany). As someone else pointed out (who I agree with) this book reads like a stage play, and could easily be turned into a strange, yet tense, psuedo-time travel suspense. It's a quick read. If you want to hit all the "classics" and can find a copy, go for it. If you're a casual sci-fi reader, I recommend you skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Strange, yet appealing
Review: As I march my way through all the Hugo & Nebula winners I came upon this book. The only other Lieber works I've read have been the very likable Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series...a fantasy staple. The Big Time is definately an original piece of time travel fiction, yet there is actually no time travel involved in the book. The prose is light on narrative and very heavy on dialogue. I had little to work with in visualizing the surroundings (basically a large room) in which the characters interacted the entire time. Despite this, I did enjoy it for the most part; although once again I am left a little baffled by the ending (a la Babel-17 by Delany). As someone else pointed out (who I agree with) this book reads like a stage play, and could easily be turned into a strange, yet tense, psuedo-time travel suspense. It's a quick read. If you want to hit all the "classics" and can find a copy, go for it. If you're a casual sci-fi reader, I recommend you skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Dialogue
Review: I couldn't get through the first 15 pages. There was too much dialogue for my tastes. It reminded me of small talk at a dinner party. I'm sure the book must get better, but the first person narrator, Greta, turned me off. I just couldn't picture myself listening to Greta yak on and on about her experiences. She's not boring, just not my type of personality. I wouldn't invite her to my dinner party.
Rating:
Summary: Intense, intricate, punchy, and peerlessly crafted.
Review: I first came across The Big Time as an inclusion in the compilation book Ship Of Shadows, a hard to get library copy. That was in early 1998, and I was delighted to be able to purchase the recently republished story by itself. Like all of Fritz Leiber's work the writing is supremely articulate and the story telling carefully, and craftily constructed, holding the reader from start to finish. The main character twenty-nine and party girl Greta Forzane, takes us through events sited in an R&R centre for battling time travellers who find themselves becalmed on The Big Time along with a counting down Atomic bomb. A book which will need careful reading to get the whole picture, but well worth it; and for that great Gertrude Steinism: 'you can't time travel through the time you time travel in when you time travel.' For the price I would have liked to to get a dust cover. But whatever, writng this good is worth the shortfall in packaging.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't finish it
Review: I have one big criteria for my fiction: I have to care about the characters, at least one of them. I didn't and so I couldn't finish the book even though I'm a big fan of the "time travel" problem.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't finish it
Review: I have one big criteria for my fiction: I have to care about the characters, at least one of them. I didn't and so I couldn't finish the book even though I'm a big fan of the "time travel" problem.
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