The Watch

Rating:
Summary: Nice set up sputters out with nary a spark
Review: Danvers builds a steadily credible narrative by staying with his characters and slowly building suspense yet throws in the towel at the novel's climax and loses his way completely in the last fifty pages.

"The Watch" begins as Peter Kropotkin, real life Russian anarchist, is revived on his deathbed by a mysterious man who calls himself Anchee. Anchee sends Kropotkin, complete with a new 30 year-old body, to Richmond, Virginia 1999. The novel follows Kropotkin as he interacts with Richmond life and slowly contacts several people who will play pivotal roles in an alternate American future.

For the most part, the novel succeeds in its characterizations and in persuading the reader to suspend disbelief. We come to believe this new Kropotkin and are thoroughly convinced by telling background details that we are seeing this story through his eyes. In this he rivals Farmer's portrait of Richard Francis Burton in his "Riverworld" series. There is also plenty of Richmond history as connected with the Civil War and General Robert E. Lee. Well done, Mr. Danvers.

The problems begin when we discover that the watch of the title is a device for bringing the bearer back in time (any time other than the future and the era in which the bearer has lived). Right away a rent is torn in the fiction as any sane living person would use the watch immediately and tour recorded history. Kropotkin however, thinks it's a hoot and returns it to his pocket. Yeah, sure.

When the climax of the novel arrives and events quickly overtake Kropotkin, Danvers bobbles and eventually drops the ball. The closing events in the story have little import, as Kropotkin's new political life is given such short attention. And it is here, finally, where Danvers wants us to believe in too many "SF" tropes at one time, all of which are made possible by the watch. All of which are used to cover up the fact that the author simply ran out of ideas. Also, the Anchee character is given unexplained godlike abilities and becomes the explanation for every plot hole or twist.

"The Watch" looks good on the jacket blurb and for the first few hundred pages, give the reader the impression that it might deliver on its promises.

Don't be fooled.

Rating:
Summary: A Dream Deferred...
Review: I happened to be reading this book as I traveled to the SC coast on vacation. I was intrigued as I passed through Richmond, VA, the location of this novel. As I Black woman I do not often have the opportunity to talk with Southern Whites about their attitudes toward the Civil War and the traitors they still revere as heroes. On the few occasions that I have had that conversation it seemed so strange to me that they have such passion about a war that happened generations before they were born. And it is not just Richmond, remember my destination was SC via NC. Reading this book told me that I was not alone in thinking the South of 2002 is still confused about who won the Civil War and why. I really wanted those who romanticize the Ante-Bellum South to come face-to-face with the reality of its Peculiar Institution and economic structure. All through the book I was getting ready for the confrontation that I was ultimately denied. Danvers provided the best of science fiction; the re-examination of our history from a future perspective, with the possibility of an alternate--a better--ending. I was challenged to think of what that alternate ending could be since Danvers denied me the pleasure of providing one. This book is rich, textured with characters that are deep and complex. The reader may need a notecard to keep from getting lost, but it is well worth the effort to make it through the wordiness. No sex or violence. Best if you are a history buff or student of Americana.

Rating:
Summary: Philosophical with sci fi packaging
Review: I haven't read any other books by this author, but I really enjoyed The Watch. This book has love, compassion, and politics. I recomend this book to anyone who likes science fiction. It is very easy to read and has a deep meaning. It defenantly made me examine the way I live my life. It made me think of how the past has affected me and how I will affect the future.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and thought provoking
Review: I really enjoyed The Watch, although to be honest, I do not read much science fiction, so don't have much in the genre to compare it with. On the flip side, I think that this book will have much appeal to non-sci fi fans. Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist who died in the early 20th century is offered the chance, on his deathbed, to be reborn, as a 30ish man, in 1999. Kropotkin is a bright man and an utterly charming narrator. His story is interesting and engaging and fairly plausible. My only complaint is that the ending is not as strong as the rest of the novel, almost as if Danvers didn't really know quite how to end the novel. Still, this is an excellent, fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful work of sci-fi
Review: In 1921 Russia, anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin is near death when a stranger Anchee Mahur offers him an opportunity to live life anew in a healthy body. Without a look back at his past or any Faustian consequences, Peter accepts the offer to live albeit in 1999 Richmond, Virginia.

Peter finds a job, falls in love with Rachel Pederson, who helps immigrants adapt to the United States, and meets fellow time travelers. Peter soon sets the tone for community service by distributing food to the needy. Along with his out of time cronies, Peter concludes that Anchee is fostering his personal concept of how the future should look and that the out of time souls are the tools to create this brave new world. Peter questions what he and his peers are doing as he wonders if he should follow Anchee's vision that parallels his own desires for humanity or stop his mentor so that free will determines the future even if it is something he despises.

THE WATCH is an insightful science fiction that looks closely at the question of free will vs. determinism, but from a fresh perspective. The story line contains a deep message about choices and whether any means justifies the end. The cast is believable especially the displaced Peter who struggles with an enigma between his dreams and his actions to attain what he deems is best for society. Dennis Danvers provides a powerful novel that political and social science fiction fans will savor except those fanatics who insist they have the only answer.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Time Travel And More, A Lot More
Review: The aging Russian prince and noted anarchist writer, Peter Kropotkin, (an actual historical figure) is on his deathbed when he is given the chance to start life over as a young man, in America, in fact, in Richmond, Virginia, in 1999. In his pocket he carries a watch which is actually a time machine. That's the science-fiction aspect of the book. The rest is philosophy, a deep examination of choice and free will and what makes a person really free. Time-travel of course is loaded with paradox, as all sci-fi readers know. To visit the past (or the future) is to change it irrevocably. Kropotkin's time travel starts out as a lark, like Rip Van Winkle waking up in a new time, meeting some cool characters, finding a girlfriend, learning a new culture. But soon more people from the past are turning up. The lark begins branching off into a number of alternative futures, not all pleasant. Things start to get messy. The last third of the book turns very dark, as our hero learns that escape is not freedom and that choices may be painful but necessary. To time-travel out of slavery in Virginia may be easy. To escape from oneself, maybe not. There is so much packed into this book that I cannot truly say I understood it all. It was profound, yet at the same gracefully written, lucid, easy to follow, and often hilarious. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi used as a base for a philosphical statement
Review: The book isn't really about science fiction; in fact you will be disappointed if you're looking for Asimovish technology or Dune-like empires. The science part plays a fairly minor role, and is indeed neither detailed nor particularly convicing. It could, in fact, be safely replaced with some minor magic without affecting the story in the least. What Danvers does is to use his baby science/magic trick to create a situation rich with possibility, superimposing early 20th century anarchist ideas with present-day capitalism and 19th century slavery. It is this mix, with its contrasts and similarities, with its apparent superimposition of ideas, that is the real magic of the book.

The character of Peter Krotopkin, based on the real life Russian anarchist, is drawn with a great deal of finesse (though the accounts of his past life tends to the clumsy on occassion). His actions follow a certain headalong buildup that gives the novel its energetic pace, but I felt the climax was rather unsatisfying. Krotopkin's release from jail feels very contrived; Danvers meanders in introducing too many different elements in effecting a simple jailbreak. The end of the novel feels a bit like he threw a lot of different ideas at it, in the hope that some might stick.

The richness of the novel, however, is in the juxtaposition of an anarchist philosophy originally proposed against the communist system applied to today's capitalism, and in the open debates about individual freedom and slavery that Danvers outlines, and then leaves to the reader to answer. This, rather than the weak science in the novel, is what stays with you after you've put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: A work of love
Review: The Watch is a genuine "romantic novel" and does a nifty switcheroo on the 19th century American speculative political science fiction genre seen in Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," that also employs time travel.

The Watch got me banging on the kitchen table on page 99, and the ending, curling back on the author and the courage of the protagonist's indefatigable spirit, was a fine finish. I believe Danvers ate and fully digested all of the Anarchist Prince's writings as he deftly dishes up a double dose of Kroptikin spirit while he unveils a detailed history of --- and genuine love for--- his own hometown, Richomond, VA.

I'll bet this is the novel Danvers always wanted to write. And one you'll wish you had written about your own home town and intellectual hero.

Rating:
Summary: Anarchist Out of Time
Review: This is a very creatively constructed story with elements of both time travel and historical fiction. For his own reasons Dennis Danvers has made himself an expert on the obscure Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin, who died in 1921. In this book Kropotkin is sent to present-day Richmond, VA by a mysterious meddler from the future, who either wants to change history favorably with Kropotkin as the catalyst, or simply amuse himself by creating new time streams. The story is told as an autobiography by the displaced Kropotkin, and this leads to enjoyable musings on how a Russian from the last century observes modern America, and especially how he finds kindred souls among a group of punk rockers. Interestingly, and perhaps courageously, Danvers lays down a lot of criticism of his hometown of Richmond and its strange obsession with its hateful past, through the eyes of Kropotkin.

Though many of the characters in this novel are quite well drawn and enjoyable, Kropotkin among them, he speaks mostly in the writings of the real-life anarchist, which Danvers clearly wants to bring to light for modern readers. That may have even worked with me, as my curiosity about Kropotkin's works has been piqued. But this method of storytelling leads to a rather implausible book in which Danvers is advancing his own theories and using Kropotkin's "classics" as a tool. The plotline also gets a bit out of hand toward the end, and the true motives of the mysterious future meddler remain vague. This is truly a fun and fascinating novel, and a great exercise in creative storytelling. But the use of Kropotkin's writings by Danvers to comment on modern society gets very heavy-handed and didactic. [~doomsdayer520~]