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humanignorance's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars. I enjoyed the early middle, when Kalvan was adjusting to his new surroundings and starting to innovate. Later on it devolved into poorly laid out politics and medieval battle minutiae. The book could have benefited from a glossary and a map, as it was hard to keep straight the various side factions and the characters associated with them. This was more of a historical military novel than anything; the time travel aspect was poorly explored.
jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition
4.0
I like Piper's stories of the Paratime Police, and this is the last of them; although here the Paratime Police are used mainly to frame and comment on the main story, which is the story of a displaced person.
Calvin Morrison is a man from our world, or one like it, who is accidentally transported (by the Paratime Police) to another version of Earth with an alternative history: one in which North America was settled by Aryans crossing over from Siberia long ago. Morrison arrives in the alternative version of Pennsylvania to find himself among a people calling themselves Zarthani, speaking a language he doesn't recognize and worshipping pagan gods; they have a mediæval level of society and technology.
He's an ex-soldier and a student of military history, and his experience and knowledge turn out to be particularly useful in his new home, where he becomes known as Lord Kalvan. He quickly learns the language, becomes a military leader, wins a couple of short wars, and marries a princess.
Kalvan's story could be regarded as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for armchair generals. However, I've read accounts of real wars, and I think Piper did a good job on the military aspects of this story, which have an air of authenticity—at least for me. I have no personal experience of war; and I suppose no-one these days has any experience of the sort of horse-and-musket war described here.
Kalvan encounters some difficulties and minor setbacks, but overall he succeeds in everything he does, so this is a cheerful and upbeat book.
That being the case, it seems odd that the book was published posthumously: Piper killed himself at the age of 60, apparently because he had financial problems and wrongly thought that his career had stalled. I see no trace of suicidal intent in this book, so I guess it was something he decided on and acted on relatively quickly, rather than something that had been on his mind for a while.
Piper was an old-school writer of science fiction. His writing style and characterization are plain and unsophisticated, and the behaviour of his characters is dated. The Paratime Police, Kalvan, and the Zarthani all smoke tobacco, as almost everyone did in the mid-20th century.
It's hard to explain why I've reread this book so often; I don't entirely understand it myself. I suppose I'm a bit of an armchair general (I've been a wargamer in the past), I like alternative-history stories, and I like stories that are cheerful and upbeat.
However, there is one sentence that makes me boggle. When Morrison arrives in his new world, but before he meets the Zarthani, he thinks that he may have travelled into the past, and he wonders to himself whether he'll have the opportunity to take part in the Civil War. "That would be more fun than Korea had been."
Surely you have to be insane to describe as "fun" the idea of fighting in the American Civil War; although I've come to the conclusion that all human beings are insane in some way or other.
Calvin Morrison is a man from our world, or one like it, who is accidentally transported (by the Paratime Police) to another version of Earth with an alternative history: one in which North America was settled by Aryans crossing over from Siberia long ago. Morrison arrives in the alternative version of Pennsylvania to find himself among a people calling themselves Zarthani, speaking a language he doesn't recognize and worshipping pagan gods; they have a mediæval level of society and technology.
He's an ex-soldier and a student of military history, and his experience and knowledge turn out to be particularly useful in his new home, where he becomes known as Lord Kalvan. He quickly learns the language, becomes a military leader, wins a couple of short wars, and marries a princess.
Kalvan's story could be regarded as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for armchair generals. However, I've read accounts of real wars, and I think Piper did a good job on the military aspects of this story, which have an air of authenticity—at least for me. I have no personal experience of war; and I suppose no-one these days has any experience of the sort of horse-and-musket war described here.
Kalvan encounters some difficulties and minor setbacks, but overall he succeeds in everything he does, so this is a cheerful and upbeat book.
That being the case, it seems odd that the book was published posthumously: Piper killed himself at the age of 60, apparently because he had financial problems and wrongly thought that his career had stalled. I see no trace of suicidal intent in this book, so I guess it was something he decided on and acted on relatively quickly, rather than something that had been on his mind for a while.
Piper was an old-school writer of science fiction. His writing style and characterization are plain and unsophisticated, and the behaviour of his characters is dated. The Paratime Police, Kalvan, and the Zarthani all smoke tobacco, as almost everyone did in the mid-20th century.
It's hard to explain why I've reread this book so often; I don't entirely understand it myself. I suppose I'm a bit of an armchair general (I've been a wargamer in the past), I like alternative-history stories, and I like stories that are cheerful and upbeat.
However, there is one sentence that makes me boggle. When Morrison arrives in his new world, but before he meets the Zarthani, he thinks that he may have travelled into the past, and he wonders to himself whether he'll have the opportunity to take part in the Civil War. "That would be more fun than Korea had been."
Surely you have to be insane to describe as "fun" the idea of fighting in the American Civil War; although I've come to the conclusion that all human beings are insane in some way or other.
dylex's review
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
mschlat's review
4.0
A long time favorite of mine --- I think I would give it five stars if I could parse some of the battle scenes. Piper's narration would be greatly aided with some maps!
What I love about this book is not just the time travel (which is really dimensional hopping to a less advanced Earth), it's the civilization building. Pennsylvania State Police officer Calvin Morrison finds himself in a world where his large store of military knowledge (including, most importantly, how to make gunpowder) transforms the political realities around him. It's a big chunk of helping the beleaguered fight against the evil tyrants with a great dollop of humor. If you'ved read anything in the [b:1632|16967|1632 (Assiti Shards, #1)|Eric Flint|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166765511s/16967.jpg|1172297] series and enjoyed it, read this --- literarily speaking, this book is their cherished ancestor.
What I love about this book is not just the time travel (which is really dimensional hopping to a less advanced Earth), it's the civilization building. Pennsylvania State Police officer Calvin Morrison finds himself in a world where his large store of military knowledge (including, most importantly, how to make gunpowder) transforms the political realities around him. It's a big chunk of helping the beleaguered fight against the evil tyrants with a great dollop of humor. If you'ved read anything in the [b:1632|16967|1632 (Assiti Shards, #1)|Eric Flint|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166765511s/16967.jpg|1172297] series and enjoyed it, read this --- literarily speaking, this book is their cherished ancestor.
gwaihir's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Wow this is bad. The publishers tells us that 'Having as his hobby the history and use of hand weapons, he also contrived to weave much of this little-known lore into this..." and yes if you want to read a story about gunpowder and weapons and how exciting and powerful that can be this is a story for you. The paratime police layer doesn't really add anything to the story either and this one was mainly a waste of time.
jamiebarrows's review
3.0
I love stories where a semi-genius from modern times ends up in a primitive society and uses his education to set himself up. This one had lots of big battles and the birth of a new kingdom.
expendablemudge's review
5.0
Rating: 4.9* of five
The Book Report: It has been said since there were people to say it that you have to leave home to find yourself. It was never more truly said than with Corporal Calvin Morrison, Pennsylvania State Police. He had to leave Earth as he knew it in order to feel at home at last.
Calvin, you see, ran afoul of a glitch in an alien (though still Earthly) technology, was swept into a temporal conveyor, and despite being thrust into a unique environment, still managed to defend himself against a fellow cop's energy weapon (versus Calvin's .38 revolver), and escape from the unknown but self-evident threat of that weird place.
But where in the world was he? It looks like the same spot he just left, only...not.
He comes to discover that he's traveled laterally in timespace, he's in the same geography as the Pennsylvania he left, but the people in this place aren't like him in culture or language. They're early-Renaissance level of technology, polytheistic Aryans from Asia. And their kingdom, Hostigos, is about to be swatted like a mosquito by the Big Baddies: the priests of the House of Styphon, the Gunpowder God. Thus does Calvin morph into Kalvan, the war leader, the bringer of miracles, the architect of a complete shift in this world's future history.
Now remember that alien-but-Earthly technology? Those Earthlings are from a different time-stream from thee and me, and from the Hostigos (called “Aryan-Transpacific” which specifies the direction of the ancient migration) time-stream. They developed high technology long before we did, and consequently used up the resources of their own Earth before we have. The Paratime Secret, which is the existence of aliens who can't be told from the natives, is policed by the Paratime Police, now headed by Verkan Vall, whose observation of Kalvan was supposed to be an elimination until some bright academic realized Kalvan was a rare case of a man out of time who was IN his new element, more so than he was in his native time-stream.
And so is born the Kalvan Subsector, a set of adjacent time-streams that define a new direction in history. It's a priceless chance to see how one exceptional individual can change the course of the world.
My Review: I bought my first copy of this book, published in 1965, from The Book Stall on Burnet Road in Austin, Texas, in 1970. It was a dime, and my mama blew a fuse. She had given me the dime to buy two National Geographics, and was furious I chose mind-rot over edification. As a result of this tantrum on her part, I treasured that little book until it finally and definitively disintegrated in 2006.
I loved the parallel universes in the book. I eagerly looked into strangers' faces, hoping one of them would be a Paracop and whisk me away from the life I didn't much like into a romantic, exciting life hopping the time-streams. (Not long after this, I encountered The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock, and my fate was sealed...I was a chrononaut/Paracop Without Portfolio, and still am.)
I loved every pulpy, overheated sentence of the book. I said things like “yesterday at the latest” and “Dralm dammit” so often that Mama finally blew a fuse and took the book away. I didn't know then, though I strongly suspected it, that Piper was a crappy writer with a gift for the cliché. But hell, who gives the ass of a rat when you're swept away into a world different from and better than your own?
I feel the same way today. It's just that, at mumblety-two, I know it's not good writing. But I still don't care, if the story can sweep my considerable intellectual and physical avoirdupois off my aching, elderly feet.
The Book Report: It has been said since there were people to say it that you have to leave home to find yourself. It was never more truly said than with Corporal Calvin Morrison, Pennsylvania State Police. He had to leave Earth as he knew it in order to feel at home at last.
Calvin, you see, ran afoul of a glitch in an alien (though still Earthly) technology, was swept into a temporal conveyor, and despite being thrust into a unique environment, still managed to defend himself against a fellow cop's energy weapon (versus Calvin's .38 revolver), and escape from the unknown but self-evident threat of that weird place.
But where in the world was he? It looks like the same spot he just left, only...not.
He comes to discover that he's traveled laterally in timespace, he's in the same geography as the Pennsylvania he left, but the people in this place aren't like him in culture or language. They're early-Renaissance level of technology, polytheistic Aryans from Asia. And their kingdom, Hostigos, is about to be swatted like a mosquito by the Big Baddies: the priests of the House of Styphon, the Gunpowder God. Thus does Calvin morph into Kalvan, the war leader, the bringer of miracles, the architect of a complete shift in this world's future history.
Now remember that alien-but-Earthly technology? Those Earthlings are from a different time-stream from thee and me, and from the Hostigos (called “Aryan-Transpacific” which specifies the direction of the ancient migration) time-stream. They developed high technology long before we did, and consequently used up the resources of their own Earth before we have. The Paratime Secret, which is the existence of aliens who can't be told from the natives, is policed by the Paratime Police, now headed by Verkan Vall, whose observation of Kalvan was supposed to be an elimination until some bright academic realized Kalvan was a rare case of a man out of time who was IN his new element, more so than he was in his native time-stream.
And so is born the Kalvan Subsector, a set of adjacent time-streams that define a new direction in history. It's a priceless chance to see how one exceptional individual can change the course of the world.
My Review: I bought my first copy of this book, published in 1965, from The Book Stall on Burnet Road in Austin, Texas, in 1970. It was a dime, and my mama blew a fuse. She had given me the dime to buy two National Geographics, and was furious I chose mind-rot over edification. As a result of this tantrum on her part, I treasured that little book until it finally and definitively disintegrated in 2006.
I loved the parallel universes in the book. I eagerly looked into strangers' faces, hoping one of them would be a Paracop and whisk me away from the life I didn't much like into a romantic, exciting life hopping the time-streams. (Not long after this, I encountered The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock, and my fate was sealed...I was a chrononaut/Paracop Without Portfolio, and still am.)
I loved every pulpy, overheated sentence of the book. I said things like “yesterday at the latest” and “Dralm dammit” so often that Mama finally blew a fuse and took the book away. I didn't know then, though I strongly suspected it, that Piper was a crappy writer with a gift for the cliché. But hell, who gives the ass of a rat when you're swept away into a world different from and better than your own?
I feel the same way today. It's just that, at mumblety-two, I know it's not good writing. But I still don't care, if the story can sweep my considerable intellectual and physical avoirdupois off my aching, elderly feet.
spaceninja's review
1.0
I didn't finish this book. I didn't even make it out of the first chapter. Reading older science fiction can be a challenge due to racism/sexism/etc. This book came highly recommended from my dad, who said it was basically the origin point for a lot of time travel tropes. However, the first chapter begins describing how they track different timelines based on which races rose to prominence. Naturally the Aryan timelines are held up as the best while others are dismissed. "Sino-Hindic: that wasn't a civilization; it was a bad case of cultural paralysis. And so was Into-Turanian…" Yeesh. I'm sure there's some good stuff in here that my dad was able to look past, but that's gonna be a hard pass for me.
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