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A review by isabellarobinson7
Echoes In Time by Andre Norton
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
Similarly to Firehand, the previous book, which also had a coauthor, Echoes in Time is not really a new "Andre Norton" book in the truest sense of the word. That is perhaps the reason why for me Echoes in Time was good, but it still didn't really reach the highs of the first and fourth books, i.e. the ones actually written by Norton. But I did find some interesting drama about the authorship of Echoes in Time, but I'll talk about that later.
It has been a few months, so bare with me while I try and get the plot straight for this book. Ross Murdock and Eveleen (who have recently gotten married... which is still kind of weird) are called in to do some time travel stuff by none other than the Russians, the very people who mucked everything up in book one. Yes, the Americans have to work with the Russians. It is very buddy buddy between the two Cold War enemies, with the first portion of the book dedicated to them ironing out their differences, so it is clear Echoes in Time was written in 1999.
But anyway, the reason the Russians need help is because they have lost a time travel crew on a far away planet and they can't help rescue them by themselves because of how badly they were beaten in the previous Baldy battle. Also, their scientists have discovered this really really old carving on the planet, but strangely enough it is depicting a time agent from present day who's name is Saba. The multinational rescue team lands on the planet, only to discover that various alien cultures have degraded into animals, and then everyone starts getting sick. As they continue trying to look for the missing Russians and attempt to ascertain what is going on with all the animals, this other alien species that live on the planet instantly recognise Saba and take her for special training. The disease grows worse for Ross, Eveleen and company until Saba figures out how to communicate with the planet and she does some confusing stuff and then everyone gets cured.
Then the Baldies launch an attack and there is some fighting. And during the fighting... I might be wrong... but there was maybe a suggestion that the Baldies were hyper evolved humans. I could have read it wrong - in fact, I want to be wrong - but that is what I thought I picked up. I hope the insinuation that the Baldies are future humans doesn’t go anywhere, because I typically don't like that trope and it would not fit with this series, and I don't think anyone should try and make it.
That's pretty much the gist of it. I also want to bring up that this book mentioned Travis at one point… I know I said I didn’t really enjoy his books... but he was kind of dropped after The Defiant Agents and never heard from again. His character was fine, I just don't like him leading the books as much as I do Murdock, which seems to be the common consensus given who has been the main character in the past three books. But now that Travis is gone, I kind of miss him...? I mean, I absolutely don't want to go back to The Defiant Agents and the ooga-booga device anytime soon, but maybe just a few mentions of him would be nice. I don't know, maybe he died in the third book and I never noticed. I was so distracted by all the pseudoscience and de-evolved nonsense that it is possible I missed it.
Now, to the juicy drama. On Andre Norton's official website, under the page dedicated to this book specifically, you find this interesting tidbit about the writing of Echoes in Time:
Similarly to Firehand, the previous book, which also had a coauthor, Echoes in Time is not really a new "Andre Norton" book in the truest sense of the word. That is perhaps the reason why for me Echoes in Time was good, but it still didn't really reach the highs of the first and fourth books, i.e. the ones actually written by Norton. But I did find some interesting drama about the authorship of Echoes in Time, but I'll talk about that later.
It has been a few months, so bare with me while I try and get the plot straight for this book. Ross Murdock and Eveleen (who have recently gotten married... which is still kind of weird) are called in to do some time travel stuff by none other than the Russians, the very people who mucked everything up in book one. Yes, the Americans have to work with the Russians. It is very buddy buddy between the two Cold War enemies, with the first portion of the book dedicated to them ironing out their differences, so it is clear Echoes in Time was written in 1999.
But anyway, the reason the Russians need help is because they have lost a time travel crew on a far away planet and they can't help rescue them by themselves because of how badly they were beaten in the previous Baldy battle. Also, their scientists have discovered this really really old carving on the planet, but strangely enough it is depicting a time agent from present day who's name is Saba. The multinational rescue team lands on the planet, only to discover that various alien cultures have degraded into animals, and then everyone starts getting sick. As they continue trying to look for the missing Russians and attempt to ascertain what is going on with all the animals, this other alien species that live on the planet instantly recognise Saba and take her for special training. The disease grows worse for Ross, Eveleen and company until Saba figures out how to communicate with the planet and she does some confusing stuff and then everyone gets cured.
Then the Baldies launch an attack and there is some fighting. And during the fighting... I might be wrong... but there was maybe a suggestion that the Baldies were hyper evolved humans. I could have read it wrong - in fact, I want to be wrong - but that is what I thought I picked up. I hope the insinuation that the Baldies are future humans doesn’t go anywhere, because I typically don't like that trope and it would not fit with this series, and I don't think anyone should try and make it.
That's pretty much the gist of it. I also want to bring up that this book mentioned Travis at one point… I know I said I didn’t really enjoy his books... but he was kind of dropped after The Defiant Agents and never heard from again. His character was fine, I just don't like him leading the books as much as I do Murdock, which seems to be the common consensus given who has been the main character in the past three books. But now that Travis is gone, I kind of miss him...? I mean, I absolutely don't want to go back to The Defiant Agents and the ooga-booga device anytime soon, but maybe just a few mentions of him would be nice. I don't know, maybe he died in the third book and I never noticed. I was so distracted by all the pseudoscience and de-evolved nonsense that it is possible I missed it.
Now, to the juicy drama. On Andre Norton's official website, under the page dedicated to this book specifically, you find this interesting tidbit about the writing of Echoes in Time:
"I have been told by reliable sources that this book was originally supposed to be written by Andre and Pauline Griffin, at the last moment the publisher pulled Pauline from the project and brought in Sherwood Smith. This aggravated Andre to no avail for Sherwood would not listen to her input about the story. When she received her copy of the book, she hid it out of site.[sic] When a friend of hers brought the title up in a conversation Andre directed them to remove this and the other three titles by Sherwood from her house. Upon her death she willed the copyrights to Sherwood because she hated all four books so much that she did not want her Estate associated with them. When you read them, it is evident that Andre had little to do with them for they do not fit her style. They are included because her name appears on the front cover. ~ JW"
That, my friends, is the kind of pettiness we can all appreciate.
Now I ended the last review with a series ranking, so I will do the same here: The Time Traders, book one, is still firmly in top position; then a small gap and book four, Key Out of Time; then a bigger gap and then in close succession Galactic Derelict (book 2), Echoes in Time (this one, book 6), and Firehand (book 5) in third, fourth and fifth respectively; and then an even larger gap and of course the Ooga-Booga Book aka book three The Defiant Agents in last.