Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[BruTak]

Since you've been reading Heinlein, I'd go as far as to say "Farnham's Freehold" is just plain strange.

The ideas and philosophies in it make for very uncomfortable reading in these enlightened times.

[bearfax]

Never heard of Scarrows time travel books, think I would need a bit more information to look them up.

TIME RIDERS SERIES

Alex Scarrow , a British SciFi writer began his nine book Time Riders series in 2010. It has an adolescent feel because the main characters are all in their mid to late teens but its quite enjoyable for adults.

The scenario has some unknown time agency a few centuries hence that has been established to stop individuals at different times in future from going back in history to change it for generally their own benefit. The agency recruits by snatching people moments from a disaster that will end their lives, and offering them death at that time or being part of the agency going back and forward in time to correct changes being made by the bad guys.

There are several groups, but our stories revolve around three young people, Liam, who was about to die on the Titanic 1912, Maddy, who was about to die in a terrorist attack on an airline 2010, and Sal who is about to die in a skyscraper collapse in Mumbai 2027. They are initially assisted by a guide (time trick here seen later) and a super clone (Bob/Becks). Their base is a disused warehouse under Williamsburg Bridge New York in a rotating three day 'time bubble' leading up to Sept 11, 2001. The warehouse is occupied by the three with their equipment only during that period and continuously rotates. Outside of that time before and after it is vacant.

The time group are sent on missions even back to the dinosaur age to stop a time change but sometimes causing one themselves, they then have to correct. Its full of time paradoxes and clever time manipulations, sometimes leading to the world of September 2001 outside taking different shapes, even sometimes when the warehouse isnt there and there is just the time bubble.

The books as reviewed by Wikipedia are as follows;



TimeRiders

Published February 4, 2010

In the book the newly recruited team are thrown into the thick of sh it. Before they've had a chance to fully train. Paul Kramer, a brilliant physicist from the future, has plans to alter the past – to lead Nazi Germany to victory over the Allied Forces and to ensure an ordered World Reich under his rule. Liam and the team’s support unit, Bob, are sent back in time to try and stop Kramer’s plans, whilst in the present, Maddy and Sal witness New York altered by the arrival of a time wave, forming a terrifying new reality – an apocalyptic landscape of ruins and savage mutated descendants of a nuclear holocaust caused by Kramer going insane and detonating some weapon of mass destruction. At the end of the novel Liam and Bob go to Obersalzberg, and stop Kramer from altering history. A firefight ensues, in which Bob is fatally injured, and Kramer & his cohorts die after being killed by the guards stationed outside Obersalzberg. Liam retrieves the AI from inside Bob's head, and returns to 2001 with the timeline restored.

TimeRiders: Day of the Predator

Published August 5, 2010

While Liam and Becks are on a mission to save Edward Chan from an assassin on a school field trip to a zero point energy reactor a time window is accidentally opened to the sixty-five million years ago in the hunting ground of a deadly undiscovered species of predator, and in the process Liam, Becks and a group of college students are sucked in and are trapped there. In an attempt to survive they build a camp and attempt to send messages into the present time, while Maddy and Sal, with the help of the computer Bob try to find them and rescue them.

TimeRiders: The Doomsday Code

Published February 3, 2011

In 1994, Adam Lewis, a British computer hacker finds his name in the Voynich manuscript after decoding a section of it, a code which is almost one thousand years old. He locates and confronts the TimeRiders in 2001, who then travel back to Sherwood Forest in 1193 to discover the origins of the ancient message. But a strange hooded man appears interested in the same thing, and the TimeRiders, realizing that they are in a quest for the holy grail, attempt to find its key, before the hooded man does.

TimeRiders: The Eternal War

Published July 14, 2011

A time wave has struck that alters the entire history of the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln has followed Liam into the present from 1831 - and now the world is in a dangerous state of limbo. If the TimeRiders can't return Lincoln to the past, the Civil War will never end. Can Maddy persuade two colonels on either side of no man's land to cease fire long enough to save the future?

TimeRiders: Gates of Rome

Published February 2, 2012

Project Exodus - a mission to transport 300 Americans from 2070 to 54AD to overthrow the Roman Empire - has gone catastrophically wrong. Half have arrived seventeen years earlier, during the reign of Caligula. Liam goes to investigate, but when Maddy and Sal attempt to flee a kill-squad sent to hunt down their field office, all of the TimeRiders become trapped in the Roman past. Armed with knowledge of the future, Caligula is now more powerful than ever. But with the office unmanned - and under threat - how will the TimeRiders make it back to 2001 and put history right?

TimeRiders: City of Shadows

Published August 2, 2012

Hunted by cyborg assassins from the future, the TimeRiders must abandon New York and go on the run. They escape to Victorian London and the streets where Jack the Ripper roams. But, before they can establish their new base, they make their most shattering discovery yet - and it will change everything...

TimeRiders: The Pirate Kings

Published February 7, 2013

Relocated to Victorian London, the TimeRiders joy-ride back to 1666 to witness the Great Fire of London. In the ensuing chaos, Liam and their newest recruit, Rashim, find themselves trapped between the fire and the Thames. They escape on board a river boat, only to be confronted by an unscrupulous captain with his heart set on treasures of the high seas...

TimeRiders: The Mayan Prophecy

Published August 1, 2013

When Maddy finally unlocks fragments of the secret that Becks has been holding on to, the TimeRiders start to piece together their true purpose. Racing through time to connect the clues, the team discover a Mayan tribe where an ancient relic provides a vital link to the past...and future. But not all the TimeRiders can cope with the discovery, and one threatens to bring them all down if they can act out their revenge...

TimeRiders: The Infinity Cage

Published November 6, 2014

The end is approaching for the TimeRiders. In a final effort to prevent time travel destroying history, Liam and Maddy jump forward to 2070 to confront the enigmatic Waldstein and prove once and for all if he is friend or foe. What they discover is more shocking than anyone could have imagined and soon the TimeRiders are on one final mission - back to Biblical times to save the whole of humanity...


This is likely to be the end of the series which Scarrow has indicated may be brought to film or TV in future...has received several offers and waiting for the right choice. Clever time series, even if probably intended for a young readership.Available from Amazon

[BruTak]

Now reading "The Aeronaut's Windlass" by Jim Butcher.

First in his new sci-fi/steampunk series "The Cinder Spires". So far, it's equal parts "Dune", and "Pirates of the Caribbean", with just a dash of "Harry Potter" and "Tom Brown's School Days" thrown in for good measure.

[Wyrminarrd]

Since you've been reading Heinlein, I'd go as far as to say "Farnham's Freehold" is just plain strange.

The ideas and philosophies in it make for very uncomfortable reading in these enlightened times.

Heinleins views are definitely not for everyone and his interest in hypnotism comes off a bit strange.

Never read Farnhams freehold so I can't comment on that one.

[rkgardner2003]

I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I did enjoy it and can see how it will probably be a fun movie to see. But, I did find myself skimming a bit......

I'm onto Monster Hunters International book 2 - Vendetta

[ecgordon]

I re-read A Matter For Men, the first book in David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr. The fifth book in the series might be out sometime next year. The last he said was it is in beta-reader stage, but then he would likely do more edits based on notes he gets back.

Not sure what I'll read next, or if I'll just wait for Tuesday when Ancillary Mercy will show up on my Kindle.

[ecgordon]

While waiting for Ancillary Mercy I read the first non-SF book I've read in a while, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. It was okay, fairly predictable. After Mercy, it was Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. Recommended, with reservations.

[WingedPegasus]

On the fantasy end of things, I recently re-read Brandon Sanderson's "Alloy of Law" (first book in the second Mistborn trilogy). The next book ("Shadows of Self") just came out this month.

He's a fantastic author. I'm really enjoying the Stormlight Archives, especially "Words of Radiance."

[Morgania]

I got Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher from the library.

[ecgordon]

Abaddon's Gate, the third novel of The Expanse series.

[BruTak]

Re-reading "Space Cadet" by Robert Heinlein.

[Wyrminarrd]

Finished re-reading "End of eternity" by Isaac Asimov.

[BruTak]

Re-reading "Citizen of the Galaxy" by Robert Heinlein.

[ecgordon]

I'm a big Gene Wolfe fan, so it hurts me to say that his latest, A Borrowed Man, was disappointing.

[Morgania]

I recently discovered the Indiana Jones comes in book form. So I am reading Army of the Dead by Steve Perry. And The Secret of the Sphinx by Max McCoy.