Escape Pod

Hi all.  Yes, I am aware that I haven't posted in a while, despite my best intentions, and yes I'm aware that I haven't finished off my previous post about buying my domain and not being able to update the look of the blog.  But I'm quite excited that I am finally up-to-date with a podcast that I love, so want to do a post on that instead :-)

Escape Pod is a weekly science fiction podcast that runs stories from authors such as Tim Pratt, Lavie Tidhar, Vylar Kaftan, N K Jemisin, Cat Rambo, Cory Doctorow, Mike Resnick,  Saladin Ahmed, and Catherynne M Valente.  Impressive, right?  The podcast is also totally free.  The good news doesn't stop there, the narration and production is impeccable, and each episode comes with monster surf rock theme music by Dai Kai Ju (who are pretty cool).

When I thought to write this post, I tried to compile a list of my favourite episodes, but it's very hard to choose, and sometimes it's difficult to remember just how much I enjoyed each story as I was listening to it.  I think this is one of the features/flaws (depending on how you look at it) of audio fiction - it obviously lacks the physical presence of written prose, and so becomes kind of like a sandcastle; beautiful but impermanent. Click on the image below for some of the episodes that really stood out for me.

The episodes that stand out to me include the first I listened to - Wind from a Dying Star by David D Levine; a sweet story about being old in a post-humanist future and chasing memories.  I also enjoyed Variations on a Theme by William Meikle, about a biology teacher who realises his students are being possessed by aliens, one by one.  Rejiggering the Thingamajig by Eric James Stone is about a pacifist mama tyrannosaurus rex just trying to get home to her babies when the wormhole system she was using shorts all over the galaxy leaving her and an AI to fix the...  thingamajig.  And more recently, Hugo award winner, The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, about a man coming to terms with who he is through the origami animals his mother had made him when he was a child.  Lastly, Springtime for Deathtraps by Marjorie James is a fun little story about, arguably, the best deathtrap designer who has ever lived (previous stories about Xnab can be found here and here).

I have 192 of the 369 episodes of Escape Pod stored on my hard drive so limiting to even this many suggestions was tough!  Not to mention the fact that they run all of the Hugo award nominees in both audio and print (the Escape Pod feed includes a 'Soundproof Digest' - the printed version of each of the stories - every few months), which is great when you don't subscribe to all of the magazines they feature in every year.

I started listening to Escape Pod in February of 2010, and liked it so much that I downloaded all of the back issues I could.  Which meant I was perpetually behind, but I didn't mind so much - the stories don't exactly go out of date.  But after a couple of dozen episodes, listening to the feedback segment made me want to get involved with the Escape Pod community by posting and discussing the latest story on their forums.  But I was never able to catch up, until now.  I guess long bus rides to work every day have one benefit!

I can't recommend Escape Pod highly enough, just go and download all of the episodes you can and start listening!  Do you listen to any podcasts already?  Are they fiction or non fiction?  Do you listen to audiobooks?  Tell me about them in the comments!

Book Review: John Scalzi's Redshirts UPDATED

I've been told I was not critical enough in my review, so I have added a sentence or two to this post in the spoilers section.

Those of you who know anything about my reading habits can probably already see a Scalzi obsession forming. I have a reputation (mainly with myself...) for finding an author that I like, and reading most of their back catalogue. But this time, instead of reading on in the Old Man's War series (the next book is called The Ghost Brigades), I decided to go straight to his latest book- Redshirts.

I wrote a recommendation for this book as part of a requirement for work, and managed to make it less than 200 words:

John Scalzi’s Redshirts

What would you do if you discovered you were expendable, an extra in a story that is simply using you for dramatic effect?  Dahl and his crewmates decide to take action, to find out why their fellow ensigns aboard the Intrepid keep dying in ridiculous situations, and why, at times, the Captain makes decisions that take them directly into the path of danger and drama.  Scalzi’s knack for presenting heavy ideas (in this case predestination, taking action against insurmountable odds, and being the protagonist in one's own story) in a light, often humourous, and enjoyable read is why I think I will carry on reading his back catalogue.  If you enjoy this book, you might also like Scalzi's 'Old Man's War', and Connie Willis' 'To Say Nothing of the Dog' for more big ideas wrapped in a humourous, seemingly light read.

Like what I did there?  Remember TSNotD and how much I liked it?  I genuinely believe that if you enjoyed that, you will easily see the same appeal in Redshirts.  Now I look at it and think "there's not all that much more I want to say".  Don't get me wrong, I am really excited about the book, but I don't think I want to pull it apart like I have most of the books I've reviewed on here (also, I'm writing this review a while after I finished the book and I have already returned it to the library!).  So there are very few spoilers if you click on the picture below.

Imagine how excited you'd be, after having graduated from space academy, to be stationed on the fleet's flagship. The Intrepid's xenobiology department is Dahl's very first posting and he couldn't be more eagre to participate in his first away mission. Now imagine how creepy it would be if the members if your department disappeared every time a command-level officer came looking for volunteers for away missions. Dahl finds his co-workers 'getting coffee', 'checking the storeroom', or.. well, hiding under their desks when the chief science officer needs assistance for a run of the mill away mission.

Soon we learn that away missions are not opportunities to explore new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations... They are instead ways to boldly die where no man has died before. The ship's course is set by how much drama can be encountered along the way. The same decks are hit every time the ship is fired upon. People have random monologues. If you knew the bad guy at the Academy, you will die. If you are a command officer, you will not die of mortal wounds. People know convenient things about each other than they never knew they knew... The list of things that make Dahl, and others, think that there's something screwy going on on the Intrepid is obviously longer than Scalzi had time to detail.

A chance encounter with a hermit (yup, space ships can have those too), enables Dahl to find out what is going on - they're on a tv show. That's right, they don't exist outside of the imagination of several writers, producers, directors, and actors. Dahl and his friends kidnap one of the command-level 'characters', jump through a wormhole, and end up in our present day, intent on stopping the tv show at all costs.

I liked this part of the book the best. Most of the characters meet themselves, which is cute and trippy, and there is a lot of running about without pants, gate crashing night clubs, and kidnapping. But the two things that will stick with me are Dahl's visit to the actress who played Jenkin's wife, and how they manage to convince the show's director to cancel it if he could have his son back.

Okay, so here's the critical bit, and I'll be brief, the book tended to drag a little in places, and lacked the action one would expect from a 'bad science fiction show'. But as I say, the writing almost completely makes up for this. Also, there are three 'codas' at the end of the book. I had to return it to the library before I could finish these, but I did read a little of the first one and it made no sense to me. It didn't continue the story, but instead seemed to be a portion of the story from another person's perspective (remember I didn't read it all, so I can only judge by what I did read). A friend read this book on my recommendation and she insisted I include this little critique because she thought the codas were terrible. I will get the book back out one day, and read them, and let you know!

Scalzi is skilled in writing stories about realistic characters that react to imaginative situations in a way that we could see ourselves reacting. He creates a detailed world around the characters that is believable - the suspension of disbelief is not a stretch for his books. He does all of this with humour, as I mentioned in my previous post about Old Man's War, and so it is never a chore to read his books - they seem light, but the heavy ideas are there. In Old Man's War, ideas about the role of the military and the reaction of the human psyche to warfare, as well as the ethics and ramifications of cloning and post-humanism, were all explored but never forced and rarely brought to the foreground of the story. In Redshirts, ideas about predestination and control over one's own life, taking action against insurmountable odds, and being the protagonist in your own story are covered - albeit a little more obviously. Still, info dumps are not Scalzi. Yes, I'm basing this on reading two of his books, and yes I could very well prove myself wrong when I go on to read the next one, but I do doubt it.

Okay, spoiler-free now.  I know this review is not as well put-together as (I think) the others have been, and I have no real excuse other than writing it in pieces and only now putting them together about a month after finishing the book.  I shall try to be good next time - I'm currently reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Book Review: John Scalzi's Old Man's War

You may remember that weeks, or even months ago, I posted about starting Connie Willis' All Clear, and how excited I was about it.  You may be wondering why I haven't told you more...  Sadly, I have to admit that I have had to put the book on the back burner (which means 'returned it to the library') for now.  It's such a heavy book so I can't take it on the bus to work, and I've had trouble reading in bed lately (lonnng days at work and lonnng bus trips = yawn).  Please don't take it as an indication of the quality of the book!  It's still fabulous, but as I've said before, I find it hard to get into Connie Willis' books at first, and despite this really being the second half of Black Out, it's still a new book.  I can't wait for Christmas when I have some time off so I can get back into it!

Meanwhile, I picked up John Scalzi's Old Man's War while wandering through the science fiction and fantasy section at the library (yeah, I know, right?!  We have a science fiction and fantasy section!).  I almost literally could not put it down, and I finished it in less than two weeks (you may have realised, I'm a very slow reader)!  Not only is the book gripping with brilliant character development and subtle but striking themes, but it is the most honest and funniest piece of science fiction I have read.  Ever.  Not to mention hostile aliens, galactic war, cloning, posthumanism, military technology, extra-solar colonies, faster-than-light travel...  Basically, everything  you could want from good science fiction.  Except length.  It was over wayyy too fast for my liking.  On with a spoiler-free review (just trying something different!), that's still pretty long (so nothing new there) - so click on the picture to continue.

The very first paragraph of a book is often an indicator of the tone of the book, and the first paragraph of Old Man's War is short, punchy and equal parts shocking and amusing - "I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday.  I visited my wife's grave.  Then I joined the army."

John Perry and his fellow recruits know two things when they turn their backs on their lives on Earth to do something that most people who enjoy science fiction long to do - see the galaxy.  The first is that they will never see the planet of their birth again, and the second is that somehow, the CDF (Colonial Defence Force) will make them young again.

I think the most important aspects of this books were world-building, character-development, and humour.  We are given just enough information to make the universe, but not so much to feel encumbered.  As I said, this book is short, it doesn't have room for great info dumps.  We know that there are colonies and we know who lives there, but we never see them or talk to them.  We know that we have contact with some alien races, but we don't have a history lesson about our first contact.  It's all need-to-know, and we, frankly, don't.

John seems like the regular guy down the road who keeps up with modern technology but doesn't understand everyone's reliance on it.  He works hard and thinks up practical solutions to what seem to be pretty tricky problems - just because he doesn't seem to notice their complexity.  He quickly makes friends with the other recruits, but doesn't fall into a depression when they go their seperate ways.  He doesn't care that his closest friend in the corps is gay, because it's nothing to do with him.  I really like him; he has my sense of humour.

I think the theme of posthumanism is underplayed, and not in a bad way.  Without giving too much away, Scalzi looks at what it means to be human through showing how his characters don't really suffer lasting change as a result of their physical changes - instead it is their experiences that have the greatest impact on them.  And these changes are so subtle; everyone remains themselves at their core, like we all do. He also debates personhood through a painful encounter with a special operative who, it turns out, doesn't know how to be human.

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for something amusing, that's light enough to read in a day (if you're that way inclined) but has enough substance to really make you care about what's going on and to stay with you when you're not reading it.

Book Review: Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

I really enjoyed this book.  I have read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and didn't enjoy that nearly as much.  In fact, I call 20,000 Leagues 'The Fish Directory' because the bulk of the book is descriptions of the various sea life the Professor is privileged to encounter.  At times, Journey to the Centre of the Earth verges on 'The Lithics Directory', but Verne seems to reel himself back, showing great restraint (or perhaps he was simply more enthusiastic about fish?).  This results in detail that adds to the story rather than detracting from it.  I'm sure Verne was a very intelligent person and wanted to share as much information in as great detail as possible, but in 20,000 Leagues, it really weighs the story down.

I think most people know the general gist of this story, whether from hearing about it or seeing one of the movie incarnations, so I won't worry too much about spoiling it*.  Young Axel (very cool name, by the way) is nephew to Professor Otto Liedenbrock, already an esteemed mineralogist at the beginning of the novel.  In a coded message (found in an old book), attributed to a savant by the name of Saknussemm and transcribed in runic symbols, Otto is delighted to find the directions to the access point for the interior of the earth.  In fact, this note claims that the tunnel leads to the earth's very center.  Consumed by a drive to attain even higher esteem, and armed with an admirable ability to ignore the protestations of his young companion, Otto drags Axel to Iceland.  There they find the tunnel at the top of an extinct volcano, and, along with their faithful (to the point of self-sacrificing) guide Hans, they plunge into a great adventure.

At the time of writing, the theory of plate tectonics was over 40 years away, which meant that Verne's contemporaries didn't understand the processes involved in the formation and activity of volcanoes.  The accepted theory of the era was that the earth was hollow, and tunnels and tubes ran underneath the crust of the earth that joined each volcano to one another.  Through these tubes, lava would flow, but after a volcano had become extinct, it was possible to travel through these empty tunnels.  And this is what Verne uses as his starting point.  It is true science fiction, well before the term was coined, in that a scientific theory is the very heart of the story.  Without these tunnels, no access to the centre of the earth could exist, and so there was no adventure to be had.

The fact that Verne wrote adventure fantasy based upon what must have been an amazing amount of scientific understanding and knowledge in the days well before our accustomed ease of access to information, makes his works worth reading on its own.  However, the story told in Journey to the Centre of the Earth is just as compelling.  Come on people, it has dinosaurs!  If you're not sold yet, I don't know what to do with you.

If I have inspired you to buy this book, please consider purchasing it from Mighty Ape (also, it's only $8!).

Using this link doesn't cost you anything and gives me credit to spend on more things to tell you about!

*Though, do see this article about how much more we enjoy a story when we have heard spoilers for it.

Blogging Fiction

Just a short post as I only want to pose a question.  Does anyone know anything about fiction blogs?  By that I mean a blog written by an author in the voice of a fictitious character about their fictitious world.  I've heard of them somewhere in my travels around the interwub, but my (albeit, pretty lazy attempts at) searching hasn't brought up a place to start.  I think this could be a really interesting way to present fiction, and may even consider writing one myself (though probably anonymously and/or set to private - I can't write fiction, but I enjoy trying) so I'm very keen on finding something good to follow.

Are there any interesting ways you enjoy fiction?  I listen to a whole heap of fiction podcasts (Escape Pod, The Drabblecast, PodCastle, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clone Pod [on hiatus], Starship Sofa, Variant Frequencies, Tor dot com Story Podcast, X Minus One...  yeah I know it's a lot, but I have them running in the background while I craft, and at most they come out once a week!), and subscribe to Daily Science Fiction by email (though I have got really slack at reading them!).  What about you?

Book Review - Farthing by Jo Walton

This is another book that I read for the Women in Science Fiction book club, now housed at Calico Reaction, and though not as long as my review for Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, it is a pretty long post, and it does contain spoilers, despite my best intentions. When I wrote that review, I don't think I mentioned how few of the books for this book club I've actually finished. It's nothing to do with the club itself, I have just found that the books have not been to my taste. I finished Elizabeth Bear's Dust, and was sorely disappointed. What looked to be a great adventure story set on a generational space ship, ended up being an exposé of gender issues and fanaticism (or was that only my interpretation?) and the incestuous relationships creeped me out. These are the three books I have finished, and I plan to attempt only one more, based on its synopsis. Although I didn't love this book in the way that I loved Doomsday Book, I didn't dislike it like I did Dust.  As usual, click on the picture below to read the review.

Farthing is a country estate in Hampshire where Lord and Lady Eversley are having a small weekend party in 1949, the guests of which include their friends, also known as the Farthing Set, and their daughter Lucy, and her Jewish husband David. It immediately becomes obvious that this is not our 1949, when the attitude of the Set toward David are explained. In this timeline, Hitler was not defeated, and instead was appeased - he could run rampant on the Continent unchallenged by England or her colonies, and in return, England would remain independent. The broker of this peace, Sir James Thirkie, is found murdered in his suite on Sunday morning while most of the guests are at church. Pinned to his chest by a dagger is a Jewish star, worn by Jews on the continent. Scotland Yard Inspectors Carmichael and Royston are sent to investigate the murder, for which the local authorities have already assumed David to be responsible.

This is an interesting opening, and the lead up to, discovery of, and initial stages of investigation into the murder occupy about the first third of the book. I found that this foundation was enough to carry me through to the end, despite an incredibly slow middle of the book, which consists mainly of the characters hypothesising the means, motive, and opportunity, of different characters in order to determine the murderer, and presenting the information necessary to illustrate the themes. It is only in the last 20-50 pages that the political plot behind the murder is fully unravelled (this is not much of a spoiler as the political aspects of the murder are suggested early and are constantly a focus of the investigation).

It is also in these last pages that I found myself rewarded for my perseverance with more than just the revelation of the identity and motive of the murderer/s. Because the suspicion falls on David, measures must be taken by the couple to ensure their safety. Alongside this, the government has passed legislation that, to anyone who has studied the development of the Nazi state into the horror it became, is disturbingly familiar. And this is where the use of an alternate history really impacts upon the reader. The physical war; the war of blitz bombings, troops, and fighter planes, has ended, but the war of ideas continues. This is a reminder that the sacrifices made by the soldiers of World War II were not just for our borders, but for our way of life. The Nazi regime was so evil because its goal was to separate groups from one another, to take away the fundamental rights of some of those groups, and to ultimately destroy the groups that were considered undesirable (along with anyone who disagreed with these policies).

In the last part of the book, there is a 'sense of impending doom', that the political reforms the government has passed are leading to the same situation seen in the Nazi regime. It is only upon further consideration that I now realise that these reforms weren't the first stage of the process either. In one of the first pages of the book, David is assumed by one of the guests to be a servant, simply because he is Jewish. We later learn that Jews have not been fully welcomed into England as they flee the mainland. This atmosphere is the first step, legislation will not hold if the people oppose it. Lucy's father is an example of how apathy is just as bad as support in this climate. The media also show the sensationalist mentality that drags people in, not just when labelling David the murderer before Carmichael has even finished his investigation, let alone filed a report, but with the constant reporting of a certain geographical region changing hands every day.

A second theme of the book concerns the difference between outward appearances and private realities, and how these things relate to power. At first I didn't understand why so many people in the book were homosexual. I have nothing against homosexuality in literature, but in a book like this, it felt as if the discussion of this was somewhat out of place, particularly in 1949. However, on further consideration (yup, this book's a thinker, people), I've finally realised that this is integral to the ideas of the second theme. Carmichael is in a relationship with his manservant, and at the end of the novel, he is blackmailed into secrecy because of this. David has had a relationship with another man (I think it's a bit odd that this was Lucy's elder brother) during his time in the war, and, although it is not focused on, one can imagine this would not serve him well in a reply to character witnesses in a trial. On the other hand, Normanby, the new Prime Minister, and one of the Farthing Set, has narrowly escaped charges of public indecency (mostly because of his powerful position), and Lady Thirkie has had a long-running affair with her lady's companion. Because of their powerful positions, these two do not need to fear repercussions of their actions as everyone is trained to look the other way. It is Carmichael's realisation of this that makes him assent to keeping quiet, that leads back to the first theme with the statement that this is how good men are silenced.

Overall, I think this is an intelligent book that is aimed at making the reader think about the 'small' injustices that occur, and a warning of how these can lead to extremes such as Nazism. This wasn't the novel I had expected, especially as the science fictional elements were completely nonexistent (there wasn't even a time machine in this one!), and if I'd known, I wouldn't have picked it up. That being said, I'm glad I did. After writing this review, thinking about the themes of the book, and realising why some plot devices were used, I find I am wholly satisfied with the story, though, while reading it, I didn't feel this way. It makes me quite angry in the way that watching the news often does, and I'm glad this was set in an alternate 1949, as it allowed some distance from the events that illustrated the themes. However, it would take very little effort to translate Jew to, for example, Muslim, and apply the same themes. When looking up the book on wikipedia, I found out that there are two sequels. I don't plan on reading them, simply because, for me, the story is finished, the point is made.

If I've inspired you to buy Farthing by Jo Walton, click here to buy it from Mighty Ape.  If you do, I get credit so I can buy more pretty things to tell you about!

Kaylee's Outfit Is For Sale!

Who wants to get me an early birthday/Christmas present?  That's one expensive grease monkey outfit!  I love Kaylee, she's my favourite Firefly character (followed closely by Wash and Mal).  I think I see something of what I hope I'd be like in a similar situation - still girly and a little naïve, but an expert in something that makes her totally indispensable to the crew.  Plus, she gets Sean Maher in the end, and who wouldn't want that?  ;-)

Links of the Week: III

Sorry this is late, I'm trying to post these every Saturday, but Mum's been home on leave and so we've been having fun doing... housework :-( but also :-)

Recipe:  Kaiserschmarrn at SBS

My good friend Jonathan cooked kaiserschmarrn a few times while I was living at Toad Hall in Canberra (yes that is its real name, no there are no badgers or rats...  okay, there might be rats, but only if someone were to leave their uneaten lunch in their room...) and if he had cooked it every night I would have eaten it every night without any self control.  Luckily, he didn't, and I didn't explode.  Now I have this recipe...  I can't look at it *the light, it burns us*.

Fashion:  Vintage Sewing Books at Colette Patterns

This is such a great site.  At first I thought I was simply signing up to a feed that would let me know when they post a new free pattern (like this one and this one), but I have been learning all about the different techniques used in dressmaking, properties of different fabrics, and famous and/or fabulous designers, both modern and retro.  Do sign up if you think you might be even a little interested (money back refund upon request if you don't like it, promise!).  PS:  Damn I just found a whole bunch of craft blog links at the bottom of the page.  There goes my afternoon/week.

Environment/Craft:  Plarn at My Recycled Bags

What a great idea I had on the way home from the supermarket the other day - take plastic supermarket bags and crochet them to make strong reusable shopping bags and minimise the guilt of forgetting to bring my own bags now and then.  Then I found out it had already been done and this technique is so much better than I had thought up.  Still a great idea, just not original, and done better by someone else!

Science Fiction and Science:  Science Future at Escape Pod

If you're not convinced about signing up for this podcast, this very short article should do it.  If not the article, then the two very apropriate quotations bookending it.  If you're still not convinced... then...  I don't know, just do as I tell you, minions.

Food and Culture:  Matariki at Foodlovers

As I write this there is still time to rock on up to this event if they're still taking registrations (and if you're not like me living across the other side of Auckland like a chump).  Maori and Pacific Island food has always interested me, but I've never tried cooking any...  Now, where do I buy puha?

Book Review - Connie Willis' Doomsday Book

I know I don't usually post this kind of thing, but I found I had a lot to say about this month’s Women in Science Fiction Book Club book – Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book - so I thought I would make a blog post about it where I can prattle on as I like without filling up the forum.  PLEASE NOTE I have put a lot of spoilers in this (and a lot of words), so if you haven’t read the book and would like to, and you like surprises when you read, then stop reading now until you’ve read the book.  I mean it, go read the book.  Read it?  Good, now let’s begin (Click on the image to show my review).

I hadn't heard of Connie Willis prior to signing up for the book club, and now that I've read this book, I intend to go on to read the rest of the books/stories set in the same universe.  As a reminder, this book focuses on two time periods and two intertwined stories as Kivrin, a young anthropology and archaeology student travels back in time to study the Middle Ages and the people who she leaves in our near future deal with the outbreak of a deadly influenza epidemic.  The confusion of the epidemic and the illness of the 'net' technician leads to Kivrin being stranded in the wrong year - the year the Black Death arrived in the small village she is studying.  While she attempts to protect those she has come to care about and to change the past, in the future Mr Dunworthy and Dr Ahrens attempt to discover the origin of the influenza and thus a cure, while trying to convince the acting head of the university department to go back and collect Kivrin.  The book is formatted as a chapter or two in a row in each time period - I found just enough happened in each time period to make me need to know more before switching to the other time period.  This really kept me motivated to read on.

The book club that I signed up to that recommended this book focuses on science fiction written by women.  I found this book to be a brilliant cross-genre story with elements from science fiction (the time travel technology is based upon and limited by a lot of complex physics, the medical technology) and historical fiction (the entire plot for Kivrin once she arrives in the Middle Ages).  I think the two genres were equally paired, though the science fictional influence was subtle.  For example, everything that occurred regarding the influenza outbreak, including the back story of a contagion outbreak in the recent past, had a technological basis.  One commenter made the point that none of the characters used mobile phones, instead relying on landline-based technology, and that this made it difficult to believe the setting was in the future, however I felt this omission made the setting very close to our own time (particularly because this book was written over 10 years and published in 1992).

At times I preferred the near future chapters, and at other times (particularly as the story progressed) I enjoyed the past chapters more.  Luckily (unlike the forum moderator) I had a book whose cover only hinted that Kivrin had been sent to the wrong time period, so, although I suspected it fairly early on, I was still shocked when my suspicions were confirmed.

I don't know enough about physics to judge how convincing the time travel aspect was, but I appreciated the fact that there were limitations, inconsistencies, variables, and that a whole lot of work had to go into the preparation for a trip. I thought this was very realistic, especially as the book is set in the not too distant future. I can imagine that time travel technology would be fairly complicated, and in this story, though it is well established as a research tool, it seems to be a relatively new tech.

I have a degree in anthropology and archaeology, so I found the motivation of all of the characters to be really convincing.  Kivrin seems to be a post graduate student and is naïve, eager to learn, and so motivated; just like most post graduate students she bites off far more than she can chew (I particularly loved that Kivrin had prepared and learned to speak all of the languages thought to be important, but that she couldn't understand anyone - one of my pet peeves is that we are so sure how ancient and historical languages were spoken, without first hand evidence).  Gilchrist reminded me of early archaeologists who cared little for anything other than the fmae and glory associated with the discovery of new artifacts and sites (while letting others do all of the work for them), while Dunworthy is the more cautious and careful kind who cares deeply for the safety and wellbeing of his students. I found myself identifying mainly with Dunworthy due to his reservations, his cautious and concerned demeanor, and his inability to give up on Kivrin.

Did I cry?  Oh yes, I cried when I thought Bahdri was going to die, I cried when I realised that black death had come to the village despite Kivrin's efforts, I cried when the little girls died, I cried when I found out Dr Ahrens died (so much that I had to put the book down), I would have cried when Roche died, but I so emotionally drained! I also cried at the end. This might make me seem like a crier, but honestly, I don't think I have ever cried so much in a book! This really surprised me because in the beginning, I found the story extremely difficult to get into and throughout the book found the characters quite clinical and not at all personal. It was only when people started dying that I realised that the story and the characters had such an impact on me.  This is the main reason I want to read the other books in this universe.

Lastly, the tension and quiet suspense that built up over the course of the story was great.  Until Dunworthy and Colin actually arrived in the Middle Ages, I was certain they wouldn't end up going back, that something would go wrong - Dunworthy would realise that Colin had jumped into the net and cancel the drop, for example. Until they actually found Kivrin I didn't think they would, that she would have already left for Scotland. I was convinced to the point that I didn't realise the boy in the kirkyard was Kivrin until after Dunworthy did.  But the one thing I would change about the book would be that we are left not knowing where the hell the head of the department is and why on earth noone could get in contact with him. It was a great plot device, but not tying that up at the end made it feel like it was JUST a plot device.

Spoiler-free again now.  To sum up, I strongly suggest reading this book if you like time travel, anthropology and archaeology, science fiction and health, or just a good adventure story about people struggling against forces outside of their control that does not have a necessarily 'happy ever after' ending (that is not a spoiler as there are so many possible endings that fit that criteria).