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Time Patrol #1-4 + 6 omnibus
Time Patrol
An anthology of the classic short tales of the Time Patrol, the future organization that insures the continuity of human history. Forget minor hazards like nuclear bombs. The discovery of time travel means that everything we know, anyone we know, might not only vanish, but never even have existed. Against that possibility stand the men and women of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the history they know and protecting the future from fanatics, terrorists, and would-be dictators who would remold the shape of reality to suit their own purposes. But Manse Everard, the Patrol's finest temporal trouble-shooter, bears a heavy burden. The fabric of history is stained with human blood and suffering which he cannot, must not do anything to alleviate, lest his tampering bring disastrous alterations in future time. Everard must leave the horrors of the past in place, lest his tampering or that of the Patrol's opponents, the Exaltationists, erase all hope of a better future, and instead bring about a future filled with greater horrors than any recorded by past history at its darkest and most foul.
Contents:
* Time Patrol [Time Patrol • 1] (1955) / novelette by Poul Anderson: In the mid-20th century Manse Everard answers a job ad and gets hired as a time cop. Time travel will be invented centuries in the future; untold centuries beyond that mankind has evolved into a species called the Danellians, who persuaded the early time travellers to set up the Time Patrol with the aim of protecting all of time from any alteration by interfering temponauts that might risk the Danellians' existence. Manse's first mission is to go back to the late 19th century to correct the circumstances that led to the appearance of an anachronistic item in an old burial mound
* Brave to Be a King [Time Patrol • 2] (1959) •/ novelette by Poul Anderson: A Time Patrol friend of Manse's, Keith, has gone missing in 6th-century Iran, and Keith's wife begs Manse to go find him. Trouble is, Manse has always had the serious hots for the wife, despite her somewhat whiny voice, so it's very tempting not to try very hard -- to assume that Keith has landed on his feet and is happy where he is, sort of thing. But his honourable self knows better. He discovers Keith has been forced to adopt the persona of Cyrus the Great; rescuing him while preserving the course of history proves to be a far more tortuous business than one might imagine.
* Gibraltar Falls [Time Patrol • 3] (1975) / short story by Poul Anderson: What must have been the most remarkable spectacle of known prehistory, the collapse of the isthmus at the Gates of Hercules and the inundation of the basin that is now the Mediterranean Sea by the waters of the Atlantic
* The Only Game in Town [Time Patrol • 4] (1960)/ novelette by Poul Anderson: Manse and a friend manage to head off the Chinese colonization, pre-Columbus, of the Americas.
8 Delenda Est [Time Patrol • 5] (1955) / novelette by Poul Anderson: Manse and a friend return from a holiday in the Pleistocene to their own time, only to discover it considerably changed; clearly there's been an unauthorized change to history. Eventually they trace it to an incident during the Punic Wars, which incident made it possible for Hannibal to defeat Rome. They succeed in reversing the change, but know that in so doing they're wiping out all the people they've befriended in the alternative 1950s. They succeed, though, in saving the laughing-eyed Hoirish colleen whom Manse's friend has fallen for.
* Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks [Time Patrol • 6] (1983) / novella by Poul Anderson: Tells of the Exaltationists, the 23rd-century cult whose obsessive pursuit of hedonism renders them unimpressed by the effects their vicious power-and pleasure-seeking could do to the timestream, including the possibility of their wiping the existence of their own culture out of history. Pummairam, a youth who takes Manse under his wing when first the patrolman arrives in Tyre, engineers much of the tricksterism Manse must use to thwart the baddies.
* The Sorrow of Odin the Goth [Time Patrol • 7] (1983) / novella by Poul Anderson: A history prof, Carl Farness, has allowed himself to become the personification of the god Odin to a 4th-century tribe of Goths; he has also allowed himself to become far too personally involved with the people whom he's there to study, marrying one of them (with the knowledge of his 20th-century wife) and keeping an eye on the usually somewhat messy fates of his children, grandchildren, etc. Manse gets involved because incarnations of gods are the kind of thing that cause history to be altered; in fact, as Carl points out, all kinds of Goth tribes were convinced they'd been visited by various deities, and their stories were usually quickly dismissed as myths, then forgotten. Still, he must extract himself from the situation with care.
* Star of the Sea [Time Patrol • 8] (1991) / novella by Poul An...
Contents:
* Time Patrol [Time Patrol • 1] (1955) / novelette by Poul Anderson: In the mid-20th century Manse Everard answers a job ad and gets hired as a time cop. Time travel will be invented centuries in the future; untold centuries beyond that mankind has evolved into a species called the Danellians, who persuaded the early time travellers to set up the Time Patrol with the aim of protecting all of time from any alteration by interfering temponauts that might risk the Danellians' existence. Manse's first mission is to go back to the late 19th century to correct the circumstances that led to the appearance of an anachronistic item in an old burial mound
* Brave to Be a King [Time Patrol • 2] (1959) •/ novelette by Poul Anderson: A Time Patrol friend of Manse's, Keith, has gone missing in 6th-century Iran, and Keith's wife begs Manse to go find him. Trouble is, Manse has always had the serious hots for the wife, despite her somewhat whiny voice, so it's very tempting not to try very hard -- to assume that Keith has landed on his feet and is happy where he is, sort of thing. But his honourable self knows better. He discovers Keith has been forced to adopt the persona of Cyrus the Great; rescuing him while preserving the course of history proves to be a far more tortuous business than one might imagine.
* Gibraltar Falls [Time Patrol • 3] (1975) / short story by Poul Anderson: What must have been the most remarkable spectacle of known prehistory, the collapse of the isthmus at the Gates of Hercules and the inundation of the basin that is now the Mediterranean Sea by the waters of the Atlantic
* The Only Game in Town [Time Patrol • 4] (1960)/ novelette by Poul Anderson: Manse and a friend manage to head off the Chinese colonization, pre-Columbus, of the Americas.
8 Delenda Est [Time Patrol • 5] (1955) / novelette by Poul Anderson: Manse and a friend return from a holiday in the Pleistocene to their own time, only to discover it considerably changed; clearly there's been an unauthorized change to history. Eventually they trace it to an incident during the Punic Wars, which incident made it possible for Hannibal to defeat Rome. They succeed in reversing the change, but know that in so doing they're wiping out all the people they've befriended in the alternative 1950s. They succeed, though, in saving the laughing-eyed Hoirish colleen whom Manse's friend has fallen for.
* Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks [Time Patrol • 6] (1983) / novella by Poul Anderson: Tells of the Exaltationists, the 23rd-century cult whose obsessive pursuit of hedonism renders them unimpressed by the effects their vicious power-and pleasure-seeking could do to the timestream, including the possibility of their wiping the existence of their own culture out of history. Pummairam, a youth who takes Manse under his wing when first the patrolman arrives in Tyre, engineers much of the tricksterism Manse must use to thwart the baddies.
* The Sorrow of Odin the Goth [Time Patrol • 7] (1983) / novella by Poul Anderson: A history prof, Carl Farness, has allowed himself to become the personification of the god Odin to a 4th-century tribe of Goths; he has also allowed himself to become far too personally involved with the people whom he's there to study, marrying one of them (with the knowledge of his 20th-century wife) and keeping an eye on the usually somewhat messy fates of his children, grandchildren, etc. Manse gets involved because incarnations of gods are the kind of thing that cause history to be altered; in fact, as Carl points out, all kinds of Goth tribes were convinced they'd been visited by various deities, and their stories were usually quickly dismissed as myths, then forgotten. Still, he must extract himself from the situation with care.
* Star of the Sea [Time Patrol • 8] (1991) / novella by Poul An...
765 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
135 people are currently reading
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About the author
Poul Anderson
1,588 books1,085 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
May 1, 2024
"La Patrulla del Tiempo" es un clásico indiscutible de la ciencia ficción y una obra maestra de la ucronía, escrita por Poul Anderson, Gran Maestro Nebula y el autor que más premios Hugo ha obtenido en toda la historia del género. En 1960, Anderson publicaba la que entonces parecía una obra cerrada, Guardianes del Tiempo, en la que se incluían cuatro relatos protagonizados por un carismático patrullero del tiempo, Manse Everard.
Esas historias habían aparecido previamente en la revista The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction y eran, todas ellas, aventuras de una policía del tiempo que debía vigilar el pasado para evitar que la futura existencia de una máquina del tiempo pudiera alterar el devenir de la humanidad.
En la década de 1980 esta serie se amplió con varios títulos adicionales en torno al mismo protagonista, hasta completar la presente versión en un solo volumen.
Desde entonces, esta asombrosa revisión de la historia de la humanidad se ha convertido en un clásico de la ciencia ficción moderna.
Manse Everard es un patrullero del tiempo, uno de los esforzados paladines que protegen la historia de las alteraciones que una máquina del tiempo podría introducir en la incierta matriz del futuro.
En sus diversas aventuras por el pasado, lo vemos intrigando entre los persas de Cambises, Astiages y Ciro en su guerra con Grecia; con los conquistadores españoles y el imperio inca; con los vikingos y godos en la Escandinavia regida por Odín; en la Jerusalén de David y Salomón; en la Germania invadida por Roma y en otros muchos momentos cruciales del pasado de la humanidad.
El resultado es una extensa y general visión de la historia que fue, pudo ser y tal vez será
Con toda esa especulación por parte de los lectores.
"La Patrulla del Tiempo", una de las referencias claves de El Ministerio del Tiempo. Estupenda serie que recomiendo a todos.
Me ha faltado enganche. Es entretenido pero no es un libro que te zampes del tirón. Y en alguna cosilla se nota la época en la que fue escrito.
Acompañas al protagonista descubriendo los viajes temporales y con cada nuevo relato el viaje en el tiempo es un interesante recurso para adentrarse en otras épocas históricas y recorrerla.
Recomendable..✍️🧐🎩
Esas historias habían aparecido previamente en la revista The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction y eran, todas ellas, aventuras de una policía del tiempo que debía vigilar el pasado para evitar que la futura existencia de una máquina del tiempo pudiera alterar el devenir de la humanidad.
En la década de 1980 esta serie se amplió con varios títulos adicionales en torno al mismo protagonista, hasta completar la presente versión en un solo volumen.
Desde entonces, esta asombrosa revisión de la historia de la humanidad se ha convertido en un clásico de la ciencia ficción moderna.
Manse Everard es un patrullero del tiempo, uno de los esforzados paladines que protegen la historia de las alteraciones que una máquina del tiempo podría introducir en la incierta matriz del futuro.
En sus diversas aventuras por el pasado, lo vemos intrigando entre los persas de Cambises, Astiages y Ciro en su guerra con Grecia; con los conquistadores españoles y el imperio inca; con los vikingos y godos en la Escandinavia regida por Odín; en la Jerusalén de David y Salomón; en la Germania invadida por Roma y en otros muchos momentos cruciales del pasado de la humanidad.
El resultado es una extensa y general visión de la historia que fue, pudo ser y tal vez será
Con toda esa especulación por parte de los lectores.
"La Patrulla del Tiempo", una de las referencias claves de El Ministerio del Tiempo. Estupenda serie que recomiendo a todos.
Me ha faltado enganche. Es entretenido pero no es un libro que te zampes del tirón. Y en alguna cosilla se nota la época en la que fue escrito.
Acompañas al protagonista descubriendo los viajes temporales y con cada nuevo relato el viaje en el tiempo es un interesante recurso para adentrarse en otras épocas históricas y recorrerla.
Recomendable..✍️🧐🎩
January 26, 2021
La Patrulla del Tiempo es de esas obras cuya influencia eclipsa a la obra en si, a tal grado que a la gente tiene que recordarsele que de toda esta noción de la historia alternativa Poul Anderson fue uno de sus pioneros. Si bien el padre de los viajes en el tiempo fue Wells, la forma de explorar la historia y de preguntarse más hacia el pasado qué sería diferente si… encontró más ecos en los escritores posteriores. Aunque hoy en día vemos esta idea del viaje en el tiempo por todos lados, en su momento era novedosa y a Anderson debe reconocérsele como uno de sus primeros campeones.
Hay una diferencia entre los relatos y las novelas cortas de esta colección. Los primeros están escritos en estilo muy vivaz, el típico de las revistas de ciencia ficción de la edad de oro. Anderson era muy bueno para detallar la acción, aunque no tanto como por ejemplo Howard. Por otro lado, los personajes quedan un poco a deber. El propio Everard tiene muy poco carácter, poca motivación y nada que cuestione, afirme o soporte su sentido del deber. Sólo tiene una chamba y la hace. Los villanos son similares. Las novelas cortas tienen un poco más de desarrollo, un poco más de motivación y personajes más trabajados, sólo que en todas menos una el personaje principal no es el propio Everard.
Con todo, parece que estas novelas cortas y relatos son la manera en la que Anderson aprovechó para dar clases de historia universal y jugar con ella. Algo que hay que reconocer mucho es que Anderson no se fue por la fácil: no tomó "Las quince batallas decisivas de la historia" y se puso a ver qué habría pasado de haber tenido un resultado diferente. Nada de Maratón o Waterloo. Sólo una historia hace uso de este concepto pero es la excepción y lo hace para pintar un mundo muy, muy diferente (una civilización occidental no latina). Anderson termina así mostrándose como un hombre profundamente culto, destacando detalles que sólo alguien con un gran entusiasmo y conocimiento de ciertos pasajes de la historia entendería. Su propósito es demostrar, como cita Stephen King en el epígrafe de El Instituto, que "los grandes eventos cuelgan de bisagras muy pequeñas". Y así llegamos a la clase de historia, entendiendo cosas pequeñas que habrían cambiado todo. Hay momentos en que este interés académico eclipsa la narración: es particularmente difícil seguir a toda la pista de tribus góticas en la magnífica novela corta del Pesar de Odín y también es complicado con las tribus germánicas de la de Civilis. Fuera de eso, es una experiencia bonita, no demasiado emocionante, pero sí con preguntas buenas para ver qué improbable ha sido la cadena de eventos que nos ha traído hasta aquí.
Hay una diferencia entre los relatos y las novelas cortas de esta colección. Los primeros están escritos en estilo muy vivaz, el típico de las revistas de ciencia ficción de la edad de oro. Anderson era muy bueno para detallar la acción, aunque no tanto como por ejemplo Howard. Por otro lado, los personajes quedan un poco a deber. El propio Everard tiene muy poco carácter, poca motivación y nada que cuestione, afirme o soporte su sentido del deber. Sólo tiene una chamba y la hace. Los villanos son similares. Las novelas cortas tienen un poco más de desarrollo, un poco más de motivación y personajes más trabajados, sólo que en todas menos una el personaje principal no es el propio Everard.
Con todo, parece que estas novelas cortas y relatos son la manera en la que Anderson aprovechó para dar clases de historia universal y jugar con ella. Algo que hay que reconocer mucho es que Anderson no se fue por la fácil: no tomó "Las quince batallas decisivas de la historia" y se puso a ver qué habría pasado de haber tenido un resultado diferente. Nada de Maratón o Waterloo. Sólo una historia hace uso de este concepto pero es la excepción y lo hace para pintar un mundo muy, muy diferente (una civilización occidental no latina). Anderson termina así mostrándose como un hombre profundamente culto, destacando detalles que sólo alguien con un gran entusiasmo y conocimiento de ciertos pasajes de la historia entendería. Su propósito es demostrar, como cita Stephen King en el epígrafe de El Instituto, que "los grandes eventos cuelgan de bisagras muy pequeñas". Y así llegamos a la clase de historia, entendiendo cosas pequeñas que habrían cambiado todo. Hay momentos en que este interés académico eclipsa la narración: es particularmente difícil seguir a toda la pista de tribus góticas en la magnífica novela corta del Pesar de Odín y también es complicado con las tribus germánicas de la de Civilis. Fuera de eso, es una experiencia bonita, no demasiado emocionante, pero sí con preguntas buenas para ver qué improbable ha sido la cadena de eventos que nos ha traído hasta aquí.
February 26, 2018
Si os encontráis este libro en la sección "Ciencia Ficción" de vuestra librería, cambiarlo de lugar y ponerlo en la sección "Historia universal detallada con máquinas del tiempo".
Esta antología es una recopilación de relatos sobre La patrulla del tiempo, una patrulla que defiende la Historia de las alteraciones que pudieran surgir y que cambian nuestro pasado.
Al principio todo muy bonito, acompañas al protagonista descubriendo los viajes temporales pero con cada nuevo relato el viaje en el tiempo es una mera excusa para adentrarse en una época histórica y explicarla al detalle.
He aprendido de hunos, de romanos, de persas, los reyes de allí, los de allá, los conquistadores, las cruzadas...y así una larga lista de nombres. Y sinceramente termina aburriendo.
Me ha faltado más continuidad con el protagonista, un objetivo global que te incite a seguir leyendo y que no sea una simple revisión de distintas épocas históricas.
Poul Anderson demuestra que sabe de historia y tiene todo el mérito del mundo, pero no leas esto con ganas de ciencia ficción porque te va a decepcionar.
Esta antología es una recopilación de relatos sobre La patrulla del tiempo, una patrulla que defiende la Historia de las alteraciones que pudieran surgir y que cambian nuestro pasado.
Al principio todo muy bonito, acompañas al protagonista descubriendo los viajes temporales pero con cada nuevo relato el viaje en el tiempo es una mera excusa para adentrarse en una época histórica y explicarla al detalle.
He aprendido de hunos, de romanos, de persas, los reyes de allí, los de allá, los conquistadores, las cruzadas...y así una larga lista de nombres. Y sinceramente termina aburriendo.
Me ha faltado más continuidad con el protagonista, un objetivo global que te incite a seguir leyendo y que no sea una simple revisión de distintas épocas históricas.
Poul Anderson demuestra que sabe de historia y tiene todo el mérito del mundo, pero no leas esto con ganas de ciencia ficción porque te va a decepcionar.
September 27, 2013
This compilation of Anderson's Time Patrol stories is great. Some reviewers complain that the main character is a little flat or that the plots are fairly predictable - both those complaints are valid - but that misses the point of these stories. These are great counterfactuals. What happens when something goes different at a particular point in time? How can you tell if those are important points in time? What were those times and places like?
The longer pieces were my favorites - Star of the Sea, The Year of Ransom, and the Sorrow of Odin the Goth. Star of the Sea is fascinating because we learn the story of the important character backwards - our Time Patrol heroes keep jumping back in time to learn her story from an earlier perspective. In that way it's a bit like the movie Memento. The Year of Ransom drives home the idea that primitive people are pretty clever even if they don't have our technology/science, and they are underestimated to our hero's peril. The Sorrow of Odin the Goth really sunk me into the era of the story. The details of the story brought it to life.
Well worth the read.
The longer pieces were my favorites - Star of the Sea, The Year of Ransom, and the Sorrow of Odin the Goth. Star of the Sea is fascinating because we learn the story of the important character backwards - our Time Patrol heroes keep jumping back in time to learn her story from an earlier perspective. In that way it's a bit like the movie Memento. The Year of Ransom drives home the idea that primitive people are pretty clever even if they don't have our technology/science, and they are underestimated to our hero's peril. The Sorrow of Odin the Goth really sunk me into the era of the story. The details of the story brought it to life.
Well worth the read.
April 29, 2024
В першому томі зібрані праці, які автор писав впродовж 30 років.
Перші оповідання короткі, в яких автор, грубо але динамічно, намагається передати свою ідею. Персонажі плоскі, слугують суто як елемент руху сюжету. Вже пізніші праці обростають історичним фактажем (але і він не надто надійний), з детальними описами та спробами побудувати взаємовідносини між персонажами. Виглядає досі недостатньо ствердно, щоб герої стали живими, проте, це вже не настільки наївно дитячі тексти.
Про повторюваність сюжетів тут годі щось казати, це майже кожен читач помічає.
Чесно кажучи, навіть не знаю, кому можна радити цю збірку. Що фантастична, що історичні складові - слабкі. Напевне, тут може зіграти ефект ностальгії в людей, які читали щось подібне в юні роки.
Перші оповідання короткі, в яких автор, грубо але динамічно, намагається передати свою ідею. Персонажі плоскі, слугують суто як елемент руху сюжету. Вже пізніші праці обростають історичним фактажем (але і він не надто надійний), з детальними описами та спробами побудувати взаємовідносини між персонажами. Виглядає досі недостатньо ствердно, щоб герої стали живими, проте, це вже не настільки наївно дитячі тексти.
Про повторюваність сюжетів тут годі щось казати, це майже кожен читач помічає.
Чесно кажучи, навіть не знаю, кому можна радити цю збірку. Що фантастична, що історичні складові - слабкі. Напевне, тут може зіграти ефект ностальгії в людей, які читали щось подібне в юні роки.
April 14, 2016
La patrulla del tiempo es un libro esperado por muchos lectores de ciencia ficción, con una edición de lujo para nuestras estanterías y es que los relatos que componen este libro son de gran calidad y no hay duda de porque han conseguido llegar a ser una referencia para la ciencia ficción. Aunque no estoy muy de acuerdo con la promoción asociándolo con la serie de televisión que se inspiró en el libro, para los que les gusta este género, encontrarán una lectura obligatoria y entretenida.
Poul Anderson es uno de los mejores escritores del género no sólo por sus historias sino por su gran narrativa, datos históricos e imaginación.
Ha sido una lectura fascinante y muy adictiva. Si te gustan los viajes en el tiempo y algo de historia, este libro va a ser tu lectura del verano. Lo recomiendo para cuando haya tiempo, para leerlo sin agobio ni prisas y disfrutar de las historias creadas por Poul Anderson sin ningún tipo de interrupción.
Reseña completa en: http://lautopiadecasiopea.blogspot.co...
Poul Anderson es uno de los mejores escritores del género no sólo por sus historias sino por su gran narrativa, datos históricos e imaginación.
Ha sido una lectura fascinante y muy adictiva. Si te gustan los viajes en el tiempo y algo de historia, este libro va a ser tu lectura del verano. Lo recomiendo para cuando haya tiempo, para leerlo sin agobio ni prisas y disfrutar de las historias creadas por Poul Anderson sin ningún tipo de interrupción.
Reseña completa en: http://lautopiadecasiopea.blogspot.co...
August 12, 2017
-Cerca de lo kitsch, sin serlo, respecto al género pero llamativo en cuanto a los cambios de línea temporal sobre los que trabaja.-
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro La patrulla del tiempo (publicación original: The Time Patrol, 1991) conoceremos a Manse Everard, un agente de la Patrulla del Tiempo, organización que se encarga de velar por la protección y regulación del viaje en el tiempo, asegurando que no tengan lugar influencias que puedan cambiar el curso deseado de la historia, pero el deseado por los danelianos, la evolución futura del ser humano. Seremos testigos de su reclutamiento, formación en la Academia y le seguiremos (a él y a otros) en varias de sus misiones que nos llevarán a la Persia de Ciro, a detener a los exploradores mongoles en América del Norte, a la Britannia postromana, a conocer las consecuencias de un final diferente de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, a una Tiro bajo amenaza, al Londres del Blitz y al Perú de los Incas, entre otros lugares (y tiempos). Recopilación en un único volumen de diferentes relatos y novelas cortas al respecto que fueron escritas entre 1955 y 1991.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro La patrulla del tiempo (publicación original: The Time Patrol, 1991) conoceremos a Manse Everard, un agente de la Patrulla del Tiempo, organización que se encarga de velar por la protección y regulación del viaje en el tiempo, asegurando que no tengan lugar influencias que puedan cambiar el curso deseado de la historia, pero el deseado por los danelianos, la evolución futura del ser humano. Seremos testigos de su reclutamiento, formación en la Academia y le seguiremos (a él y a otros) en varias de sus misiones que nos llevarán a la Persia de Ciro, a detener a los exploradores mongoles en América del Norte, a la Britannia postromana, a conocer las consecuencias de un final diferente de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, a una Tiro bajo amenaza, al Londres del Blitz y al Perú de los Incas, entre otros lugares (y tiempos). Recopilación en un único volumen de diferentes relatos y novelas cortas al respecto que fueron escritas entre 1955 y 1991.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
March 20, 2020
Si te gusta la serie ‘El Ministerio del Tiempo’, aquí está el precedente en que se basa, una colección de relatos publicada primero en los años 60 y algunos añadidos posteriormente en los años 80.
El patrullero Mance Everard es contratado como parte de una organización cuyo objetivo es impedir que hechos del pasado lleguen a alterar la realidad presente.
Sin las limitaciones del formato televisivo, el autor trota libre por los campos de la historia y tan pronto nos lleva al Pleistoceno como a las fronteras de Roma asediada por los bárbaros. Vikingos, godos, germanos, conquistadores españoles, la Jerusalén de David y Salomón, estos relatos nos conducen por momentos cruciales de la historia con el hilo conductor del protagonista.
Es un clásico indiscutible de la ciencia ficción, que en muchos momentos se acerca más a la novela histórica, imaginando escenarios apasionantes y variados.
El patrullero Mance Everard es contratado como parte de una organización cuyo objetivo es impedir que hechos del pasado lleguen a alterar la realidad presente.
Sin las limitaciones del formato televisivo, el autor trota libre por los campos de la historia y tan pronto nos lleva al Pleistoceno como a las fronteras de Roma asediada por los bárbaros. Vikingos, godos, germanos, conquistadores españoles, la Jerusalén de David y Salomón, estos relatos nos conducen por momentos cruciales de la historia con el hilo conductor del protagonista.
Es un clásico indiscutible de la ciencia ficción, que en muchos momentos se acerca más a la novela histórica, imaginando escenarios apasionantes y variados.
November 25, 2023
ENGLISH: This book collects all the stories of the guardians of time except one. Four of the first five I had read several times in a Dutch translation of the book Guardians of Time, and it is one of my favorite Anderson novels, after Orbit Unlimited. The other ("The Falls of Gibraltar") I have now read for the first time. This, the shortest story, is proof that Anderson was keeping up with scientific matters, as the discovery of the Zanclian flood dates back to 1972, and this story dates from 1975.
The following two stories were collected in another book (Time Patrolman), which I have read twice in English and liked less, so this time I have skipped them.
The last three stories are the most recent, for they were published between 1988 and 1995. I liked one of them: "The year of the ransom," about the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
ESPAÑOL: Este libro recopila todas las historias de los guardianes del tiempo menos una. Cuatro de las cinco primeras las había leído varias veces en traducción al holandés del libro Guardians of Time, y es una de mis novelas favoritas de Anderson, aunque después de Orbit Unlimited. La otra ("Las cataratas de Gibraltar") la he leído ahora por primera vez. Este cuento, el más corto de todos, es la prueba de que Anderson se mantenía al día en cuestiones científicas, porque el descubrimiento de la inundación zancliense se remonta a 1972, y este cuento data de 1975.
Las dos historias siguientes fueron recopiladas en otro libro (Time Patrolman) que he leído dos veces en inglés y que me gustó menos, por lo que esta vez me las he saltado.
Las tres últimas historias son las más recientes, pues fueron publicadas entre 1988 y 1995. Me gustó una de ellas: "El año del rescate", sobre la conquista española del Imperio Inca.
The following two stories were collected in another book (Time Patrolman), which I have read twice in English and liked less, so this time I have skipped them.
The last three stories are the most recent, for they were published between 1988 and 1995. I liked one of them: "The year of the ransom," about the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
ESPAÑOL: Este libro recopila todas las historias de los guardianes del tiempo menos una. Cuatro de las cinco primeras las había leído varias veces en traducción al holandés del libro Guardians of Time, y es una de mis novelas favoritas de Anderson, aunque después de Orbit Unlimited. La otra ("Las cataratas de Gibraltar") la he leído ahora por primera vez. Este cuento, el más corto de todos, es la prueba de que Anderson se mantenía al día en cuestiones científicas, porque el descubrimiento de la inundación zancliense se remonta a 1972, y este cuento data de 1975.
Las dos historias siguientes fueron recopiladas en otro libro (Time Patrolman) que he leído dos veces en inglés y que me gustó menos, por lo que esta vez me las he saltado.
Las tres últimas historias son las más recientes, pues fueron publicadas entre 1988 y 1995. Me gustó una de ellas: "El año del rescate", sobre la conquista española del Imperio Inca.
August 15, 2016
Esta antología es un libro imprescindible para cualquier amante de la ciencia ficción y sobre todo, de la historia. Lo más destacado de él no es su protagonista, que es un estereotipo más, sino su base histórica. Cuando leemos o vemos narraciones sobre viajes en el tiempo, siempre suelen tocar relatos sobre personajes tan conocidos como Julio César o Colón y épocas como la Inglaterra Victoriana o la Guerra de Independencia de Estados Unidos, por eso me ha llamado la atención que Continuar leyendo
June 10, 2012
As with any body of work spanning nearly 50 years, Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories start with some sense of feeling dated, but grow deeper and deeper with each reading. This is my fourth or fifth reading of some of the stories, and I still like them as much as ever!
August 2, 2010
Collected herein are the nine stories -- one is of short-novel length and most of the rest are novelettes/novellas -- in Anderson's famous series; missing is the 1990 novel The Shield of Time, but this is already a very long book: 458 pages may not seem so much, but the pages are large and the type is small, and a lot of the prose is pretty soporific, lurching haphazardly between a sort of relentless drab utilitarianism, an affected cod-epic poesy, and a clumsy impressionism. I recall reading some of this material in the very much earlier (and shorter) collection Guardians of Time (1960), 'way 'way 'way back when, but, though I recall it being surprisingly dull -- for this reader at least, it's quite difficult to make a time-travel story dull -- I don't recall the writing being quite so rotten. Maybe part of the dullness is that, while Anderson gives us great slodges of political and military history, there's almost zero evocation of the various ages in which the stories are set. Since there's no real sensawunda either -- the time cops ride around on their sort-of-motorbikes in a very business-as-usual way -- and since it's difficult to care too much about the fates of characters who are, with very rare exceptions, little more than named cyphers . . . well, I kept glancing at the copy of Robert Cowley's The Collected What If? (2005) on my shelves and wondering if I'd have more fun reading that instead.
What of the stories themselves? "Time Patrol" (1955) is not much more than a sort of setter-upper for the series. In the mid-20th century Manse Everard answers a job ad and gets hired as a time cop. Time travel will be invented centuries in the future; untold centuries beyond that mankind has evolved into a species called the Danellians, who persuaded the early time travellers to set up the Time Patrol with the aim of protecting all of time from any alteration by interfering temponauts that might risk the Danellians' existence. Manse's first mission is to go back to the late 19th century to correct the circumstances that led to the appearance of an anachronistic item in an old burial mound; the case has baffled even Sherlock Holmes (unnamed, but clearly identified through description). It's easy to get the impression that Anderson's initial aim was to make Everard a sort of time-travelling Holmes -- he gives him the pipe to go with the role -- but changed his mind. As it is, all through the series of tales there are offhand references to matters Holmesian. Manse earns the right to be an Unattached Agent of the Patrol: rather than being limited to any particular era, he can roam the timeways at will and with a considerable degree of autonomy.
The second tale, "Brave to Be a King" (1959), is easily the best. A Time Patrol friend of Manse's, Keith, has gone missing in 6th-century Iran, and Keith's wife begs Manse to go find him. Trouble is, Manse has always had the serious hots for the wife, despite her somewhat whiny voice, so it's very tempting not to try very hard -- to assume that Keith has landed on his feet and is happy where he is, sort of thing. But his honourable self knows better. He discovers Keith has been forced to adopt the persona of Cyrus the Great; rescuing him while preserving the course of history proves to be a far more tortuous business than one might imagine. What makes this story so good is that two of the characters -- Keith and his 20th-century wife Cynthia -- are actual characters, and for once Anderson has sufficient understanding of them that, rather than make their reunion at story's end a joyous affair, he shows Keith having second thoughts and more about having given up a life of constant challenge and a wife who was a true companion (not to mention the harem of which she was a part) in order to spend the rest of his days in a cramped Manhattan apartment with ghastly decor and a wife with a whiny voice.
"Gibraltar Falls" (1975) is the shortest piece in the book, and the worst. Anderson wanted to show us what must have been the most remarkable spectacle of known prehistory, the collapse of the isthmus at the Gates of Hercules and the inundation of the basin that is now the Mediterranean Sea by the waters of the Atlantic, but didn't really bother constructing a story to go with it. In "The Only Game in Town" (1960) Manse and a friend manage to head off the Chinese colonization, pre-Columbus, of the Americas. In "Delenda Est" (1955), another fairly good entry, Manse and a friend return from a holiday in the Pleistocene to their own time, only to discover it considerably changed; clearly there's been an unauthorized change to history. Eventually they trace it to an incident during the Punic Wars, which incident made it possible for Hannibal to defeat Rome. They succeed in reversing the change, but know that in so doing they're wiping out all the people they've befriended in the alternative 1950s. They succeed, though, in saving the laughing-eyed Hoirish colleen whom Manse's friend has fallen for.
"Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" (1983) is set in Tyre during the time of Solomon and Hiram and sees the introduction of the Exaltationists, the 23rd-century cult whose obsessive pursuit of hedonism renders them unimpressed by the effects their vicious power-and pleasure-seeking could do to the timestream, including the possibility of their wiping the existence of their own culture out of history. The story is held together by the character of Pummairam, a youth who takes Manse under his wing when first the patrolman arrives in Tyre, and who engineers much of the tricksterism Manse must use to thwart the baddies. In "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" (1983) Manse for once takes something of a back seat. Here a history prof, Carl Farness, has allowed himself to become the personification of the god Odin to a 4th-century tribe of Goths; he has also allowed himself to become far too personally involved with the people whom he's there to study, marrying one of them (with the knowledge of his 20th-century wife) and keeping an eye on the usually somewhat messy fates of his children, grandchildren, etc. Manse gets involved because incarnations of gods are the kind of thing that cause history to be altered; in fact, as Carl points out, all kinds of Goth tribes were convinced they'd been visited by various deities, and their stories were usually quickly dismissed as myths, then forgotten. Still, he must extract himself from the situation with care.
"Star of the Sea" is, I suppose, technically a short novel, but there have been plenty of stories published as full-length novels that have been shorter than this. (Certainly seemed so, anyway . . .) Europe in the 1st century, and various peoples, led by the likes of Civilis, are rebelling against corrupt Roman rule -- with the violence continuing even after it becomes clear that an honourable peace could be struck. A major factor keeping them at war is the zeal of a visionary/prophetess called Veleda, who for reasons unknown has had a far greater and longer influence in a revealed timeline than she had in the known history of the period. Manse and a historian called Floris, who becomes his first real love, manage to sort out the situation.
Finally, The Year of the Ransom (1988), published originally as a standalone illustrated volume, is a prequel to The Shield of Time, featuring, as well as Manse, that novel's heroine Wanda Tamberley. Here her Uncle Steve, living among Pizarro's brutal conquistadors at the time of the ransoming of Atahuallpa, is attacked by the Exaltationists and then abducted into a very distant past by a quick-witted Spanish soldier who believes him to be a demon. Manse and Wanda to the rescue, of course.
At an early moment in the story "Time Patrol" Anderson casually sideswipes the pretensions of Heinlein's "All You Zombies" and Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself: "You could not be your own mother, for instance, because of sheer genetics. If you went back and married your former father, the children would be different, none of them you, because each would have only half your chromosomes" (p7). And there are some moderately elegant avoidances of time-paradox issues:
In the case of a missing man, you were not required to search for him just because a record somewhere said you had done so. But how else could you stand a chance of finding him? You might possibly go back and thereby change events so that you did find him after all -- in which case the report you filed would "always" have recorded your success, and you alone would know the "former" truth. It could get very messed up. No wonder the Patrol was fussy, even about small changes which would not affect the main pattern. (p38)
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 came near failing. Only the energy and genius of Lenin pulled it through. What if you traveled to the nineteenth century and quietly, harmlessly prevented Lenin's parents from ever meeting each other? Whatever else the Russian Empire later became, it would not be the Soviet Union, and the consequences of that would pervade all history afterward. You, pastward of the change, would still be there; but returning futureward, you'd find a totally different world, a world in which you yourself were probably never born. You'd exist, but as an effect without a cause, thrown up into existence by that anarchy which is at [time's:] foundation. (p420)
And some that are, er, less elegant:
Don't ask me why they weren't "always" wiped out; why this is the first time we came back from the far past to find a changed future. I don't understand the mutable-time paradoxes. We just did, that's all. (p113)
Among my favourite phrases were these:
Everard finished a night's sleep and a breakfast which Deirdre's eyes had made miserable by standing on deck as they came in to the private pier. ("Delenda Est")
The floor had been given a deep-blue covering that responded slightly to footfalls, like living muscles. (The Year of the Ransom)
An ongoing irritation with the text, aside from the problems I have with the writing style, as mentioned above, is a frequent palavering about the difficulty the English language, like all other ordinary languages, has with the tenses required to talk about events along timelines -- like those of era-hopping Time Patrollers -- that don't match the world's standard timeline. Often enough someone will interrupt their own narrative to bewail the difficulty they're having expressing past and future in English, and what a good thing it is that the Time Patrollers' own invented language, "Temporal", has extra tenses to deal with this sort of stuff. The trouble is, it's baloney: yes, occasionally writers of time-travel stories have to choose their words carefully, but it isn't a major problem, and in a milieu where time travel was common listeners would have even less difficulty understanding what was going on. And, just to cope with those rare cases where there might be difficulties of comprehension, people would soon enough invent ways of getting around them -- in effect, would introduce those new tenses to their native tongue. They wouldn't have to learn a whole new blasted language to deal with the problem. (Of course, there are other good reason why Time Patrollers from different cultures and eras should have a common language to use; my point is that the tenses problem isn't one of those reasons, yet Anderson is tiresomely insistent that it is.)
I'd initially planned to read The Shield of Time immediately after this book, but in the event I couldn't face it. I decided to have a break from Anderson for a while. My deadline for this essay is fast approaching, though, so I can't put off The Shield of Time too much longer. Gulp.
May 27, 2020
Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.
June 27, 2016
2.5/5.0
February 27, 2021
Те відчуття, коли з цієї книги дізнаєшся про історичні події більше, ніж за роки навчання... не буду казати де😼
July 14, 2021
Смачний НФ, історико-пригодницький борщ. Густо, пізнавально, трохи однотипно за сюжетом. Читати з перервами. Єдиний недолік - супер обкладинка. Не люблю їх
February 20, 2015
-Cerca de lo kitsch, sin serlo, respecto al género pero llamativo en cuanto a los cambios de línea temporal sobre los que trabaja.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Manse Everard es un agente de la Patrulla del Tiempo, organización que se encarga de velar por la protección y regulación del viaje en el tiempo, asegurando que no tengan lugar influencias que puedan cambiar el curso deseado de la Historia, pero el deseado por los danelianos, la evolución futura del ser humano. Seremos testigos de su reclutamiento, formación en la Academia y le seguiremos (a él y a otros) en varias de sus misiones que nos llevarán a la Persia de Ciro, a detener a los exploradores mongoles en América del Norte, a la Britannia postromana, a conocer las consecuencias de un final diferente de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, a una Tiro bajo amenaza, al Londres del Blitz y al Perú de los Incas, entre otros lugares (y tiempos). Recopilación en un único volumen de diferentes relatos y novelas cortas al respecto que fueron escritas entre 1955 y 1991.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Manse Everard es un agente de la Patrulla del Tiempo, organización que se encarga de velar por la protección y regulación del viaje en el tiempo, asegurando que no tengan lugar influencias que puedan cambiar el curso deseado de la Historia, pero el deseado por los danelianos, la evolución futura del ser humano. Seremos testigos de su reclutamiento, formación en la Academia y le seguiremos (a él y a otros) en varias de sus misiones que nos llevarán a la Persia de Ciro, a detener a los exploradores mongoles en América del Norte, a la Britannia postromana, a conocer las consecuencias de un final diferente de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, a una Tiro bajo amenaza, al Londres del Blitz y al Perú de los Incas, entre otros lugares (y tiempos). Recopilación en un único volumen de diferentes relatos y novelas cortas al respecto que fueron escritas entre 1955 y 1991.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
June 15, 2017
Una sola estrella por ser un ladrillo insufrible de 700 páginas.
September 13, 2021
Una colección de historias muy entretenida sobre viajes en el tiempo, salvo el de Estrella de Mar, que se me hizo un poco pesado, el resto me han gustado mucho, y han envejecido bastante bien.
February 26, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in May 2006.
The Time Patrol stories of Poul Anderson are classics of the science fiction genre, dealing with the efforts of the eponymous group to maintain the status quo of history against the accidental or deliberate manipulations of other time travellers. This book, sharing the name of the original story which began the series, collects them all (and it is not to be confused with an earlier volume, also called Time Patrol, which contains only the first two or three stories).
The central character in the stories is Time Patrol agent Manse Everard, who is "unattached" - basically, a troubleshooter who can visit any time and place in order to sort out serious problems. (Most Time Patrol agents work in a single milieu, either as researchers studying the period or as officials regulating the activities of time travellers.) Apart from the first story, which is about Everard's recruitment, the basic plot of the remaining stories is simple and consistent: some problem requires Everard's intervention at a particular time and date.
Though the stories were written over a period of five decades and though they vary wildly in length (between about 30 and 160 pages, as reprinted here), they are very similar to each other. Anderson doesn't quite make the different periods and locations all that distinct (though having several stories set just outside the borders of the Roman Empire doesn't really help with this). Everard also remains pretty much the same through the series, maybe a little more world-weary, but basically an action hero. Like many long running series of self-contained stories, the Time Patrol tales work better in relatively small doses rather than by reading them all the way through in one volume.
Given these obvious flaws, why is Time Patrol worth reading, and why are the stories important in the development of the genre? For one thing, there is one story in the series which really stands out, which would be a classic of the genre even without the rest. Delenda Est has Everard returning from a vacation on a base in the prehistoric past to his own time (the mid twentieth century) only to discover that everything has changed. In what is effectively a parallel world, he has to work out what pivotal event has been altered, and then decide if he is morally able to destroy an entire new civilization in order to bring back his own familiar time line (or alternatively destroy the lives of all those living in his own timeline to save the new future). This single story is one of the best of all those ever written about time travel.
For the other stories, the point of this series is really the introduction of adventure to time travel, and particularly to stories involving time travel paradoxes. The fates of nations, of the godlike Danellians from Earth's far future (the beings who set up the patrol to preserve their existence) rest on Everard's capable shoulders: he is a hero who can think as well as act. In the original time travel story, Wells' The Time Machine, the use of time travel is to be a mechanism allowing the main character to see the far future (which is, of course, at least partly a reflection on Wells' present); the machine itself has very little part to play in the story. It is like the visions in The House on the Borderland, or the mental link to the future in Last and First Men: the point is the vision itself, not the mechanism by which it becomes available to the protagonist. Stories of time travel to the future tend to be like this in tone, and it is perhaps the introduction of the possibility of paradox with travel to the past which makes the idea work better as the background of a thriller. (The actual introduction of the famous grandfather paradox came as late as 1947, and even then in stories unlikely to be read by the mainstream English language science fiction fan: French genre fiction, with the exception of Jules Verne, is still considered pretty obscure.) Anderson joined other American writers of his time such as Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov in bringing adventure to mainstream time travel fiction (The Door Into Summer and The End of Eternity are approximately contemporary with the earliest Time Patrol stories); Anderson's stories are the most epic of these as adventures.
Delenda Est is a must read for any science fiction fan. The rest are interesting in small enough doses, though a bit too similar to each other to make the omnibus a pleasure. So I would recommend seeking out other collections which contain one or more of the stories along with others, rather than investing in the omnibus.
The Time Patrol stories of Poul Anderson are classics of the science fiction genre, dealing with the efforts of the eponymous group to maintain the status quo of history against the accidental or deliberate manipulations of other time travellers. This book, sharing the name of the original story which began the series, collects them all (and it is not to be confused with an earlier volume, also called Time Patrol, which contains only the first two or three stories).
The central character in the stories is Time Patrol agent Manse Everard, who is "unattached" - basically, a troubleshooter who can visit any time and place in order to sort out serious problems. (Most Time Patrol agents work in a single milieu, either as researchers studying the period or as officials regulating the activities of time travellers.) Apart from the first story, which is about Everard's recruitment, the basic plot of the remaining stories is simple and consistent: some problem requires Everard's intervention at a particular time and date.
Though the stories were written over a period of five decades and though they vary wildly in length (between about 30 and 160 pages, as reprinted here), they are very similar to each other. Anderson doesn't quite make the different periods and locations all that distinct (though having several stories set just outside the borders of the Roman Empire doesn't really help with this). Everard also remains pretty much the same through the series, maybe a little more world-weary, but basically an action hero. Like many long running series of self-contained stories, the Time Patrol tales work better in relatively small doses rather than by reading them all the way through in one volume.
Given these obvious flaws, why is Time Patrol worth reading, and why are the stories important in the development of the genre? For one thing, there is one story in the series which really stands out, which would be a classic of the genre even without the rest. Delenda Est has Everard returning from a vacation on a base in the prehistoric past to his own time (the mid twentieth century) only to discover that everything has changed. In what is effectively a parallel world, he has to work out what pivotal event has been altered, and then decide if he is morally able to destroy an entire new civilization in order to bring back his own familiar time line (or alternatively destroy the lives of all those living in his own timeline to save the new future). This single story is one of the best of all those ever written about time travel.
For the other stories, the point of this series is really the introduction of adventure to time travel, and particularly to stories involving time travel paradoxes. The fates of nations, of the godlike Danellians from Earth's far future (the beings who set up the patrol to preserve their existence) rest on Everard's capable shoulders: he is a hero who can think as well as act. In the original time travel story, Wells' The Time Machine, the use of time travel is to be a mechanism allowing the main character to see the far future (which is, of course, at least partly a reflection on Wells' present); the machine itself has very little part to play in the story. It is like the visions in The House on the Borderland, or the mental link to the future in Last and First Men: the point is the vision itself, not the mechanism by which it becomes available to the protagonist. Stories of time travel to the future tend to be like this in tone, and it is perhaps the introduction of the possibility of paradox with travel to the past which makes the idea work better as the background of a thriller. (The actual introduction of the famous grandfather paradox came as late as 1947, and even then in stories unlikely to be read by the mainstream English language science fiction fan: French genre fiction, with the exception of Jules Verne, is still considered pretty obscure.) Anderson joined other American writers of his time such as Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov in bringing adventure to mainstream time travel fiction (The Door Into Summer and The End of Eternity are approximately contemporary with the earliest Time Patrol stories); Anderson's stories are the most epic of these as adventures.
Delenda Est is a must read for any science fiction fan. The rest are interesting in small enough doses, though a bit too similar to each other to make the omnibus a pleasure. So I would recommend seeking out other collections which contain one or more of the stories along with others, rather than investing in the omnibus.
September 17, 2022
Історична наукова фантастика про альтернативні історії і подорожі у часі. Колись це було захоплюючою пригодою для Ігоря у 12-14 років. Зараз читати важко без гумору, бо багато історичних ляпів)) але поставлю на старих сантиментах 4/5
May 9, 2021
Патруль Часу-збірник оповідань, які обєднані єдиним сюжетом про людей, які як це не було б очевидно, патрулюють час і можливі наслідки зміни подій. Книга переносить у різні епохи-Римська імперія, період готів на території України, Вавилон, завоювання Америки конкістадорами... Попри досить класний опис епох, автор концентрується на людях, їх вчинках;розумінні, що нема доброго/поганого вибору,а просто є вчинки які потрібно зробити
February 20, 2022
Люблю історії про мандри в часі, а тому кожного разу підходжу до них із пересторогою: ану ж буде розчарування? Тим паче серія про Патруль часу почалася майже 70 років тому, відтоді було вже багато всякого-різного, може бути просто не цікаво.
Але цього разу побоювання були марні.
Передусім сподобалась сама концепція мандрів у часі, яка загалом доволі близька до тої, що використовується у Докторі Хто (цікаво, чи його творці надихалися Андерсоном). Суть така: дрібні зміни в минулому не вплинуть на майбутнє - тканина часу сама вирівняється, як пружина. Навіть якщо вбити свого пращура, то все одно народишся, просто твій геном збереться з інших відтинків ДНК. Однак деякі моменти змінювати не можна. Андерсон це називає «вузлові моменти», Доктор Хто – «фіксовані точки».
З Доктором Хто Патруль часу поєднує не тільки механіка, але й призначення подорожей в часі: дослідження минулого і намагання захистити його від тих, хто прагне втрутитись. І це, власне, другий важливий плюс циклу. Враховуючи, що йдеться про високі технології, легко було б скоритися спокусі і перенести персонажів у якесь майбутнє. Але біда майбутнього у тому, що ніхто його насправді не знає, і є певний смуток від того, що 2015 рік вже давно минув, а в нас досі нема ані летючих автівок, ані самошнурувальних черевиків. Андерсон це розуміє, тому зосереджується на минулому - а там же і справді є, що подосліджувати.
І є, де наробити помилок. Не з точки зору автора, маю на увазі, а з точки зору персонажів. Адже, намагаючись виправити помилки в минулому, вони самі часто стають причиною цих помилок. Причиново-наслідкові петлі – це найпоширеніший прийом у Патрулі часу, але Андерсон вводить його не задля свого сюжету. Навпаки – він своїм сюжетом пробує пояснити окремі дивовижні збіги в історії або ж речі, які іншого логічного пояснення не мають. Я, наприклад, майже впевнений, що персонаж «Смутку Одіна гота» став зрештою праобразом Мерліна, хоча про це ніде в тексті не сказано, та й в інтернеті нічого про це я не знайшов.
Навіть американський автор без великих труднощі�� знайшов в історії України мить, яка стала поворотною для всього світу. Але ж хіба вона була така одна? Уявляєте, скільки клопотів Патрулю часу міг би завдати якийсь відчайдух, що спробував би втрутитись в нашу історії в різні роки? Скільки сюжетів це могло б дати і самому Андерсону, і його наслідувачам! Аж навіть прикро, що тепер всіх, хто спробує зробити щось подібне, одразу звинуватять у плагіаті.
Хай там як, а Андерсон вдало вплів свої сюжети у справжню історію, при цьому для подорожей в часі вигадав дуже прості та зручні правила. І головне – спонукав постійно думати: а що, якби?
Перша книга дуже сподобалась. Чекаю на другу.
Але цього разу побоювання були марні.
Передусім сподобалась сама концепція мандрів у часі, яка загалом доволі близька до тої, що використовується у Докторі Хто (цікаво, чи його творці надихалися Андерсоном). Суть така: дрібні зміни в минулому не вплинуть на майбутнє - тканина часу сама вирівняється, як пружина. Навіть якщо вбити свого пращура, то все одно народишся, просто твій геном збереться з інших відтинків ДНК. Однак деякі моменти змінювати не можна. Андерсон це називає «вузлові моменти», Доктор Хто – «фіксовані точки».
З Доктором Хто Патруль часу поєднує не тільки механіка, але й призначення подорожей в часі: дослідження минулого і намагання захистити його від тих, хто прагне втрутитись. І це, власне, другий важливий плюс циклу. Враховуючи, що йдеться про високі технології, легко було б скоритися спокусі і перенести персонажів у якесь майбутнє. Але біда майбутнього у тому, що ніхто його насправді не знає, і є певний смуток від того, що 2015 рік вже давно минув, а в нас досі нема ані летючих автівок, ані самошнурувальних черевиків. Андерсон це розуміє, тому зосереджується на минулому - а там же і справді є, що подосліджувати.
І є, де наробити помилок. Не з точки зору автора, маю на увазі, а з точки зору персонажів. Адже, намагаючись виправити помилки в минулому, вони самі часто стають причиною цих помилок. Причиново-наслідкові петлі – це найпоширеніший прийом у Патрулі часу, але Андерсон вводить його не задля свого сюжету. Навпаки – він своїм сюжетом пробує пояснити окремі дивовижні збіги в історії або ж речі, які іншого логічного пояснення не мають. Я, наприклад, майже впевнений, що персонаж «Смутку Одіна гота» став зрештою праобразом Мерліна, хоча про це ніде в тексті не сказано, та й в інтернеті нічого про це я не знайшов.
Навіть американський автор без великих труднощі�� знайшов в історії України мить, яка стала поворотною для всього світу. Але ж хіба вона була така одна? Уявляєте, скільки клопотів Патрулю часу міг би завдати якийсь відчайдух, що спробував би втрутитись в нашу історії в різні роки? Скільки сюжетів це могло б дати і самому Андерсону, і його наслідувачам! Аж навіть прикро, що тепер всіх, хто спробує зробити щось подібне, одразу звинуватять у плагіаті.
Хай там як, а Андерсон вдало вплів свої сюжети у справжню історію, при цьому для подорожей в часі вигадав дуже прості та зручні правила. І головне – спонукав постійно думати: а що, якби?
Перша книга дуже сподобалась. Чекаю на другу.
August 14, 2011
A nice classic sci-fi book. It is actually a collection of short stories, but they all include the character Manse Everard, an Unattached Agent of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the current timeline of history by thwarting the attempts of those who would try to fashion an alternate future. A fun book, especially if you like history, although I take all the historical "facts" with a grain of salt, because I'm not sure how much was fictionalized for the story, and some of it definitely reflects the author's worldview biases. Despite trying to be "outside of time", this book definitely reflects the attitudes of the time and place where it was produced (late 20th century America). It is fun to drop in on different ancient cultures, and see the emotional drama as Time Patrol agents get involved with the people of history, wrestling with how much suffering they can alleviate without causes undue impacts in history.
April 18, 2013
I thought these were wonderful time travel stories. They were detailed, and authentic. I was appreciative that they weren't predictable in skipping right to popular historical events but rather involved much more subtle and lesser-known historical events and examined the role time guardians might play if such were threatened.
Although I noticed some of the few writing quirks that others have commented about those did not make me fall out of the story. I would rank these stories below only Heinlein's "The Door Into Summer" as the best time travel stories around.
Although I noticed some of the few writing quirks that others have commented about those did not make me fall out of the story. I would rank these stories below only Heinlein's "The Door Into Summer" as the best time travel stories around.
May 7, 2014
The Time Patrol is a collection of related stories. Each can stand alone, all of them include the same character in a central role. I enjoyed Anderson's scope of the stories, but some of the craft of the writing is not as brilliant as his imagination. I recommend this book primarily to fans of old-style science fiction. Fans of Star Trek ought to enjoy this book, although Time Patrol is entirely based on Earth with no off-world travel. Historical elements play a big part of the enjoyment of this book.
September 9, 2016
Se me ha hecho larguísimo. También lo dejé aparcado como tres meses o así pero puff. Las historias, asi como relatos independientes no estan mal, pero creo que el autor quería demostrar que sabía más sobre historia que otra cosa, porque más que ciencia ficción ha sido lección de historia tras otra.
Por otro lado la idea es muy original, y toda la teoría del viaje en el tiempo está muy bien tramada. Le echo en falta burnos personajes, todos son tan planos que aburre. Exceptuando, tal vez, el Errante.
Por otro lado la idea es muy original, y toda la teoría del viaje en el tiempo está muy bien tramada. Le echo en falta burnos personajes, todos son tan planos que aburre. Exceptuando, tal vez, el Errante.
January 10, 2017
I must admit, I'm totally new in the science fiction genre but when I saw this book in the store I just bought it without knowledge. What a good surprised, Manse Everard is a really well made character and his tales are mostly interesting (maybe I found boring one of them) but I had a great experience reading this adventures of the time patrol and to be honest I feel like there should be more about it! I would like to read a real end for Manse Everard
August 20, 2017
3.5 Se va desinflando poco a poco, pero aún así es un libro muy bueno. Me gustan más los primeros relatos, más antiguos en la escritura de Anderson, pero también más frescos y menos cargados de esa visión occidental y antropocéntrica del mundo (especialmente del mundo antiguo). En algunos relatos se pasa de infodump (aunque entiendo que no todo el mundo tiene por qué conocer los avances y retrocesos de Roma por Europa y su contexto de guerras internas, por ejemplo).
September 26, 2014
Poul Anderson is one of my favorite authors, and this is another excellent yarn. It is a time travel story, and in my humble opion, no one writes them better. As well, Anderson's prose delights. Without resorting to an excess of obscure vocabulary or difficult structure, his writing is still dense and rich with meaning.
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