Eridahn

by Robert F. Young

In 1998, Jim Carpenter drove a time machine for a living, and his last job seemed simple go back in time 74 million years and find out how a human skeleton got mixed up with dinosaur bones -- millions of years before that could possibly happen! But then Jim found two frightened, well-dressed kids hiding from a dinosaur. They claimed to be the prince and princess of Mars! Well, the boy claimed they were. The girl, it seemed, didn't speak to commoners . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 12, 1983

About the author

Robert Franklin Young was a science-fiction author, primarily of short stories over a thirty-year career, plus five novels in the last decade of his life.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eridahn is a delightful tale of time-travel and possible paradox, inter-dimensional aliens, dinosaurs, and kidnapped Martian royalty. It's an expanded version of a novelette from If Magazine that appeared in 1964; the novel was published in 1983, and is set in 1998 where Jim Carpenter operates a time-machine and becomes the protectors of the prince and the princess who won't talk to him because he's a commoner. It would be classified as a YA book these days, but I found it to be a very engaging read, fun and action-packed. The end is a little weird in a Witches of Karres way, but I still don't hesitate to recommend it. It has a Darrell K. Sweet cover showing the time machine disguised as a triceratops.

[Evan Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

While published in 1983 it starts out as a solid three star throwback in the style of 1950s YA by Bradbury or Heinlein.

A cast of Mary Sue characters compromised of a time traveler from Earth and two kidnapped kids from an improbable Mars meet in Cretaceous era Earth.
What follows is their survival story as they evade kidnappers and carnivorous dinosaurs.

What brings it down to a two is the time travel twist where they throw in a little pedophile “romance”. This is covered up with a little convenient ‘ time travel aging ‘ of the girl.. but it still feels creepy.

I just don’t see a 32 year old man who is feeling parental towards a girl..just...eww...switching over to romantic love interest...or for that matter, a grown woman nursing her girlhood crush for 15 years into an adult romantic love interest.

I know..just ruining a wholesome 50s story..but I just was creeped out by the ending as a father.

[Thorby Rudbek · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this, but it's the kind of story that I can't forget; a feel-good tale of crazy time travel with those looped repercussions that just seem right. Robert F Young had a way with his tales that got under my skin and I couldn't ignore....
I must read it again! .... Thorby

[D.M. Dutcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work, but a fun novel about time traveling.

Jim Carpenter is a time traveler. He's not a glamorous one though, because he drives triceratops-shaped tank and does nature holo-photography. One day he is sent back to check on why a human skeleton was found in the fossil record long before it should even exist. He finds two young children, who claim to be Mars royalty. The only thing is, the kids are hunted, and now a very unlikely protector has to save them.

There's a little sweetness to the book that feels rare in modern science fiction. It's obvious Jim is a lonely man who is quite taken with the young kids who fall into his care, and the kids grow to adore him. Some fun invention, too: let's just say Mars isn't where you'd expect it to be, and tricera-tanks and pteradon bombers are neat ideas.

However, it's a little too weird for its own good, and the ending is a rehash of his other works. It would have done better as a short story. It's enjoyable, but he's written better.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another time-travel adventure I recall from my youth, this one featuring a dinosaur-shaped time machine, a curious bit of paradox, and inter-dimensional aliens. I must have grabbed it from the store just because it had a dinosaur on the cover. I would love to have a copy of this book again.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books whose plot haunted me for years. Basically a fun and silly sci-fi novel involving time travel, dinosaurs, martians, kidnapping and romance. I'd forgotten the name and the author and only recently rediscovered it, much to my happiness.