From archive (archive) . From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Nov 18 09:39:45 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: THE TIME OF THE FOX by Matthew J. Costello Message-ID: <1991Nov15.204734.5441@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 15 Nov 91 20:47:34 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 53 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com [Moderator's note: Followups directed to rec.arts.sf.written, as will be the practice in general for book reviews in the future--] THE TIME OF THE FOX by Matthew J. Costello A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper Graduate student Jim Tiber wants to use the time machine he's just heard about at Columbia to go back and gather information on whatever or whoever influenced the Beatles to rise from mediocrity to one of the most important musical influences of our time. (This is Tiber's theory, not mine--take up any disagreements with him.) But just as he is about to discover the secret in Hamburg in 1962, he finds himself thrown back in time to Rommel's North Africa campaign. But Rommel isn't losing the way he should be--he's winning! Okay, it's another alternate history story, but even I probably would not have read it if I weren't doing research for someone assembling an annotated list of alternate history stories. First of all, the fact that it's "Time Warrior 1" means that you know ahead of time there will be no resolution, just a set-up for a sequel. And the North African campaign is not a period in history that I have great interest in. The latter meant that I couldn't always follow what the differences were in what was happening, but since the book is obviously aimed at people who know that time period well (Matt Costello used to review games--and may still for all I know) and gamers WOULD know this period, I could live with that. (For example, I could have sworn that Tiber was surprised that Rommel wasn't attacking Tobruk where he was supposed to have lost, but Rommel TOOK Tobruk in our world--and later lost it--so I must have remembered wrong.) What is more difficult to live with is the way the rules seem to bend as the plot requires. The scientists in the present are in a specially shielded building which protects their memories if the past is changed. Yet somehow they can get information about the current present in as well. And though they claim they can't bring people back to the present from the past, they manage to move Tiber around when the plot requires. And even the North Africa campaign gets buried under other plotlines involving another set of time travelers, art thefts, and various other attempts to change history. Unless you're a hard-core Rommel fan, give this one a miss. %T THE TIME OF THE FOX %A Matthew J. Costello %C New York %D November 1990 %I ROC %O paperback, US$4.50 %G ISBN 0-451-45041-8 %P 331pp %S Time Warrior %V 1 Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 20 10:47:39 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: THE TIME OF THE FOX by Matthew J. Costello Message-ID: <1991Nov19.190948.28357@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 19 Nov 91 19:09:48 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 53 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com [Moderator's note: Followups directed to rec.arts.sf.written, as will be the practice in general for book reviews in the future--] THE TIME OF THE FOX by Matthew J. Costello A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper Graduate student Jim Tiber wants to use the time machine he's just heard about at Columbia to go back and gather information on whatever or whoever influenced the Beatles to rise from mediocrity to one of the most important musical influences of our time. (This is Tiber's theory, not mine--take up any disagreements with him.) But just as he is about to discover the secret in Hamburg in 1962, he finds himself thrown back in time to Rommel's North Africa campaign. But Rommel isn't losing the way he should be--he's winning! Okay, it's another alternate history story, but even I probably would not have read it if I weren't doing research for someone assembling an annotated list of alternate history stories. First of all, the fact that it's "Time Warrior 1" means that you know ahead of time there will be no resolution, just a set-up for a sequel. And the North African campaign is not a period in history that I have great interest in. The latter meant that I couldn't always follow what the differences were in what was happening, but since the book is obviously aimed at people who know that time period well (Matt Costello used to review games--and may still for all I know) and gamers WOULD know this period, I could live with that. (For example, I could have sworn that Tiber was surprised that Rommel wasn't attacking Tobruk where he was supposed to have lost, but Rommel TOOK Tobruk in our world--and later lost it--so I must have remembered wrong.) What is more difficult to live with is the way the rules seem to bend as the plot requires. The scientists in the present are in a specially shielded building which protects their memories if the past is changed. Yet somehow they can get information about the current present in as well. And though they claim they can't bring people back to the present from the past, they manage to move Tiber around when the plot requires. And even the North Africa campaign gets buried under other plotlines involving another set of time travelers, art thefts, and various other attempts to change history. Unless you're a hard-core Rommel fan, give this one a miss. %T THE TIME OF THE FOX %A Matthew J. Costello %C New York %D November 1990 %I ROC %O paperback, US$4.50 %G ISBN 0-451-45041-8 %P 331pp %S Time Warrior %V 1 Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com