Island in the Sea of Time is a fascinating what if novel that asks the reader to imagine life for a group of 20th century Americans thrown back in time to long before the birth of Christ, into a world of polytheism, tribalism, bronze weapons, brutal wars and slavery.
One of the main characters is black, female and gay and also a military officer. Other reviewers I’ve perused seem to think Stirling spends too much time obsessing over Marian’s self-dialogue. I disagree. An intelligent gay black female military officer’s self-actualization would probably be pretty close to what Stirling writes on behalf of Alston, in my opinion.
Another character I found fascinating was Dr. Alice Hong, the S&M freak who takes advantage of the fact that she no longer lives in a world with central authority. I know some people like her who, in the absence of Rule of Law, would go hog wild, indulging their dark, animalistic passions at every opportunity. There are lots of humans like Hong floating around with no moral compass to guide them on their journey through life.
The research that went into Island in the Sea of Time appears to be meticulous. Two of the themes running through the tale that kept me reading were the 20th century American conservative prejudice towards gays and the 20th century group of “progressive†eco-idiots. Pamela Lisketter and her misguided buffoons’ misadventures and ultimate horrific demise were at once interesting and repulsive. I’ll leave other plot developments unmentioned to surprise you, but rest assured there are plenty of twists and turns that will keep you reading.
Island in the Sea of Time is not a kid’s book, and it isn’t written for the squeamish or homophobic. The tendency to jump from character to character on almost every page frustrated me slightly, but other than that I enjoyed Island in the Sea of Time quite a bit. I’ve read through it twice now.
The companion novel Against the Tide of Years is also an entertaining read.
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