Publishers Weekly
McDevitt (Seeker) avoids flashy action scenes in this tale of two friends using a time machine to take a grand tour of history. When Adrian “Shel” Shelbourne's physicist father disappears and leaves behind a time-travel device, Shel and his friend Dave Dryden, a language expert, search for Shel's father in Galileo's Italy, Selma during the civil rights marches and other famous times and places. Realizing that time resists paradoxes and history can't be changed, the two friends seize the opportunity to live enriching, truly humane lives from Thermopylae to a few minutes in the future. As the paradoxes begin to pile up and their luck in dodging some of history's villains runs out, McDevitt ingeniously handles a tricky denouement that will leave readers satisfied. (Nov.)
Library Journal
Physicist Michael Shelborne's disappearance leads his son Shel and a linguist to discover his portable time machine and set off in search of him, interacting with times and places they had heretofore only dreamed of until Shel makes a cardinal mistake, forever changing his life. In a departure from his space-travel-oriented sf adventures such as his Priscilla Hutchins and his Alex Benedict novels, McDevitt touches upon a beloved sf theme. His approach, however, plays fast and loose with the paradoxes inherent in temporal interventions, while at the same time demonstrating the consequences of such recklessness. VERDICT This entertaining blend of sf classic and missing-persons drama is a good choice for most fans of hard sf or those fascinated by time travel.
From the Publisher
An entertaining romp through past and future, ringing in new changes on the genre.”—Joe Haldeman, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Starbound
“A first-rate work by one of the true masters of the genre.”
—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of WWW: Watch
“A masterpiece of storytelling and exploration of the paradoxes of time travel.”—Booklist
JULY 2010 - AudioFile
Paul Boehmer's resonant voice and excellent acting add some weight and color to this pedestrian sci-fi yarn, which takes the listener through most of the time-traveling tropes. When Adrian Shelbourne's father, a prominent physicist, develops a time machine and disappears, Adrian and his friend, Dave, set off to find him, launching a prolonged series of time-travel tourism jaunts and tricks to help them escape when things get dangerous. Most of the twists and turns are entirely predictable, and impatience brought on by waiting for the characters to catch up may encourage the listener to perform his or her own time travel on the story by fast-forwarding to the end. A.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
