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Island in the Sea of Time Mass Market Paperback – March 1, 1998

by S. M. Stirling (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,161 ratings
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“Utterly engaging...a page-turner that is certain to win the author legions of new readers and fans.”—George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones

It's spring on Nantucket and everything is perfectly normal, until a sudden storm blankets the entire island. When the weather clears, the island's inhabitants find that they are no longer in the late twentieth century...but have been transported instead to the Bronze Age! Now they must learn to survive with suspicious, warlike peoples they can barely understand and deal with impending disaster, in the shape of a would-be conqueror from their own time.
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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 3
    Island
  2. Print length
    608 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Ace
  5. Publication date
    March 1, 1998
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    4.2 x 1.36 x 6.81 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    9780451456755
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0451456755
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A cosmic disturbance transports the island of Nantucket and its inhabitants over three thousand years back in time to the shores of a Stone Age America. In addition to coping with the day-to-day problems of survival and the trauma of losing all connection with the modern world, the residents of the time-stranded island find their lives complicated by the presence of native tribes across the water. Stirling's (The Ship Avenged, Baen, 1997) imaginative foray into time travel should also please fans of alternate history. A good selection for most sf collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Utterly engaging. This is unquestionably Steve Stirling’s best work to date, a page-turner that is certain to win the author legions of new readers and fans.”—George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones

“A perfectly splendid story…endlessly fascinating…solidly convincing.”—Paul Anderson

“A compelling cast of characters…a fine job of conveying both a sense of loss and hope.”—Science Fiction Chronicle

“[Q]ite a good book…definitely a winner.”—Aboriginal Science Fiction

“Meticulous, imaginative….Logical, inventive and full of richly imagined characters, this is Stirling’s most deeply realized book yet.”—Susan Shwartz, author of The Grail of Hearts

“One of the best time travel/alternative history stories I’ve ever read, period. Stirling combines complex, believable characters, meticulous research, and a fascinating setup to produce a book you won’t want to—and won’t be able to—put down. An outstanding piece of work.”—Harry Turtledove

“The adventure that unfolds, powered by Stirling’s impressive stores of knowledge and extraordinary narrative skill, is an enormously entertaining read.”—Virtual North Woods Website

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0451456750
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; Reprint edition (March 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 608 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780451456755
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451456755
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 1.36 x 6.81 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,161 ratings

About the author

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S. M. Stirling

S. M. Stirling

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I'm a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft -- I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,161 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

AJ Reissig
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2012
Verified Purchase
As the author of  Escape to Freedom , I know a good novel when I see one, and this isn't a good novel...it's a great novel!

After a strange electrical storm, the residents of Nantucket discover that their entire island and its surrounding waters have been sent back to 1300 B.C. Now this society, which is mostly based on a tourist economy, must figure out how to establish a new identity in prehistory. This includes clearing and farming land, building ships, finding new sources of fuel, salt, and other necessities, and most difficult of all, developing a constitution and befriending native trading partners.

Fortunately, Nantucket has some citizens with valuable knowledge and skills who find themselves naturally rising to leadership positions: a brave and competent Baptist police chief, a widely-read and level-headed librarian, a black lesbian ship captain, a history professor, an astronomy student, the manager of the local grocery store, and a Catholic priest.

But of course there are also some citizens who cause problems: the church whose pastor teaches that sending Nantucket back in time was Satan's plan to prevent the birth of Christ, and the "flake-and-nut contingent" who want to arm the natives so they'll never be oppressed by future Americans. Then there's the biggest threat of all -- the ambitious Coast Guard Lieutenant William Walker who sees all this confusion as an opportunity to set up his very own kingdom.

I have a thing for time-travel novels -- especially the Survivor-style stories in which modern people are forced to live in more uncivilized and unsophisticated times. Island in the Sea of Time has the added fun of actually having modern conveniences but not having the power or fuel to run them. Thus, the people of Nantucket must disassemble their cars for sheet metal while raiding their museums for whaling and milling antiques.

There's more to this story than survival and industrial revolution, though. Island in the Sea of Time is full of characters who feel like real people -- people you might actually know. For the most part their relationships and romances are believable and understandable as former strangers work together to create a new society. The villains, however, are over-the-top. It's hard to believe in the doctor's sadism, William Walker's vast knowledge and foresight, and the granola crowds' naiveté (their leader is shocked that the natives are "sexist," "patriarchal," and "abusive of animals" and that they don't immediately trust the Americans).

At times, Island in the Sea of Time becomes a bit teachy as characters discuss token economies, division of labor, ship building, linguistics, farming techniques, iron casting, steam engines, canning, the production of gunpowder, the use and care of firearms, etc. And it gets a little preachy as they discuss the creation of a new constitution. But generally I thought S.M. Stirling did a good job with this aspect of the book.
5 people found this helpful
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Penfist
4.0 out of 5 stars A fun idea, well researched history and good writing equals four solid stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2006
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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 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 enjoyable as well.
9 people found this helpful
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David Lee Owens
5.0 out of 5 stars The ending of an age, but the beginning of age. A chance to it all over, but right this time.
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024
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It was an awesome imagining of a future reliving the past times. A chance to do things over, but right this time.
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Andy McKinney
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful storytelling, great book and the kind that a reader comes back to in the winter to read again.
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
When the people of Nantucket find themselves transported thousands of years into the past, they take a while to adapt, but they eventually do with a vigor and inventiveness that makes journeying along with them as readers a real pleasure. Stirling creates a host of interesting, bright and determined characters for us. Some of them rise up and become heroes, some use their advanced knowledge in vile ways. None of them bore us.
This book has kicked off a three book series about the Nantucket folk and a huge and popular series associated with it but focused on the modern world and how the time travel event effected modern times.
Great characters, a brilliantly conceived and evolving society and a rollicking story make this book deserving of its tremendous success. We get our money's worth as readers too. The thing is 600 pages long.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Canada on March 3, 2017
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A very well written story that I've read several times. I like the characters & their development into people I'd like to know. The situation they find themselves in is difficult & yet they continue to struggle to survive & prosper.
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Parthianshot
5.0 out of 5 stars As exciting as the First Turtledove 'World War' novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2001
Verified Purchase
I can't really say much that hasn't already been covered, so just two brief points;
first, I enjoyed it all especially the detail of how the people go about surviving and then developing. Second a small moan, I'd really have appreciated some simple maps, I had to get out an atlas in the end....
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parent
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun read,
Reviewed in Canada on April 19, 2022
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especially for alternate history fans
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4.0 out of 5 stars A good read (but has a few creaks)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2011
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This is my first book by S. M Stirling. It's also my first for alternate history which I tend to avoid in the belief that the genre is a cop out and a lot of navel-gazing (i.e. "what-if" is a waste of time).

However, I was pleasantly surprised by "Island". It's a gripping read from the start, and I felt involved from the first page in the dilemma of the Nantuckians who are marooned many years in the past.

Contrary to other reviewers' comments, I did not find the nautical references OTT. For OTT, read Patrick O'Brien. I felt that both the nautical and martial arts references added saltiness and veracity to the novel.

WARNING - SPOILERS:

I like the explanation for why the Mesoamerican civilisation came to an end - it's always been a bit of a mystery that such a huge and seemingly-sophisticated civilisation suddenly vanished. There's a theory that they became too big and couldn't sustain themselves because they ran out of food and the means to grow the food. I like the author's posit that mumps caused the males to become infertile. That seems all too plausible.

What I found a bit incredulous and patronising is the author's belief that the people of that age didn't have very good sexual technique and Walker's observation that the primitive men lacked foreplay. I mean ... where did the author get this fact from? I can't believe that the primitive people weren't more than beasts where sex was concerned, and weren't inventive enough to have foreplay.

The same applied to fighting techniques: 20th-century man (using Japanese martial arts techniques) proved superior to primitive man in hand-to-hand combat. Seeing that Japanese martial arts techniques are actually quite old and have taken many years to perfect, what's the possibility that primitive man may already have worked out some nifty techniques himself?

I also started glazing over at the battle scene at the end - sorry. I just haven't got enough testosterone in me to find that interesting. It's not that I don't appreciate a good battle scene - I've read almost all the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell. It's just that the ending seemed to drag and I felt that the author tried to wrap everything up in a Hollywood alls-well way.

CONCLUSION:
The novel is good enough for me to have ordered the two sequels, and I'm interested in the author's other series. However, for me, the judge of a great book is whether or not I'll re-read it. And for me the characters in "Island" aren't gripping enough to beg for a re-read.

Update 15 July 2011 - OK, I've finished the sequels and the first book was the best. The last book is a kind of catch-me-up with the author trying to tie up loose ends and making sure that the baddies get their comeuppance. In terms of originality, it's more of the same. So IMHO, don't bother with books 2 and 3. Plus he still has this misplaced idea that primitive man were less sophisticated in terms of sexual technique, but unless we can time travel like the Nantuckians, we will never know. Finally, a map would have been very handy.
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D. R. Cantrell
4.0 out of 5 stars Lacking in all literary merit - and thoroughly enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2009
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This is one of those books that is often said to define its sub-genre (modern people thrown back in time to live amongst savages - it's a surprisingly common theme in bad scifi/fantasy), by an author who is a giant in his genre (alternate history). And it was pretty much what I expected. It has no literary merit whatsoever. The people in it have such oh-so-conveniently chosen skills and attitudes, the heroes are suitably heroic, the good guys are ever-so-good, the bad guys are particularly nasty and traditionally one-dimensional, and the fools are especially foolish. The plot is broadly predictable. And it was thoroughly enjoyable. It could have done with a bit of trimming, perhaps - a few scenes are completely unnecessary - but I recommend this book.

However, it has Sequels. I'm going to read them, but I'm not expecting them to be anywhere near as much fun.
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