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Product Description
Book Description
"The logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke" (Stephen King) takes readers on a science fiction adventure tour through time.
When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son Shel discovers that he had constructed a time travel device. Fearing his father may be stranded in time — or worse — Shel enlists the aid of Dave MacElroy, a linguist, to accompany him on the rescue mission.
Their journey through history takes them from the enlightenment of Renaissance Italy through the American Wild West to the civil-rights upheavals of the 20th century. Along the way, they encounter a diverse cast of historical greats, sometimes in unexpected situations. Yet the elder Shelborne remains elusive.
And then Shel violates his agreement with Dave not to visit the future. There he makes a devastating discovery that sends him fleeing back through the ages, and changes his life forever.
About the Author
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. McDevitt's first published story was The Emerson Effect in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981. Two years later, he published his first novel, The Hercules Text. His novel Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award 14 times; Seeker is his only win. McDevitt went to La Salle University, where a short story of his won the annual Freshman Short Story Contest and was published in the school's literary magazine, Four Quarters. McDevitt lives near Brunswick, Georgia.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great adventure read!,
By
This review is from: Time Travelers Never Die (Mass Market Paperback)
I've noticed with this book, some readers were miffed as there is no 'real villain' of the book. This was fine by me. There's no need for antagonists in every book read. I really enjoyed reading this one, the time travel was excellent and it made a real good adventure/science fiction book to read.The plot was good. It flowed and didn't stop until at least towards the end. I really did enjoy the time traveling aspect of the story. Being a history lover myself, I loved how Shel and Dave traveled through different time periods where important historical events had happened it made for very interesting and sometimes dangerous or funny reading. I cringed when Dave was asked to join in the adventure, because I knew something bad was going to happen. (Something did happen, but am not going to reveal to keep this review spoiler free). There was a mini mystery plot with this book, (regarding Shel's father) and although it was interesting, I found I preferred reading the time traveling part much more and the mystery part followed after - it just didn't seem as important, at least it felt that way while reading the book. Once the mystery was solved, it wasn't what I thought it would be. I expected a little more drama, maybe some action but it wasn't the case. So, I was mildly disappointed. It still did not deter me from enjoying this book though. The characters were all right, nothing out of the ordinary or special. I actually enjoyed how Dave developed through the book more than Shel. His small love story was touching and provided a nice tender moment of the storyline. I'd have to say Dave is the most exciting character to follow between the two and although Shel becomes more interesting later on, I preferred them traveling together instead of separately. Also, I have to note, I loved the ending of the book. It just seemed like such a perfect ending and one of the best I have read so far this year. I do admit, I did expect some sort of catastrophic event to happen. Yet I found that by the time I was finishing the book, it was a nice satisfying adventure to read. I think this is a perfect read for even those not really into science fiction but would love to read a great adventure as well!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific book, very smartly written,
By MartinH (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Time Travelers Never Die (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read and liked a number of McDevitt books but this is my favourite. A good time traveling book needs to be clever and this one does not disappoint. It's also very entertaining and easy to read. I spent much of the time smiling at the nifty tricks one can pull off with a hand-held time machine. I do hope Amazon starts selling them soon!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (63 customer reviews) 36 of 38 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tag Team Time Travel,
By John M. Ford "johnDC" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Michael Shelbourne is a physicist with broad interests in history and literature. We never learn how he comes into possession of three iPod-like "converters" that allow their owners to travel through time, although he presumably had a hand in inventing them. When Michael disappears, the converters fall into the hands of his son Shel and his multilingual friend Dave. After some initial fumbling to learn the tricks of time travel, the two are off into the past. Their initial goal is to find Shel's father, but the agenda expands to include historical sight-seeing, rescue of lost manuscripts, and lucrative art investing. Big fun!The story has interesting strengths. No time is wasted with pages of invented pseudoscience justifying time travel technology. Technical concerns are limited to keeping the hand-held time machines charged and dry. There is a constraint that each converter can only transport one person--and there are only three of them. (Actually, with time-hopping and fast-fingered borrowing, there can sometimes be more than three.) This leads to situations where one time traveler gets in trouble and another has to get him out. They range from the mundane "my converter is out of juice" through several varieties of converter theft and loss to more complex scenarios where a time jump might create a paradox. And there are weaknesses. Big ones, unfortunately. The main characters are disappointingly shallow. Shel and Dave have a few moving experiences, such as attending the Selma civil rights march and spending an evening with Ben Franklin's discussion group. These are exceptions. They more often hop into an historical event, watch the highlights, snap a few pictures, and push the big, black go-home button. Much of their onsite behavior is almost comically out-of-touch. They introduce themselves with their real names, shake hands with everybody, and even get to know some historical figures by "taking them to lunch." Nobody seems to think this strange. The shallowness extends to the plot. Too many promising subplots never lift off. We see many of Dave's romantic troubles without seeing how they resolve. Lost Greek plays are released into modern times, but we learn little about the public's reaction. Long-time Jack McDevitt fans--and I count myself one--often divide his work into two groups. There are cleverly-written, big-idea stories like A Talent For War and The Engines of God that engage readers in solving a mystery, either scientific or historic. And there are a few directionless meanders like Eternity Road that just don't go anywhere. I must regrettably place Time Travelers Never Die in the second category. It is a tapestry loosely weaved, with many stray threads. That said, Jack McDevitt fans should read this book and will enjoy it. First-timers should first read one of his stronger works. And both types of reader should contrast this book with David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself to see how a concept-driven time travel story can be done well. 34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe the most pointless and boring time travel novel ever?,
By James Tepper - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Time Travelers Never Die (Hardcover)
Well, the title of my review and one star rating pretty much tells how much I liked the book. What was wrong with it? Almost everything. I am a fan of Jack McDevitt's Priscilla Hutchins ("The Academy Novels") space operas. They were exciting, contained good "hard" science fiction, and were greatly enhanced and made more believable by the military verisimilitude deriving from McDevitt's military and tactical background."Time Travelers Never Die" has none of this. There is no science in the fiction. The time machines are little portable devices invented by Shel's [the principal protagonist] father who has gone missing in time but there is no attempt at even the briefest explanation of how they work, how they were invented etc. And when one of them all of a sudden stops working, the inventor father is completely unable to even attempt a diagnosis or repair. Oh really? This is compounded by totally flat characters, no action, nothing original, nada. Just an endless travelogue of two buddies looking through time for Shel's dad. And the travelogue is totally sterile - barren of any local flavor or culture. Every place is like every other place - only the names have changed. There is nothing to distinguish Shakespeare's 16 century England from the Alexandria of 149 B.C. In several places from the Library of Alexandria through the Revolutionary war our heroes show several 21st century photographs of Shel's father, as well as a modern digital camera and cell phone to some extremely well-known and intelligent historical figures. Our ancestors don't seem to have any problem with lame explanations as to what these artifacts are or how they come to be in existence. Talk about suspension of disbelief! I was literally laughing out loud. There are other huge holes in the plot and logic structure of the novel (e.g., Dad gets stuck in time but doesn't think to leave a note, sign or other artifact that his son would be sure to find in the present explaining his absence - see "Timeline") and in the behavior of the two main characters. Their choices of places and times to visit (and omissions of such) boggles the mind I guess Golgotha around 33 A.D. was too mundane. After all who cares if there really was a Jesus and/or if he was really the son of God etc. But a Babe Ruth baseball game was really important. Who built the pyramids and how, why and when? What happened to the Mayans? And so on. Our two heroes were much more interested in visiting with late Renaissance European artists, poets and the like, but nothing of interest or substance emerges. I found the entire book boring and pointless, and, as I said in the review title, I think this was the most boring time travel story I have ever read. I am not usually so harsh in my reviews but there was really nothing to recommend here at all. My advice if you're looking for time travel/historical fiction is to read "Guns of the South" by Turtledove, Crichton's "Timeline" and/or Baxter's "The Time Ships" and give McDevitt's latest a big pass. JM Tepper 16 of 20 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
OK time travel story, nothing great,
By Adam Grent - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Being a big fan of time travel stories I had high hopes for this novel. While quite readable, I think it felt like an OK short story idea that had been padded out a bit too far. Time travel seems a little too easy and the characters meet a new famous person every page or so on average (seriously) and any there is no real tension or sense of danger. Definitely not up to the standards of McDevitt's other works.
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