Customer Reviews

TIME SCOUT

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Time Scout" revists the theme of time traveling explorers and tourists coping with the inherent hazards of taking jaunts to the past. Such a premise has already been deftly explored by Poul Anderson in his "Time Patrol" series and Robert Silverberg in his novel "Time Gate." Asprin's effort, however, falls somewhat short. While he creates a plausible and somewhat intriguing society, his main characters are one-dimensional and obnoxious (especially Margo, who is an annoying brat). While the narrative is fast-paced and mildly interesting, it ultimately never captivates us. A decent novel, nothing more...

It seems that no matter who Mr. Asprin writes with, his books continue to be funny & fun to read. The surprises thrown in are fun & frequent. The historical trivia dropped in so casually throughout the book left me feeling like I'd been there with them. A must read!

Here for the first time we the readers meet the honorable and tough as nails time scout Kenneth "Kit" Carson.

I have read all the other books in the series (see my reviews) and I like this one most of all for 2 reasons
In "Wagers of Sin" we see the story from Skeeter Jackson's perspective and in "Ripping Time" we see most of the story from the point of view of Marius (the ex-Roman slave) in this book a much more of a kaleidoscope effect is achieved you are everywhere at once by it up or down time.

Time Scout is an enteratining tale. The writting pulls you through and leaves you with a finished feeling; you know that there will be other adventures, but it doesn't leave you hanging.

"Kit" Carson is a retired "Time Scout", but he's still considered the best of the best in the profession. A girl, who's middle name should be Trouble, shows up full of hero worship and begs him to teach her the profession. Like a lot of people she takes the easy way and it lands her in trouble. The story travels through Ancient Rome, Victorian London, and South Africa around the 1540s. While this story won't change the world, it was a fun read and I look forward to the next book in this series.

Anything by Robert Asprin is worth reading, and this book is a side of his work different than anything else of his I've read. While the style of the writing is a little stilted and sometimes sounds very unedited and choppy, his world comes through to the reader. And a neat world it is, too.

The characters and situations and even the location it's set against make you just sit back with a silly grin on your face--you really don't know why. There's nothing spectacular about his writing, but Asprin brings his usual sense of humor to a well-researched and lifelike background, and the combination is wonderful. The plot and locations leave this series open to so many stories, and I can only hope that Asprin will be the one to write them.

Asprin and Evans' novel is a good adventure, with fun, interesting characters and a nicely moving plot. The story-line -- about time travel thru a series of closed-ened "threads of time" -- does not contain much to interest hard-science or technology fans, however. What is differeent about this time-travel concept is the complete INABILITY to change the past. Time travelers cannot alter history here. All in all a good read, if you want a fun story in an exotic setting.

I'm a fan of Robert Asprin (have read all of the Myth book and both of the Phule books), but I was never much interested in the Theives World saga that he edited. The few stories I managed to read seemed less than satisfactory.

This, though, is far more satisfactory. There are some obvious rough edges that need to be smoothed out before I'll say that Evans & Asprin are really a team, but they have a lot going for them already.

Time Scout is probably the first time travel novel I've ever read that tried to deal realistically with the problems of actually interacting with our ancestors.

Several novels simply paint pie in the sky interactions, with the ancients behaving entirely out of character, acting as though they were contemporary with the time traveler.

Not so in Time Scout!

Asprin and Evans have created a wonderful premise, and dealt with it realistically. An example of this detail is their description of a shop at TT-86, (the TT-# is a station designation for each of the time travel locations), Clothes and Stuff, run by Connie Logan. Not only does it include details about the differences in the clothes the social classes wear, but it points out how small details, like machine stitching, can stand out like a sore thumb to someone in the past.

The crux of the story is "Kit" Carson and his relationship with a young woman, Margo Smith. I won't spoil most of the details, but in the process of learning to be a Time Scout, Margo matures, and Kit learns a thing or two about himself. In particular, Margo finds out why women Time Scouts are discouraged, in a particularly horrific way.

This is not a novel for little kids, so those of you used to Aprin's lighter works, be prepared for a more adult adventure than in his Myth Adventures series.

I've been reading SF (Rocket Ship Galileo by
Heinlein in the 3rd grade being my first) for 45 years. I enjoyed this book as good quality escape fiction. I don't look for egghead-type literary qualities in my science fiction, just a good read that sustains my interest. This book accomplished that, and I look forward to reading new books by the same authors.

The premise behind Time Scout is an interesting one. An industrial accident has opened up "time gates", and created a profession for "time scouts", who travel through them to discover if they are valuable for taking the super-wealthy on historical tours. The story centers on a hub for several of these gates.

The narrative is quite readable and the story flows well. Unfortunately, the characters in the story are remarkably shallow. The lead female (Margo) is the best developed character in the book, although she seems to be little different than a conservative's stereotype of a headstrong but foolish feminist. The authors further degrade her character by surrounding her with "beautiful people": characters with no flaws.

Margo is at best a terribly frustrating character, and at worst completely unbelievable. She is driven by an inexplicable desire to be a time scout, yet time and time again we discover that she knows nothing about it. Furthermore, it seems that she would not have the desire to become a time scout if she knew what it entailed. The authors drop various hints that she is merely trying to escape an abusive relationship, but her desire to be a time scout seems decidedly false.

The extent of Margo's hubris is such that it becomes impossible to empathize with her (or even pity her). In several situations, she commits blunders that should result in her death, yet she is always lucky enough to survive them. Unable to appreciate the extent of her good fortune, she attributes her survival to skill.

The telling of the story is another problem. The story is told in third person omniscient perspective, though for the most part the reader hops on the back of one of several characters (either Margo, Kit, or Malcolm, who is an established time scout). The problem with telling the story from this perspective is that the authors use it to allow us to be privy to the thoughts, fears, and desires of each of the characters. The motives of each of the characters appear hollow when mentioned in this perspective. Furthermore, the authors spend far too much time on irrelevant narrative (e.g., pages upon pages of descriptions of Margo's beauty, or similarly lengthy treatises on varied topics such as historical dress, weaponry, etc.) This further detracts from what is already a weak story. The book would probably benefit greatly by being told from a non-omniscient narrator; not only would this eliminate a good deal of tedious narrative, but it would force the authors to advance the plot through character actions, rather than rhetoric.

The story and the characters doom "Time Scout" to mediocrity. At the end of the book, I was untouched. The story is empty, and the characters inspire no attachments. In the end, there is nothing more compelling about this book than just a means to pass time.