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Bantam, July 2002, 6.50, 464 pp.
ISBN 0553583646
In the far distant future, mankind has been able to terraform whole planets so that humans could colonize them. Oskar DeSilvo is credited as the genius who brought this process about but Anton Koffield declares that the terraforming project is breaking down and if they don't evacuate the planet millions will die.
Although the authorities have proof that DeSilvo is still alive and has technologies that will save mankind, the authorities want proof that the terraforming project is imperfect. Koffield and his associates travel through a time wormhole one hundred years in the past to locate DeSilvo, get the technology, including the FTL drive and save the future. Koffield also wants vengeance on the man who destroyed his career.
THE OCEAN OF YEARS is high tech science fiction at its very best. The time travel operation, intricate to the story line, is both easy to understand and makes sense even if one is not a quantum physicist. The hero is a driven man, whom seems to place honor above all else, making him the implacable enemy of the antagonist. Yet it is his thirst for vengeance that ultimately leaves readers to wonder whether humanity will survive (at least this novel). Fans of Arthur C. Clarke will love this book.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Roger MacBride Allen Scholar
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Overall Review
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dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story
Yes
Time Travel:
- largely backwards/past
Plotlets:
- preventing an ecological disaster
Tech./$$$/Info hunt
Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying
- cure/disease/bioweapon
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Time Travel story?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- champion of justice
Age:
- long lived adults
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Earth setting:
- medium future 22-24th century
Spaceship setting:
- futuristic human freighter/transport
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body:
- humans in a futuristic society
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Planet outside solar system?
Yes
Takes place in spaceship?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- an average amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue?
- significantly more dialog than descript
