Both main characters hold command roles, each in its own time of course. Both are more interested in doing their job well, not caring about a bit being also popular (they had at least that part in common). To be honest I have liked them both — Bill, even with his drinking habit, and Louise, always talking about her readiness to kill people whenever necessary. My favorite was the latter though, no idea why — perhaps because her world was more complicated and her problem bigger, thus making her more vulnerable. As for Sherman the robot, I must say I didn’t quite understand his motivations, nor particularly liked his controlling ways. Oh well.

You know, what I think is more difficult when writing sci-fi novels where characters from the past are narrating the story is that there are supposed to be a lot of things/terms that are familiar to the future guy/gal, while unknown to us (they are not invented as of yet :P ). The challenge consists in making all those terms clear to the reader, while not treating them as terms that are actually explained (as we don’t go around explaining basic things to people around us (like what is a TV or a radio), one would expect the people from the future to act the same and treat current technology like already known (if that makes any sense LOL). Varley manages to treat this delicate issue very well, mostly by letting us deduct each meaning by ourselves, while giving enough hints (but I have to say that Louise does explain some stuff too).

What I liked most: The whole time travel theory that Varley has created. The way it constituted a paradox if a person saw itself or was seen by others in a time not its own. The way some parts of reality (the ones where time travel took place) were “blurred”, an idea I found quite cool as it explained both why Louise did not know from the start how things were going to go in 1980 and why the paradox I mentioned before didn’t take place. Now, while I cannot say all the theories fit perfectly without any holes (I keep having the impression of one, but perhaps I am thinking something wrong), I was really impressed by the way Varley chose to treat time travel.

What I liked least: a) the fact that we are never told what they intended to do with all the people they brought from the past — okay, I know they were kept unconscious, but to what end, what purpose?
b) the whole part about Louise being crazy and only imagining to be wearing a skinsuit — not only it is utterly useless (why was it there? To make us see something wrong with Louise’s testimony? To make us happy that the beauty Louise had was her own?) but it is also hard to believe: we are told how that skinsuit came to be (created after the image of some movie star from centuries ago), not to mention skinsuits are mentioned in connection to other people too. I know that all we have is Louise’s version on things but I somehow doubt her insanity would be so calculated to drop so many hints in so many places.

Recommend it? Yes, especially for time travel/sci-fi fans :)

A quote:

Some 20ths have no more sense of survival than a stalk of broccoli. They’ll walk right into a gun. They don’t believe death can happen to them, especially the young ones.
Then there are their odd political ideas. They are often obsessed with the explanation they ‘deserve,’ the things they have a ‘right’ to, the decent treatment we ‘owe’ them.

Another quote, from right after Louise explained how in case of a serious temporal paradox the whole Universe will self-destroy:

This is known as the Cosmic Disgust Theory. Or: If you’re going to play games like that, I’ll take my marbles and go home. Signed, God.

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