God damn, but this is a wonderful book.

The book starts in media res; since it's about a very unusual sort of time travel the first 20 pages or so are pretty confusing, but Willis does a great job of slowly (and unobtrusively) giving exposition, laying out in great detail the science behind her version of time travel.

The excitement in the book begins almost immediately, with a mysterious collapse by Badri, the acting tech. Willis is a master at writing bustling scenes where the tension slowly ratchets up to nearly unbearable heights. What's amazing is that she keeps all the different threads in these scenes completely separate in the reader's mind, so you get a good idea of how hectic things must be for the main characters. The entire book is a sequence of such increasingly tense scenes, followed by occasional (and brief) releases of tension. I read the entire book straight through in basically two sittings--it's that exciting.

Willis's writing style is also refreshingly clear and even witty. I've always loved the way British writers write: the slightly formal turns of their phrases give their books an elegance that somehow appeals to me. Willis, in both the narration and the dialogue, does an expert job of maintaining this style throughout--rather strange for a science fiction novel, but it works well.

I loved Willis's characters. Mr. Dunworthy is perfect as the slightly fussy but basically goodhearted tutor; and Kivrin undergoes a remarkable character arc that Willis handles effortlessly. As exciting as the plot is, it is the characters who ultimately made me feel that what was happening was important (especially in the emotionally rending 14th-century chapters), and Willis absolutely delivers on this front.

Just a quick word about those 14th-century chapters: while the 22nd-century chapters verged on comedy, the 14th-century ones begin as comedy but quickly become some of the most affecting passages I have ever read. Although I loved this book, these chapters will make it difficult to reread.

I think this book won either the Hugo or the Nebula Award in the same year as Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. Because I loved Vinge's book so much, I had serious doubts about whether Willis's book could possibly measure up. But now that I've read them both, I have to conclude that Willis's book is far, far superior. It is as exciting as Vinge's masterpiece--perhaps even more so--but it reaches emotional depths and heights that Vinge didn't even attempt.

Read this book.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu