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spitzig's review against another edition
2.0
I picked this up mainly because I wanted shortstory audiobooks. I'd heard of the author, but never read him.
Seems like pretty standard old school SF. Stereotypical weak female characters, a main character who always seems to be the smartest guy in the room.
Plot was not that interesting.
I think the main point of the stories was the presentation of the world/SF idea.
Seems like pretty standard old school SF. Stereotypical weak female characters, a main character who always seems to be the smartest guy in the room.
Plot was not that interesting.
I think the main point of the stories was the presentation of the world/SF idea.
jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve read these stories many times since I first bought this collection in 1981, so I feel that the collection as a whole deserves a four-star rating, although it contains five stories with some variation in quality.
“He walked around the horses” is a classic short story, perhaps the best of this collection, although it’s the odd one out, being the only story to make no mention of the Paratime Police. It deals with the disappearance of Benjamin Bathurst while travelling through Prussia in 1809. He was a real person whose disappearance is a fact of history, although most likely he was murdered and robbed in a mundane fashion. Instead, this story shows him transferred to a parallel world with a different history, and what happens to him there.
The other four stories describe a vast (possibly infinite) number of parallel worlds, on one of which a method of travel between worlds has been developed, and has been used for a long time to exploit the other worlds in various ways—quietly. The world with the secret of travel wishes to keep that secret, and it employs the Paratime Police to maintain law and order among travellers in paratime, but above all to ensure that the secret remains a secret.
The stories describe four different problems tackled by Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police.
“Police Operation” (a novelette) introduces the Paratime Police and its context.
“The Last Enemy” (a novella) is about the political implications of research into reincarnation on one of the more advanced worlds.
“Time Crime” (a longer novella) is the best of the four, about a large-scale criminal conspiracy enslaving people on one world and selling them on another.
“Temple Trouble” (a novelette) is adequate but not very interesting; it’s about rivalry between two companies wishing to exploit the resources of a relatively primitive world.
The Paratime Police also appear in a novel, [b:Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen|1440162|Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen|H. Beam Piper|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1264374069l/1440162._SY75_.jpg|1430769].
All of these stories are old-style sf, first published from 1948 to 1955, so of course they’re dated in style and content—with the exception of “He walked around the horses”. Being set in 1809, and written in the form of an exchange of letters, gives it an oddly timeless quality: if I didn’t know when it was written, it would be hard to guess.
“He walked around the horses” is a classic short story, perhaps the best of this collection, although it’s the odd one out, being the only story to make no mention of the Paratime Police. It deals with the disappearance of Benjamin Bathurst while travelling through Prussia in 1809. He was a real person whose disappearance is a fact of history, although most likely he was murdered and robbed in a mundane fashion. Instead, this story shows him transferred to a parallel world with a different history, and what happens to him there.
The other four stories describe a vast (possibly infinite) number of parallel worlds, on one of which a method of travel between worlds has been developed, and has been used for a long time to exploit the other worlds in various ways—quietly. The world with the secret of travel wishes to keep that secret, and it employs the Paratime Police to maintain law and order among travellers in paratime, but above all to ensure that the secret remains a secret.
The stories describe four different problems tackled by Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police.
“Police Operation” (a novelette) introduces the Paratime Police and its context.
“The Last Enemy” (a novella) is about the political implications of research into reincarnation on one of the more advanced worlds.
“Time Crime” (a longer novella) is the best of the four, about a large-scale criminal conspiracy enslaving people on one world and selling them on another.
“Temple Trouble” (a novelette) is adequate but not very interesting; it’s about rivalry between two companies wishing to exploit the resources of a relatively primitive world.
The Paratime Police also appear in a novel, [b:Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen|1440162|Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen|H. Beam Piper|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1264374069l/1440162._SY75_.jpg|1430769].
All of these stories are old-style sf, first published from 1948 to 1955, so of course they’re dated in style and content—with the exception of “He walked around the horses”. Being set in 1809, and written in the form of an exchange of letters, gives it an oddly timeless quality: if I didn’t know when it was written, it would be hard to guess.
allriane's review against another edition
2.0
I’d be very interested to hear what someone who knows a lot more about history and politics (particularly World War II and the period immediately after) than me thinks of these stories.
Piper had some cool ideas but I feel like there are so many more interesting applications than what he decided to go with. I loved the perpendicular time travel. I loved the possible societal ramifications of volitional reincarnation. But in all Paratime’s possible timelines, Piper doesn’t create a single one without misogyny. I can only assume this is due to either a sad lack of imagination or some serious devotion to the patriarchy. I know he was writing during the 50s. I don’t care. Maybe I’d be more lenient if the whole set of stories didn’t deal with the various ways society could have evolved.
And don’t even get me started on the slavery stuff. There’s a ton to unpack with this book and I have neither the time or energy to take a scalpel to it. I think this would be a great book to dissect in a class.
Piper had some cool ideas but I feel like there are so many more interesting applications than what he decided to go with. I loved the perpendicular time travel. I loved the possible societal ramifications of volitional reincarnation. But in all Paratime’s possible timelines, Piper doesn’t create a single one without misogyny. I can only assume this is due to either a sad lack of imagination or some serious devotion to the patriarchy. I know he was writing during the 50s. I don’t care. Maybe I’d be more lenient if the whole set of stories didn’t deal with the various ways society could have evolved.
And don’t even get me started on the slavery stuff. There’s a ton to unpack with this book and I have neither the time or energy to take a scalpel to it. I think this would be a great book to dissect in a class.
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