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A review by grayduck
In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Reviewed 11/30/2008
It has been a sad fact that, although I am a huge fan of Science Fiction in the media, I have never really gotten into Science Fiction in written form (except for that one summer I read about 20 TNG novels…but we won’t go into that). I can’t say I’ve really tried. If I had to pick between Sci Fi and Fantasy, I’d pick Fantasy just about any day. That being said, I have no idea why I wound up with this book on my queue. I have a tendency to add things to my queue on whims – a patron ordered it and I thought the bib record looked interesting, I read a brief blurb in a journal, I thought the front picture looked pretty. In this instance, I’m thrilled with my own forgotten choice to recommend this book to myself.
We begin on the day in which Pearl Harbor is bombed. Sam Dance’s brother, Keenan, was on board the USS Arizona. Sam joins the service, and is quickly singled out for his understanding of physics by his superiors and one very unusual professor. He and his friend Wink spend the war years shifting from behind the scenes to the front lines, playing jazz whenever possible, and working on a mysterious device under the guidance of two remarkable women.
It’s an alternative-history novel that stretches from the eve of the US’s involvement in WWII to the Kennedy assassination. And back. And forth. There’s a good deal about quantum physics and jazz – particularly bebop – and how they relate to each other. For someone that has the most basic understanding of quantum mechanics, this was a lifesaver. THANK YOU SAM DANCE for putting it into terms I could understand – music. The first half deals with World War Two and Sam Dance’s many roles – all while building the mysterious device and playing jazz whenever he has a chance.
At times I felt swept up in the story, but I never felt lost. I’m not sure if the first half of the book moved a bit too slowly or the second half moved a bit too quickly. Either way, they didn’t quite match up, but that wasn’t a big deal. The second half shoots the reader forward about 15 years, and it took me a while to get back into the story. At that point, however, I was so invested in Sam and the mysterious device that I had to find out what happened.
I loved this book. LOVED IT. Given my lack of depth in the Sci-fi genre, I’m not sure if I would recommend this to someone else that didn’t ordinarily read Sci-fi. I would recommend this to somebody that liked Sci-fi and was also interested in alternate histories. I was a bit skeptical about the roles of women at first, but they turned out to be fascinating, powerful characters.
It has been a sad fact that, although I am a huge fan of Science Fiction in the media, I have never really gotten into Science Fiction in written form (except for that one summer I read about 20 TNG novels…but we won’t go into that). I can’t say I’ve really tried. If I had to pick between Sci Fi and Fantasy, I’d pick Fantasy just about any day. That being said, I have no idea why I wound up with this book on my queue. I have a tendency to add things to my queue on whims – a patron ordered it and I thought the bib record looked interesting, I read a brief blurb in a journal, I thought the front picture looked pretty. In this instance, I’m thrilled with my own forgotten choice to recommend this book to myself.
We begin on the day in which Pearl Harbor is bombed. Sam Dance’s brother, Keenan, was on board the USS Arizona. Sam joins the service, and is quickly singled out for his understanding of physics by his superiors and one very unusual professor. He and his friend Wink spend the war years shifting from behind the scenes to the front lines, playing jazz whenever possible, and working on a mysterious device under the guidance of two remarkable women.
It’s an alternative-history novel that stretches from the eve of the US’s involvement in WWII to the Kennedy assassination. And back. And forth. There’s a good deal about quantum physics and jazz – particularly bebop – and how they relate to each other. For someone that has the most basic understanding of quantum mechanics, this was a lifesaver. THANK YOU SAM DANCE for putting it into terms I could understand – music. The first half deals with World War Two and Sam Dance’s many roles – all while building the mysterious device and playing jazz whenever he has a chance.
At times I felt swept up in the story, but I never felt lost. I’m not sure if the first half of the book moved a bit too slowly or the second half moved a bit too quickly. Either way, they didn’t quite match up, but that wasn’t a big deal. The second half shoots the reader forward about 15 years, and it took me a while to get back into the story. At that point, however, I was so invested in Sam and the mysterious device that I had to find out what happened.
I loved this book. LOVED IT. Given my lack of depth in the Sci-fi genre, I’m not sure if I would recommend this to someone else that didn’t ordinarily read Sci-fi. I would recommend this to somebody that liked Sci-fi and was also interested in alternate histories. I was a bit skeptical about the roles of women at first, but they turned out to be fascinating, powerful characters.