Conrad's Time Machine

I really do like this book; however, it suffers from the same weakness that all the "Conrad" books do. It has a great underlying story and very competent writing in some sections. In other sections, the writing is dreadful. It's as if a high quality professional writer shared the task of writing with a not very capable junior high student. There isn't even much integration between the pieces. Some other authors have good books and terrible ones - Frankowski is the only author I've seen who accomplishes both in the same book time after time. Interesting problems are posed - e.g. "How can the existence of time travel bring about its own creation?" and then the text wanders off into inanity (Let's bring in an extremely knowledgeable alien to overcome the problem - an incredibly weak "deus ex machina".) Diversions, such as the erotic scenes, are set up, only to miserably fail after a promising start. The resolution is anything but erotic. Come on, such scenes are inserted to divert attention from a book's weaknesses. That's partially because it's almost impossible to do these scenes badly. Frankowski manages it, though. It would be really great to have a "Conrad" book with a high quality of writing through the whole book.

I really do like this book; however, it suffers from the same weakness that all the "Conrad" books do. It has a great underlying story and very competent writing in some sections. In other sections, the writing is dreadful. It's as if a high quality professional writer shared the task of writing with a not very capable junior high student. There isn't even much integration between the pieces. Some other authors have good books and terrible ones - Frankowski is the only author I've seen who accomplishes both in the same book time after time. Are there, perhaps, at least two "Frankowskis" - a male "master of alternate history" and his wife who doesn't write very well, but wants to be accepted as a writer? Interesting problems are posed - e.g. "How can the existence of time travel bring about its own creation?" and then the text wanders off into inanity (Let's bring in an extremely knowledgeable alien to overcome the problem - an incredibly weak "deus ex machina".) Diversions, such as the erotic scenes, are set up, only to miserably fail after a promising start. The resolution is anything but erotic. Come on, such scenes are inserted to divert attention from a book's weaknesses. That's partially because it's almost impossible to do these scenes badly. Frankowski manages it, though. It would be really great to have a "Conrad" book with a high quality of writing through the whole book.

Leo Frankowski finally delivers the beginning of the story of how Conrad Stargard got caught in a time machine. He takes a recently discharged USAF airman, an Engineer for a car company, and a philosophy type and together they build and run a time machine. The story is good, with rich characters, and is a great read.

What would an engineer do if sent back in time? Create the perfect world. These books should be required reading for all engineers while waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out. :-) Be sure to read the first 6 Adventures of Conrad Stargard first. While the book is a complete story itself, the first 6 books build the suspense as Conrad's world evolves.

Sure I was disappointed that it was a prequel to the outstanding Conrad Stargard series, but then I realized it was the thoroughly thought out and quite imaginative work consistently found in Frankowski's books. He's a lot more practical than most authors and his characters are generally more lively, funny well-rounded human beings than those found in too many of the hundreds of SF novels I've read over 3 decades. There's a lot of big ideas in here, particularly the most thoroughly considered "what if you had a time machine" premise I've found yet and it's always been a favorite topic of mine. This is a gentle novel of exploration and ideas, in the vein of "Copernick's Rebellion" or "Fata Morgana." Maybe his next one will go back to combat