- Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: Tor; New edition edition (19 Aug 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330419846
- ISBN-13: 978-0330419840
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,568,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Separate time-zones converge in an outstanding debut SF novel of dramatically violent action and an era-spanning romance
Book Description
Phoenix Lafayette is a combat correspondent on the Pacific island of Guam during World War II, who comes to believe he can only survive the carnage by enacting for himself the mythical twelve labours of Hercules. And the woman who puts this idea into his head is Professor Serena Freeman of Cambridge University. But Serena is not from 1944, but the present. She has devised a time machine that can put her into the mind of anyone from the past, and 'Nix' is her first experiment. Unknown to her, a government agency has got wind of her invention, and is prepared to secure it any cost, including murder. These two total strangers, separated by time but united by dreams, are now both in deadly danger. And the mathematics of time itself are about to change.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's not often a book proves such a pleasure to read, and the WWII settings that occupy much of this book provide as many visceral thrills as the casual reader could hope for. If you enjoy the work of Richard Morgan and tight, crisp prose that drives the plot along like a runaway steam train, then you could do an awful lot worse than this very fine debut novel.
About the story: this is partly a time-travel story, and partly a visceral journey through a deadly war-torn landscape. Split into two main strands, the narrative follows the young, Oxford-based mathematician Serena on the one hand, as she succeeds in building a time machine that will allow her to 'remote view' events through the eyes of people throughout the past from the point of view of our present. On the other hand, the narrative follows Phoenix Lafayette, an American war reporter caught up in the armed struggle to take Guam from the Japanese occupying forces during WWII.
Serena, having chosen Phoenix as her 'test subject', finds to her surprise that she can communicate with him. At first Phoenix takes the voices he hears to be those of the ghosts that occupy the island, the stories of which he grew up hearing from his grandfather, a native of the island.
In our present, Serena slowly comes to realise that her discovery is of far greater importance than even she may realise, and finds there are political forces arrayed against her, which desire her discoveries at any cost. Despite being separated by several decades, the two plot strands gradually come together, until Serena believes that, perhaps, she can alter the past after all ...
Recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Well worth finding and buying this book.
13 May 2006
Format:Paperback
I never would have seen this book had I not stopped by a book store at Heathrow on the way back to the States. I wanted something to pass the time away on the plane as I cannot sleep as my wife can and the choice of movies would likely be lame. (They weren't, but the book prevented me from watching any of them.) When I read the description of Faces of Mist and Flame I couldn't resist this triple threat. I enjoy science fiction, history, and classical mythology. Author Jon George gives us all three plus more.
The science fiction part is the near future and a brilliant young English scientist, Serena Freeman, has created a machine that will let her mind go to the past. Unfortunately there are government organizations that would like to control this machine for their own ends. Serena selects the mind of a young marine jounalist involved in the invasion to liberate Guam in 1944. The struggle on Guam seems more graphic than any war story I have ever read and having had a foster brother involved in that horrible series of battles, I felt great empathy for Phoenix Lafayette who has ancestors originally from Guam. The back ground on these two characters and their friends is beautifully handled and you feel you know them intimately. The two are able to converse and eventually even see each other. As if this isn't enough, there is also a retelling of the labors of Hercules and this challenges Phoenix, with guidance from Serena to re-enact the twelve labors of Hercules on Guam. How this is accomplised and the stunning ending makes this one of the best science fiction tales I have read in years. On another level this is also a great love story.
I highly recommend this book and appreciate the research and effort the author made to put it together. I'll happily look forward to more works by him in the future.
The science fiction part is the near future and a brilliant young English scientist, Serena Freeman, has created a machine that will let her mind go to the past. Unfortunately there are government organizations that would like to control this machine for their own ends. Serena selects the mind of a young marine jounalist involved in the invasion to liberate Guam in 1944. The struggle on Guam seems more graphic than any war story I have ever read and having had a foster brother involved in that horrible series of battles, I felt great empathy for Phoenix Lafayette who has ancestors originally from Guam. The back ground on these two characters and their friends is beautifully handled and you feel you know them intimately. The two are able to converse and eventually even see each other. As if this isn't enough, there is also a retelling of the labors of Hercules and this challenges Phoenix, with guidance from Serena to re-enact the twelve labors of Hercules on Guam. How this is accomplised and the stunning ending makes this one of the best science fiction tales I have read in years. On another level this is also a great love story.
I highly recommend this book and appreciate the research and effort the author made to put it together. I'll happily look forward to more works by him in the future.
A different and rewarding Time Travel story
2 Jun 2011
Format:Paperback
In three cleverly interwoven stories, a modern day maths genius discovers how to communicate with people in the past; primarily with a press reporter in the USA WW-II Guam invasion force with whom she develops a close relationship. The main story is interspersed with a delightful retelling of how Hercules completes his 12 tasks. Completing these becomes a talisman for the Guam Invasion press reporter as he tries to survive as he and his fellow marines fight desperate Japanese defenders in an effort to recapture Guam. There are some beautifully written descriptive passages and some, concerning the brutal realities of war, that can be rather confronting.
As the story develops, there is much to keep the reader engrossed. What action will the UK secret police take to gain control of the device that can communicate through time and how at risk is our genius? Will the reporter survive the invasion? How will he repeat Hercules' tasks within the constraints of an active invasion on a small tropical island? This is a delightful story with good character development - the author does a great job of capturing life in the USA prior to and during the war, with this portrayed beautifully through the Guam reporter and his relationship with his grandfather and other family members. It is very hard to see how the book will develop and it ends in a surprising and delightful manner.
As the story develops, there is much to keep the reader engrossed. What action will the UK secret police take to gain control of the device that can communicate through time and how at risk is our genius? Will the reporter survive the invasion? How will he repeat Hercules' tasks within the constraints of an active invasion on a small tropical island? This is a delightful story with good character development - the author does a great job of capturing life in the USA prior to and during the war, with this portrayed beautifully through the Guam reporter and his relationship with his grandfather and other family members. It is very hard to see how the book will develop and it ends in a surprising and delightful manner.
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