Time Future [Mass Market Paperback]

I liked the book, but it is a fever dream with all the hallucination you get in that state. The author has captured the feeling of being JUST short of understanding what is going on you get when events are flying past you so fast you just want to scream for it stop long enough for a long stint in the bed, a good meal and time to sort it all out.

C.J Cherryh writes books like this, but does not do it as well as this author. Cherryh always makes it impossible to guess what is going on. This author at least gives you the feeling that you COULD know what is going on.

What a good start for Maxine McArthur! Seldom do I find in an author';s first work the kind of character control that this one brings. She has really captured the cultural shock of first contact & its impact in a near future.

From one end of this book to the other, the human characters are able to see their situations' changing advantages & disadvantages. I really like her confrontations of realities. Insofar as what you see is not always what you get & what you get is not always what you think it is. I liked that McArthur allows her characters to think, question & grow.

This reader is looking forward to more from this intriguing author.

The novel would film better than it reads -- somewhat like the film, ALIEN -- BUT -- if you like hard action/sf (a specialty of the Aspect SF imprint at Time-Warner) you won't find the style a put-off. And it is exceptionally well-done of its kind.

TIME FUTURE has a plot that qualifies as Intimate Adventure Genre - email me for a link to the definition - because the resolution of the problem requires soul-baring emotional honesty, and not just at the moment when the Hero confronts her ex-husband who is trying to con her (maybe).

As with many aired Classic Star Trek episodes, and even more Star Trek fanzine stories, this novel tests the female hero to near destruction. Since it's told in the first person, you get a "Sam Spade" or "Anita Blake" effect from the narrative, and it becomes easier to ask yourself if you could be this tough in similar circumstances.

I found it a page-turner and a very good read, but I suspect it may have been trimmed, condensed and cut to the bare bones because the pacing is so fast there's very little room for character-development nevermind anything as complex as Relationship. All the key Relationships in this novel are already estabished and functioning, and they don't grow and change (much) during the novel's events. So you don't get a dynamic Relationship driven story narrative.

If the Situation of defending a cut-off outpost space-station from aliens, both inside and out of the station, doesn't "grab you" all by itself, you won't find much to be interested in. The author didn't have space to develop answers to the question, "Why does this space station matter to me(the reader)?"

I suspect there is room for a sequel where that question will be answered in detail, and Relationships will start to mature, so watch for this author's name.

Live Long and Prosper, Jacqueline Lichtenberg