http://www.amazon.com/Pastwatch-The-...sr=1-1-catcorr
I'm midway through it, and while it's been a pretty tough read I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It tells a story of a future where people have invented a way to look back into the past. Some people are tasked with reviewing the past to learn everything we can about the rise and fall of great societies, and so are part of "pastwatch". They soon get to a point where they believe they might one day be able to interfere with the past, so some groups choose to try and end the history of slavery and suffering that happened during the rise of humanity. The story takes off after they decide to focus on Columbus and possibly changing his voyage west.
What I like about it is it doesn't just focus on Columbus, the story spans the "what ifs" of many civilizations including Mayans and ancient Mexico, Africa, most European conquests, an story of what could have happened to Atlantis, and even narrowing down the location of Noah's great flood.
I say it's a tough read because it spans different stories across huge time frames and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. I recently got to the Mayan portion and their names are quite hard to even pronounce, let alone remember. However it's written well enough that most of the characters are easy to remember. The story flip flops between the past at various times, and the "present" where the people are trying to make sense out of what they're seeing. However this change is never jarring and flows well with the overarching plot.
Anyway, I like it mainly because it's quite a bit different than most of what I read. I like sci-fi which is what I was looking for when I found this book, but I'm finding I like the historical aspects to it as well. Most of it is just a story and fluff to make things interesting, but it also seems to be well grounded in the facts we know about these civilizations and times.
I'm midway through it, and while it's been a pretty tough read I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It tells a story of a future where people have invented a way to look back into the past. Some people are tasked with reviewing the past to learn everything we can about the rise and fall of great societies, and so are part of "pastwatch". They soon get to a point where they believe they might one day be able to interfere with the past, so some groups choose to try and end the history of slavery and suffering that happened during the rise of humanity. The story takes off after they decide to focus on Columbus and possibly changing his voyage west.
What I like about it is it doesn't just focus on Columbus, the story spans the "what ifs" of many civilizations including Mayans and ancient Mexico, Africa, most European conquests, an story of what could have happened to Atlantis, and even narrowing down the location of Noah's great flood.
I say it's a tough read because it spans different stories across huge time frames and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. I recently got to the Mayan portion and their names are quite hard to even pronounce, let alone remember. However it's written well enough that most of the characters are easy to remember. The story flip flops between the past at various times, and the "present" where the people are trying to make sense out of what they're seeing. However this change is never jarring and flows well with the overarching plot.
Anyway, I like it mainly because it's quite a bit different than most of what I read. I like sci-fi which is what I was looking for when I found this book, but I'm finding I like the historical aspects to it as well. Most of it is just a story and fluff to make things interesting, but it also seems to be well grounded in the facts we know about these civilizations and times.