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| On the Oceans of Eternity | 
 enlarge | Author: S. M. Stirling
Publisher: Roc
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $4.15
You Save: $3.84 (48%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $2.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  (72 reviews)
Sales Rank: 38318
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 0451457803
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780451457806
ASIN: 0451457803
Publication Date: April 1, 2000
Release Date: April 10, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ten years ago, inhabitants of the twentieth century and the Bronze Age were tossed together by the Event. But as two worlds converge, only one can be the victor in a battle to lead this strange new world.
Praise for Against the Tide of Years:
"S. M. Stirling concocts another exciting and explosive tale of ambition, ingenuity, intrigue, and discovery."--Jane Lindskold, author of When the Gods Are Silent
"Confirms what readers of the first book already knew: S.M. Stirling is writing some of the best straight-ahead science fiction the genre has ever seen."--Amazing Magazine
Praise for Island in the Sea of Time:
"One of the best time travel/alternate history stories I've ever read, period. An outstanding piece of work."--Harry Turtledove
"A page-turner that is certain to win the author legions of new fans."--George R.R. Martin
"Compelling."--Science Fiction Chronicle
Amazon.com Review
In the bestselling Island in the Sea of Time, 20th-century Nantucket was inexplicably hurled back to the Bronze Age. In the sequel, Against the Tide of Years, the villainous renegade William Walker introduced muskets, cannon, and other deadly anachronisms to Odysseus's Greece, making himself king and positioning himself to overthrow the democratic Republic of Nantucket and destroy his archenemy, Commodore Marian Alston. Now, in the trilogy's rousing conclusion, On the Oceans of Eternity, Walker's powerful army conquers Troy and invades Babylon, Nantucket's last great ally, as Walker's blood brother, the king of Tartessos, blocks Commodore Alston's Nantucket navy at the straits of Gibraltar. If Nantucket's tiny forces cannot defeat Walker's army and allies, the world will be plunged into a Dark Age bleaker and more devastating than any known in our history. On the Oceans of Eternity ends cleanly, yet leaves the door open for a number of interesting sequels--and how often can you say that? Like its prequels, On the Oceans of Eternity is big, bloody, and ambitious, but always fast-paced and fascinating. This fun, intelligent series is perfect not only for action-adventure, alternate history, time travel, and military-SF fans but also for epic fantasy readers, for Burroughs and Haggard fans craving a modern update of the lost-civilization novel, and for anyone who loves Patrick O'Brian's sensational sea battles. --Cynthia Ward
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| Customer Reviews: Read 67 more reviews...
 Final Volume of the Trilogy, Maybe October 2, 2008
Or is it part 2 of the sequel to Island in the Sea of Time (IISOT)? Either way, it is a great read, almost bringing closure to the story begun in Against the Tide of Years (there is a hook for a sequel: William Walker's daughter Althea isn't killed, but escapes to somewhere in central Asia, where she may someday get into mischief).
Kathryn Hollard marries Kashtiliash (who was, BTW, an actual historical king, as was his father); Ken marries (the fictional) Raupasha, and several other marriages occur.
One scene really stretches suspension of disbelief: at Tom Hollard's place on Long Island, there appear 132 marines. "The faces under the floppy canvas campaign hats were young, sweating, and tired with the day's route-march out to Fogarty's Cove and AND BACK . . . ." (emphasis added) From Long Island, they marched the 700+ miles to Fogarty's Cove, which is on the south shore of Chedabucto Bay, and 700+ miles back, all in one day? What were they? 132 clones of Jason P. Garrick?
Kidding aside (the author is completely within his rights to create a fictional Fogerty's Cove on Long Island) OTOOE is a great deal of fun to read, and as a bonus, you even learn something about ancient history.
watziznaym@gmail.com
A Great Finish to A Great Series (With a Few Bobbles) July 30, 2008
This novel, the third novel in Stirling's Nantucket trilogy, depicts the climatic conflict between the Republic of Nantucket, the free, democratic (in the literal sense of the term) society created by the Nantucket Islanders after being sent three thousand years into the past by a mysterious Event, and the despotic empire founded by the renegade Coast Guard officer and warlord William Walker.
From the epic battle scenes, to the pictures of individual life in the year 10 A.E. (After the Event; 1240 B.C. in our dating), this book is a wonderful finish to a great series. The characters are strongly drawn - in the most detail of any of the books in the series - and Stirling is equally skilled at his depictions of Big, Epic Events and detailed pictures of the lives of families, communities and individuals within the Republic of Nantucket, within Walker's empire, and in the many cultures worldwide encountered by both. However, despite its strengths, a couple of bobbles affect this book, as with its predecessors.
First: two of the biggest battle scenes in the novel are lifted bodily from elsewhere. The conflict at "O' Rourke's Ford" is, action for action, the movie "Zulu" set 3,000 years in the past; and the conflict between the forces of the Republic and the Tartessians at Gibraltar is the Battle of Trafalgar yet again. Stirling is a marvelous writer, but these two scenes should at least have been acknowledged in the preface, even though the exchange between O'Rourke and Kenneth Hollard at the end of the former slyly acknowledges it.
Second, given the smallpox epidemic and the measures which had to be taken to contain it at the close of the former novel, I'd have expected the Babylonians to be weaker than they are depicted, and Justin Clemens to have more difficulty than he encountered, in the third book. While the book is still plausible, a bit more acknowledgement of what took place in Babylon in the recent past would have been more convincing.
However, these are relatively minor quibbles with what is otherwise a fantastic book. I look forward eagerly to Stirling's next entry in this series!
 Both strong female and male characters abound.... May 14, 2008
Why is it when lead characters are strong women with both light and dark shades.....it's feminism and when (in the majority of such books) male lead characters are fleshed out with traits that may not be mainstream.....there's no hue and cry of chauvinism? Women can be just as strong, just as weak, just as bad and certainly just as sexual as any man. Some of the greatest conquerers and warriors of the ages were into male bonding of the very intimate kind, ie; Alexander the Great, ancient Sparta and there was a very definite sexual component in the relationships of the gladiators in ancient Rome. There are a myriad of very good studies that discuss the sexual component of the traditional "male bonding" related to testosterone laden sporting events. It's the height of arrogance and male egocentricity to play the "feminism card" as I've read in some comments. It does a disservice to a fine series with extremely interesting characters....both male and female. The author's less than inspired and disjointed storyline and treatment of some of the characters in the 3rd book are the fault of the author and not the characters. You want traditional "strong males", pick up some of the usual hackneyed "adventure" paperbacks at Walmart. There are of enough of them. Ad nauseum.
 Not as good as the first August 23, 2007
This book is a pageturner. There's plot in abundance, and plenty of action.
Unfortunately, this book suffers from being overly simplistic and idealistic. Most of it is war and fighting, with the Nantucket islanders either being superhumanly competent "good people" vs. evil sociopaths, sadists and neo-nazis. The supreme military commander always ends up on the front lines or the behind the scenes elite missions. The guy out for a trek through America can organize raiding parties with the natives in a couple of days and appear silently behind scouts to snap their necks with his bare hands. The leadership is brilliant, and none of the main characters suffers any serious loss or makes critical errors of judgment.
The first book in this series started out with an interesting premise, but at this point it's about as realistic and surprising as a Tom Clancy novel.
All right, we get it already! June 14, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ok, Mr. Stirling, we get it! After 1,800 pages or so we're quite aware that when someone dies, they crap their pants. In the future, please limit yourself to no more than two descriptions of this fact per book. I'll allow up to one other indirect reference to the fecal stench of battle. But for the love of God, you need let people die once in awhile without feeling compelled to describe the postmortem action of their bowels!
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