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Time's Eye (A Time Odyssey #1)

by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

3.59 · rating details · 1,225 ratings · 84 reviews

In an instant, Earth is carved up in time and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants.

The explanation for this cataclysmic event may lie in the ancient city of Babylon, where two groups of refugees from 2037 - three cosmonauts and three U.N. peacekee...more

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Published January 1st 2010 by Blackstone Audiobooks (first published March 3rd 2003)

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Aug 04, 2011

Blue rated it

· review of another edition

I listened to this book narrated by John Lee.

I have not read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke...I usually find his concepts better than his characters. This time, possibly because of the addition of author Stephen Baxter, the characters are the stand outs. In an instant, people and lands of Earth from different time periods are mashed up next to each other. Cavemen run into modern day man...and a few people from our future are also thrown into the mix. It is all pretty cool in a "Wha...more

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Apr 13, 2011

Andreas rated it

· review of another edition

Like 2001 and it’s sequels, “Time’s Eye” is driven by the intervention in human affairs by unknowable and very powerful alien beings. In a flash, the Earth is divided up in chunks from different times. A UN helicopter crew from 2037, a British Colonial detachment in Afghanistan, the armies of Alexander the great and Genghis Khan are all shoved together onto the same Earth, in the same general area. Overlooking these humans and their reactions to the discontinuity are reflecting spheres hovering ...more

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Mar 21, 2011

Patrick Gibson rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

An eloquent work of speculative fiction. The book is more fantasy than Science Fiction in its jigsaw reconfiguration of time and space on Earth, but as Clarke wrote of long ago, "Any sufficiently developed technology is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke brings his deep philosophy to the forefront, and Baxter's writing is smooth, vibrant and rich as a patchwork quilt cut from velvet. The prose is aggressive and the characters sharply drawn. The opening scene with the walking apes is...more

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Jan 31, 2011

Tancredi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, statunitensi

"I Primogeniti, venuti alla luce in un universo vuoto, apprezzavano la vita più di ogni altra cosa. Ma, per perservare la vita, a volte la vita doveva essere distrutta."

Dopo l'"Odissea nello spazio", adesso quella nel tempo. Un grande romanzo fantascientifico da uno dei più grandi autori del genere.
Originale, riprende anche temi propri dei suoi precedenti lavori: così ecco ancora una volta misteriose entità semi-divine che spiano gli abitanti del pianeta Terra....more

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Feb 12, 2010

Jason Golomb rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed Time’s Eye - it's got action, science, and solidly developed characters. It's also got an ancient history battle royale between Alexander the Great and his army vs. Genghis Khan and his Mongolian hoard.

Time's Eye is the first in Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke's Time Odyssey series which takes place in the same universe as Clarke's 2001 stories. Inexplicably (at least initially), Earth is sliced up and stitched back together creating a mish-mash of timeframe...moreI thoroughly enjoyed Time’s Eye - it's got action, science, and solidly developed characters. It's also got an ancient history battle royale between Alexander the Great and his army vs. Genghis Khan and his Mongolian hoard.

Time's Eye is the first in Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke's Time Odyssey series which takes place in the same universe as Clarke's 2001 stories. Inexplicably (at least initially), Earth is sliced up and stitched back together creating a mish-mash of timeframes. This scenario creates the opportunity for Baxter and Clarke to position a Genghis-Alexander battle for control over the new Earth (dubbed "Mir" by the remnant individuals from the 21st century). The story is broad in scope, with multiple story lines intersecting, connecting and culminating in a satisfying conclusion. While the ending isn’t quite a cliff-hanger, it certainly sets up book 2 nicely.

Time's Eye has the requisite amount of hard science and pseudo-scientific - and sometimes atheistic - philosophical musings. These are the elements that Baxter and Clarke fans anticipate in their works. The philosophical vignettes are tightly written, and rarely feel forced or out of context with the rest of the story. I was thankful that there wasn’t too much rumination on the structure and specifics of time-travel.

The characters are solidly drawn and the authors were able to make the “real” characters like Alexander the Great, some of Alexander’s cohorts, and Rudyard Kipling (who gets caught in the time shifts), believable and relatively cliché-free.

In addition to the science fiction standbys of time travel and “those-that-watch-us-from-above”, the book contains solid historical fiction elements, specifically when dealing with Alexander and the Mongols. The authors take time to detail their histories, battle strategy and tactics of each set of warriors. There are also shades of Baxter’s Evolution while writing on the early hominids that get caught up in the time shifts.

Overall, I strongly recommend this sci-fi / alternative historical fiction from two of the best in the business.
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Dec 06, 2009

Lucas rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Despite the prominent 'odyssey' on the cover and Clarke's involvement I didn't catch that this series was supposed to be a time travel equivalent of the 2001 Space Odyssey books. What it came across as was a slightly higher grade alternate reality military fiction, instead of what if the Confederates had AK-47s to fight the North with we have what would happen if Ghengis Khan fought Alexander the Great, and Alexander only has a small number of AK-47s.

I did really like the time fract...more

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Aug 17, 2011

Sue Smith rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

You can't beat science fiction when it comes to introducing a mind blowing story line. Their unfortunate demise is usually with character development - although this story is better than most! Once you can wrap your mind around the concepts that the premise of the book is based on - and for those of us who are not particularly scientifically minded that can be a wee bit of work - it's a great story. Just let yourself go with the flow and it just works.

There's something intrinsica...more

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May 24, 2010

Jake rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, arthur-c-clarke

It is not an accident that I am only now getting to this trilogy. Though I enjoyed The Light of Other Days, that collaboration felt primarily like a sexed up re-exploration of themes Arthur C. Clarke explored more poignantly in his masterpiece Childhood’s End. Then I recently enjoyed a short story Baxter authored using Clarke's ideas. Realizing I liked Baxter’s writing style on its own merits, I decided to give the Time Odyssey trilogy a go.

The mixing of different historical periods...moreIt is not an accident that I am only now getting to this trilogy. Though I enjoyed The Light of Other Days, that collaboration felt primarily like a sexed up re-exploration of themes Arthur C. Clarke explored more poignantly in his masterpiece Childhood’s End. Then I recently enjoyed a short story Baxter authored using Clarke's ideas. Realizing I liked Baxter’s writing style on its own merits, I decided to give the Time Odyssey trilogy a go.

The mixing of different historical periods is fascinating. Mystery builds as the ensemble hypothesizes about the possible reasons why space and time have been rearranged in Rubik’s Cube fashion. Also, there is a richness to this book’s narrative that I grant is often lacking in Clarke’s writing. However, Baxter’s copious insertion of historical research periodically bogs down the story. And here I think this novel could have benefited from some of the leanness of Clarke’s style.

Easily making up for the above criticism is the authors’ clever exploration of how ancient cultures might view modern people and technology. I’ll simply say that when Russian cosmonauts come in contact with Genghis Kahn’s Mongol warriors, the latter are not universally wowed by space-age technology. In general, I enjoy Mr. Baxter’s ability to take Arthur C. Clarke’s decades-old scientific notions and revamp them via the best and most tantalizing research of the early 21st century. This is not a parasitic spin-off (as I feared it might be).

Lastly, I enjoyed many instances of homage to 2001 A Space Odyssey, especially late in the book. For me, there is a sense of home in Clarke’s far-reaching themes regarding time, space and mind. These themes are at once both sobering and inspiring. While Time's Eye seems unquestionably Baxter’s work, and it is very good, his greatest accomplishment is adeptly weaving his style with the core ideas and values of Clarke’s Space Odyssey series. I am looking forward to continuing on to part two of this trilogy.
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Jun 18, 2011

Peter Walton-Jones rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera, sci-fi

Sci-fi novel that stands out as an "earth-opera" rather than a "space-opera" as many modern sci-fi are designated. I kind of enjoyed this...it has plenty of action, intrigue and "what the hell?...." moments. I think I will read the sequels, mostly just to see if the story of the "first-born" and what they are up to actually amounts to something insightful, or at least interesting...The plot basics: The earth as been instantaneously transformed by outsiders...more

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Oct 26, 2009

Patreck Farley rated it

· review of another edition

Purhaps Author C. Clarke's one and only good book. His other books are long, drawn out and have stone characters, along with pointless scenes that have little or no key point to the actual plot.
Unlike those other books such as "3000" and "Rendevue with Rama," "Time's Eye" seems to catch my attention.
All the characters have a purpose to the storyline. They are original and unique, which makes the plot move. There are also so many things these characters ...more

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Jan 03, 2012

Robert rated it

· review of another edition

The first in Clarke and Baxter's "Time Odyssey" series, this book tells the story of the Discontinuity- an event through which different periods of Earth's past are plucked from their proper place and reassembled as a patchwork world. As modern man, represented by three UN peacekeepers and three Russian cosmonauts, attempt to make sense of it all, they find themselves drawn into a confrontation unlike any in recorded history... a battle between two of the finest military minds that Ear...more

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May 06, 2009

Debbie rated it

· review of another edition

This book definitely left me wanting. This is, I suppose, a good thing for the beginning of a series, but I got the impression that the series actually takes a bit of a different turn from here, so maybe not so much. Conceptually, it was incredibly interesting and complex. Descriptively, it was detailed and intense, without being boring. However, on the writing style, there were occasionally sentences that just didn't make sense no matter how many times I reread them. Anyway, the scientific...more

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Jul 14, 2009

C.S. rated it

· review of another edition

So a while back I got the urge to read some really good science fiction. I grew up on sci-fi, but hadn't read any in years, not since first coming to college. I had it in my head that I would pick some new author, or at least one I wasn't already familiar with. Instead, I found myself reading the last series of books by science fiction's greatest writer, a man who is nothing if not familiar to me. I was not disappointed, though I suppose I still haven't quite accomplished what I set out to d...moreSo a while back I got the urge to read some really good science fiction. I grew up on sci-fi, but hadn't read any in years, not since first coming to college. I had it in my head that I would pick some new author, or at least one I wasn't already familiar with. Instead, I found myself reading the last series of books by science fiction's greatest writer, a man who is nothing if not familiar to me. I was not disappointed, though I suppose I still haven't quite accomplished what I set out to do.

What made Clarke the king of his genre was not the quality of his writing or his ability to craft an entire fictional world (like, say, the Star Wars universe), but rather his ideas, which were consistently breathtaking in scope. Keep in mind that this is the man who single-handedly created the concept of the telecommunications satellite. This man was one of the giants of 20th Century thought. Ideas were what he did best.

Among his most intriguing creations was one from the Space Odyssey books, that of the Firstborn. The Firstborn were the oldest race in the universe, born of one of its first stars, in a time when galaxies were in their infancy and the universe was a lot smaller. The Firstborn cherished intelligence above all else, but they had some very specific ideas of what sort of intelligences were acceptable. They created the monolith from 2001 and the subsequent books, and while they were the driving force behind those stories, we never really learned much about them.

The Time Odyssey series explores their race and their motivations in a little more detail. It still centers around Earth and humanity, and still refers to the Firstborn themselves only obliquely, but there are reasons for that, I think. The series is far more action-oriented than the original, but still intriguing and still firmly grounded in the realm of hard science. It doesn't leave one with the sense of wonder that many of Clarke's earlier books do, but it's satisfying on almost every level. I just wish he'd lived long enough to write a couple more.(less)

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Jun 19, 2009

Tony rated it

· review of another edition

My brother gave me this book & the one that follows it for Christmas of 2007. Clarke and Baxter created a truly pure sci-fi story, where an alien race that the main characters call the Firstborn are trying to extinguish mankind's existence. Unlike most of popular sci-fi, these books stick to very plausible technology, exploring a near future Earth with very interesting socio-political developments. This novel deals with a sort of time travel, it reads more like alternative history. You've got to...more

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Nov 11, 2008

Keith rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

A pairing of two great hard-SF authors (Arthur C Clarke and uncredited-by-Goodreads Stephen Baxter), A Time Odyssey incorporates some ideas from each man's other works over a trilogy of books exploring these themes in new ways. In Time's Eye we are presented with a patchwork Frankenstein's Earth of sorts as the planet is comprised of physical chunks of Earth plucked from different eras (populated by various peoples from ape-like protohumans to soldiers from 1037). Ghengis Khan and Alexander th...more

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Sep 13, 2008

FicusFan rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: book-groups, fiction, science-fiction, history, modern-day, near-future, time-travel-distortion, read-2008, read-9-08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Finished Time's Eye for my RL SF book group. It was not bad, but not amazing either. It was about a time distortion event on earth in the year 2037. The earth ended up like a giant pizza with tip rips so that different time periods ended up next to each other. The time rip brought the physical place with it. Different ages, climates, flora and fauna all patched together.

Not many people made it, but there are a few moderns, proto-humans, the British Raj in a fort on the Northwest fro...more Finished Time's Eye for my RL SF book group. It was not bad, but not amazing either. It was about a time distortion event on earth in the year 2037. The earth ended up like a giant pizza with tip rips so that different time periods ended up next to each other. The time rip brought the physical place with it. Different ages, climates, flora and fauna all patched together.

Not many people made it, but there are a few moderns, proto-humans, the British Raj in a fort on the Northwest frontier ala 1880, complete with Rudyard Kipling, and the biggies, Alexander (just after he has taken the arrow in the chest in India) and his army and Genghis Khan and his army.

Yes, it appears the whole point was to have Alex and Genghis have a big ole' battle. Ogg.

There are mysterious alien artifacts, 'Eyes' that hover and observe all.

The book was written by both Clarke and Stephen Baxter. The writing isn't bad, and the story flows, but it is very much a summary type of book with occasional character input. It has to be to cover all the viewpoints, but that style for me, detracts from the characters, and the story. I am not gripped to find out what happens next.

It is the first of a series, yet the buzz is that they can be read as stand-alones. Apparently one of the characters from the time ripped earth goes back to the time and world she came from in the next book. Don't think I will join the party.

Really enjoyed the authors having the Macedonians searching Greece for Thebes though.

I wished they had spent more time thinking or talking about whether they were the victims or the survivors of the event. Was their distorted earth the cripple, with a normal untouched earth somewhere in time ? Was the normal earth destroyed, and they were the survivors ? Was there a mirror image of their damaged earth, which absorbed the missing time/earth sections that were replaced by the time rips ?

Either that or spend more time with the characters. There is a similar if smaller scale book about a group of teens on a vacation in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, and dinosaurs start running through the landscape. It is called Footprints of Thunder by James F. David, and I much prefer it, to this latest entry.(less)

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Dec 09, 2009

Javier rated it

· review of another edition

What do you get when you combine two of the best Sci-Fi minds? A great book! I really enjoyed this one. Not too much hard science, some fun history, and a band of likable characters.

I will echo some of the other comments regarding the overall pace of the book being a little slow, but I found the world they created to be engrossing. I am really looking forward to continuing the series.

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Apr 22, 2011

Terry rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

The First Born, in order to preserve life, try to regulate the emergence and progress of intelligence. 21st century Earth is both spatially and temporally sundered and then put back together, resulting in the mixing of temporally diverse cultures (e.g. Genghis Khan's Mongols and Alexander's Macedonians) I did not bother to look for the next one in the series.

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Jan 19, 2009

Matt rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

The earth gets turned into a patchwork of different times, mostly pre-industrial revolution, and a battle ensues between none other than Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan. The story involves characters from the 21 century so the reader can identify with them and try to make sense of what is going on.

Contrived but very well written.

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Jul 30, 2010

molly rated it

· review of another edition

Definitely not the sort of sci-fi I go in for, but it was laying around and I picked it up. It suffers from the classic sci-fi problem of overdeveloped concept, underdeveloped characters and a heavy dose of cliches, but the concept is actually good enough to make it a worthwhile read. I think I'll read the following books in the series.

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Dec 29, 2008

John Bladek rated it

· review of another edition

I picked this up because of its connection to 2001 and I wanted to see how they would handle a battle between Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan. The battle was fun, but the characters are shallow and boring and the overall plot of this series was still a distant hope by the time I got through this plodding first book.

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Sep 10, 2011

Kristin rated it

· review of another edition

The middle chunk of the book was pretty dry -- mostly historical fiction descriptions without much plot or character development. I enjoyed the last hundred pages or so of the book, where the authors added more plot intrigue about why things were happening and had more character interactions. The end was good enough that I picked up the next book in the series.

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Aug 07, 2011

Ted Hopkins rated it

· review of another edition

Good solid SF. Clarke's role in this collaboration remains stylistically obvious. Borrowing heavily from Fred Hoyle's "October the first Is Too Late," Clarke and Baxter go on to create a challenging plot with a fascinating outcome. Characterization of real historical people fails to satisfy, though.

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Aug 09, 2011

Gordon added it · review of another edition

The idea behind this book is great, and I thoroughly enjoyed parts of it. Could have done with less emphasis on the military campaigns and more on the other aspects of colliding eras, esp. the pre-humans. And of course the "eyes'. Still, made me want to read the sequel.

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Jan 10, 2009

Robert Macdonald Smith rated it

· review of another edition

An odyssey in time - like the classic 2001 stories but instead of travelling through space this is about travelling through time on earth. Not bad but not as good as his originals. If you enjoy sci-fi and Arthur C Clarke then you will enjoy this book.

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Feb 17, 2011

Fejas rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-reality, fiction, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, time-travel, war

Interesting concept and entertaining, but sometimes it lingered on for too long to describe something, only to jump up in other parts without giving enough description of certain events. But enough to keep me interested in coming back for the second book of the series.

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Apr 09, 2010

Betsey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: end-of-the-world, scifi-nearfuture, scifi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 24, 2008

Lgrichter rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who like challenge

When confronted by the initial question of would I rather live in a world shaped by Ghengis Khan or Alexander the Great, I really had to think about it. As I read the book, which triggered long-forgotten history lessons, and mulled the question, I was drawn into the fascinating consequences projected by Arthur Clarke and his co-author. I'd bought this book a long time ago and never got around to it until hearing of his death earlier this summer. He's always been a very important writer to me;...more

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Feb 16, 2011

Chris Stewart rated it

· review of another edition

Aliens do bad things to the planet to make warriors from throughout human history fight. Ohh look, Genghis Khan! Ohh look, Alexander the great! Hey, that UN soldier lady has an iPhone from the future. (shrug)

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Jul 12, 2009

Dave Kennedy rated it

· review of another edition

Excellent book, but not as classic Sci-Fi as I generally expect from Clarke. It's more of an action-adventure story that uses a Sci-Fi story frame to tie together historical facts to create a new story.

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About Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.

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Time's Eye (A Time Odyssey #1)

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