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Castaways in Time #1
Castaways in Time
It was a storm to end all storms, and when it was over Sebastian Foster and his five unexpected house guests–all refugees from the fury of the wind and rain–should have been happy just to be alive. But when the clouds finally cleared, the world outside Bass’s home was no longer the twentieth-century America they all knew.
Instead, through some bizarre twist in time, the six of them had ended up in England’s past. But it was a past that never existed in any history book, a place where the Church was waging a holy war to depose Arthur III and make his nephew king of England and Wales.
Thrust into this barbaric world of bloody combat, the time travelers were quick to realize that their modern weapons and knowledge could change the whole course of this England’s future–and maybe help them find their way home again–if the warring factions didn’t destroy them before they even had a chance to get started…
Instead, through some bizarre twist in time, the six of them had ended up in England’s past. But it was a past that never existed in any history book, a place where the Church was waging a holy war to depose Arthur III and make his nephew king of England and Wales.
Thrust into this barbaric world of bloody combat, the time travelers were quick to realize that their modern weapons and knowledge could change the whole course of this England’s future–and maybe help them find their way home again–if the warring factions didn’t destroy them before they even had a chance to get started…
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
12 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Robert Adams
74 books66 followersFranklin Robert Adams (August 31, 1933 - January 4, 1990) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, formerly a career soldier. He is best known for his "Horseclans" books. He wrote as Robert Adams, an abbreviated form of his full name.
Adams was an early pioneer of the post-holocaust novel. His Horseclans novels are precursors to many of today's attempts at this type of story, many of which do not exhibit his painstakingly detailed world view or extraordinary plot follow-through (many of his Horseclans books are so interlinked that they make sense only when read in order; he did not create many "stand alone" books in the series).
Hallmarks of Adams' style include a focus on violent, non-stop action, meticulous detail in matters historical and military, strong description, and digressions expounding on various subjects from a conservative and libertarian viewpoint.
Adams was an early pioneer of the post-holocaust novel. His Horseclans novels are precursors to many of today's attempts at this type of story, many of which do not exhibit his painstakingly detailed world view or extraordinary plot follow-through (many of his Horseclans books are so interlinked that they make sense only when read in order; he did not create many "stand alone" books in the series).
Hallmarks of Adams' style include a focus on violent, non-stop action, meticulous detail in matters historical and military, strong description, and digressions expounding on various subjects from a conservative and libertarian viewpoint.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 23, 2018
A bit gory on the battle scenes, but otherwise a decent 'lost-in-time' story.
July 26, 2010
This is the first in a second series by Adams. I thought this series started out somewhat better than the Horseclans books actually, although overall I didn't like the series as much. Good narrative drive, though and well worth reading.
January 30, 2015
A good light read
I have been reading and re reading this series for years, and still enjoy it. Go ahead and buy the whole set, you cannot lose.
I have been reading and re reading this series for years, and still enjoy it. Go ahead and buy the whole set, you cannot lose.
January 6, 2016
Generally a pretty good 'marooned in time' story with a slight twist. Really a solid 3.5 - 3.75 stars, so I felt I had to round up.
March 11, 2015
Robert Adams is probably best known for his post-apocalyptic Horseclans novels, but in keeping with what has turned into a December Marathon of Time-Travel Fiction, I re-read his "Castaways in Time".
Unfortunately, the Kindle version of this classic is full of OCR typos, which lost it a star. But the story is a good one. A mixed group of travelers battling an epic flood on the East Coast of the United States in present-day is suddenly (in a manner never fully explained) transported through time, space, and a "lateral" time dimension to a "world of alternate probability". They seem to be in 1640 England, landed into the middle of a Roman Church-supported war between the Scots and various Crusaders, against the heretical English king. Not Henry VIII. Arthur III.
The displaced persons immediately set about using the goods that were transported with them—a truck-load of high-nitrogen fertilizer, a cabinet of modern and older firearms, along with various other goodies (such as bottles of Jim Beam, penicillin and vitamin tablets)—to carve themselves names and reputations in the new world, supporting good King Arthur against a Roman Church that controls the world through its monopoly of the known component of gunpowder, niter.
The action is wholly devoted to the ways in which advanced knowledge of warfare and its technology is used within the medieval armies to alter the balance of power. In that, it reminds me of similar "time travel" novels such as H. Beam Piper's "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" (sadly not available on Kindle, "Lord Kalvan" launched the "alternate history" and "time police" concepts for such works), and Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", which primarily used the contrast of modern and ancient technology to poke fun at current-day society.
Adam's purpose is not so lofty as Twain's, nor as well-envisioned as Piper's, but the way he presents warfare of the time with all its "mud and blood", and the masterful way he describes the problems of a feudal society coping with the deprivations of war and weather, makes this a worthwhile read.
Just put your patience on high if you are disturbed by typos. Combined with their plenitude is a liberal sprinkling of Gaelic and German phrases that make reading the novel on Kindle more difficult than it should be. Better yet, buy one of the many used paperback versions, and enjoy it in its original well-edited text
Unfortunately, the Kindle version of this classic is full of OCR typos, which lost it a star. But the story is a good one. A mixed group of travelers battling an epic flood on the East Coast of the United States in present-day is suddenly (in a manner never fully explained) transported through time, space, and a "lateral" time dimension to a "world of alternate probability". They seem to be in 1640 England, landed into the middle of a Roman Church-supported war between the Scots and various Crusaders, against the heretical English king. Not Henry VIII. Arthur III.
The displaced persons immediately set about using the goods that were transported with them—a truck-load of high-nitrogen fertilizer, a cabinet of modern and older firearms, along with various other goodies (such as bottles of Jim Beam, penicillin and vitamin tablets)—to carve themselves names and reputations in the new world, supporting good King Arthur against a Roman Church that controls the world through its monopoly of the known component of gunpowder, niter.
The action is wholly devoted to the ways in which advanced knowledge of warfare and its technology is used within the medieval armies to alter the balance of power. In that, it reminds me of similar "time travel" novels such as H. Beam Piper's "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" (sadly not available on Kindle, "Lord Kalvan" launched the "alternate history" and "time police" concepts for such works), and Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", which primarily used the contrast of modern and ancient technology to poke fun at current-day society.
Adam's purpose is not so lofty as Twain's, nor as well-envisioned as Piper's, but the way he presents warfare of the time with all its "mud and blood", and the masterful way he describes the problems of a feudal society coping with the deprivations of war and weather, makes this a worthwhile read.
Just put your patience on high if you are disturbed by typos. Combined with their plenitude is a liberal sprinkling of Gaelic and German phrases that make reading the novel on Kindle more difficult than it should be. Better yet, buy one of the many used paperback versions, and enjoy it in its original well-edited text
July 1, 2013
Every minute spent reading this book was a tedious chore. The period language combined with dialogue in horrific phonetic accents makes it a painful struggle to get through. It took me two and a half months to finish when I usually read a book in a few days.
The whole book is really just following the main character, Foster, through a war. If there was ever a reason why he is fighting in the war I don't remember it. This isn't anything to do with time travel just endless, pointless war on horseback with swords.
The whole book is really just following the main character, Foster, through a war. If there was ever a reason why he is fighting in the war I don't remember it. This isn't anything to do with time travel just endless, pointless war on horseback with swords.
November 7, 2020
I tried reading the first Horseclans book by Adams, and it was one of the few books in my life I stopped reading before finishing. I got through this book. It was a slog. I love alternate histories, especially with moderns somehow traveling back in time. This is a mess, wordy, disjointed and simply hard to read. Things just seem to happen without explanation. "Castaways in Time #1" is also the last one for me.
January 25, 2016
If you like displaced people in time then this series is for you. Robert Adams does an excellent job of telling the troubles and adventures of this houseful of modern people jerked back to medieval Europe and their effect on history. Highly recommended
September 22, 2023
I liked the prenmise of this book but the implementation of the concept here was terrible.
It was a really weak beginning where the author seems to have forgotten to tell us that the people in the house were in the past, and none of the characters really talk about it either. It's like the author assumed we already knew and skipped all the critical dialogue and gave us the unnecessary dialogue.
And the language of the "natives" in the past was an illegible mess. I mean, I like a bit of phonetic Scottish in a book, but when it's pages and pages of it then yecanne ne albe' du athen' wee guutoote, wity nee wee suilten..
I dropped the book after a few pages of this.
It was a really weak beginning where the author seems to have forgotten to tell us that the people in the house were in the past, and none of the characters really talk about it either. It's like the author assumed we already knew and skipped all the critical dialogue and gave us the unnecessary dialogue.
And the language of the "natives" in the past was an illegible mess. I mean, I like a bit of phonetic Scottish in a book, but when it's pages and pages of it then yecanne ne albe' du athen' wee guutoote, wity nee wee suilten..
I dropped the book after a few pages of this.
May 22, 2022
Did not enjoy it as much as I expected having read this when it came out, probably in the early 80's. The story is disjointed, character development happens too late in the book. Pages and pages of boring period history and dialog in heavily accented English which I absolutely hate.
March 7, 2022
Who copied this?
I've read this book before. I enjoyed it, though not as much as some of his Horse clans ones. But, whoever proofread this needs to be fired.
I've read this book before. I enjoyed it, though not as much as some of his Horse clans ones. But, whoever proofread this needs to be fired.
December 15, 2023
Silly accents, predictable, much worse then the Horseclans novels, thankfully short
May 6, 2012
Crosstime type book - was okay but could have been a lot better (as in Lest Darkness Fall for instance)
August 21, 2023
I've read better books by Robert Adams, the phonetical writing of dialect made the difficult to follow and slowed the flow of the story.
Stairway to Forever series is much much better.
Stairway to Forever series is much much better.
April 29, 2014
I found this book very difficult to read and was barely able to force myself to finish it. It had good battle scenes but I never really understood the supposed storyline
July 27, 2015
I read the series when I was in high school. Enjoyable to me at the time but lacking depth.
June 27, 2011
Didn't make it 50 pages in before losing interest.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews