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City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis
Metachronopolis is the golden city beyond time. Ruled by the Masters of Time, who can travel freely throughout the multitudinous time lines of Man's history, the city is a shining society of heroes and horrors. For the arrogant Masters, who steal famous men and women out of the past and bring them to the eternal city for their amusement, are not only beyond time, but beyond remorse and retribution too.
CITY BEYOND TIME: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis is John C. Wright's mind-bending and astonishingly brilliant take on time travel. In making use of a centuries-spanning perspective similar to his highly-regarded AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, Wright expertly weaves a larger tale out of a series of smaller ones. Part anthology and part novel, CITY BEYOND TIME is fascinating, melancholy, frightening, and a true masterpiece of story-telling.
John C. Wright is the author of THE GOLDEN AGE and AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND. He has been described as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a recent poll of more than a thousand science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.
CITY BEYOND TIME: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis is John C. Wright's mind-bending and astonishingly brilliant take on time travel. In making use of a centuries-spanning perspective similar to his highly-regarded AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, Wright expertly weaves a larger tale out of a series of smaller ones. Part anthology and part novel, CITY BEYOND TIME is fascinating, melancholy, frightening, and a true masterpiece of story-telling.
John C. Wright is the author of THE GOLDEN AGE and AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND. He has been described as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a recent poll of more than a thousand science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 21, 2014
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224 people want to read
About the author
John C. Wright
146 books453 followersJohn C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 24, 2017
A collection of short stories, revolving about time travel. With links, sometimes very faint. Then, time travel and cause-and-effect have interesting relationships here.
The first and last are told in achronic order, which suits them well. We have mysteries, attempts at rescue, and the effects of time travel and cause-and-effect on interactions. A private investigator who observes that, in fact, a trenchcoat and fedora are normal attire where he comes from. A widowed bum. The fates of those whom the Time Wardens are no longer interested in but don't let leave. And more.
The first and last are told in achronic order, which suits them well. We have mysteries, attempts at rescue, and the effects of time travel and cause-and-effect on interactions. A private investigator who observes that, in fact, a trenchcoat and fedora are normal attire where he comes from. A widowed bum. The fates of those whom the Time Wardens are no longer interested in but don't let leave. And more.
April 23, 2015
Nothing lasts forever, even if you have the ability to travel through time and try to make it stay. John C. Wright's collection of short stories tell various significant and insignificant events near the end of the city of Metachronopolis, where time travelers called "Time Wardens" live and gather various items and people from history for their own amusement. With great power comes great corruption, but not everyone embraces the decadence and manipulations of the Time Wardens.
The stories have somewhat complicated plots that require the reader to pay attention to details, which is something that I like about time travel stories. The city is an interesting place with lots of nooks and crannies where unusual but plausible (granting the possibility of time travel) events take place. Murder mysteries, paranoid thrillers, and romantic dalliances are mixed in different levels in every story, providing dramatic tension. I especially enjoyed "Slayer of Souls" in which a man trys to run away from a horror that can read his mind. The sense of paranoia is strong but it is also well thought out and comes to a very satisfying conclusion.
This collection of stories is intelligent and entertaining and I look forward to revisiting it when my memories have faded a bit (nothing lasts forever!) and it reads like new.
The stories have somewhat complicated plots that require the reader to pay attention to details, which is something that I like about time travel stories. The city is an interesting place with lots of nooks and crannies where unusual but plausible (granting the possibility of time travel) events take place. Murder mysteries, paranoid thrillers, and romantic dalliances are mixed in different levels in every story, providing dramatic tension. I especially enjoyed "Slayer of Souls" in which a man trys to run away from a horror that can read his mind. The sense of paranoia is strong but it is also well thought out and comes to a very satisfying conclusion.
This collection of stories is intelligent and entertaining and I look forward to revisiting it when my memories have faded a bit (nothing lasts forever!) and it reads like new.
March 11, 2020
John C. Wright comes up with an original time travel concept that includes the so called Time Warden and a City Beyond Time. Using this framework he explores what it means to be and to act like a human, which results in some interesting stories. In a collection like this though it's almost a bit too much preaching and I got bored in the middle.
The last novella however, The Plural of Helen of Troy, was a brilliant fast-paced ride stretching its own limits. The collection is worth the price just for this single story and I recommend it to all SF fans.
The last novella however, The Plural of Helen of Troy, was a brilliant fast-paced ride stretching its own limits. The collection is worth the price just for this single story and I recommend it to all SF fans.
May 3, 2020
This book, City Beyond Time, was almost an anthology of Wright’s stories that took place in the Metachronopolis. A shimmering and golden city under the rule of Time Wardens who abuse their power and mess with time for their personal gain. It very much held the lesson of just because you can, doesn’t mean you should and how tempting Time Travel really could be in the hands of the human race. The stories are all very different from each other which I found very compelling. It also showed how beautiful Time Travel really could be, yet it also warns of the dangers of time travel when human greed gets in the way. It is similar to the thought of immortality except it is possible to die, but you’re never really dead. I chose this book because I am very interested in time travel, especially if it’s written well, and the thought of figures we know and love out of their own time. I think it would be worth to read this book, because I was rarely bored and if I ever was it paid off in the end. You get a different story throughout the book, yet it all takes place in the same location. These characters are brought together by a singular thing and have beautiful, yet scary, lessons to teach the reader. I hope you enjoy!
June 14, 2020
My first introduction to this fascinating world was in Clockwork Phoenix 3, an anthology in which "Murder in Metachronopolis" first appeared. I found the scrambled chronology fascinating, and the ending haunting. I did notice in this version a few small changes, particularly putting the name of Stalin's mother in its proper Georgian form.
The second story, "Bride of the Time Warden," treats time travel as a metaphor for addiction and the damage it does to a family, while in "Father's Monument," Metachronopolis becomes a metaphor for the Christian Heaven and time travel for God's omniscience.
"Slayer of Souls" is the darkest of the five stories, and has echoes of Lovecraft and especially the King in Yellow stories of Robert W Chambers. And the final story, "The Plural of Helen of Troy," brings everything full circle, back to the protagonist of the first story and the '30s noir feeling.
It's a lot of stuff for such a slender volume. I believe history will remember John C. Wright as one of the great masters of twenty-first century speculative fiction.
The second story, "Bride of the Time Warden," treats time travel as a metaphor for addiction and the damage it does to a family, while in "Father's Monument," Metachronopolis becomes a metaphor for the Christian Heaven and time travel for God's omniscience.
"Slayer of Souls" is the darkest of the five stories, and has echoes of Lovecraft and especially the King in Yellow stories of Robert W Chambers. And the final story, "The Plural of Helen of Troy," brings everything full circle, back to the protagonist of the first story and the '30s noir feeling.
It's a lot of stuff for such a slender volume. I believe history will remember John C. Wright as one of the great masters of twenty-first century speculative fiction.
September 4, 2019
An interesting collection of short stories that tire together to form one long story.
The authors choice of order for the stories was refreshing, with everything jumbled up and all over the place, as any time travel story should.
He did an excellent job at world building, creating a worldI'd live to see more stories set in. Perhaps an entire series of books.
The authors choice of order for the stories was refreshing, with everything jumbled up and all over the place, as any time travel story should.
He did an excellent job at world building, creating a worldI'd live to see more stories set in. Perhaps an entire series of books.
March 20, 2018
An Incredible Book
Thought provoking, complex and occasionally heartbreaking. John C Wright teases the soul, tantalises the senses and delivers on his promises of a damn good story. 10/10
Thought provoking, complex and occasionally heartbreaking. John C Wright teases the soul, tantalises the senses and delivers on his promises of a damn good story. 10/10
February 9, 2018
More uneven than most of his work. Some stories I liked a lot, others not so much.
I'll still buy anything he writes.
I'll still buy anything he writes.
September 18, 2019
Delightfully lampoons common time travel themes, while maintaining a noir character. Excellent ending, elevating the material.
June 27, 2014
John Wright does it again. This is the second book of collected stories I've read from him, the other being Awake in the Night Lands, and cannot recommend him highly enough.
I've read, and watched, my fair share of time travel stories and Wright leaves them all in the dust, even Mull's Grip of the Shadow Plague subplot which I had just read to my kids. His vision is far more expansive, far more human and far more frightening than what I've encountered elsewhere. Not only does he pursue the logical and moral ramifications of what unfettered time travel would entail and what that would do to those that master it, he also presents two sides, a heaven and a hell, the costs of each, and lets the reader decide which one he would seek.
Wright combines a healthy dose of historical references, the horror of being a pawn to inescapable forces without limit or remorse, and Christian themes of faith, sin, repentance, sacrifice and redemption. His stories point to something that exists which is more powerful than the build up of filth over eons from the Masters of Time seeking to satiate their base desires at any cost, including avoiding the personal costs. All this, and more, is deftly woven together; and, in high style of a book concerning time travel, the ending made me read the beginning again, because the thematic looping hits all the right notes.
He deals with the lack of cause and effect without descending into a mere fever dream. The logical chains of decisions and actions are consistent, even after stipulating anything that could be changed, has been and will be. Wright navigates all this with wonderful prose, a clever eye for the right details and seemingly without effort. It's a clear sign of just how sharp he is when what could have been a muddled mess but is instead crystal clear.
He writes as if Ray Bradbury and G.K. Chesterton stepped into an oddly shimmering portal, fractured the timelines, and produced an amalgamation, bent on one thing and one thing only: to produce engaging and enlightening entertainment disguised as books. *Cue thundercrash and lightning strike*
My one complaint is that I wanted more!
I've read, and watched, my fair share of time travel stories and Wright leaves them all in the dust, even Mull's Grip of the Shadow Plague subplot which I had just read to my kids. His vision is far more expansive, far more human and far more frightening than what I've encountered elsewhere. Not only does he pursue the logical and moral ramifications of what unfettered time travel would entail and what that would do to those that master it, he also presents two sides, a heaven and a hell, the costs of each, and lets the reader decide which one he would seek.
Wright combines a healthy dose of historical references, the horror of being a pawn to inescapable forces without limit or remorse, and Christian themes of faith, sin, repentance, sacrifice and redemption. His stories point to something that exists which is more powerful than the build up of filth over eons from the Masters of Time seeking to satiate their base desires at any cost, including avoiding the personal costs. All this, and more, is deftly woven together; and, in high style of a book concerning time travel, the ending made me read the beginning again, because the thematic looping hits all the right notes.
He deals with the lack of cause and effect without descending into a mere fever dream. The logical chains of decisions and actions are consistent, even after stipulating anything that could be changed, has been and will be. Wright navigates all this with wonderful prose, a clever eye for the right details and seemingly without effort. It's a clear sign of just how sharp he is when what could have been a muddled mess but is instead crystal clear.
He writes as if Ray Bradbury and G.K. Chesterton stepped into an oddly shimmering portal, fractured the timelines, and produced an amalgamation, bent on one thing and one thing only: to produce engaging and enlightening entertainment disguised as books. *Cue thundercrash and lightning strike*
My one complaint is that I wanted more!
July 23, 2015
A somewhat uneven story collection, good but not quite as brilliant as e.g. Wright's Awake in the Night Land.
"Murder in Metachronopolis" and "The Plural of Helen of Troy" are both well worth the price. A daring combination of Chandlerian noir detective story and a complex time travel yarn, they're fun to read and have a captivating setting, as well as a fine protagonist in the person of Jacob Frontino - a cynical private eye from the 30's, now living in the City Beyond Time, who is weary of investigating cases where the culprit inevitably turns out to be the client, or the client's alternate-timeline self, or the victim, or Frontino himself, or any other weird combination that can emerge from the tortured skein of time. "The Plural of Helen of Troy", in particular, features a time-travel plot complex enough that you'd be well advised to read the story two or three times to comprehend what's going on, but it's well worth it. There are also some refreshing Christian morals and allegories in both of the Frontino pieces.
The other four stories don't quite reach such a level of quality. Of these four, "Choosers of the Slain" is the best: quite memorable for the quality of its writing and the simple, but interesting conflict. "Bride of the Time Warden" is almost as good, especially with its descriptions of possible licit and illicit applications of time travel, but has a somewhat weak ending.
"Father's Monument", on the other hand, is a disappointing story with stilted writing (apart from the hospital scene) and a very predictable ending. "Slayer of Souls" appears to be Wright's attempt to write horror, but the protagonist comes across as artificial, and the entire story feels way too short and abrupt; it feels more like a skeleton of a story, with the plot devices clearly showing.
"Murder in Metachronopolis" and "The Plural of Helen of Troy" are both well worth the price. A daring combination of Chandlerian noir detective story and a complex time travel yarn, they're fun to read and have a captivating setting, as well as a fine protagonist in the person of Jacob Frontino - a cynical private eye from the 30's, now living in the City Beyond Time, who is weary of investigating cases where the culprit inevitably turns out to be the client, or the client's alternate-timeline self, or the victim, or Frontino himself, or any other weird combination that can emerge from the tortured skein of time. "The Plural of Helen of Troy", in particular, features a time-travel plot complex enough that you'd be well advised to read the story two or three times to comprehend what's going on, but it's well worth it. There are also some refreshing Christian morals and allegories in both of the Frontino pieces.
The other four stories don't quite reach such a level of quality. Of these four, "Choosers of the Slain" is the best: quite memorable for the quality of its writing and the simple, but interesting conflict. "Bride of the Time Warden" is almost as good, especially with its descriptions of possible licit and illicit applications of time travel, but has a somewhat weak ending.
"Father's Monument", on the other hand, is a disappointing story with stilted writing (apart from the hospital scene) and a very predictable ending. "Slayer of Souls" appears to be Wright's attempt to write horror, but the protagonist comes across as artificial, and the entire story feels way too short and abrupt; it feels more like a skeleton of a story, with the plot devices clearly showing.
January 7, 2016
I loved this book. The collection of tales was a delight to read and hearkened back to the fun of the old time Sci-Fi. I ordered this collection because I had read the story "The Plural of Helen of Troy" from this collection for the 2015 Hugos. I loved the story, loved the twists and I hope it wins the Hugo for Best Novella. All of the stories in this collection are excellent, but I still favor the one that led me to it.
The rest of the review is my notes for the Hugo nomination novella : The Plural of Helen of Troy
The backwards in time storytelling reminiscent of Memento worked, as there was a reason for it beyond just being a storytelling trick. The characters were very enjoyable, especially as Wright kept unraveling the layers of the story. Even the simple conversation with the first Helen took on new meaning as the story progressed. Wright’s strength in this story (and also in Pale Reams of Shade) are in the unraveling of the onion, revealing with time throughout the story — longer stories are better suited for Mr. Wright’s skills.
The premise was great (a better version of Enterprise’s temporal cold war), and as a Protestant, I would say I saw shades of purgatory in the story (near the end). And as far as the purgatory goes, I liked this presentation. One of the sad realities of our mechanistic/utilitarian world seems to be that even in our fiction we don’t have room for the ineffable and hopeful, and so even stories about people fighting for a better world (all of them) leaves the world sterile and without heart — not even a simple concept of good vs evil is allowed. Wright’s Jake is like David Dunn from Unbreakable, there is a hole in his heart, a sense of loss that comes out in his jaded interactions with the world, and this is because the purpose and meaning of life has been taken them.
The rest of the review is my notes for the Hugo nomination novella : The Plural of Helen of Troy
The backwards in time storytelling reminiscent of Memento worked, as there was a reason for it beyond just being a storytelling trick. The characters were very enjoyable, especially as Wright kept unraveling the layers of the story. Even the simple conversation with the first Helen took on new meaning as the story progressed. Wright’s strength in this story (and also in Pale Reams of Shade) are in the unraveling of the onion, revealing with time throughout the story — longer stories are better suited for Mr. Wright’s skills.
The premise was great (a better version of Enterprise’s temporal cold war), and as a Protestant, I would say I saw shades of purgatory in the story (near the end). And as far as the purgatory goes, I liked this presentation. One of the sad realities of our mechanistic/utilitarian world seems to be that even in our fiction we don’t have room for the ineffable and hopeful, and so even stories about people fighting for a better world (all of them) leaves the world sterile and without heart — not even a simple concept of good vs evil is allowed. Wright’s Jake is like David Dunn from Unbreakable, there is a hole in his heart, a sense of loss that comes out in his jaded interactions with the world, and this is because the purpose and meaning of life has been taken them.
July 3, 2014
I’ve noted a theme in my so far sadly limited (but soon to be comprehensive!) readings of John C. Wright that he speaks in a voice sui generis among modern literary pretenders — that is, all those who are not in fact John C. Wright — portraying what for lack of better nomenclature we could term “inspirational dystopias”, shining the light of human fulfillment from amidst what in lesser hands would be overwhelming nihilism and/or despair.
This collection of stories raises that artistry to masterly finesse; it reads like Moorcock’s Dancers At The End of Time as plotted by a collaboration of Neal Stephenson and C.S. Lewis, with a subtle sprinkling of the absurdist wit Messr. Wright displays abundantly in his online presence. A truly remarkable range of characterizations, emotions, and styles are packed into the six stories of this book — although really, it should count as about nine, because you’ll want to read “Murder In Metachronopolis” twice and “The Plural of Helen of Troy” at least three times to be sure you’ve got the story straight. No, really. Time travel is hard to wrap your head around logical consequences of, and with a nod to James P. Hogan for giving it a game try, no one ever that I’m aware of has tangled them into such a skein as found in the bookend pieces here.
If you seek hard science speculation, or uplifting vision, or philosophical contemplation, or just plain good entertainment, this collection will exceed all reasonable expectations, and a good bit of the unreasonable as well. Unconditionally recommended!
This collection of stories raises that artistry to masterly finesse; it reads like Moorcock’s Dancers At The End of Time as plotted by a collaboration of Neal Stephenson and C.S. Lewis, with a subtle sprinkling of the absurdist wit Messr. Wright displays abundantly in his online presence. A truly remarkable range of characterizations, emotions, and styles are packed into the six stories of this book — although really, it should count as about nine, because you’ll want to read “Murder In Metachronopolis” twice and “The Plural of Helen of Troy” at least three times to be sure you’ve got the story straight. No, really. Time travel is hard to wrap your head around logical consequences of, and with a nod to James P. Hogan for giving it a game try, no one ever that I’m aware of has tangled them into such a skein as found in the bookend pieces here.
If you seek hard science speculation, or uplifting vision, or philosophical contemplation, or just plain good entertainment, this collection will exceed all reasonable expectations, and a good bit of the unreasonable as well. Unconditionally recommended!
June 12, 2015
I did not read the entire book, but read a good chunk of it to give myself context for "The Plural of Helen of Troy" which is the Hugo nominated novella from this collection.
Wright provides interesting and clever world-building and as I'm discovering, is a good and engaging writer. The story of a noir-style PI in a city ruled by people who can manipulate time to their own ends, the collection as a whole documents Metachronopolis and its fall.
Wright has a couple of tics as a writer-- he has a tendency toward a lot of "telling" in his stories, and doesn't seem to be able to provide exposition without a large, graceless infodump of monologue. He would be a terrific writer of James Bond villains. What I've read of him so far (not much at this point) seems to gravitate toward stylized types of characters who seem to be archetypes more than people.
And this last is why this doesn't get 5 stars from me and what sets my eyes to rolling, particularly in "The Plural of Helen of Troy" is the function of the woman of the story as a McGuffin-- a perfectly passive slave and toy, helpless to change her fate and incapable of taking it into her own hands. She is not a person-- she is an object, and as much for purposes of constructing this story as much as her characterization. It works somewhat if we accept the most broad stereotypes of noir detective fiction, but ignores the hard, clever women of the genre in favor of making her work as a plot point. This novella has a very clever structure and progression, but it is weakened for me by Wright's storytelling tics.
Wright provides interesting and clever world-building and as I'm discovering, is a good and engaging writer. The story of a noir-style PI in a city ruled by people who can manipulate time to their own ends, the collection as a whole documents Metachronopolis and its fall.
Wright has a couple of tics as a writer-- he has a tendency toward a lot of "telling" in his stories, and doesn't seem to be able to provide exposition without a large, graceless infodump of monologue. He would be a terrific writer of James Bond villains. What I've read of him so far (not much at this point) seems to gravitate toward stylized types of characters who seem to be archetypes more than people.
And this last is why this doesn't get 5 stars from me and what sets my eyes to rolling, particularly in "The Plural of Helen of Troy" is the function of the woman of the story as a McGuffin-- a perfectly passive slave and toy, helpless to change her fate and incapable of taking it into her own hands. She is not a person-- she is an object, and as much for purposes of constructing this story as much as her characterization. It works somewhat if we accept the most broad stereotypes of noir detective fiction, but ignores the hard, clever women of the genre in favor of making her work as a plot point. This novella has a very clever structure and progression, but it is weakened for me by Wright's storytelling tics.
July 5, 2014
I read his "Awake in the Night Land" not that long ago and was very impressed by this collection of novellas and short stories that had such an other-worldly feel. Short stories for me usually leave me a bit unsatisfied in their completeness. In the case of "Awake in the Night Land" and this novel I felt no such lack as there was a definite completeness in the story telling.
First off I just love the word Metachronopolis. The world just rolls around in your mind and really describes nothing. What I especially enjoyed about this collection of time travel stories is the exploration of a moral view of time travel that goes way beyond "killing your grandfather paradoxes". They explore the human consequence of time travel and repercussions of what would inevitably happen. Certainly an interesting take on the time travel genre.
Plus John C. Wright can really come up with cool future weaponry. His "Count to the Eschaton Sequence" contained some of this and some of the stories in this involved some quite sophisticated smart guns that were rather audacious. One of the stories had a time traveling robot bodyguard that proved another great concept.
These stories were certainly lighter in tone than the Night Land stories and contained much that was amusing. There wasn't a weak story in the bunch and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
First off I just love the word Metachronopolis. The world just rolls around in your mind and really describes nothing. What I especially enjoyed about this collection of time travel stories is the exploration of a moral view of time travel that goes way beyond "killing your grandfather paradoxes". They explore the human consequence of time travel and repercussions of what would inevitably happen. Certainly an interesting take on the time travel genre.
Plus John C. Wright can really come up with cool future weaponry. His "Count to the Eschaton Sequence" contained some of this and some of the stories in this involved some quite sophisticated smart guns that were rather audacious. One of the stories had a time traveling robot bodyguard that proved another great concept.
These stories were certainly lighter in tone than the Night Land stories and contained much that was amusing. There wasn't a weak story in the bunch and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
November 25, 2015
John C. Wright is one of the best I know at spinning a yarn out of the fabric of space and time. This is a set of short stories that are all based on universe of Metachronopolis.
Metachronopolis is the city at the end of time. It's where time travellers live, referred to as "time wardens". They're the ones who keep things organised -- well, at least they're supposed to. Like police in many parts of today's world, a lot of them are corrupt and self seeking.
They're not the only ones there. Just about every famous personality in history is also there. The time wardens are capable of showing up an instant before a person's death, and replacing them with a dead clone of themselves. It happens in a split second, so no one sees it happening. In other words, that wasn't John F. Kennedy's body you saw being rushed to the hospital on that momentous day in 1963, but his clone.
In each tale, Wright does a different acrobatic stunt, each with an unexpected twist on time travel. They're all stand alone stories, but the last sort of ties the whole concept together by showing us what it's really all about.
A must read...
Metachronopolis is the city at the end of time. It's where time travellers live, referred to as "time wardens". They're the ones who keep things organised -- well, at least they're supposed to. Like police in many parts of today's world, a lot of them are corrupt and self seeking.
They're not the only ones there. Just about every famous personality in history is also there. The time wardens are capable of showing up an instant before a person's death, and replacing them with a dead clone of themselves. It happens in a split second, so no one sees it happening. In other words, that wasn't John F. Kennedy's body you saw being rushed to the hospital on that momentous day in 1963, but his clone.
In each tale, Wright does a different acrobatic stunt, each with an unexpected twist on time travel. They're all stand alone stories, but the last sort of ties the whole concept together by showing us what it's really all about.
A must read...
September 26, 2015
Castalia House (bastion of the new formed Evil League of Evil) collects Wright's "Metachronopolis" stories, along with time-travel stories only loosely thematically linked with them. Some of these were only previously available in the Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness anthologies, and I am gratified that I can consolidate my collection to keep just these.
Now, are we going to get a collection that makes "The Far End of History" readily available in a Wright stand-alone volume?
Now, are we going to get a collection that makes "The Far End of History" readily available in a Wright stand-alone volume?
July 3, 2015
Read for the 2015 Hugo
Story: The Plural of Helen of Troy
This story starts confusing, moves to exciting, transitions to strange, climaxes in really freaking weird, and ends pretty much satisfying.
This is a time travel story with some weird and original rules regarding paradoxes. In fact, the plot is based around them. The story is told backwards because while telling it forwards would have made more sense narratively, it would have taken all of the mystery out of the story. This isn't about what happens, but about why it happens. The why is explained at the end of the story, which is the beginning of the chronological events.
Story: The Plural of Helen of Troy
This story starts confusing, moves to exciting, transitions to strange, climaxes in really freaking weird, and ends pretty much satisfying.
This is a time travel story with some weird and original rules regarding paradoxes. In fact, the plot is based around them. The story is told backwards because while telling it forwards would have made more sense narratively, it would have taken all of the mystery out of the story. This isn't about what happens, but about why it happens. The why is explained at the end of the story, which is the beginning of the chronological events.
October 28, 2016
A mixed bag of time travel stories. Too many of them focus on the inevitable awfulness of what people would do if they were to be granted the power to change history. It's probably true, of course, but makes slightly bleak reading.
Favourite tale was probably 'Father's Monument' which was one of the shorter stories in the collection. It packed more of an emotional punch than the others and was structurally less complicated. For some of the others you might want to make notes or draw diagrams to keep yourself straight about exactly how the timelines are supposed to be working!
Favourite tale was probably 'Father's Monument' which was one of the shorter stories in the collection. It packed more of an emotional punch than the others and was structurally less complicated. For some of the others you might want to make notes or draw diagrams to keep yourself straight about exactly how the timelines are supposed to be working!
August 22, 2016
This is by far Wright's best novel of the ones I have read. And make no mistake: this is billed as an anthology but it has a coherent story. It is surprisingly readable for a book told in completely anachronic order. Wright is in nearly perfect form here: all of his characteristic tropes are present and nearly perfectly balanced. THe writing is admirably crisp, though with Wright's usual flare (toned down quite a bit from most of his other work). All in all a fine read, but a quick one.
December 29, 2014
Interlinked stories of Metachronopolis, the “golden city at the end of time.” It’s all about time travel but Wright offers intriguing and reflective thoughts on the problems, eithical and physical, that would occur if time travel were actually perfected. Wright apparently has a rising reputation in the SF community. I plan to check out more of his fine writing.
December 4, 2015
I read this collection of Hugo Award 2015 nominees from the Bad Puppy slate (it has the same front cover as this book). I wasn't particularly impressed by the animal story, which had too much religious discussion and not enough action, but I loved the time travel story - The Plural of Helen of Troy - which is excerpted from City Beyond Time. Time travel is rarely done as well, or as bafflingly.
August 30, 2015
I like most of what Mr. Wright does and this wasn't an exception. This is a collection of stories that take place in the same universe, and that helps you really get a feel for the characters and their actions. It was a little out there at times, but I really enjoyed. Would have gone 4 stars but I think the ending could have been more detailed.
July 20, 2014
As always, Wright takes an old idea (time travel) and sees it in a totally new light. The Time Wardens are the dark side of typical time travellers, possessing absolute power and having been corrupted absolutely. The result is not only full of surprises, but also full of insight.
August 13, 2014
A collection of short stories with very interesting takes on time travel. These stories were alot of fun.
September 9, 2014
Some promising beginnings, but ultimately fizzles out into a confused mishmash, bound up in its own cleverness. Not worth the time or effort.
October 28, 2014
Erudite & inventive
January 1, 2016
This was part of my Hugo reading and I did not read the whole book, but only the nominated novella, The Plural of Helen of Troy.
April 25, 2015
Wright investigates the question, "is time travel morally good?" through this story written in scrambled chapters.
A fun story you'll need to read twice to understand.
A fun story you'll need to read twice to understand.
Read
June 16, 2015Read as part of the 2015 Hugo packet (novella only, "The Plural of Helen of Troy". DNF.
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