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Timeliner Trilogy #2
No Brother, No Friend
From the year 7093 ... 4000 A.D. ... Greetings. We have waited until the last possible moment to send this back to you. But we know that we can wait no longer. We are all doomed. While there is still time let us tell you what has happened to us all.
There is a civilization of beings on the far side of the galaxy. They are totally alien, inimical to all that is human and Krith. They have been biding their time, aware of us, building a great armada of interstellar warships to com and destroy us all.
Why they hate us so we do not know, nor do we know how to fight them. Humanity and Krith stand alone against the alien hordes coming to destroy us. And we are all but defenseless against their weapons.
All the works of our great mutual civilization shall perish unless ...
There is a civilization of beings on the far side of the galaxy. They are totally alien, inimical to all that is human and Krith. They have been biding their time, aware of us, building a great armada of interstellar warships to com and destroy us all.
Why they hate us so we do not know, nor do we know how to fight them. Humanity and Krith stand alone against the alien hordes coming to destroy us. And we are all but defenseless against their weapons.
All the works of our great mutual civilization shall perish unless ...
236 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
55 people want to read
About the author
Richard C. Meredith
16 books8 followersRichard Carlton Meredith was an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer, best known as the author of science fiction short stories and novels including "We All Died at Breakaway Station" and The Timeliner Trilogy.
Meredith's works give unfamiliar twists to many familiar SF themes: A human Galactic empire and its struggle with a non-human rival (We All Died at Breakaway Station) or with independence-seeking human subjects (The Sky Is Filled with Ships); a theocratic dictatorship, nuclear and biological warfare, and the effort to change history by time travel (Run, Come See Jerusalem!); or the "sidewise" travel into alternate histories and the struggle for control over a multitude of divergent timelines (The Timeliner Trilogy).
Meredith's protagonists tend to be highly motivated and devoted people, wholeheartedly taking up Earth- or Universe-shaking causes to which they give their all - and often discovering that they had been duped into serving an evil cause, or that an action taken with the best of intentions actually makes a bad situation worse. A reader opening a Meredith book can by no means count on a happy ending - indeed, some of the books can be classed as dystopias.
In the preface to Breakaway Station, before the reader had yet met the protagonists, Meredith already tells that all of them would eventually die heroic deaths comparable to those of Leonidas and his three hundred at the Battle of Thermopylae — and indeed, the book duly comes to precisely that ending.
Meredith died unexpectedly on 8 March 1979, aged only 41, following a stroke brought on by a brain hemorrhage.He was survived by his wife and four children.
Meredith's works give unfamiliar twists to many familiar SF themes: A human Galactic empire and its struggle with a non-human rival (We All Died at Breakaway Station) or with independence-seeking human subjects (The Sky Is Filled with Ships); a theocratic dictatorship, nuclear and biological warfare, and the effort to change history by time travel (Run, Come See Jerusalem!); or the "sidewise" travel into alternate histories and the struggle for control over a multitude of divergent timelines (The Timeliner Trilogy).
Meredith's protagonists tend to be highly motivated and devoted people, wholeheartedly taking up Earth- or Universe-shaking causes to which they give their all - and often discovering that they had been duped into serving an evil cause, or that an action taken with the best of intentions actually makes a bad situation worse. A reader opening a Meredith book can by no means count on a happy ending - indeed, some of the books can be classed as dystopias.
In the preface to Breakaway Station, before the reader had yet met the protagonists, Meredith already tells that all of them would eventually die heroic deaths comparable to those of Leonidas and his three hundred at the Battle of Thermopylae — and indeed, the book duly comes to precisely that ending.
Meredith died unexpectedly on 8 March 1979, aged only 41, following a stroke brought on by a brain hemorrhage.He was survived by his wife and four children.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 25, 2020
My biggest problem with this book is that it's the 2nd book in a series and I haven't read the 1st. Bear that in mind.
I was confused enough in the first part of the book that I considered putting it down, but I persevered, and finally got to the good stuff.
The writing is good, but the plot is only "good", not great. Still, there was enough to keep my interest to the end. Nice surprise near the end (I won't spoil it for you).
I'm sure that the folks who've read the first book will probably enjoy it more than I did.
I was confused enough in the first part of the book that I considered putting it down, but I persevered, and finally got to the good stuff.
The writing is good, but the plot is only "good", not great. Still, there was enough to keep my interest to the end. Nice surprise near the end (I won't spoil it for you).
I'm sure that the folks who've read the first book will probably enjoy it more than I did.
May 21, 2020
This is the second book of the "Timeliner Trilogy" by Richard C. Meredith. Richard C. Meredith was an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer, best known as the author of science fiction short stories and novels including We All Died at Breakaway Station and The "Timeliner Trilogy". Tragically he died unexpectedly on March 8, 1979, aged only 41, following a stroke brought on by a brain hemorrhage.
In this book a message of an impending alien invasion that will wipe out all life on the many different earth's, both inhabited by the Krith and by humankind, is received from 2000 years in the future. The Krith form a special paramilitary team of humans that has the ability to cross parallel realities, preparing all possible futures for the attack. But when a timeliner named Eric Mathers is told that the pan-dimensional beings called the Krith may have a hidden agenda, he must attempt to discover if the war he has been fighting for the last fourteen years is really for the greater good or just part of the "greatest lie".
I actually read this trilogy in the seventies when it was first published and remembered how much I enjoyed it. I got all three books recently at a used book store and decided to revisit it as a pleasant reminder of the past. This is a great series and I recommend it highly.
In this book a message of an impending alien invasion that will wipe out all life on the many different earth's, both inhabited by the Krith and by humankind, is received from 2000 years in the future. The Krith form a special paramilitary team of humans that has the ability to cross parallel realities, preparing all possible futures for the attack. But when a timeliner named Eric Mathers is told that the pan-dimensional beings called the Krith may have a hidden agenda, he must attempt to discover if the war he has been fighting for the last fourteen years is really for the greater good or just part of the "greatest lie".
I actually read this trilogy in the seventies when it was first published and remembered how much I enjoyed it. I got all three books recently at a used book store and decided to revisit it as a pleasant reminder of the past. This is a great series and I recommend it highly.
March 26, 2015
Slightly fewer Adventures of the Traveling Penis in this book than in the first one, as the POV character has a sorta-girlfriend. That doesn't stop him from taking "time-out" from crouching on enemy lines about to start a battle in order to go into the woods and have sex with a random comrade. Then they literally have to jump up half-naked and run into battle. Really smart decision-making skills there, "heroes".
More questions get answered in this book, which is good. There is more random exposition that I don't think is fully necessary; the author really loves going into all the background details of the worlds they find themselves in and their various wars, which gets repetitive and doesn't seem to really have a purpose (given the broader scope of the book). But at least he's not giving us inch-dimensions for Pretty Girl #45, so.
More questions get answered in this book, which is good. There is more random exposition that I don't think is fully necessary; the author really loves going into all the background details of the worlds they find themselves in and their various wars, which gets repetitive and doesn't seem to really have a purpose (given the broader scope of the book). But at least he's not giving us inch-dimensions for Pretty Girl #45, so.
August 3, 2009
Second volume in a very good SF trilogy.
January 29, 2016
If you like time travel this is a good trilogy. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews