What do you think?
Rate this book
Saga of the Iron Dragon #1
The Dream of the Iron Dragon
Trapped 1300 years in the past, they have one mission: survive.
In the 23rd century, humanity has been hunted to the verge of extinction by an alien race. When an exploratory ship accidentally travels back in time to Viking age Scandinavia, the human race is given a second chance. Pursued by the power-hungry King Harald, the four surviving crew members join a ragtag band of Vikings as they pillage their way across Europe. It will take all their ingenuity, courage and technical know-how just to survive. But survival is only the beginning. To save humanity, they must somehow return to the stars.
Thus begins a decades-long effort to teach the Vikings to build a craft capable of reaching space—a ship that will come to be known as the Iron Dragon.
In the 23rd century, humanity has been hunted to the verge of extinction by an alien race. When an exploratory ship accidentally travels back in time to Viking age Scandinavia, the human race is given a second chance. Pursued by the power-hungry King Harald, the four surviving crew members join a ragtag band of Vikings as they pillage their way across Europe. It will take all their ingenuity, courage and technical know-how just to survive. But survival is only the beginning. To save humanity, they must somehow return to the stars.
Thus begins a decades-long effort to teach the Vikings to build a craft capable of reaching space—a ship that will come to be known as the Iron Dragon.
393 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 8, 2018
589 people are currently reading
527 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kroese
70 books632 followersRobert Kroese's sense of irony was honed growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan - home of the Amway Corporation and the Gerald R. Ford Museum, and the first city in the United States to fluoridate its water supply. In second grade, he wrote his first novel, the saga of Captain Bill and his spaceship Thee Eagle. This turned out to be the high point of his academic career. After barely graduating from Calvin College in 1992 with a philosophy degree, he was fired from a variety of jobs before moving to California, where he stumbled into software development. As this job required neither punctuality nor a sense of direction, he excelled at it. In 2009, he called upon his extensive knowledge of useless information and love of explosions to write his first novel, Mercury Falls. Since then, he has written 18 more books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
January 8, 2018
I love a good premise, especially when it is used to its potential. This first book in the series does exactly that. The premise of employing Vikings to help build a space ship and all that goes with it, is certainly an interesting premise. What I really liked is how the situation was setup. Just getting to the situation requiring this was solid SF. The setup on it's own could have launched a series by itself.
Really waiting for the other books in the series to see how the infrastructure required is plausibly pulled off and how it will all resolve. I have enjoyed his books for quite awhile, but I have to say he has really grown as an author and can do comedic SF and regular SF equally well.
Really waiting for the other books in the series to see how the infrastructure required is plausibly pulled off and how it will all resolve. I have enjoyed his books for quite awhile, but I have to say he has really grown as an author and can do comedic SF and regular SF equally well.
January 5, 2018
I really loved this book, as well as Robert's other work - I'm a long time fan and I love seeing him grow as an author.
Beginning of Iron Dragon is really the part that deserves the most praise. Without hesitation I can claim that the book does the best job with the setup I've had the pleasure of reading. The reader is thrown straight in, no boring descriptions or staging. Loved it!
I strongly recommend this book.
Beginning of Iron Dragon is really the part that deserves the most praise. Without hesitation I can claim that the book does the best job with the setup I've had the pleasure of reading. The reader is thrown straight in, no boring descriptions or staging. Loved it!
I strongly recommend this book.
March 15, 2018
The Dream Of The Iron Dragon opens in modern times, a prologue of people investigating what appears to be a space ship crash in Iceland in modern times. Not what I expected, but I was interested in that perspective. It set up a mystery, and just as I was getting comfortable, we shifted to the future.
In this future, humanity is at war with a single alien race, who’s been kicking our butts. Earth is all but uninhabitable, and humans are struggling to survive. There’s alien jump gates that allow us to go from system to system, and we find our story taking place on a science vessel who is investigating an asteroid out in the middle of nowhere. They come across the alien race and something mysterious, and it’s a really awesome space opera war set up that takes a good portion of the book. As much as I’d been waiting for vikings, this surprised me how much of the book this took up, but I was very invested in this greater world by Kroese’s expert characterization and gripping suspense. As this part drew to an end, and i knew what was coming–they were being flung back in time, I almost didn’t want this portion of the story to end– and i hope he gets back to it in future books.
Without giving too may spoilers from this point, a shuttle from the ship crash lands on Earth in viking times, and hijinx ensues. The crew is trying to survive, and also to get back, but plans go desperately wrong. We switch perspectives to crew we met before, but didn’t have intimate time with, as we were dealing with those running the ship, which I was sad for at first, but I quickly became just as attached to these characters as any of the others. The vikings get a few perspective points as well — and they’re just as deep and intricate of characters. I really can’t speak too highly of how well Kroese did on that front.
Kroese teaches us quite a bit about the history of the Nordic countries from this time too, just in little snippets so it’s never too overwhelming. There are points where there’s a bit of infodump, but it’s interesting, and mostly history we don’t hear a terrible amount about, so it’s a learning experience that almost feels like earlier Heinlein novels when he drifts into his scientific concepts.
Through the first half of the book, it’s about perfect. There’s a big battle mini-climax at a point which is just awesome. I will say from about half to two thirds, the pace bogs down a little bit. I’m still trying to avoid spoilers, but there’s points when goes into montage-explain mode where the crew needs to perform a task, they use some science to do it, and they complete it. This is done three or four times and along with the history lessons, slowed down this portion of the book to where maybe some of it could be cut or glossed over. I understand the necessity of most of it, but it did make for some skimable material.
It picks right back up for an epic climax… and ends on a cliffhanger. We aren’t resolved at all beyond getting past a single hump in this history section that was set up about 30% into the book, which is a big one, but it leaves this feeling like a part of a book rather than complete because of it. Now, Kroese never set expectations otherwise, so it’s very much as advertised and is imminently forgivable — it was billed as a trilogy going in, and the way the books are titled it’s kinda obvious they wouldn’t just get back into space and come back into the present in this first installment, so I don’t feel cheated as a reader. but I hate cliffhangers! That’s just me. Some people won’t have a problem with this at all, but definitely go into this knowing you’ll need 3 books for the complete story.
It did work, the cliffhanger. I’m interested. I’m hooked. I really want the next one to come out. That last battle in the book was epic. The stakes were high throughout, and the danger is real to the characters. I can’t offer more without massive spoilers, but even with the slow down in pacing and my lack of closure, frankly this is the best book I’ve read this year and I think it’ll be hard pressed for me to find one in 2018 that I”ll enjoy more. Of course, now he has to top this for the next one.
In this future, humanity is at war with a single alien race, who’s been kicking our butts. Earth is all but uninhabitable, and humans are struggling to survive. There’s alien jump gates that allow us to go from system to system, and we find our story taking place on a science vessel who is investigating an asteroid out in the middle of nowhere. They come across the alien race and something mysterious, and it’s a really awesome space opera war set up that takes a good portion of the book. As much as I’d been waiting for vikings, this surprised me how much of the book this took up, but I was very invested in this greater world by Kroese’s expert characterization and gripping suspense. As this part drew to an end, and i knew what was coming–they were being flung back in time, I almost didn’t want this portion of the story to end– and i hope he gets back to it in future books.
Without giving too may spoilers from this point, a shuttle from the ship crash lands on Earth in viking times, and hijinx ensues. The crew is trying to survive, and also to get back, but plans go desperately wrong. We switch perspectives to crew we met before, but didn’t have intimate time with, as we were dealing with those running the ship, which I was sad for at first, but I quickly became just as attached to these characters as any of the others. The vikings get a few perspective points as well — and they’re just as deep and intricate of characters. I really can’t speak too highly of how well Kroese did on that front.
Kroese teaches us quite a bit about the history of the Nordic countries from this time too, just in little snippets so it’s never too overwhelming. There are points where there’s a bit of infodump, but it’s interesting, and mostly history we don’t hear a terrible amount about, so it’s a learning experience that almost feels like earlier Heinlein novels when he drifts into his scientific concepts.
Through the first half of the book, it’s about perfect. There’s a big battle mini-climax at a point which is just awesome. I will say from about half to two thirds, the pace bogs down a little bit. I’m still trying to avoid spoilers, but there’s points when goes into montage-explain mode where the crew needs to perform a task, they use some science to do it, and they complete it. This is done three or four times and along with the history lessons, slowed down this portion of the book to where maybe some of it could be cut or glossed over. I understand the necessity of most of it, but it did make for some skimable material.
It picks right back up for an epic climax… and ends on a cliffhanger. We aren’t resolved at all beyond getting past a single hump in this history section that was set up about 30% into the book, which is a big one, but it leaves this feeling like a part of a book rather than complete because of it. Now, Kroese never set expectations otherwise, so it’s very much as advertised and is imminently forgivable — it was billed as a trilogy going in, and the way the books are titled it’s kinda obvious they wouldn’t just get back into space and come back into the present in this first installment, so I don’t feel cheated as a reader. but I hate cliffhangers! That’s just me. Some people won’t have a problem with this at all, but definitely go into this knowing you’ll need 3 books for the complete story.
It did work, the cliffhanger. I’m interested. I’m hooked. I really want the next one to come out. That last battle in the book was epic. The stakes were high throughout, and the danger is real to the characters. I can’t offer more without massive spoilers, but even with the slow down in pacing and my lack of closure, frankly this is the best book I’ve read this year and I think it’ll be hard pressed for me to find one in 2018 that I”ll enjoy more. Of course, now he has to top this for the next one.
Want to read
April 25, 2020 🎁 Free on Amazon today (4/25/2020)! 🎁
January 19, 2018
I received this book for free from the author, Robert Kroese, in exchange for a review.
I'm a sucker for the premise of this series: stranded spacemen teach Vikings to build spaceships. Rebuilding civilization from scratch is a venerable conceit in science fiction. This is usually fun, and it overlaps nicely with the method of good hard science fiction, which leaves the reader usefully instructed in certain principles of physics or biology after reading a story that otherwise closely resembles a Western.
The motives of the protagonists vary quite a bit. As do their specialties. Calvin Morrison was an ex-military State Trooper with an interest in history. In the interest of survival, and love, he sets himself up as a warlord. Martin Padway was an archaeologist, and lacking the technical skills common to men in his situation, he uses his excellent memory of pithy quotes and knowledge of distillation to become a kingmaker.
In this case, our protagonists are the doomed crew of the exploration vessel Andrea Luhman. They are doomed because humanity is in the process of slowly losing a war against the only other sentient species humans have encountered, the Cho-ta’an. In desperation, the Andrea Luhman is looking for a refugium against the militarily superior Cho-ta'an.
What they find is something else entirely, a McGuffin of lost technology that promises hope for the human race, if only they can somehow return it to what is left of human civilization. This is a bit of a problem, since they find themselves stuck in the 9th century AD in northern Europe.
I admire the setup of this series. We get a collection of scientists and technologists with the crew of the Andrea Luhman, who are actually on a scientific mission when they stumble upon an artifact of great importance to the war effort. Thus, they really do possess the knowledge that will end up being useful in their quest. We also get a nice look at Viking society in the ninth century, which is a subject of interest.
This is mostly where the "usefully instructed" part comes in for me. As a fan of hard sci-fi, I like learning something new from the books I read. For this series, it is the life of the ninth century. For example, despite my interest in the Normans, frenchified Vikings, I hadn't heard of Rollo, Duke of Normandy.
I had heard of Harald Fairhair, but I didn't know much about his campaign to rule Norway. Not fun, at least for the people on the receiving end, is the answer. This isn't particularly surprising, but Kroese makes it real for me. This is an alternate history, but now I feel like I have a better sense of what our actual history was like.
The descendants of Rollo, and the other Vikings who raided France, would eventually go on to conquer England, as well as Sicily, and parts of the Levant. They still own a large fraction of the United Kingdom. All in all, we should probably consider them one of the most successful ethnic groups in all of history.
Of course, this is of little importance to the crew of the Andrea Luhman, who are preoccupied with matters of greater importance, like the survival of the human race, and their own. For them, finding a way to return their discovery to the remnants of human civilization in their own time is the only way to prevent extinction at the hands of the Cho-ta'an. The odds are long, but the payoff is enormous. They judge it a risk worth taking, which makes for a fun book for me. I look forward to their future adventures.
I'm a sucker for the premise of this series: stranded spacemen teach Vikings to build spaceships. Rebuilding civilization from scratch is a venerable conceit in science fiction. This is usually fun, and it overlaps nicely with the method of good hard science fiction, which leaves the reader usefully instructed in certain principles of physics or biology after reading a story that otherwise closely resembles a Western.
The motives of the protagonists vary quite a bit. As do their specialties. Calvin Morrison was an ex-military State Trooper with an interest in history. In the interest of survival, and love, he sets himself up as a warlord. Martin Padway was an archaeologist, and lacking the technical skills common to men in his situation, he uses his excellent memory of pithy quotes and knowledge of distillation to become a kingmaker.
In this case, our protagonists are the doomed crew of the exploration vessel Andrea Luhman. They are doomed because humanity is in the process of slowly losing a war against the only other sentient species humans have encountered, the Cho-ta’an. In desperation, the Andrea Luhman is looking for a refugium against the militarily superior Cho-ta'an.
Human vessel. This is your last warning. We will fire on you.
Mallick managed a chuckle. “If you were going to fire, you’d have done it already, you motherfuckers.” He paused a moment. “Don’t send that.”
The Dream of the Iron Dragon, p 68
What they find is something else entirely, a McGuffin of lost technology that promises hope for the human race, if only they can somehow return it to what is left of human civilization. This is a bit of a problem, since they find themselves stuck in the 9th century AD in northern Europe.
O’Brien, the wiry, sandy-haired geologist, nodded. “We’re landing on Earth during the Middle Ages to build a forge to fabricate a spaceship part so we can carry an alien doomsday weapon across the galaxy to save humanity.” Chuckles went up from the group. Slater frowned. “Well, it sounds ridiculous when you say it like that.”
The Dream of the Iron Dragon, p 88
I admire the setup of this series. We get a collection of scientists and technologists with the crew of the Andrea Luhman, who are actually on a scientific mission when they stumble upon an artifact of great importance to the war effort. Thus, they really do possess the knowledge that will end up being useful in their quest. We also get a nice look at Viking society in the ninth century, which is a subject of interest.
This is mostly where the "usefully instructed" part comes in for me. As a fan of hard sci-fi, I like learning something new from the books I read. For this series, it is the life of the ninth century. For example, despite my interest in the Normans, frenchified Vikings, I hadn't heard of Rollo, Duke of Normandy.
I had heard of Harald Fairhair, but I didn't know much about his campaign to rule Norway. Not fun, at least for the people on the receiving end, is the answer. This isn't particularly surprising, but Kroese makes it real for me. This is an alternate history, but now I feel like I have a better sense of what our actual history was like.
The descendants of Rollo, and the other Vikings who raided France, would eventually go on to conquer England, as well as Sicily, and parts of the Levant. They still own a large fraction of the United Kingdom. All in all, we should probably consider them one of the most successful ethnic groups in all of history.
Of course, this is of little importance to the crew of the Andrea Luhman, who are preoccupied with matters of greater importance, like the survival of the human race, and their own. For them, finding a way to return their discovery to the remnants of human civilization in their own time is the only way to prevent extinction at the hands of the Cho-ta'an. The odds are long, but the payoff is enormous. They judge it a risk worth taking, which makes for a fun book for me. I look forward to their future adventures.
September 3, 2018
“Don’t get me wrong, there are worse ways to go out than holding off a Viking horde with a railgun, but it’s not a long-term strategy.”
The Dream of an Iron Dragon has such a fun premise: 23rd Century humans (accidently) travel into the past and crash land in 10th Century Norway. It is more a hard science fiction story than Poul Anderson’s The High Crusade or the quote above suggests.
The only real problem with The Dream of an Iron Dragon is the expectations game. The copy pretty well lays out the game, but things move slow. It is a story that will play out over the course of the three-book series. Luckily the second book is already out and the third book will be out in December.
The spacemen don’t even get to the earth-past until a third of the way through the book. I would read the hard science fiction book that the first third of the book starts. And I guess I did, because, for all the alternative history and Vikings trappings, this is still a hard science fiction book. And it is a very, very good one. The man knows his craft.
It isn’t all mowing down Vikings with railguns, but this is a fun book with some great action set pieces. The Vikings are presented with considerable depth. Even minor characters are fully formed.
I haven’t been this excited to read the second book in a series in a long time.
Disclosure: Kroese sent me a review copy of Dream of the Iron Dragon.
The Dream of an Iron Dragon has such a fun premise: 23rd Century humans (accidently) travel into the past and crash land in 10th Century Norway. It is more a hard science fiction story than Poul Anderson’s The High Crusade or the quote above suggests.
The only real problem with The Dream of an Iron Dragon is the expectations game. The copy pretty well lays out the game, but things move slow. It is a story that will play out over the course of the three-book series. Luckily the second book is already out and the third book will be out in December.
The spacemen don’t even get to the earth-past until a third of the way through the book. I would read the hard science fiction book that the first third of the book starts. And I guess I did, because, for all the alternative history and Vikings trappings, this is still a hard science fiction book. And it is a very, very good one. The man knows his craft.
It isn’t all mowing down Vikings with railguns, but this is a fun book with some great action set pieces. The Vikings are presented with considerable depth. Even minor characters are fully formed.
I haven’t been this excited to read the second book in a series in a long time.
Disclosure: Kroese sent me a review copy of Dream of the Iron Dragon.
January 14, 2018
For fans of worldbuilding, history, high concepts and, of course, the Vikings, this book will be a rare delight as modern (or to be more accurate, near-future) human beings find a home and a mission among their strange but familiar, savage and honorable ancestors from the past, when a mishap strands them in yesteryear.
How can modern people hope to hope to survive, much less wrest the high-technology solutions they need out of this primitive world without more than the beginning of an industrial revolution?
From a proven author of quality. The concept alone is worth giving it a try.
How can modern people hope to hope to survive, much less wrest the high-technology solutions they need out of this primitive world without more than the beginning of an industrial revolution?
From a proven author of quality. The concept alone is worth giving it a try.
January 25, 2018
This normally isn’t my type of book since I read minimal sci-fi and I’m not interested in Vikings, but Kroese is a remarkable writer and pulled me into this fascinating, well-paced mashup of 23rd century space travelers ending up in the Scandinavia of yore in their struggle to survive. The author has quite a range and I enjoyed this unique read.
January 29, 2018
Why Mess Around With Pseudo -Vikings...
When with a time travel accident you can have the real thing? The challenge for the crew isn't just to survive, but to somehow get back to their own time with a secret that may save humanity. Space men (and women,) aliens, and Vikings come together in a tale that kept me turning the pages.
When with a time travel accident you can have the real thing? The challenge for the crew isn't just to survive, but to somehow get back to their own time with a secret that may save humanity. Space men (and women,) aliens, and Vikings come together in a tale that kept me turning the pages.
February 12, 2018
This is going to be a short review for the following reasons: If the idea of Vikings and spaceships excites you, then reading this book will feel like winning the lottery. It's just a consistently fantastic read—incredibly well researched and written. I loved every second.
February 17, 2018
Fantastic!
The story was well-told, characters were engaging, and the premise of spacemen working with Vikings was interesting.
I highly recommend this one.
The story was well-told, characters were engaging, and the premise of spacemen working with Vikings was interesting.
I highly recommend this one.
December 11, 2020
An average read...
I got this book because the blurb was interesting: in the 22nd century humanity is almost defeated by aliens, and they end up going back in time to the period of the Vikings and teach them how to build spaceships.
However, this book didn't really meet my expectations.
It starts off with a prologue in the modern day, in which the humans find something in the snow. The prologue didn't really need to be there and only showed that humans went back in time and nothing really changed to affect history. But I was willing to suspend my doubts because for all I know, time travel in this series works like in Avengers: Endgame, and if you change history the current time period doesn't change and maybe a new timeline is created.
Fast forward and the next few chapters show how the humans come across aliens and some lost technology. I couldn't read much more past that because the characters were just not interesting and felt like cardboard cutouts. They only said a few lines here and there but had no personality.
The aliens were alright, 3 stars at best. You'll find that the aliens are something familiar and written about many times, though there is a slight twist that makes them interesting. But other than that, them choosing to be temporarily called human English names ruined my immersion (Olivia and Aaron). They just didn't really come across as alien enough.
I got this book because the blurb was interesting: in the 22nd century humanity is almost defeated by aliens, and they end up going back in time to the period of the Vikings and teach them how to build spaceships.
However, this book didn't really meet my expectations.
It starts off with a prologue in the modern day, in which the humans find something in the snow. The prologue didn't really need to be there and only showed that humans went back in time and nothing really changed to affect history. But I was willing to suspend my doubts because for all I know, time travel in this series works like in Avengers: Endgame, and if you change history the current time period doesn't change and maybe a new timeline is created.
Fast forward and the next few chapters show how the humans come across aliens and some lost technology. I couldn't read much more past that because the characters were just not interesting and felt like cardboard cutouts. They only said a few lines here and there but had no personality.
The aliens were alright, 3 stars at best. You'll find that the aliens are something familiar and written about many times, though there is a slight twist that makes them interesting. But other than that, them choosing to be temporarily called human English names ruined my immersion (Olivia and Aaron). They just didn't really come across as alien enough.
February 8, 2020
Intriguing, but the story just didn't move forward very fast.
Also our main characters are devoted to the theory that it is impossible to change history. You would think they would at least try to prove or disprove this idea before acting as if it is fact.
Also our main characters are devoted to the theory that it is impossible to change history. You would think they would at least try to prove or disprove this idea before acting as if it is fact.
January 7, 2021
Great book
This book is about the crew of a human society trying to survive on Earth after their ship crashed in the past around 800 AD.
This book is about the crew of a human society trying to survive on Earth after their ship crashed in the past around 800 AD.
November 6, 2021
Great story
Great characters, action, world-building. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book.
This was an unexpected surprise as I was looking for a great sci-fi read.
Great characters, action, world-building. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book.
This was an unexpected surprise as I was looking for a great sci-fi read.
April 10, 2018
I'll start by saying right up front that I'd really like to rate Robert Kroese's "The Dream of the Iron Dragon: An Alternate History Viking Epic (Saga of the Iron Dragon Book 1)" at 3-1/2 stars instead of the Very Good 4 stars out of 5 I'm giving it. But, since our ratings have to be integers, and I can't see dropping my rating all the way down to 3 stars, 4 stars it is. Anyway, the book's mostly pretty good with an interesting story that blends both science fiction and history. In general, the science is reasonable with only a couple of small things that were obviously wrong or inconsistent (acceleration and velocity in a chase; gravity in orbit in another; and the biggest one, the powering of a weapon's grade laser). The bigger issues are writing-based. First, the characters, whether the modern protagonists, the alien antagonists, or the ancient Norse, all seem to have the same world-view. It's not that their personalities are the same. It's that their personalities and sensibilities (mostly) all seem to spring from the same place (IOW, language aside, they have no trouble understanding each other). Second, as the book progresses, Kroese seems to get bogged down a bit in the historical background. That slows the pace down. And, finally, it grates that Kroese builds up then kills off characters without compunction. Still, I'm mostly happy with the book and will be reading the next one in the series when it comes out.
April 8, 2021
I sped through this! It has a feel like Island in the Sea of Time, 1632, etc. It definitely leaves you hanging; have to grab the next one. I liked it but felt it was definitely aimed at fans of the show Vikings.
April 5, 2018
I discovered Robert Krouese from his limited participation in Authors and Dragons podcast. Once again I was not steered wrong. This is a wonderful piece of Science Fiction with a touch of history. Well researched on the Norse front and the scientific front. It is an enjoyable read for anyone who is a Sci Fi, or action adventure fan.
March 11, 2018
This book has it all: space, aliens, time travel, and medieval Vikings. Robert Kroese’s book tells a story that is a lot of fun to read, and pays a lot of attention to the details, both modern and historical. Fans of The Martian will appreciate Kroese’s depiction of the crew using every bit of their scientific knowledge to figure out a way to return to their own time. Fans of historical fiction will appreciate the detailed depictions of Viking culture and history.
As with many time travel books, Kroese’s characters have to consider the problem of changing history, as they introduce their Viking allies to futuristic weapons and technology. The ship’s lander, bearing four crew members, crashes into an occupied part of Norway, at the moment where future king Harald is negotiating (bullying) the local Viking towns in order to build his army. I was seriously bothered by the idea of space voyagers completely disrupting Viking history. But in the story, there’s little the crew can do to avoid it – and while they're uneasy about introducing medieval Vikings to future-day weapons, it helps that the future for humankind already looks pretty bleak.
Kroese tells an engaging tale with plenty of history, and his attention to detail makes you feel like you’re there. He describes Viking villages, ships, and forts, and along the way provides us with a good dose of Viking beliefs and culture. Kroese gives readers enough detail to suspend our disbelief and invest us in the story. I would have liked more character development; this is a plot-driven story with rare glimpses into the personal lives of its crew.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. My full review is at http://thebookstop.wordpress.com.
As with many time travel books, Kroese’s characters have to consider the problem of changing history, as they introduce their Viking allies to futuristic weapons and technology. The ship’s lander, bearing four crew members, crashes into an occupied part of Norway, at the moment where future king Harald is negotiating (bullying) the local Viking towns in order to build his army. I was seriously bothered by the idea of space voyagers completely disrupting Viking history. But in the story, there’s little the crew can do to avoid it – and while they're uneasy about introducing medieval Vikings to future-day weapons, it helps that the future for humankind already looks pretty bleak.
Kroese tells an engaging tale with plenty of history, and his attention to detail makes you feel like you’re there. He describes Viking villages, ships, and forts, and along the way provides us with a good dose of Viking beliefs and culture. Kroese gives readers enough detail to suspend our disbelief and invest us in the story. I would have liked more character development; this is a plot-driven story with rare glimpses into the personal lives of its crew.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. My full review is at http://thebookstop.wordpress.com.
August 10, 2018
At first I thought the concept would be just nuts and no way could he pull this off into something believable. Boy am I glad I was wrong! This is a great read that starts off in the 23rd century with humanity losing their war against the Cho-ta'an we are talking Space Opera events. Then the crew is flung back in time to the Vikings and we got typical time-traveler events.
Everyone is worked up about the futility of trying to change events in the past to save the future, because of the old "if we succeeded in the past, then our future would be different so we failed". By the end of the book the group is now of the opinion "nobody said we couldn't try it and not succeed".
Definitely a cliffhanger, but not to worry book 2 is already out!
Everyone is worked up about the futility of trying to change events in the past to save the future, because of the old "if we succeeded in the past, then our future would be different so we failed". By the end of the book the group is now of the opinion "nobody said we couldn't try it and not succeed".
Definitely a cliffhanger, but not to worry book 2 is already out!
August 11, 2018
Not that good
Takes till about 30% to get to the part where they're in the past, and the characters just aren't that good, they don't seem very smart, clever, or capable, three of them are so indistinguishable you could change their names at random and probably wouldn't even notice, the other one is decent, but really this is just not worth reading when there are so many other similar books that are just so much better. Interesting premise poor execution.
Takes till about 30% to get to the part where they're in the past, and the characters just aren't that good, they don't seem very smart, clever, or capable, three of them are so indistinguishable you could change their names at random and probably wouldn't even notice, the other one is decent, but really this is just not worth reading when there are so many other similar books that are just so much better. Interesting premise poor execution.
February 25, 2018
Excellent!
I have trouble believing this was written by the same guy who wrote Aye Robot. I kept waiting for slapstick, but it never came. This is an excellent work of Science Fiction; original, engaging story. A couple twists I didn't see coming. A very enjoyable read. Can't wait for number 2. My only complaint is that O'Brien was not more likeable and/or heroic.
I have trouble believing this was written by the same guy who wrote Aye Robot. I kept waiting for slapstick, but it never came. This is an excellent work of Science Fiction; original, engaging story. A couple twists I didn't see coming. A very enjoyable read. Can't wait for number 2. My only complaint is that O'Brien was not more likeable and/or heroic.
February 11, 2018
This book has a different feel from the majority of Rob's books. That said, each night I'd find myself reading longer, unwilling to put it down. This is a compelling story that rides between sci-fi and historical fiction. I look forward to its sequel this spring!
January 21, 2018
Rob Kroese once again makes me want to read sci-fi again. Just the right blend of sci-fi, history, and action. I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out.
February 26, 2018
Interesting concept and well written
Fast paced page turner. Interesting characters and plot. I am looking forward to the next installments of the story later this year.
Fast paced page turner. Interesting characters and plot. I am looking forward to the next installments of the story later this year.
January 31, 2021
I'm pretty crusty about handing out five-star reviews and, in fact, I was thinking through most of this book that "this is a solid four-star" adventure story, but by the end I had to admit this was just exactly what it wanted to be and was damn good at it.
The story is about a 24th (25th?) century scientific expedition sent by the dwindling remains of humanity (who are losing a war of extinction) who end up in Northern Europe in the 9th century. (This is not a spoiler since the opening chapter takes place in current times with someone discovering high technology in Iceland.)
Now, time travel is a device used so badly by so many lazy writers, it's easy to forget it can be done well. Especially in circumstances like this, where it's not an attempt to get out of a author-created mess, but essentially the book's raison d'etre, like a high-octane A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Essentially we get historical fiction, but with characters who have a very pressing cross-time purpose.
The fate of humanity is in our heroes' hands, yes, but their immediate survival in the rough-and-tumble 9th century is highly in doubt, and let's not even talk about what happens to everyone around them because they're basically a wrecking ball smashing through Scandinavia, however unintentionally.
The "time travel paradox" is handled interestingly as well: The assertion is that there are no time travel paradoxes. "We know how this historical figure died," the logic goes, "ergo we cannot possibly kill him." No butterfly effect here, in other words. As long as you stay away from the few channels of historical light, you can do anything. This leads to all kinds of theoretical questions, like, "What do you mean I can't? I'm right here, I could!" which all get resolved for pragmatic reasons toward the known historical facts. I am quite curious to see how this holds up.
There are just a lot of typical authorial problems that come up with this kind of story, and Kroese handles them confidently and with aplomb. It recalls, favorably, golden age of science-fiction stories: There's an emphasis on suspense, the action is separated by actual questions of science and engineering, and with a few more pages than the old-time pulp novels and fix-ups, there's even character development!
This is why I shifted from 4 stars to 5 by the end. 400 pages and the story's just getting started and I'm not sick of it. I care what happens to the characters (ancient and future) and what happens to the universe. It's the sort of story that I will be surprised (and probably a little disappointed) if it doesn't have a happy-ish ending—that is, if the heroes fail and humanity is wiped out, I'd feel a little cheated—but I know there are going to many twists and turns on the journey, and plenty of loss (as there already has been). It's just a hell of an accomplishment.
I believe this is a self-published work, too, and at this point, we all know the depths that can sink to. But I found only a couple of typos and no grammatical errors, which puts it up with the best of published works. The print is large, sharp and clear, airy without being padded. The author acknowledges his "beta readers" and his fact checkers. All that pays off. Not only is it a "real" book, it's a damn sight more professional than a lot of published works.
Kind of a funny thing: Two of the characters introduced early on are "Carpenter" and "Mallick" and I'm thinking, "He's giving a nod to his favorite directors, maybe?" Then there was a "Schumacher" and I was almost sold on the theory, until I realized "Schumacher" was one of his patrons, and many of the characters in the book were named after people who had donated. So that was fun. (I remember David Gerrold naming his characters after people who had donated to an AIDS charity back in the '90s, but I realize now it's very usual in crowdfunded works.)
Anyway, if you like this genre, obviously, check it out. While I like SF, I don't think of this sort of thing as my preferred milieu—that is, I wouldn't seek out a book about spacemen in the era of Vikings—but I will definitely read the rest of the series.
The story is about a 24th (25th?) century scientific expedition sent by the dwindling remains of humanity (who are losing a war of extinction) who end up in Northern Europe in the 9th century. (This is not a spoiler since the opening chapter takes place in current times with someone discovering high technology in Iceland.)
Now, time travel is a device used so badly by so many lazy writers, it's easy to forget it can be done well. Especially in circumstances like this, where it's not an attempt to get out of a author-created mess, but essentially the book's raison d'etre, like a high-octane A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Essentially we get historical fiction, but with characters who have a very pressing cross-time purpose.
The fate of humanity is in our heroes' hands, yes, but their immediate survival in the rough-and-tumble 9th century is highly in doubt, and let's not even talk about what happens to everyone around them because they're basically a wrecking ball smashing through Scandinavia, however unintentionally.
The "time travel paradox" is handled interestingly as well: The assertion is that there are no time travel paradoxes. "We know how this historical figure died," the logic goes, "ergo we cannot possibly kill him." No butterfly effect here, in other words. As long as you stay away from the few channels of historical light, you can do anything. This leads to all kinds of theoretical questions, like, "What do you mean I can't? I'm right here, I could!" which all get resolved for pragmatic reasons toward the known historical facts. I am quite curious to see how this holds up.
There are just a lot of typical authorial problems that come up with this kind of story, and Kroese handles them confidently and with aplomb. It recalls, favorably, golden age of science-fiction stories: There's an emphasis on suspense, the action is separated by actual questions of science and engineering, and with a few more pages than the old-time pulp novels and fix-ups, there's even character development!
This is why I shifted from 4 stars to 5 by the end. 400 pages and the story's just getting started and I'm not sick of it. I care what happens to the characters (ancient and future) and what happens to the universe. It's the sort of story that I will be surprised (and probably a little disappointed) if it doesn't have a happy-ish ending—that is, if the heroes fail and humanity is wiped out, I'd feel a little cheated—but I know there are going to many twists and turns on the journey, and plenty of loss (as there already has been). It's just a hell of an accomplishment.
I believe this is a self-published work, too, and at this point, we all know the depths that can sink to. But I found only a couple of typos and no grammatical errors, which puts it up with the best of published works. The print is large, sharp and clear, airy without being padded. The author acknowledges his "beta readers" and his fact checkers. All that pays off. Not only is it a "real" book, it's a damn sight more professional than a lot of published works.
Kind of a funny thing: Two of the characters introduced early on are "Carpenter" and "Mallick" and I'm thinking, "He's giving a nod to his favorite directors, maybe?" Then there was a "Schumacher" and I was almost sold on the theory, until I realized "Schumacher" was one of his patrons, and many of the characters in the book were named after people who had donated. So that was fun. (I remember David Gerrold naming his characters after people who had donated to an AIDS charity back in the '90s, but I realize now it's very usual in crowdfunded works.)
Anyway, if you like this genre, obviously, check it out. While I like SF, I don't think of this sort of thing as my preferred milieu—that is, I wouldn't seek out a book about spacemen in the era of Vikings—but I will definitely read the rest of the series.
September 3, 2018
You don't HAVE to be conversant with 9th century Norse to enjoy this book, but it wouldn't hurt.
You can find a more exhaustive treatment of the book at my blog, Papa Pat Rambles.
If it is a MAJOR GENRE point, then revealing it isn't a spoiler, right? If, in a review of 'Titanic,' I said 'the boat sank,' that would not ruin the story for anyone, would it? Well, here we have a time travel story. They go back in time.
In the present day, an American air force colonel and a British air force major are engaged in a cover-up of ancient artifacts related to space travel. The current find is a thousand-year-old space helmet.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, two hundred years in the future, humans have zoomed all the way from space flight to space colonies to space empires to space refugees, with only a few, out of the way planets still alive on the losing side of the genocidal war waged by the Cho-ta'an. An exploratory probe ship picks up a beamed transmission of the first 17 numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. The author, by the way, includes those number, split into two bite-sized pieces, for those of us who have forgotten what the Fibonacci sequence is. I appreciated that.
The beam is, of course, from the aliens. A splinter group, actually, evidently infected with a love of numerology, and SERIOUSLY out of favor with the Cho-ta'an leaders. They have discovered a planet-busting bomb in the ruins of an abandoned race, and have flagged down the humans so they can present it to them, so the humans can wipe out the Cho-ta'an home world.
A different alien faction decides to retrieve the planet buster (it liquefies solids, briefly, long enough for all life to die and buildings to fall) , and chases the human exploratory ship. At high accelerations. High enough that it's not safe to use a warp gate, but there is no other option, and at the warp gate, SHAZAM! enough bad things happen that the humans AND the aliens are transferred back through time, to Earth in 883 AD. The human ship is damaged, no longer capable of interstellar voyage, and the aliens are still after them.
However, this IS an exploratory ship, after all, and thus there are a number of scientists and engineers aboard, in addition to the regular Navy-type ship's crew, so they put their heads together and come up with some CRAZY ideas. One of them, of course, is So Crazy That It Just Might Work, and so they send a landing party of four down to Earth so they can fix the Big Metal Thing That Makes It Work. Those four are Head Engineer, Chemist/Geologist, Biologist/Shuttle Pilot, and the (usually red-shirted) security guy who is a former Marine/amateur historian, and y'all ain't gonna BELIEVE this, but in the future, Space Marines provide their own MEDICS, and he is one of those, too! I don't know HOW that happened, because the Navy provides the Marines with medics, but, this IS a work of fiction, right?
And then, all the typical clash-of-cultures-across-time things happen. Book ends, not so much on a cliff-hanger, but on a 'here's what we are gonna do next' note.
It is inevitable that in ANY cross-cultural conflict, there is going to be a language problem. That MUST be addressed somehow. However, I found the inclusion of so much, probably authentic, 9th century Norse dialogue to take me out of the narrative. In the EARLIEST part of the book, I thought that was handled VERY well; basic concepts, such as 'who are you; go away; bad guys are coming' are communicated with words, signs, and body language. Also, toward the END of the book, the spacemen have picked up enough Norse, and the Norse enough English, that the communication works. It's that middle stretch that's a problem. Please, make it a problem for the characters; don't make it a problem for the readers.
This novel is a finalist for the 2018 Dragon Award in the category 'Best Alternate History Novel.' I don't think that category is a good fit, because I think time travel stories are not alternate history, UNLESS you use time travel to EXPLAIN a deviation in the historical timeline. YMMV.
You can find a more exhaustive treatment of the book at my blog, Papa Pat Rambles.
If it is a MAJOR GENRE point, then revealing it isn't a spoiler, right? If, in a review of 'Titanic,' I said 'the boat sank,' that would not ruin the story for anyone, would it? Well, here we have a time travel story. They go back in time.
In the present day, an American air force colonel and a British air force major are engaged in a cover-up of ancient artifacts related to space travel. The current find is a thousand-year-old space helmet.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, two hundred years in the future, humans have zoomed all the way from space flight to space colonies to space empires to space refugees, with only a few, out of the way planets still alive on the losing side of the genocidal war waged by the Cho-ta'an. An exploratory probe ship picks up a beamed transmission of the first 17 numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. The author, by the way, includes those number, split into two bite-sized pieces, for those of us who have forgotten what the Fibonacci sequence is. I appreciated that.
The beam is, of course, from the aliens. A splinter group, actually, evidently infected with a love of numerology, and SERIOUSLY out of favor with the Cho-ta'an leaders. They have discovered a planet-busting bomb in the ruins of an abandoned race, and have flagged down the humans so they can present it to them, so the humans can wipe out the Cho-ta'an home world.
A different alien faction decides to retrieve the planet buster (it liquefies solids, briefly, long enough for all life to die and buildings to fall) , and chases the human exploratory ship. At high accelerations. High enough that it's not safe to use a warp gate, but there is no other option, and at the warp gate, SHAZAM! enough bad things happen that the humans AND the aliens are transferred back through time, to Earth in 883 AD. The human ship is damaged, no longer capable of interstellar voyage, and the aliens are still after them.
However, this IS an exploratory ship, after all, and thus there are a number of scientists and engineers aboard, in addition to the regular Navy-type ship's crew, so they put their heads together and come up with some CRAZY ideas. One of them, of course, is So Crazy That It Just Might Work, and so they send a landing party of four down to Earth so they can fix the Big Metal Thing That Makes It Work. Those four are Head Engineer, Chemist/Geologist, Biologist/Shuttle Pilot, and the (usually red-shirted) security guy who is a former Marine/amateur historian, and y'all ain't gonna BELIEVE this, but in the future, Space Marines provide their own MEDICS, and he is one of those, too! I don't know HOW that happened, because the Navy provides the Marines with medics, but, this IS a work of fiction, right?
And then, all the typical clash-of-cultures-across-time things happen. Book ends, not so much on a cliff-hanger, but on a 'here's what we are gonna do next' note.
It is inevitable that in ANY cross-cultural conflict, there is going to be a language problem. That MUST be addressed somehow. However, I found the inclusion of so much, probably authentic, 9th century Norse dialogue to take me out of the narrative. In the EARLIEST part of the book, I thought that was handled VERY well; basic concepts, such as 'who are you; go away; bad guys are coming' are communicated with words, signs, and body language. Also, toward the END of the book, the spacemen have picked up enough Norse, and the Norse enough English, that the communication works. It's that middle stretch that's a problem. Please, make it a problem for the characters; don't make it a problem for the readers.
This novel is a finalist for the 2018 Dragon Award in the category 'Best Alternate History Novel.' I don't think that category is a good fit, because I think time travel stories are not alternate history, UNLESS you use time travel to EXPLAIN a deviation in the historical timeline. YMMV.
May 9, 2021
Out of my mind in love with the Iron Dragon
If you trust my word just buy this Iron Dragon series and start reading now. If not, let me try to convince you. I was so excited to keep on after the first book, I did not give myself time to write a review before listening to the second book. I have now bought the third book, but want to write a review before going on. So I am suppressing the urge to hit play. It is hard, I feel I am making a sacrifice. That is how much I want you and everyone else to find this gem.
I feel like after finding “The lord of the rings” all this time ago, and the first book of Harry Potter. And I don´t want to say which book is best. They are all the best, along with this Iron dragon series. The lord of the rings gave us all a new and wonderous world to adore, just so epic, and pretty much the same with Harry Potter. I had stopped reading books at all when I was given the task to read the first Harry Potter book for children all this time ago. I feel it saved my soul, haven´t let go of books since then.
The Iron dragon is more based on the real world though, no magic. The magic of the story is a brilliant author and “it could have happened like this”. Which is why I want to write a review now, maybe not a sentence I can write after the third book. Also if the research of the story stands a closer look (how long it takes to sail between countries etc.), this story should be read in every history class everywhere. The story does bring study of gone times to life, and brings it closer. In a way where maybe more people would consider thinking of gone generations as something more than stone age people with no brain. Now that may not be something that excites you, but no worry. The Iron dragon will be suitable for readers of many genres. The story has endless fast paces action and surprises at every corner. It is flawlessly written and is a multi dimensional gem. A few times it had me so emotional I was crying. But most of the time it had me so engrossed there was no thought other than keeping on. At one time it though had me raving mad at the state of our societies. That even after the industrial revolution, where we have all this high tech, making machines that make our work force obsolete, we still exploit starving children on other continents. Write me a line if you don´t grasp what I am talking about. Ok, now I am mad again. But not about the story itself. The story is glorious! After two books I am in love with the Iron Dragon series. It excites my imagination to no end, the story is so complex and magical, exciting and the action is engulfing and endless. I lack words to do these books justice. If you are not yet convinced to read the series, keep in mind life is dull with just one flavor in your mouth, would you eat just one kind of food till end of times? Spice and different flavors make life more fun. And this one has high chance of making your day.
For those of us that like to listen to our stories, the narrator is just perfect. Somehow, would not have thought so without trying it out.
And now to the third book. Hitting play.
If you trust my word just buy this Iron Dragon series and start reading now. If not, let me try to convince you. I was so excited to keep on after the first book, I did not give myself time to write a review before listening to the second book. I have now bought the third book, but want to write a review before going on. So I am suppressing the urge to hit play. It is hard, I feel I am making a sacrifice. That is how much I want you and everyone else to find this gem.
I feel like after finding “The lord of the rings” all this time ago, and the first book of Harry Potter. And I don´t want to say which book is best. They are all the best, along with this Iron dragon series. The lord of the rings gave us all a new and wonderous world to adore, just so epic, and pretty much the same with Harry Potter. I had stopped reading books at all when I was given the task to read the first Harry Potter book for children all this time ago. I feel it saved my soul, haven´t let go of books since then.
The Iron dragon is more based on the real world though, no magic. The magic of the story is a brilliant author and “it could have happened like this”. Which is why I want to write a review now, maybe not a sentence I can write after the third book. Also if the research of the story stands a closer look (how long it takes to sail between countries etc.), this story should be read in every history class everywhere. The story does bring study of gone times to life, and brings it closer. In a way where maybe more people would consider thinking of gone generations as something more than stone age people with no brain. Now that may not be something that excites you, but no worry. The Iron dragon will be suitable for readers of many genres. The story has endless fast paces action and surprises at every corner. It is flawlessly written and is a multi dimensional gem. A few times it had me so emotional I was crying. But most of the time it had me so engrossed there was no thought other than keeping on. At one time it though had me raving mad at the state of our societies. That even after the industrial revolution, where we have all this high tech, making machines that make our work force obsolete, we still exploit starving children on other continents. Write me a line if you don´t grasp what I am talking about. Ok, now I am mad again. But not about the story itself. The story is glorious! After two books I am in love with the Iron Dragon series. It excites my imagination to no end, the story is so complex and magical, exciting and the action is engulfing and endless. I lack words to do these books justice. If you are not yet convinced to read the series, keep in mind life is dull with just one flavor in your mouth, would you eat just one kind of food till end of times? Spice and different flavors make life more fun. And this one has high chance of making your day.
For those of us that like to listen to our stories, the narrator is just perfect. Somehow, would not have thought so without trying it out.
And now to the third book. Hitting play.
January 31, 2018
Vikings! Big, brave men in horned helmets, in a snowy, remote land.
**NO HORNS** - that was a myth. Well, damn. This is historically accurate Alt-History (that's "alternative history" for my sister Lori, who'd need even further explanation, but we will stop at that.)
And not steaming locomotives. Not that anyone was expecting those... well, except certain addled readers.
Fine. I confess. Husband watches Steam Engine documentaries on TV, and my bifocals need updating, but first glance at this Alternate History (Time Travel) book cover, I saw **a steam engine** - books in my Kindle open to page one, not to the cover. So, no, I never saw an expanded view, or close-up, of the cover. I just read, read, read, eager to get to the trains... then.... Ohhhhhhh!
That is the wreckage of a SPACE SHIP on the cover.
No Horned Viking Helmets
and
No Train, no locomotives, no steam engines here, folks -
But **VIKINGS** we get!
And ax blows, and bloody battles, and brave men dying. (Hell, we get brave BOYS dying.)
First, though, we get an awesome prologue about a mysterious finding - an anachronism, an impossible thing - something that summons all the awe and wonder of, say, Erich von Daniken, who tells us in "Chariots of the Gods" that ancient civilizations were inspired, built by, established by space aliens who visited us long, long ago, and (apparently) moved on. (I think it underestimates the capacity of humans to do great things, if we go around saying the only way to explain them is to attribute them to E.T.s or angels or something other than humans.)
Back to the story.
After the prologue, a lot of time is spent getting this spaceship to where it's suposed to go, and worrying about these aliens with a name I can never spell from memory, despite "inchoate" as a mnemonic device. Fans of Truly Hard hard-science-fiction, this is for you. The science, the worm holes, the jumps that have us landing in wrong places, it's all awesome stuff.
Still, our heroes had not yet arrived in 14th Century Iceland by the end of Chapter Nine.
Around Chapter Thirteen, first contact with the Vikings is made.
Blood is quickly shed.
The historical details are splendid. The characters are authentic and well drawn.
The ending, though, is a springboard to Book Two. I was hoping for a bit more closure to some of the main story lines, but I was left waiting for sequels to finish the story. And that's the way books work, these days. Rarely in recent years do we find big, hefty tomes like Michael O'Brien's "Voyage to Alpha Centauri" (don't ever drop the hard cover on your foot; ouch!).
Fans of the military science fiction and battle scenes are sure to love this novel.
** Iron Horse -- not Iron Dragon -- is the nickname of the 19th Century steam locomotive.
**NO HORNS** - that was a myth. Well, damn. This is historically accurate Alt-History (that's "alternative history" for my sister Lori, who'd need even further explanation, but we will stop at that.)
And not steaming locomotives. Not that anyone was expecting those... well, except certain addled readers.
Fine. I confess. Husband watches Steam Engine documentaries on TV, and my bifocals need updating, but first glance at this Alternate History (Time Travel) book cover, I saw **a steam engine** - books in my Kindle open to page one, not to the cover. So, no, I never saw an expanded view, or close-up, of the cover. I just read, read, read, eager to get to the trains... then.... Ohhhhhhh!
That is the wreckage of a SPACE SHIP on the cover.
No Horned Viking Helmets
and
No Train, no locomotives, no steam engines here, folks -
But **VIKINGS** we get!
And ax blows, and bloody battles, and brave men dying. (Hell, we get brave BOYS dying.)
First, though, we get an awesome prologue about a mysterious finding - an anachronism, an impossible thing - something that summons all the awe and wonder of, say, Erich von Daniken, who tells us in "Chariots of the Gods" that ancient civilizations were inspired, built by, established by space aliens who visited us long, long ago, and (apparently) moved on. (I think it underestimates the capacity of humans to do great things, if we go around saying the only way to explain them is to attribute them to E.T.s or angels or something other than humans.)
Back to the story.
After the prologue, a lot of time is spent getting this spaceship to where it's suposed to go, and worrying about these aliens with a name I can never spell from memory, despite "inchoate" as a mnemonic device. Fans of Truly Hard hard-science-fiction, this is for you. The science, the worm holes, the jumps that have us landing in wrong places, it's all awesome stuff.
Still, our heroes had not yet arrived in 14th Century Iceland by the end of Chapter Nine.
Around Chapter Thirteen, first contact with the Vikings is made.
Blood is quickly shed.
The historical details are splendid. The characters are authentic and well drawn.
The ending, though, is a springboard to Book Two. I was hoping for a bit more closure to some of the main story lines, but I was left waiting for sequels to finish the story. And that's the way books work, these days. Rarely in recent years do we find big, hefty tomes like Michael O'Brien's "Voyage to Alpha Centauri" (don't ever drop the hard cover on your foot; ouch!).
Fans of the military science fiction and battle scenes are sure to love this novel.
** Iron Horse -- not Iron Dragon -- is the nickname of the 19th Century steam locomotive.
June 5, 2025
This is a 3-star review.
While I have greatly enjoyed other books by this author, this one was a bit pedestrian. The crew of a spaceship attempts to save themselves with a radical last ditch maneuver that tosses them back thousands of years into the past. They crash land back on Earth. The original intent was to use their modern tech to survive until they could effect repairs or they were otherwise rescued.
Their ship is in pieces. There is next to nothing left of their tech. So they must make themselves useful to the locals by using their knowledge of science and math.
Interesting premise. Reasonable well told.
But the obvious beginning of a much longer series with no significant problem resolution present in the first book. Not enough here for me to consider coming back to the series.
While I have greatly enjoyed other books by this author, this one was a bit pedestrian. The crew of a spaceship attempts to save themselves with a radical last ditch maneuver that tosses them back thousands of years into the past. They crash land back on Earth. The original intent was to use their modern tech to survive until they could effect repairs or they were otherwise rescued.
Their ship is in pieces. There is next to nothing left of their tech. So they must make themselves useful to the locals by using their knowledge of science and math.
Interesting premise. Reasonable well told.
But the obvious beginning of a much longer series with no significant problem resolution present in the first book. Not enough here for me to consider coming back to the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews