Wayback

by Sam Batterman

A mysterious Nazi super weapon, hidden for more than 60 years, has been discovered by members of a reclusive, private think tank and perfected using modern technology. This fully realized and reliable device is so powerful, so provocative, that the basic beliefs of science, history and religion could be overturned in an instant. After a cataclysmic system failure kills an expedition attempting to return to the year 100,000 B.C., a team of skeptical scientists and adventurers is dispatched to the Antediluvian world, a world that no one anticipated full of wonder, danger and advanced civilizations that will rock the accepted theories of science and history to their core. However, the team is unaware of another plan that is unfolding; there are people who will kill to use this remarkable machine to further their own plans for our past and future.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Madeleine Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50%

I liked the premise of this book but it was boring and I didn’t like the writing style.

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mysterious Nazi super-weapon, hidden for more than 60 years, has been discovered by members of a reclusive, private think tank and perfected using modern technology. This fully realized and reliable device is so powerful, so provocative, that the basic beliefs of science, history, and religion could be overturned in an instant.

After a cataclysmic system failure kills an expedition attempting to return to the year 100,000 B.C., a team of skeptical scientists and adventurers is dispatched to the Antediluvian world-a word that no one anticipated- full of wonder, danger and advanced civilizations that will rock the accepted theories of science and history to their core.

However, the team is unaware of another plan that is unfolding; there are people who will kill to use this remarkable machine to further their own plans for our past and future.

About the Author:

Sam Batterman makes his living as a software engineer and lives with his wonderful wife, Susan, and their two kids, Samantha and Parker in Southeastern Pennslyvania. Wayback is Sam's first novel, but there will be others. Sam and his wife serve at Valley Forge Baptist Temple in Collegeville, PA.

My Review:

This is my second book by Sam Batterman after the first book I read of his Maximal Reserve, got me rethinking the way of viewing science and history from what we've been taught in school and what the Bible tells us. There are some things we never really quite put together and often take the words of so-called 'experts' as our belief in some things. When I had the opportunity to review Sam's debut novel, I jumped at the chance.

His ability to engage the reader with a topic and keep it evolving throughout the book is what will hook you from the very beginning. After the Nazi scientists develop a means of traveling through time in the midst of war, you realize the possibilities can be frightening. When they program the machine to go back as far as we've been taught to pre-history and the stone age, they soon find out the world isn't really as old as they thought. A devastating accident occurs that will lead Admiral Nathan Turner to discover what is really hiding in Area 51 and it has nothing to do with aliens!

I received this book compliments of Bring It On Communications for my honest review and once more I was not disappointed. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and for those who love a great story with a science fiction, biblical twist, then this is a perfect find for you.

[Jill Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two Roads Corporation has been busy. They’ve discovered a way to transport people back in time. But an expedition to 100,000 BC ended in disaster as if such a time never existed.

This leads Two Roads to believe that everything modern-day science believes about how old the earth is could be mistaken. The company plans to send another team to a time period that might answer some of their questions. The team is recruited and sent to 2300 BC, the time of Noah’s Ark and the great flood. What they discover will change science forever.

I adore books that present theories of Intelligent Design and Creationism. Men and women willing to stand up against the “proof” that Evolutionists claim is so absolute are brave. I think the public should view science like a jury views a man on trial. Unless it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it is not fact. And as of right now, no scientist can prove how the world came to be beyond a reasonable doubt.

This book was a joy to read. It starts out with the gripping premise of time travel and takes us to earth, 2300 BC, before the flood. I enjoyed reading what earth might have been like and experiencing how things might have happened. This is a book I will keep around for my kids to read as they get older, to keep their minds open. This book has some great characters from all spectrums of scientific beliefs, which brought great conflict to the story. I liked the antediluvian city and people. I liked that they were advanced and that the Garden of Eden was still there. There were so many interesting ideas presented here. It was so interesting.

The book shifted characters a lot. I prefer a few main characters to follow that I can really grow to care about. Also, the first few chapters simply explained how everything worked. I supposed that was necessary, but it slowed down the story in the same way Michael Crichton’s scientific descriptions tend to go on and on. So if you loved that about Crichton, you’ll love that about Batterman. Once the team went back in time, I was hooked. I recommend this book for anyone looking to open their mind to a Biblical view of creation and the flood. It was well-written, well-researched educational entertainment. Very fun.

[Kev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book, but the setup felt rushed, and the inclusion of a terrorist plot felt tacked on and unnecessary. That particular plot added absolutely nothing to the story.

Wayback is about time travel based on Nazi experiments. A US research company working with the US military going back in time to see the Biblical Flood because missions to way back before Genesis didn't work. The initial setup, with the scientists being recruited, having the mission explained to them, and the secular scientists coming to grasps with a government-funded and backed mission based on proving Biblical events seemed to happen to fast. The plot could have used more antagonism from the main non-Believing scientist.

The descriptions of the the antideluvian world were interesting and it would have been fun for the characters to get to explore that world more, but they arrived at the wrong time for that. (And that wasn't really the point of the book. There are other novels that take the time to explore the pre-Flood world and life in it that are very good, though.)

This is a pro-Biblical, pro-young-Earth, pro-Creation action/science-fiction novel. If you're okay with that (I am), it's a good read. If you're not okay with those topics or points-of-view, give it a try anyway: it's a good book.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wayback is a creationist science fiction novel dealing with time travel as it relates to a young earth. The scientists sending objects and people back in time have discovered that they cannot send anything back farther than around 10,000 B.C. The book then goes on to deal without the flood and verifying events of the Genesis account and especially the flood.[return][return]This book is a good what if from a creationist perspective and gives some helpful ideas to point out how the old earth people can be misinterpreting the evidence in the same ways they accuse the creationists (and they exercise faith too). The details of working out a pre-flood civilization are well thought out and good to read.[return][return]I was disappointed that the author seems to think that big science can't be done without government money (my tax money), and he also seems to hold an overly optimistic view of the necessity of the NSA, CIA, military industrial complex and other entities whose existence is constitutionally questionable at best. This did not overly distract but will get old if he continues this in his future books. This thinking appears to be what added to the book the unnecessary plot element of muslim terrorists trying to go back in time and help the 60s fight against Israel.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always interested in reading and promoting novels that skillfully integrate a scientific, Biblical view of the Flood into their story, so I agreed when the author asked me to take a look at this novel for possible review. I agree with the others that the writing was, overall, very good and the story was exciting.

I had one main concern, though. Sam Batterman uses the hydroplate tectonics model in the novel, which would create a catastrophic, world-wide Flood that would remake the face of the earth and be responsible for depositing most of the sedimentary rock layers. But this also means that precisely pin-pointing the Garden of Eden would be impossible based on the post-Flood landscape and that no pre-Flood cities would remain--even as ruins.

I understand the author's desire to set his characters down within a short walk of both Eden and the Ark. However, using hydroplate tectonics in the same novel as he uses the idea that the Garden of Eden can be pin-pointed based on modern rivers and river beds is scientifically contradictory--both can't be true. If he wants people to take Genesis seriously, I wouldn't think using contradictory ideas as foundational points in his novel was the way to do it. So I was disappointed with that.

[Kerry Nietz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayback is a fun novel that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I love the way it reads—like a Michael Crichton thriller, both educating the reader and challenging him to think outside the box. In fact, I would say it has a more wide-open worldview than most Crichton novels, since it allows for both the secular approach and that of a reasoned faith.

Nazi experiments? Time travel to the time of Noah? Why not! Wayback has a cool premise, and the story itself is executed nearly flawlessly—again reminiscent of Crichton at his best. I was so tickled with the idea as I read, I kept wondering why I hadn’t thought of it! Big kudos to Sam for bringing it all together.

Really, I can find little to criticize here. The only thing I wonder about is whether the secondary time travel plot—while thoroughly entertaining and well written—was even necessary for this story. There were so many fun elements in the main story; the secondary plot could’ve almost been saved for a second novel. (Which I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed too.)

Wayback is an awesome first effort by Mr. Batterman. I’m excited to see what he has in store for us next.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a team of modern scientists who journey back in time to see if the Biblical account of Noah's ark actually happened. They meet with a few serious complications along the way, and it gets really interesting!

I enjoyed this book and the "ride" carried me through it pretty quickly. That's always a good thing.

This book had major formatting problems throughout my Kindle download. There were lots and lots of end-of-the-line hyphenations that had somehow been kicked into the middle of the next line, and almost every other page ended about half-way through the page. It got kind of distracting, and I hope the author will go back and fix that.

It also had a few incidents of what I call "information dump," in other words, the author quickly ran through quite a bit of research before moving forward with the story. This was forgivable in my opinion, and the story stayed interesting.

It gets my vote! :)

[Michael Roe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read and fleshed out with biblical speculation what the pre-flood world would have possibly looked like. Batterman's writing was good, not great, but good. It seemed a little wooden at times, but he kept my interest to the point that I read it in one sitting last night. Time travel and biblical creationism; an interesting combination. Look forward to seeing more development from Batterman if he continues as an author.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, a time machine developed by the Nazis is used to travel back to the time before the Great Flood so intriguing.