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Lost Millennium #1
First Dawn
They are the first time travelers--guinea pigs in an experiment that cannot fail. From a future ravaged by plague, they must travel thousands of years into the past to the dawn of civilization. Among tribes of primitive hunters, they will trace a fatal chain of events--and alter history to save humanity from itself.
280 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 27, 2007
This was an interesting read though it did require a bit of suspension of disbelief. The idea is that human culture has pretty much made the planet a wreck and Big Problems are imminent. A project to send two people back in time to prevent human culture from taking its wrong turn is put together as a desperate measure. This book is their story. It's an interesting concept but the picture of the culture that needs saving is perhaps overly romanticized given the realities of human nature. Then again, that's pretty much the book's premise: what we take for granted as acceptable cultural behavior could have been changed. Whether the author is right or wrong, it makes an interesting story.
February 12, 2018
A total disappointment. The back cover blurb says this is a time travel adventure about 2 people from the 21st century who must go back to 4000 BC to alter history because humanity is about to be destroyed by some catastrophe. There is a reference to a plague of some sort which emerges in the 21st century but this is not explained. The time travel technology is also not explained. The 2 travelers just go back in time like that! Their exact mission is also not explained.
They land in the middle of Europe among some invaders who have tamed the horse for warfare. These invaders are attempting to eradicate the land of the peaceful natives. Our 2 heroes promptly kill all 10 of the invaders. They then train the peace-loving people in fighting techniques and they annihilate the entire invading army. The book ends with no reference to returning to the 21st century so I guess it was a one-way trip.
The audience for this book seems to be video gamesters and teenage boys given the amount of sex and violence in the first third and final third of the book. The middle third of the book bogs down with no action at all.
For a better experience with time travel adventures try reading CONTACT by Carl Sagan or THE UGLY LITTLE BOY by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg. These books at least make an attempt to explain time travel and use logic and correct science.
They land in the middle of Europe among some invaders who have tamed the horse for warfare. These invaders are attempting to eradicate the land of the peaceful natives. Our 2 heroes promptly kill all 10 of the invaders. They then train the peace-loving people in fighting techniques and they annihilate the entire invading army. The book ends with no reference to returning to the 21st century so I guess it was a one-way trip.
The audience for this book seems to be video gamesters and teenage boys given the amount of sex and violence in the first third and final third of the book. The middle third of the book bogs down with no action at all.
For a better experience with time travel adventures try reading CONTACT by Carl Sagan or THE UGLY LITTLE BOY by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg. These books at least make an attempt to explain time travel and use logic and correct science.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2017
I don't normally care for time-travel as it seems when authors (and TV shows) run out of ideas, they resort to it, but this book uses it to set up main characters as fish-out-of-water trying to alter history for a better future. (FYI: R-rated for sexual content in some places)
March 14, 2017
An interesting premise. If you can suspend disbelief about the technical and sociological details, it's a decent read. Typos average about one per long chapter.
Update after finishing the series: It gets better! Books 2 and 3 got 4 stars each from me. Read this one to establish the background and main characters, then continue through the trilogy.
Update after finishing the series: It gets better! Books 2 and 3 got 4 stars each from me. Read this one to establish the background and main characters, then continue through the trilogy.
January 12, 2015
First Dawn (Lost Millennium #1)
by Mike Moscoe, Mike Shepherd
Science Fiction often requires suspension of disbelief for one big thing and if it is good science fiction the rest of the story flows from there. This books does that well. Told in third person past tense it follows our future humans Launa and Jack as they navigate the past.
The premise is that some time in the future humanity is so completely and utterly screwed (no suspension of disbelief required there) that the only hope is to send a team back into the past to fix things. Not to find the start of a plague as in 12 Monkeys, not to historical times to kill Hitler or save Kennedy, as premises for some books. Not even Roman times to prevent the so called dark ages. No, they decide they must go way back, all the way to 4000 BC to set humanity on a different path in the ‘beginning’ as it were.
It is a fascinating idea, going so far back in time so as to completely remake history. One that has stuck with me for all the years after I read this series (back in the 90s).
The idea is that their was a conflict between the peaceful people of the plains and the Kurgan horsemen that conquered them and that conflict drove everything that followed. Some huge flaws with this idea (not the going back in time but to where and when). The place is near the Danube river and the time, 4000 BC. The choice ignores most of the world where civilizations arise (Africa, India, China, and the Americas) and posits that this one conflict in the middle of Europe is the most important in all of human history. No seriously, that IS the premise.
The team, with one man (Jack) , one woman (Launa), two horses and three dogs, is a long shot but that is a given in the premises. The mission is hastily put together and implemented in desperate times. They bring supplies with them on the horses, but of course the important commodity is knowledge. For example a book entitled “The Pharmacology of Herbs.”
The rest of the story is a sort of historical fantasy. With some occasional flashes ‘back to the future’ where the commanders that sent them are hunkered down in a bunker, the mainly focuses on the culture of Kurgan horsemen and the farmers (as they sometimes call them even though they are actually hunter gatherers) that they have come to save. They make friends with a tribe and dig in to slowly learn the language and gain their trust. All the while fighting off the first advance of the Kurgan (with several chapter from their POV as well). They do that and start training the tribe for war.
The hunter gathers with their matrilineal structure and goddess worship are very romanized and horseman are equally villainized…it is all very black and white contrary to any realistic understanding of human nature.
The epilogue takes place in a future time showing that they were successful in changing the world. That’s a given of course, any action in the past would create an alternate world, for the better? That is a real gamble.
by Mike Moscoe, Mike Shepherd
Science Fiction often requires suspension of disbelief for one big thing and if it is good science fiction the rest of the story flows from there. This books does that well. Told in third person past tense it follows our future humans Launa and Jack as they navigate the past.
The premise is that some time in the future humanity is so completely and utterly screwed (no suspension of disbelief required there) that the only hope is to send a team back into the past to fix things. Not to find the start of a plague as in 12 Monkeys, not to historical times to kill Hitler or save Kennedy, as premises for some books. Not even Roman times to prevent the so called dark ages. No, they decide they must go way back, all the way to 4000 BC to set humanity on a different path in the ‘beginning’ as it were.
It is a fascinating idea, going so far back in time so as to completely remake history. One that has stuck with me for all the years after I read this series (back in the 90s).
The idea is that their was a conflict between the peaceful people of the plains and the Kurgan horsemen that conquered them and that conflict drove everything that followed. Some huge flaws with this idea (not the going back in time but to where and when). The place is near the Danube river and the time, 4000 BC. The choice ignores most of the world where civilizations arise (Africa, India, China, and the Americas) and posits that this one conflict in the middle of Europe is the most important in all of human history. No seriously, that IS the premise.
The team, with one man (Jack) , one woman (Launa), two horses and three dogs, is a long shot but that is a given in the premises. The mission is hastily put together and implemented in desperate times. They bring supplies with them on the horses, but of course the important commodity is knowledge. For example a book entitled “The Pharmacology of Herbs.”
The rest of the story is a sort of historical fantasy. With some occasional flashes ‘back to the future’ where the commanders that sent them are hunkered down in a bunker, the mainly focuses on the culture of Kurgan horsemen and the farmers (as they sometimes call them even though they are actually hunter gatherers) that they have come to save. They make friends with a tribe and dig in to slowly learn the language and gain their trust. All the while fighting off the first advance of the Kurgan (with several chapter from their POV as well). They do that and start training the tribe for war.
The hunter gathers with their matrilineal structure and goddess worship are very romanized and horseman are equally villainized…it is all very black and white contrary to any realistic understanding of human nature.
The epilogue takes place in a future time showing that they were successful in changing the world. That’s a given of course, any action in the past would create an alternate world, for the better? That is a real gamble.
July 23, 2019
5/2016 - This trilogy is probably one of my favorite alternate reality story lines. I like that the main characters grow and change while bringing about the changes that will hopefully help humanity. I could care less if there's any accuracy in how life was 4000 years ago - the story told is an interesting one and the idea that our lives would be better if people were able to go that far back and change how two separate people clashed/learned of each other is very well told.
7/2019 - Just as enjoyable this time around (think this is my 3rd or 4th reread) as when I first discovered these books
7/2019 - Just as enjoyable this time around (think this is my 3rd or 4th reread) as when I first discovered these books
April 18, 2016
Enjoyable
Exciting story. Interesting look at past influencing present. Characters a reader can become engaged with.
However, the text has a number of errors that escaped the proofreader. Misused apostrophes, using your instead of you're, and so on. Some readers would not be bothered by these, but those who read many books will find themselves tripping over these errors as they try to makes sense of the flow of words.
Exciting story. Interesting look at past influencing present. Characters a reader can become engaged with.
However, the text has a number of errors that escaped the proofreader. Misused apostrophes, using your instead of you're, and so on. Some readers would not be bothered by these, but those who read many books will find themselves tripping over these errors as they try to makes sense of the flow of words.
March 9, 2012
Enjoyed this and was really grateful for the ebook version so I could get hold of it. Having migrated to ebooks through a couple of Sony book readers and now a Nook I have probably read over 120 books in ebook format. Getting hold of this was on my to do list. I am now half way through book 2.
July 8, 2013
Overall enjoyable fantasy of time travel and changing the past to affect the future.
May 14, 2014
I had to give up on this book. The premise was too illogical for me to get around and enjoy it.
May 23, 2014
I don't know how this series slipped by me in the 90s. Even though I was reading 5 other books at the time--I could not put this one down..Immediately started on the second book in the series!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews