Book Details
“The Threads of Time” by C.J. Cherryh | The Time Traveler’s Almanac collection
Editors: Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer
Total Pages in the collection: 960
Published: March 18, 2014 by Tor Books
My Review
The beginning of this short story really captured me. What’s not to love about a time Gate? However, as with several of our previous stories in this anthology, we see that having access to time travel can appear to be an advantage on the surface, all the while concealing troubles beneath.
I think C.J. Cherryh set out to explore such a balance–what the “now” means to us and how it changes with people and perspective, as well as the affirmation that the past should never be rearranged or tinkered with.
Although The Threads of Time got a little wobbly for me toward the end, I think it held pretty well. It certainly made me think, and if a story can do that, then it’s at least made an impact 🙂
My Rating:
3.5 out of 5
About The Time Traveler’s Almanac
The Time Traveler’s Almanac is the largest and most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, this book compiles more than a century’s worth of literary travels into the past and the future that will serve to reacquaint readers with beloved classics of the time travel genre and introduce them to thrilling contemporary innovations.
This marvelous volume includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu’s “Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers”).
The Time Traveler’s Almanac Review Group
This review is part of an on-going review series. We’re trying to review a short story per week from The Time Traveler’s Almanac. Please join us and share your thoughts! My partners in crime on this reading adventure includes the following authors and bloggers. Check out their reviews as well:
This is funny: we both gave it the same score, but had opposite reasons for what we liked 😛
I had a big problem with the “Now”. The story says the Now refers to how many years have passed since discovery of First Gate, not the current year you are in. But if Agents have the ability to time travel with the Gates, back and forward with time, how can you possibly tell the difference between true “Now” – the actual numbers years since First Gate – and the Now of the year that you have currently traveled to? Whatever year you have traveled to, is by default, the new, currently, and only Now.
The ending I thought made sense: SPOILER START… someone slipped passed an Agent and went into the past and changed something. That one slight change caused a ripple effect into the future, which is why the landscape and person in front of Harrh started to change. Then, because his past was altered, his conscious memories have been erased. However, the narrator implies that somewhere, in the subconscious, theses memories of other lives are still present and come in the form of dreams… SPOILER END
Ha! Interesting 🙂 I did like the idea of the other lives somewhat existing as dreams.