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The Corridors of Time
A power struggle for time itself.
The corridors of time connect the ages to each other. Through them, one can travel backwards and forwards over the history of man. But rival factions have waged war for centuries.... Malcolm is an ordinary man of today, caught up in a time war beyond his comprehension....
Cover Illustration by Anthony Roberts.
The corridors of time connect the ages to each other. Through them, one can travel backwards and forwards over the history of man. But rival factions have waged war for centuries.... Malcolm is an ordinary man of today, caught up in a time war beyond his comprehension....
Cover Illustration by Anthony Roberts.
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Poul Anderson
754 books1,019 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
March 2, 2017
The Corridors of Time was first published by Poul Anderson in 1965. It concerns an imaginative approach to time travel and has as its central conflict an ageless battle between two forces: the Wardens, representing an Earth Mother set of values and mythos and the Rangers, a group who worship a mechanical ideal and through whom have influenced much of Western Civilization.
Time travel novels always leave me asking more questions about the details and what-ifs and sometimes just leave me guessing and with a headache (see Piers Anthony’s Bearing An Hourglass) but Anderson does an above average job of providing some basic concepts and then going on with the adventure.
What I liked best about this novel is Anderson’s brilliant use of history and anthropology to add valuable detail to an already exciting story. As in other novels, Anderson gives equal time to both sides of a struggle and the depth of characterization is improved by not allowing straw man, or flat, one-sided depictions. Very good.
Time travel novels always leave me asking more questions about the details and what-ifs and sometimes just leave me guessing and with a headache (see Piers Anthony’s Bearing An Hourglass) but Anderson does an above average job of providing some basic concepts and then going on with the adventure.
What I liked best about this novel is Anderson’s brilliant use of history and anthropology to add valuable detail to an already exciting story. As in other novels, Anderson gives equal time to both sides of a struggle and the depth of characterization is improved by not allowing straw man, or flat, one-sided depictions. Very good.
November 28, 2023
Sigh. I wanted to like this, as I do with everything by Anderson. He introduces some neat concepts surrounding the temporal war and the means by which time travel is undertaken, but the story quickly got way too confusing due to abrupt transitions, capricious developments, and an overdose of intrigue and esoteric anthropological and political theorizing that just seemed to go in endless circles like a snake eating its own tail.
June 5, 2015
The Corridors of Time is my second Poul Anderson. (My first was the very impressive The Broken Sword.) And like The Broken Sword, Anderson draws heavily on what must have been an extensive knowledge of ancient Denmark (before Beowulf), mythology in general, history, anthropology, and linguistics. Also, to keep thinks humming, science fiction. Whew! That’s a lot to cram into 186 page novel. With a lesser writer all of those would have probably sank such a short novel. But Anderson sprinkles (usually) his knowledge lightly, with the characters, and their fates (important to Anderson), being the main focus.
The story starts out with former Marine, and current anthropology student (“I like primitive people”) Malcolm Lockridge, in trouble and in jail awaiting trial for accidentally killing a member of a gang trying to mug him. He is visited by a tall, beautiful, dark-haired woman who reminds him of a swimming champion or Diana the Huntress. Her name is the very cool Storm Darroway. After briefly hearing the details of Malcolm’s case, she offers legal assistance (the best money can buy), for, upon acquittal, Malcolm’s “assistance” in a dangerous task that requires a “lion” like Malcolm.
The opening is probably creakiest part of the novel, but even then it’s dominated by Storm’s presence, and Anderson’s own economy in storytelling. As you will soon see, he can cover a lot of ground (not to mention centuries) in a matter of a few pages. Malcolm and Storm enter what turns out to be an unguarded time portal, which contain these trippy sleds that glide down a “time corridor.” There is a shootout with another bunch called Rangers (who serve the Machine), and they escape into near stone-age Denmark. It’s goofy in a real Star Trek sort of way, but also violent, with smoking bodies and light pistols and such. Anderson can surprise when it comes to quick and sudden violence.
It’s at about this point that things started getting a little murky for me. Storm is considered a goddess among the various tribal types, and is high up with her own group, the Wardens. It’s here Anderson dumps what he knows about goddesses, myth, and probably the Virgin Mary. Malcolm himself is conflicted, as Storm (who often walks around naked) really seems to like him. But is he also being used? And then there’s that sweet little hippie-like stone-age chick that might be as young as 14, who Malcolm seems to take a shine to. Loving jail-bait or the Goddess? (Anderson loves having his characters, primitive or way in the future, running around naked.) As the novel went on, I found myself really invested in how this triangle would play out.
What’s harder to follow is the nature of the war between the Rangers and the Wardens, how it is fought, and Malcolm’s role in it. Also, it’s not (as it first seemed) a good guy – bad guy situation. Anderson makes things gray, as both the Wardens and the Rangers have their warts. The ambiguity, and at times confusion from the reader’s POV, is not really an obstacle to enjoying the book, as long as you don’t insist on connecting the dots and allow Anderson’s first-rate imagination to zoom you back and forth on his funny sleds. The ending is a killer.
The story starts out with former Marine, and current anthropology student (“I like primitive people”) Malcolm Lockridge, in trouble and in jail awaiting trial for accidentally killing a member of a gang trying to mug him. He is visited by a tall, beautiful, dark-haired woman who reminds him of a swimming champion or Diana the Huntress. Her name is the very cool Storm Darroway. After briefly hearing the details of Malcolm’s case, she offers legal assistance (the best money can buy), for, upon acquittal, Malcolm’s “assistance” in a dangerous task that requires a “lion” like Malcolm.
The opening is probably creakiest part of the novel, but even then it’s dominated by Storm’s presence, and Anderson’s own economy in storytelling. As you will soon see, he can cover a lot of ground (not to mention centuries) in a matter of a few pages. Malcolm and Storm enter what turns out to be an unguarded time portal, which contain these trippy sleds that glide down a “time corridor.” There is a shootout with another bunch called Rangers (who serve the Machine), and they escape into near stone-age Denmark. It’s goofy in a real Star Trek sort of way, but also violent, with smoking bodies and light pistols and such. Anderson can surprise when it comes to quick and sudden violence.
It’s at about this point that things started getting a little murky for me. Storm is considered a goddess among the various tribal types, and is high up with her own group, the Wardens. It’s here Anderson dumps what he knows about goddesses, myth, and probably the Virgin Mary. Malcolm himself is conflicted, as Storm (who often walks around naked) really seems to like him. But is he also being used? And then there’s that sweet little hippie-like stone-age chick that might be as young as 14, who Malcolm seems to take a shine to. Loving jail-bait or the Goddess? (Anderson loves having his characters, primitive or way in the future, running around naked.) As the novel went on, I found myself really invested in how this triangle would play out.
What’s harder to follow is the nature of the war between the Rangers and the Wardens, how it is fought, and Malcolm’s role in it. Also, it’s not (as it first seemed) a good guy – bad guy situation. Anderson makes things gray, as both the Wardens and the Rangers have their warts. The ambiguity, and at times confusion from the reader’s POV, is not really an obstacle to enjoying the book, as long as you don’t insist on connecting the dots and allow Anderson’s first-rate imagination to zoom you back and forth on his funny sleds. The ending is a killer.
June 19, 2014
I went on a sci-fi binge in my early teens, and this is one of the few titles acquired then that have stuck with me through the years. I keep it on a shelf beside Chad Oliver's Winds of Time, not that the two stories have much in common beyond the similarity of their titles. It's about an ordinary guy being pulled out of recognizable circumstances and thrust into something very extraordinary, and in that regard is closer to the Edgar Rice Burroughs format. However, my recollection is that character development is handled much more carefully than with Burroughs.
UPDATE: Because my copy of this book happens to be in a very visible location on the shelf, I picked it up to refresh my memory with another quick read.
First the negatives, which aren't significant (and in fact I just added another star to the rating): The manner in which Malcolm is first recruited into this adventure feels contrived. Also, there are points--generally when providing background information on a culture or historical period--at which the author veers into an artificial voice that makes me want to skim over a paragraph or so. And despite involvement of a future technology that makes possible tunnels for accessing different historical periods, this doesn't quite fit into what I think of as science fiction.
But it remains very decent fiction, not only by addressing the fascination with time travel that readers have had at least since HG Wells (how else are we going to juxtapose our own culture with those of our distant ancestors and/or descendants?) but also because of well-handled narrative tension. Malcolm finds himself forced to take sides in a conflict that spans millennia between rivals reportedly espousing "two ways of thought and life--of being ... life as it is imagined to be against life as it is." (I took note of that distinction more so than in past readings because it does seem to be a big part of the problem in today's world at least.) But having taken sides, has Malcolm chosen the right side? The more he sees, the less enthused he is with either. His decisions--again in the context of movements over a span of about 7,000 years (4,000 years into the past and 3,000 into the future) keep those pages turning right up to the end.
UPDATE: Because my copy of this book happens to be in a very visible location on the shelf, I picked it up to refresh my memory with another quick read.
First the negatives, which aren't significant (and in fact I just added another star to the rating): The manner in which Malcolm is first recruited into this adventure feels contrived. Also, there are points--generally when providing background information on a culture or historical period--at which the author veers into an artificial voice that makes me want to skim over a paragraph or so. And despite involvement of a future technology that makes possible tunnels for accessing different historical periods, this doesn't quite fit into what I think of as science fiction.
But it remains very decent fiction, not only by addressing the fascination with time travel that readers have had at least since HG Wells (how else are we going to juxtapose our own culture with those of our distant ancestors and/or descendants?) but also because of well-handled narrative tension. Malcolm finds himself forced to take sides in a conflict that spans millennia between rivals reportedly espousing "two ways of thought and life--of being ... life as it is imagined to be against life as it is." (I took note of that distinction more so than in past readings because it does seem to be a big part of the problem in today's world at least.) But having taken sides, has Malcolm chosen the right side? The more he sees, the less enthused he is with either. His decisions--again in the context of movements over a span of about 7,000 years (4,000 years into the past and 3,000 into the future) keep those pages turning right up to the end.
May 17, 2018
Poul Anderson’s novel, “The Corridors of Time”, originally published in 1965, may seem somewhat dated, but, considering it’s a novel about time travel, that may not necessarily be considered a negative.
Time travel stories can be tricky, which is why it’s probably one of my least favorite sub-genres of science fiction, second only to alternative history stories. That said, stories involving time travel can also be fun, if you’re willing to not think too hard about the inevitable paradoxes that might ensue. Never mind the science involved.
The best time travel stories, in my opinion, tend to focus on the human element and less on the whys and hows of the time traveling itself. This is why Quantum Leap was one of my favorite TV shows and why movies like “Back to the Future” were so successful: their focus was on the characters, not the science.
“The Corridors of Time” may seem outdated primarily because it shares certain similarities to another popular TV show, also about a time traveller, “Doctor Who”. Interestingly, Anderson had to have been aware of the show, as it first aired on BBC in 1963, two years before the publication of his novel. Granted, the show was in its infancy, and many of the elements that have become mythos for the Whoniverse (the Time War, Gallifrey, Daleks) did not appear until much later in the show.
The plot of Anderson’s novel involves a man from the present-day United States, Malcolm Lockridge, who is recruited by the mysterious and beautiful Storm Dalloway to be an assistant in her time-traveling escapades.
Over the course of the novel, Malcolm learns that Storm is part of a much-larger time war, being waged by two main factions. While the politics are involved, the main idea is that the Wardens (of which Storm is a member) are a group that is fighting for the preservation of nature and the environment, fighting against the Rangers, which is a group that is for industrialization and mechanization.
Both factions have agents and “stations” set up throughout different eras in human history, and they travel back and forth through literal underground corridors.
At one station, in the Stone Age, Malcolm meets and falls in love with a primitive girl named Auri. Needless to say, this creates conflict between Storm and Malcolm (whose relationship goes slightly beyond the professional) and has repercussions for the time war.
Anderson’s novel is a fast-paced science fiction novel with enough fascinating hard science to make it plausible but interspersed with plenty of action and suspense to make it entertaining. Considering it was written almost 50 years ago, the book surprisingly stands the test of time.
Time travel stories can be tricky, which is why it’s probably one of my least favorite sub-genres of science fiction, second only to alternative history stories. That said, stories involving time travel can also be fun, if you’re willing to not think too hard about the inevitable paradoxes that might ensue. Never mind the science involved.
The best time travel stories, in my opinion, tend to focus on the human element and less on the whys and hows of the time traveling itself. This is why Quantum Leap was one of my favorite TV shows and why movies like “Back to the Future” were so successful: their focus was on the characters, not the science.
“The Corridors of Time” may seem outdated primarily because it shares certain similarities to another popular TV show, also about a time traveller, “Doctor Who”. Interestingly, Anderson had to have been aware of the show, as it first aired on BBC in 1963, two years before the publication of his novel. Granted, the show was in its infancy, and many of the elements that have become mythos for the Whoniverse (the Time War, Gallifrey, Daleks) did not appear until much later in the show.
The plot of Anderson’s novel involves a man from the present-day United States, Malcolm Lockridge, who is recruited by the mysterious and beautiful Storm Dalloway to be an assistant in her time-traveling escapades.
Over the course of the novel, Malcolm learns that Storm is part of a much-larger time war, being waged by two main factions. While the politics are involved, the main idea is that the Wardens (of which Storm is a member) are a group that is fighting for the preservation of nature and the environment, fighting against the Rangers, which is a group that is for industrialization and mechanization.
Both factions have agents and “stations” set up throughout different eras in human history, and they travel back and forth through literal underground corridors.
At one station, in the Stone Age, Malcolm meets and falls in love with a primitive girl named Auri. Needless to say, this creates conflict between Storm and Malcolm (whose relationship goes slightly beyond the professional) and has repercussions for the time war.
Anderson’s novel is a fast-paced science fiction novel with enough fascinating hard science to make it plausible but interspersed with plenty of action and suspense to make it entertaining. Considering it was written almost 50 years ago, the book surprisingly stands the test of time.
August 10, 2020
This review contains no spoilers.
As a long-time sci-fi fan, I had, of course, heard of Poul Anderson, but this was the first book of his that I'd ever read. Based on its publication date (1965), I was expecting a light piece of sci-fi pulp. Instead, I was surprised to discover a deeper inspection of historical progress which was itself couched in a relatively slow-paced time war adventure. Coupled with Anderson's vast vocabulary (thank goodness I was reading it on a Kindle so I could learn some of the archaic but spot-on perfect word choices he made for the various time periods) and his Shakespearean propensity to invent words when an already existing one wouldn't fit perfectly (a skill that I have to admit is pretty amazing because I always knew what he meant, even though I'd obviously never seen the word before), it wound up being a much more plodding slog than I anticipated.
So was it a bad book? No, I wouldn't say that. There were some interesting characters, and the progress of the time war was something I was curious about. But I could tell as I was reading that I wasn't reading anything particularly memorable, and I had to push through to the end. The explanation for the titular "corridors of time" seemed vague and lacking. I don't necessarily view that as a showstopper for a time travel story, but the justification here seemed particularly arbitrary. And the story more or less ignored exploring the fascinating elements of what time travel could imply. Finally, it wasn't the case that all of the characters were multi-dimensional and compelling.
In the end, my rating comes down to a simple question: would I recommend this to a fellow fan of sci-fi time travel stories? Unfortunately, I would have to say no. There are many, many outstanding time travel stories. This is not one of them.
As a long-time sci-fi fan, I had, of course, heard of Poul Anderson, but this was the first book of his that I'd ever read. Based on its publication date (1965), I was expecting a light piece of sci-fi pulp. Instead, I was surprised to discover a deeper inspection of historical progress which was itself couched in a relatively slow-paced time war adventure. Coupled with Anderson's vast vocabulary (thank goodness I was reading it on a Kindle so I could learn some of the archaic but spot-on perfect word choices he made for the various time periods) and his Shakespearean propensity to invent words when an already existing one wouldn't fit perfectly (a skill that I have to admit is pretty amazing because I always knew what he meant, even though I'd obviously never seen the word before), it wound up being a much more plodding slog than I anticipated.
So was it a bad book? No, I wouldn't say that. There were some interesting characters, and the progress of the time war was something I was curious about. But I could tell as I was reading that I wasn't reading anything particularly memorable, and I had to push through to the end. The explanation for the titular "corridors of time" seemed vague and lacking. I don't necessarily view that as a showstopper for a time travel story, but the justification here seemed particularly arbitrary. And the story more or less ignored exploring the fascinating elements of what time travel could imply. Finally, it wasn't the case that all of the characters were multi-dimensional and compelling.
In the end, my rating comes down to a simple question: would I recommend this to a fellow fan of sci-fi time travel stories? Unfortunately, I would have to say no. There are many, many outstanding time travel stories. This is not one of them.
August 6, 2017
An old SF work involving an unusual sort of time travel.
Malcolm Lockridge is in jail when a strange woman, Storm Darroway, comes to him and offers a high-powered lawyer and private detectives to clear his name. All she wants in return is for him to take a job for her. Even at the time, he notices her unusual appearance -- unplaceable by ethnicitiy or race -- especially with the Anglo-Saxon name. His name cleared, he follows her directions to Denmark, where she spins him a story about retrieving a treasure left behind by Resistance members.
When they get there, they actually move through time -- down one of the title corridors, which have their own time and turn our time to a spacial dimension -- to a Denmark still in the neolithic age -- though elsewhere in the world they have reached the Bronze Age. She explains that she is a leader in one side of a time war. Her side, she explains, is trying to resist the other side's attempts to rationalize human life into machinery. But an actual war in their time would destory the earth, so they fight through time. While history is fixed, they can work through the gaps. She had been ambushed and stranded in his time, where she desperately needed a man to be safe in this era.
This story goes on, involving a native young woman who named Lockridge "Lynx", an invasion, an attempt to force an arranged marriage, traveling through time, a glimpse of the future Storm comes from, and a glimpse of the world past it. Lockridge finds himself crucial in a manner he had never expected.
Malcolm Lockridge is in jail when a strange woman, Storm Darroway, comes to him and offers a high-powered lawyer and private detectives to clear his name. All she wants in return is for him to take a job for her. Even at the time, he notices her unusual appearance -- unplaceable by ethnicitiy or race -- especially with the Anglo-Saxon name. His name cleared, he follows her directions to Denmark, where she spins him a story about retrieving a treasure left behind by Resistance members.
When they get there, they actually move through time -- down one of the title corridors, which have their own time and turn our time to a spacial dimension -- to a Denmark still in the neolithic age -- though elsewhere in the world they have reached the Bronze Age. She explains that she is a leader in one side of a time war. Her side, she explains, is trying to resist the other side's attempts to rationalize human life into machinery. But an actual war in their time would destory the earth, so they fight through time. While history is fixed, they can work through the gaps. She had been ambushed and stranded in his time, where she desperately needed a man to be safe in this era.
This story goes on, involving a native young woman who named Lockridge "Lynx", an invasion, an attempt to force an arranged marriage, traveling through time, a glimpse of the future Storm comes from, and a glimpse of the world past it. Lockridge finds himself crucial in a manner he had never expected.
October 10, 2022
Ooit gelezen voor Nederlands, als ik eraan terug denk echt een fever dream 11/10
September 17, 2010
One of the better SF love triangles: 20th century guy has to choose between a far-future goddess and Ms. Average Nice Bronze-Age Chick. Both women are sympathetically portrayed. I'd better not tell you what happens - it's fun, and there's a terrific ending!
June 14, 2022
Very interesting concept.
The story doest have some key character acting sometimes too conveniently, but the concept is pretty good.
The story doest have some key character acting sometimes too conveniently, but the concept is pretty good.
July 19, 2018
As a fan of Poul Anderson, I was looking forward to this book, but after finishing it I have to conclude it's not his best effort. It still has the "happy ending" that I like, but that may be about it.
You can read the summary of the book and that kind of encapsulates what's happening, though it makes it into something that I never felt in the book. The different time periods were vague and "blurry" to me and I never got a true feel for any of them. The two main actors in the story aside from our hero Malcolm, Storm and Brann, were never likable or dislikable. I wanted to root for or against them, but I never felt like I was drawn into the story enough to care.
And I guess that's the real crux of the matter. I never could get emotionally attached to any of the characters. Storm was distant, Brann was brief, Malcolm was a pawn until he turned into a nondescriptive actor, and Auri wasn't focused on enough to truly bring her out (though she was the only one whose happiness I cared about).
All in all, a decent book, but I've read much better from Anderson. Won't say stay away, but can't recommend.
You can read the summary of the book and that kind of encapsulates what's happening, though it makes it into something that I never felt in the book. The different time periods were vague and "blurry" to me and I never got a true feel for any of them. The two main actors in the story aside from our hero Malcolm, Storm and Brann, were never likable or dislikable. I wanted to root for or against them, but I never felt like I was drawn into the story enough to care.
And I guess that's the real crux of the matter. I never could get emotionally attached to any of the characters. Storm was distant, Brann was brief, Malcolm was a pawn until he turned into a nondescriptive actor, and Auri wasn't focused on enough to truly bring her out (though she was the only one whose happiness I cared about).
All in all, a decent book, but I've read much better from Anderson. Won't say stay away, but can't recommend.
March 9, 2019
De eerste helft van dit boek verdient een dikke 5 sterren, gewoon subliem. Een originele benadering van het begrip tijdreizen. Voeg daarbij een onverwachte held uit onze tijd die gerecruteerd wordt door een bloedmooie vrouw met de bedoeling haar te helpen in de strijd tegen het kwaad. Technologie uit de toekomst, universele vertalen annex encycolpedie, reizen door de tijd en zijn konsekwenties. Gevangenschap, ontsnappen, zoeken in de tijd naar hulp. Alles samengevat in 1 woord: mooi.
Maar dan komt ruwweg het 2de deel (zoals vaak bij Anderson) en dat is heel wat minder mooi. Zeg maar een complete ontnuchtering. Twijfel tussen goed en kwaad, verraad, tirannie, achterbaksheid, egoïsme. Het zou geen Anderson zijn zonder een min of meer bevredigend einde maar de vieze smaak raak je toch niet meer helemaal kwijt. Wat begint als pure ontspanning gaat in deel twee over in een sociaal geweten en vraagt om na te denken.
Maar dan komt ruwweg het 2de deel (zoals vaak bij Anderson) en dat is heel wat minder mooi. Zeg maar een complete ontnuchtering. Twijfel tussen goed en kwaad, verraad, tirannie, achterbaksheid, egoïsme. Het zou geen Anderson zijn zonder een min of meer bevredigend einde maar de vieze smaak raak je toch niet meer helemaal kwijt. Wat begint als pure ontspanning gaat in deel twee over in een sociaal geweten en vraagt om na te denken.
March 3, 2015
Poprilična trashina u maniri pustolovnih SF-ova zlatnog doba, pa je i bez inovacije u svakom pogledu. Čak je i sama premisa izvučena iz Heinleinovog Glory Road-a (prezgodna žena novači muškarca za avanturu, a zašto to čini ostaje maglovito i polu nerazjašnjeno).
Radnja u svakom trenutku želi biti brza, akcijska, pa u nekim trenucima i je takva, ali više vremena je pokušaj i ostaje na pokušaju. I kao svaki dobar tresh na kraju ima zaokret pa tako i ovo - ko fol neočekivano, ali iz aviona se vidjelo što će se dogoditi. Pozitivno je to što je kratka, pa ne umara.
Pročitati ako se baš baš mora ili ako ste Andersonov gorljivi fan. U protivnom, slobodno preskočite.
Radnja u svakom trenutku želi biti brza, akcijska, pa u nekim trenucima i je takva, ali više vremena je pokušaj i ostaje na pokušaju. I kao svaki dobar tresh na kraju ima zaokret pa tako i ovo - ko fol neočekivano, ali iz aviona se vidjelo što će se dogoditi. Pozitivno je to što je kratka, pa ne umara.
Pročitati ako se baš baš mora ili ako ste Andersonov gorljivi fan. U protivnom, slobodno preskočite.
February 18, 2020
Lockridge is a 20th century man falsely accused of murder, and then rescued into other times by a woman named Storm. He gets caught up in the middle of a time travel conflict between the Wardens and the Rangers that spans history. Not a literary masterpiece, but fun.
May 26, 2023
How Malcolm Lockridge from the 1960’s gets sucked into a timewar thru the millennia. And is caught between two factions who believe each has the right ideas.
A swashbucking journey thru time. Lots of action. Simple heroes. Not much depth in them. This book is more about history and ideas: a Timewar between two factions: one who believes science and reason is the saviour of mankind, the other one stays close to the soul, a wholeness with the earth. ”Plan against organic development.”
Christendom entered ”With books and logic and the first god who ever punished incorrect beliefs about his own nature.” Anderson seems to lean towards the soul faction. And he uses this timewar to make his point. At p.84 I wondered where it will all lead to? What will Lockridge decide in the end? That propelled the story forwards for me.
As such it was a simple story. Just ok. A vehicle for Anderson to venture some ideas.
Nevertheless, there are wonderful descriptions of ancient times. Very immersive.
Also, Anderson made sure that timetravelers can not change the future. Time holds its own. So that is a relief! No worries whatever one does. We travel from 2000 BC Denmark, to 16th century Viborg (De), to the far future.
In the end it’s still all about what leaders think is the right thing and how they persue their goal ruthlessly.
Some wisdom about religion; p. 84: “Man’s history was the history of religion.” “Every primitive race [..] was wholeness of spirit.” [..] “They were one with earth and sky and sea in a way that those who set the gods apart from themselves, or who denied any gods, could never be.”
Anderson clearly makes a point about mankind. They are way too brainy he believes: “What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt.”
written: 1965.
Poul Anderson: 1926-2001.
A swashbucking journey thru time. Lots of action. Simple heroes. Not much depth in them. This book is more about history and ideas: a Timewar between two factions: one who believes science and reason is the saviour of mankind, the other one stays close to the soul, a wholeness with the earth. ”Plan against organic development.”
Christendom entered ”With books and logic and the first god who ever punished incorrect beliefs about his own nature.” Anderson seems to lean towards the soul faction. And he uses this timewar to make his point. At p.84 I wondered where it will all lead to? What will Lockridge decide in the end? That propelled the story forwards for me.
As such it was a simple story. Just ok. A vehicle for Anderson to venture some ideas.
Nevertheless, there are wonderful descriptions of ancient times. Very immersive.
Also, Anderson made sure that timetravelers can not change the future. Time holds its own. So that is a relief! No worries whatever one does. We travel from 2000 BC Denmark, to 16th century Viborg (De), to the far future.
In the end it’s still all about what leaders think is the right thing and how they persue their goal ruthlessly.
Some wisdom about religion; p. 84: “Man’s history was the history of religion.” “Every primitive race [..] was wholeness of spirit.” [..] “They were one with earth and sky and sea in a way that those who set the gods apart from themselves, or who denied any gods, could never be.”
Anderson clearly makes a point about mankind. They are way too brainy he believes: “What mattered in history was not what men thought but what they felt.”
written: 1965.
Poul Anderson: 1926-2001.
July 2, 2018
This book made a tremendous impression on me when I first read it as a teenager. After 50 years, I found that I did not remember very many of the details. The initial setup, the extrication of the protagonist and his recruitment to the side of the Wardens in their perpetual battle with the Rangers throughout time for the domination of the Earth seems archaic to the 21st century reader. Anderson's protagonist, being an educated man, remarks about how racial prejudice is unsupported by science, but he attitudes toward women are mired in the conventions of the day.
Another feature of this book that makes it seem old-fashioned, is that the two factions seem to have two diametrically opposed attitudes toward religion. The protagonist wonders if the whole of human history has been a struggle of religion.
But then the plot turns, and everything becomes more complex. Adversaries demonstrate their own nobility of character. The major, and some of the minor characters develop depth and and some degree of nuance. Midway through, the pace picks up. Plot arcs involving causal loops in time that are executed deftly. And the ending is quite satisfying.
Poul Anderson was a master story teller. I can see now why I was so impressed when I read it the first time.
Another feature of this book that makes it seem old-fashioned, is that the two factions seem to have two diametrically opposed attitudes toward religion. The protagonist wonders if the whole of human history has been a struggle of religion.
But then the plot turns, and everything becomes more complex. Adversaries demonstrate their own nobility of character. The major, and some of the minor characters develop depth and and some degree of nuance. Midway through, the pace picks up. Plot arcs involving causal loops in time that are executed deftly. And the ending is quite satisfying.
Poul Anderson was a master story teller. I can see now why I was so impressed when I read it the first time.
July 28, 2018
ENGLISH: A war that takes place in time and using time. A mixture of golden ages in the past and in the future, interspersed with evil atheistic epochs where both sides are equally undesirable. There are time loops everywhere, but the past cannot be changed, in accord with Novikov's principle of consistency, and against Anderson's own famous series "Guardians of time."
ESPAÑOL: Relato sobre una guerra en el tiempo que se aprovecha del tiempo. Una mezcla de edades de oro en el pasado y en el futuro, entre las que se interponen épocas ateas malignas, en las que ambos lados son igualmente indeseables. Bucles temporales por todas partes, pero el pasado no se puede cambiar, de acuerdo con el principio de consistencia de Novikov, y en contra de la famosa serie de Anderson "La Patrulla del Tiempo".
January 16, 2020
Bravo! What a great book! First time with Anderson and I am really impressed. A time war between two factions who use history to advance their agendas. Highly recommended to science fiction fans! Will def be reading more.
November 17, 2023
Kind of drops a bit in the middle after a strong opening, but a very entertaining and unexpected ending knocks it back up a star.
September 11, 2020
Found this in a well put together British edition, and took it with me for waiting at appointments etc. It became quite interesting and then quite complex and it is almost as though the story blossomed as Anderson wrote it. Our hero is pulled into what is literally a Time War. Two sides, the Wardens and the Rangers. Eventually the narrator is able to gain a bit of objective distance from the brainy beauty who sucked him into it all, only giving out information in bits. But then he is brought back in time to the Late Neolithic when the easy going Sea Peoples are being overrun by the violent Yuthroaz. The first group is her Wardens, the second, equally obsessed Brann's Rangers. Our narrator finds a real nice girl instead of the harsh goddess, and he is dragged forward and back by other forces into the far future to look at how life would be post 20th Century with first the Rangers-totalitarian, strict, punitive Patriarchy--and then the Wardens--no cities but primitive superstitions and impulsive tribal leaders.
Anderson's time setting choices are by no means ordinary nor expected and that's part of the interest here. Surprisingly gripping by this erstwhile Sci Fi master.
Anderson's time setting choices are by no means ordinary nor expected and that's part of the interest here. Surprisingly gripping by this erstwhile Sci Fi master.
June 22, 2020
I generally enjoy time travel stories, and I like Poul Anderson's work. This one, not so much. There were too many unexplained plot items in the book. For instance, one moment the main character is in the far future, telling someone that he realizes there are no good sides in the time war. Then, a character comes into the room and says in a villainous way something to the effect of "I'm sorry you think that". Next page, he's back in the past with absolutely no explanation of what happened. This occurs multiple times in the story, and it really detracted from the story.
August 8, 2009
Anderson's time war stories allowed him to explore all down through the ages and I thought he did a very good job. These weren't my favorite stories by him but Anderson really didn't do bad books.
February 5, 2012
This book just didn't grab me at all, by the end all I wanted was the end. The story seems told well enough but the characters never clicked with me and I was kind of bored with the plot.
July 27, 2020
The Danish-American author Poul Anderson (1926-2001) won seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards as well as many other science fiction and fantasy awards for the innumerable novels and short stories he wrote in a career spanning the last six decades of the twentieth century. But his 1965 novel, the Corridors of Time, was not one of the award-winners, and no wonder. Although the book has its strengths—Anderson was, without question, a professional—it’s weak both in its premise and its execution.
Poul Anderson knew Danish history
Anderson was the son of Danish immigrants and grew up in the United States bilingual in English and Danish. And it’s clear from The Corridors of Time that he was also steeped in ancient Danish history. The novel reeks of it. Grounded in 1964, the story’s protagonist, an imprisoned former Marine named Malcolm Lockridge, whisks through—yes, you’ve got it: actual corridors through time—to Denmark in 1827 BCE, and later to Denmark and England in the sixteenth century CE. The person who miraculously manages to spring Malcolm and speed him through the corridors is a woman named Storm Darroway, whom he later discovers has come from the future. (And that’s not her name.) Everywhere Malcolm alights he finds a richly imagined past that conforms with what archaeologists and historians know of those distant periods. Anderson, it seems, knows his history.
A shaky premise
Unfortunately, the premise on which this novel is based is—well, not to put too fine an edge on it—silly. Some two thousand years in the future humankind is grouped in two warring factions, the Wardens and the Rangers. The Wardens are the good guys . . . or are they, really? They embody the feminist principle, the Rangers the masculine. And, yes, the Rangers hold sway in—just one guess: North America. The Wardens’ home base is Europe.
Despite this juvenile premise, Poul Anderson might have managed to write a truly interesting story . . . if only he hadn’t insisted on contriving so many hard-to-believe twists and turns in the plot. At times, The Corridors of Time becomes downright baffling.
Poul Anderson knew Danish history
Anderson was the son of Danish immigrants and grew up in the United States bilingual in English and Danish. And it’s clear from The Corridors of Time that he was also steeped in ancient Danish history. The novel reeks of it. Grounded in 1964, the story’s protagonist, an imprisoned former Marine named Malcolm Lockridge, whisks through—yes, you’ve got it: actual corridors through time—to Denmark in 1827 BCE, and later to Denmark and England in the sixteenth century CE. The person who miraculously manages to spring Malcolm and speed him through the corridors is a woman named Storm Darroway, whom he later discovers has come from the future. (And that’s not her name.) Everywhere Malcolm alights he finds a richly imagined past that conforms with what archaeologists and historians know of those distant periods. Anderson, it seems, knows his history.
A shaky premise
Unfortunately, the premise on which this novel is based is—well, not to put too fine an edge on it—silly. Some two thousand years in the future humankind is grouped in two warring factions, the Wardens and the Rangers. The Wardens are the good guys . . . or are they, really? They embody the feminist principle, the Rangers the masculine. And, yes, the Rangers hold sway in—just one guess: North America. The Wardens’ home base is Europe.
Despite this juvenile premise, Poul Anderson might have managed to write a truly interesting story . . . if only he hadn’t insisted on contriving so many hard-to-believe twists and turns in the plot. At times, The Corridors of Time becomes downright baffling.
July 15, 2021
A time war with two main factions, the Wardens and the Rangers along with a random person snagged from the twentieth century to help along the way. Which side is right which is wrong? That's a great question as there isn't always a clear-cut answer to that question. The setting is old Danish times and the historical content was done well. I feel like the author wanted to stay true to the history of the area even though it was being tossed about it the time war.
Poul Anderson does a really good job with cramming 300+ pages worth of content into a 200+ page book, very impressive. He does a decent job of trying to anticipate questions his readers will have about the time travel aspect while keeping the story moving forward. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind an info dump if it answers my questions, but he didn't need to do that here, he was able to get the information across easily and with a minimum of explanation.
There was a lot going on yet nothing at all. Not a super fast-paced read and it didn't have me racing to pick it back up again, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other SciFi fans.
Poul Anderson does a really good job with cramming 300+ pages worth of content into a 200+ page book, very impressive. He does a decent job of trying to anticipate questions his readers will have about the time travel aspect while keeping the story moving forward. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind an info dump if it answers my questions, but he didn't need to do that here, he was able to get the information across easily and with a minimum of explanation.
There was a lot going on yet nothing at all. Not a super fast-paced read and it didn't have me racing to pick it back up again, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other SciFi fans.
March 31, 2021
“Corridors of Time” is a story based on a different approach to time travel, around which the central theme of the story is set. This central theme is a perpetual conflict between two sides, that on the surface looks like the typical good against evil battle, but is in fact a more typical grey state of affairs as both sides have their warts that affects their actions through the whole continuum of the war. Anderson sets a few rules for time travel, near the beginning, that prevents the ripple effect through time, and takes out many complications that maybe caused by actions of the characters, and so making the whole story line much simpler to understand.
For a book written in the 1960’s the characters are well formed, and three dimensional, set against a detailed background of ancient Denmark, where the fates of the characters seem to be important to the author. This results in a story line that has many twists and turns throughout the book and an ending which is a killer. Good book, as good as when I first read it back in the 1980’s.
For a book written in the 1960’s the characters are well formed, and three dimensional, set against a detailed background of ancient Denmark, where the fates of the characters seem to be important to the author. This results in a story line that has many twists and turns throughout the book and an ending which is a killer. Good book, as good as when I first read it back in the 1980’s.
November 18, 2018
Poul Anderson's 1966 novel "The Corridors of Time" is a big let down. The plot summary sounded interesting. But, once I started actually reading, it turned out to be overly sappy. The biggest problem, though, is that the protagonist appears to be a moron. He starts out the book having to act without full information. Fine. But, very quickly, he's exposed to how the two sides of the war he's involved in really behave. And, he just continues on (I suppose it's the little head doing the thinking). Then, he gets even more information from a third party. At that point he says "whoa, that's pretty bad." But continues on pretty much as before. I'm sorry, but if I'm going to be stuck in a character's head for about 200 pages, I want that character to have more than two neurons to rub together. So, I'm rating the book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5.
June 2, 2022
Was this written by Woody Allen? Not because it's funny, but because the hero Malcolm is constantly dealing with an underage female who wants him badly. He has gone back in time so these people marry much younger. Naturally. But no, he says, he mustn't. He keeps putting her off until finally he recognizes that she is a woman. See the problem is that the woman who is age appropriate is evil. Most things in the future, you see, are evil. He wants to be with the ancient people who love the land. These are better people. They are noble. They would never betray him. They look up to him like a God. Which is what the underage girl does as well. It's so hard dealing with adult females. You have to deal with them as equals. Much better to have an adoring crowd. He can be their leader and not be evil. Except for all the killing that he does. But that killing was going to happen anyway!
August 8, 2017
Even accounting for the time period, this is kind of a middling SF work -- Jules Verne can claim he was inventing the genre of time travel fiction, Anderson had more to work with. The overall idea is solid - a time war between two sides fought over the landscape of the past, rather than a specific location, and the initial setup and plot twists work fine. In the end though, you have to make strides to either flesh out the characters or really tune the plot, and I think the book falls flat in both senses. The personalities basically remain SF cutouts, and the conclusion gets more formulaic as it goes, rather than less. Overall, not a bad book, but not a great one either.
January 7, 2019
It would be difficult to find something new to say about THE CORRIDORS OF TIME by Poul Anderson, the great science fiction writer. So let’s just say…
Time travel.
Time wars.
Goddess mythos.
Common man as hero.
Darkness disguised as light.
Light disguised as darkness.
Encyclopedic knowledge of history.
Intimate knowledge of Danish history and pre-history.
Adventure-story pacing.
Literary-story exploration of ideas: morality, integrity, nature of evil and qualities of love.
Poul Anderson.
Yes. Those last two words include all of the list above and tells all you need to know about this book. What else needs to be said?
Time travel.
Time wars.
Goddess mythos.
Common man as hero.
Darkness disguised as light.
Light disguised as darkness.
Encyclopedic knowledge of history.
Intimate knowledge of Danish history and pre-history.
Adventure-story pacing.
Literary-story exploration of ideas: morality, integrity, nature of evil and qualities of love.
Poul Anderson.
Yes. Those last two words include all of the list above and tells all you need to know about this book. What else needs to be said?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews