There is a lot of praise for S. M. Stirling’s “Island in the Sea of Time,” the opening act of a historical sci-fi trilogy. Today, I’ll be giving you my humble review of the novel. Do I think it’s worth your time? Who should dive in, and who should skip it? These are a few of the questions I hope to answer.
To be honest, I had already gone through this story once before re-reading it for this post. My second pass opened my eyes quite a bit and made me question a few of my initial impressions. It is a massive volume at over six hundred pages, taking me about eight hours to finish while taking breaks every chapter or two.
Stirling does a brilliant job of painting a vivid picture of Nantucket, capturing the island both before and after it is mysteriously sent back in time. However, he gets quite graphic with some of his scenes following the event. Because of this, I cannot recommend the series to younger readers. Furthermore, if your faith in Jesus is new or currently wavering, the heavy pagan themes and bleak moral dilemmas might make this a book to put off until your foundation is a bit stronger.
I would recommend that anyone be at least seventeen years old and well-grounded in their faith before picking this up. Overall, it is a fairly captivating read, but due to those intense scenes, older audiences will get the most out of it.
Rating: 4/5
Recommended Age: 17+
Category: Historical Science Fiction
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