Even if I didn’t read the foreword written by John Scalzi I would have been surprised at the similarities between this book and Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. I enjoyed both of these books (Scalzi’s a little more), but it was interesting to think that this was written in the 70’s. The book felt ahead of its time.
The critical dynamic here is the effect of time on the people traveling by warping around using these sort of wormholes. This was explored in other sci-fi books that I’ve read but I liked that the two species at war had primitive or advanced technology depending on where they were on the main timeline.
There was a section in the middle of the book that had the main character going back to Earth to see the changes that occurred while he was away, and the whole sequence felt a little too neatly tied up. According to the author he had actually cut it out in a previous edition and I thought that it probably should have stayed out, myself.
It was a good, short sci-fi book – but I don’t think there is a need for me to read the two sequels.
Next I am reading Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.
