Island in the Sea of Time

Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling (1998)

Reader's Annotation

Through a mysterious Event, the island of Nantucket is transported 3,000 years back in time.

Summary

A mysterious phenomenon transports the island of Nantucket and the United States Coast Guard ship Eagle back in time to the Bronze Age, around 1250 BC. Chief of Police Jared Conklin struggles to maintain order and establish a provisional government as the islanders slowly come to terms with the changed world around them. Realizing that the island will not be able to feed their population without new sources of seed and livestock, Conklin sends the Eagle, commanded by Captain Marian Allston, on a trading expedition to the island that will one day be Britain. The local tribes are awestruck by Allston and the Americans, and the expedition is a great success, returning with everything Nantucket needs. Unfortunately Lieutenant William Walker of the Eagle has seen that with a little modern technology he could be a king. He gathers allies and steals a boat along with most of the Nantucket's guns and ammunition. By the time the people of Nantucket can mount an expedition to stop him, Walker is well on the way to carving out his kingdom.

Evaluation

This was a fun story in the tradition of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It was interesting to observe how the Nantucket Islanders re-adopted whaling and fell back on earlier technologies that don't require the full infrastructure of a modern civilization. The book was competently written with interesting characters. The peoples of ancient Britain were well described and seemed to fit what is known about the history, language, and culture of those times. Warfare, both ancient and modern seemed accurate to the best of my knowledge and was entertainingly described. For similar reads, try the rest of Stirling's Nantucket series, his related Emberverse series (beginning with Dies the Fire), and Eric Flint's 1632, the first of his Ring of Fire series in which a small West Virginia town is mysteriously transported back in time and space to Germany in 1632.

Genres: Science Fiction
Subgenres: Time Travel, Military SF