GoodReads and Poul Anderson's Time Patrol

Once again, GoodReads comes through. Browsing through Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, not because I really need to, but just to get a sense of what it is for an article I'm writing.

 Anyway, it's not that good as time travel fiction -- almost exactly the same, in fact, despite the nominally different genres (SF and fantasy, respectively), as Pratt and de Camp's Harold Shea short stories for Unknown. Well, reviewer John has some nuggets that are particularly accurate:

 The Prose & the Characterization
  • "[A]a lot of the prose is pretty soporific, lurching haphazardly between a sort of relentless drab utilitarianism, an affected cod-epic poesy, and a clumsy impressionism. . . .Maybe part of the dullness is that, while Anderson gives us great slodges of political and military history, there's almost zero evocation of the various ages in which the stories are set. Since there's no real sensawunda either -- the time cops ride around on their sort-of-motorbikes in a very business-as-usual way -- and since it's difficult to care too much about the fates of characters who are, with very rare exceptions, little more than named cyphers . . . "
The "You know, this is kind of right" Category
  • "It's easy to get the impression that Anderson's initial aim was to make Everard a sort of time-travelling Holmes -- he gives him the pipe to go with the role -- but changed his mind. As it is, all through the series of tales there are offhand references to matters Holmesian." (Anderson, incidentally, was a huge fan of Holmes and a member of the Baker Street Irregulars.)
Overall, these stories seem like standard pulp fare . . . .just the sort of thing that gets an author's book count up, but not much else. Maybe an excuse to play around with history, which Anderson loves. Still, that's it.

 Other tidbits:
  • Poul has a race of far-future Danellans set up the Time Patrol in order to protect their existence, which seems like a future ex machina here.
  • Agents like Manse Everard are conditioned / brain-washed to never go against certain Time Patrol rules. This is a handy device that prevents history-destroying paradoxes, but seems highly unusual for a crusty old anti-government libertarian like Anderson.


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