Good early work by Andre Norton. This is when I like Norton best. Her early works were SF rather then fantasy and she always did a reliable job. Typical Golden Age SF adventure. ( )

By modern standards, this might be a slight book and short on character development, but it's still almost as full of interesting characters as books many times its length. Andre Norton's protagonists tend towards the young, and as someone in his early twenties, Blake Walker could be considered to be quite ancient as he finds himself caught up in the strange affairs of a group of men he initially assumed were operatives of the FBI but are quickly revealed to be out-of-time agents, Wardsmen of Vroom's crosstime trade network chasing a rogue traveller who's out to build a powerbase for himself, When they find it impossible to make Blake forget about the more outré aspects of the case, they recruit him into helping but an attempt on the outlaw's lair sends Blake careering across the varying historical options hat this history missed. Norton doesn't spend too much time on most of the places Blake found himself in, but the reality in which Hitler managed to send an invasion force to America is the one where Blake finds himself stuck for a significant part of the book. By not focussing too much on the technology, the book remains relatively free from 'lost technology' syndrome. ( )

My first ever Andre Norton -- I know, I know, but it won't be my last -- is an interesting time/dimensional travel romp with some psychic power tropes thrown in. And a bit of a manhunt storyline.

Blake Walker, student, has always known he was a little bit different from other people, in that his little premonitions of danger are always correct. What he doesn't know is that he's a latent psychic, and that in the universe next door his ability would make him as common as he is unusual here. Hell, he doesn't know there are universe's next door, until his unique ability lands him in a heap of trouble with some agents from that universe, who tell him not only that time travel is possible, but that it is also possible, within a time or "level", to visit all the alternate versions of that time. One where, say, Napoleon won at Waterloo, or one where the petroleum economy got started a few hundred years earlier, or where Abed was the one who had to go downstairs to pay the pizza man -- basically, the many worlds theory with which any science fiction or comic book reader is pretty familiar.

The agents, several men about Blake's own age, are in pursuit of the worst kind of time traveler, one whose psychic abilities are developed to the highest possible degree, but who seems to be a stone cold psychotic megalomaniac, who is shopping for just the right world in which he can exploit his powers, knowledge and lack of scruples to become World Dictator. Hey! This could explain how Arslan got to be Arslan, am I right?

So this is all very well and good but since it's played straight (i.e. no Epicene/Mary Margaret Wildeblood types here) it would all be a bit ho-hum for the modern reader, except for two things: the chase and escape plot, and the protagonist. O, Blake, you orphan with latent powers, you should be dull as ditchwater, but you're just the right combination of intrepid and resourceful without being a complete over-the-top can-do Boy Scout, and I've grown fond of you in that kid brother kind of way.

The chase/escape plot is nicely taut while still giving us a chance to explore some of the radically different worlds (two words: robot dragons) in just enough detail. Norton really let herself go nuts there, with enjoyable results.

Ultimately, though, there isn't quite enough book here. The novel dates from a period when a lot of science fiction/fantasy authors, Norton included, were churning out stories at a fantastic rate. The deadline pressure and the need to keep it short and sweet are both palpable throughout this quick little read. With the luxury of conducting my reading life decades later than this period, I can't help but wonder what might have been if this had been the universe in which Norton got to take her time and spin this out into the epic it clearly wanted to be. And I wonder if that universe might not also have been the one in which Jorge Luis Borges spun out whole novels instead of just his weird little gemlike short stories. But I'll never know, at least until someone invents or discovers the Carrier and lets me visit and see for myself, right?

Until then, I must content myself with its sole sequel, Quest Crosstime, soon. Fortunately, this was an omnibus edition of the pair of them. Thank you, Baen Books! ( )

A fun adventure. Light and short. Better than the covers - they're all just wrong. Be aware that, though not overtly racist, race is often mentioned, implication being that it matters, somehow. And the only female is an ogress (/hag/crone). Recommended if you run across a copy and are in the mood for alternate reality fluff. ( )

I see why Norton is known as the Grand Dame of Science Fiction, everything was well thought out and had purpose! So, so much better than Asimov!! My only complaint is that the ending is a bit anti-climactic. It is remarkable that a sci-fi novel written in the '50s is fairly accurate in its treatment of parallel worlds and time travel. ( )