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December 1348. What if you had just six days to save your soul? With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and suffer in the afterlife. But as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries-living each one of their remaining days ninety-nine years after the last. John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on around them. The year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them in further unexpected ways. It is not just that technology is changing: things they have taken for granted all their lives prove to be short-lived. As they find themselves in stranger and stranger times, the listener travels with them, seeing the world through their eyes as it shifts through disease, progress, enlightenment, and war. But their time is running out-can they do something to redeem themselves before the six days are up?… (more)
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The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer

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This is Ian Mortimer's first novel. He is a medieval history expert.
Two brothers from plague ridden 1348 are transported into the future. They
experience one day in each century until 1942. The book describes life in each century, how
the rich and poor live, social progress, inventions and consciousness of God.
With an interest in history and knowing Mortimer’s work, I risked it. It’s fascinating. He made a good fist of it. ( )
  GeoffSC | Aug 20, 2023 |
Devon, 1348. Two brothers, John and William, walk through a plague-ridden country, past rotting corpses and scenes of destruction that presage the Apocalypse. When the sickness overtakes them too, they realize that their lives are forfeit, and they fear that their souls may not be ready for death. However, as they sense their strength wane, a disembodied voice tells them they have six days to live and offers them a choice.

They may struggle home with their remaining strength to see what has happened to their town and loved ones. Or they may spend the six days in time travel, as each day will advance another ninety-nine years, during which brief moment they may redeem themselves. After arguing whether they have listened to the Devil and are being led astray, John and William accept the offer. It’s a twist on Faust, without a contract or sale of a soul.

I seldom review historical fantasy and rarely read any, but The Outcasts of Time caught my fancy. As a literary conceit, time travel has grown a long, white beard by now, but I like it that Mortimer has cast his century-spanning mechanism as a matter of conscience rather than a gizmo. Also, no abracadabra changes the scenery or chases away evil people, of whom there are plenty, for our travelers often land hard as the centuries pass.

The year 1447 seems miserable; 1546 brings the brothers to Henry VIII’s time; 1645 places them smack in the English Civil War. Consequently, they must choose a face to present without knowing what’s prudent, because so much has changed. What was counted sinful in 1348 may now be virtuous, and what passed for virtue may now be treason. They have a lot of explaining to do.

That’s partly the point, for The Outcasts of Time has much to say about good, evil, and how material wealth or the progress of learning affect them or are used or misused. The novel also explores the human desire for permanence, proof of our passage on this planet that someone else will find after our deaths. John, a stonemason who worked on the Exeter Cathedral and created sculptures he’s proud of, is conscious of this desire in himself and of how futile it is. As he observes more than halfway through his time journey, he realizes that everything he created or saw during his lifetime has faded or vanished completely.

John’s quest to perform a good deed to redeem himself before death takes various turns. That poses several questions, not least whether goodness can be conscious, or whether such acts can serve a redemptive purpose.

Among other pleasures, The Outcasts of Time offers historical detail in a light but authoritative hand. You see through John’s eyes what has changed, what would strike him most strongly, and why, which makes you think. For obvious reasons, Mortimer has updated the brothers’ language, or nobody in later centuries would have understood them. Yet he’s hewed to simplicity of tongue, for the most part, and seldom does the language jump out and stop the reader.

I do wonder, though, how John, who is excellent at ciphering but illiterate, and his brother, who can read, a little — how that happens, I don’t know — dispute the way they do. Free of superstition, seemingly also of common prejudices, they sound sophisticated. They lack any notion that the world is, and has always been, what they know, and appear ready to step outside it enough to judge the future centuries shown them. They sound like relativists ahead of their time, perhaps too tolerant of what they find.

William, the sensualist of the two, comes across less clearly or deeply than John, and though he’s supposed to represent a person who chooses pleasures over an examined life, I still want to see his dreams and desires beyond the next cup of ale or the next woman. Further, though the brothers remark bitterly on the priests’ flight from their plague-ridden land of 1348, they don’t seem perturbed at the likelihood that they’ll die unshriven, their sins unconfessed. I would have expected terror at the prospect.

However, the narrative and the philosophy within it demand a stretch from the characters, and if plausibility suffers to a mild degree, remember that we’re talking about a story with Faustian overtones, a legend to begin with. The Outcast of Time’s an engrossing novel, worth stretching for. ( )
  Novelhistorian | Jan 25, 2023 |
In which a thirteenth-century stonemason who is afflicted with the Black Death is offered, and accepts, a supernatural opportunity to spend his six remaining days in being resurrected, one day at a time, in each of the succeeding six centuries. This premise is bold and intriguing and is often carried through inventively. Overall, though, I wished that the author had done a little more with it. Our hero is a typical man of his time, illiterate, pious, albeit with some rather tetched attitudes toward the divine and the afterlife, and with something of an aptitude toward poor decision-making. In his time travels, he is sometimes accompanied by his even more hapless brother, and, less often, by his wife, who doesn't recognize him. The protagonist does get into a few scrapes as he moves through the centuries, but for the most part he isn't very inquisitive, contenting himself with observations on the everyday items which he finds himself among. Sometimes this works pretty well, e.g., with foods and technology; sometimes it takes the book disastrously off the rails, as when he recounts in minute detail sixteenth-century tin-smelting techniques, which may be the single worst chapter of fiction I've ever read in my life. The book takes a good while to read and makes considerable vocabulary demands. ( )
1 vote Big_Bang_Gorilla | Feb 27, 2020 |
This is an episodic novel in that there’s no definitive plot, but each section is connected by a consistent thread.

I liked it in the most part, but feel it would’ve benefited from stronger characterisation, and not so much explicit detail.

I get that the author is showing how the main character deals with the immense changes he faces after each 99-year leap forward, but the amount of intricate description slows the narrative pace and doesn't move the story along.

As other reviewers have remarked, it’s too philosophical whilst lacking in those elements that drive a good plot.

Still, I’ve rated in 4 stars because I really liked it, despite the above criticisms. ( )
  PhilSyphe | Feb 5, 2020 |
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer is a fantasy novel following two brothers, born in the mid-1300s, who jump forward 99 years for every day that passes. Dr. Mortimer is an award winning historian and novelist.

England is being ravaged by the Black Death during December 1348. Two brothers, John and William, contract the disease and know they will die shortly. The two brothers are given a choice: spend their last six days in their own world, or search across time for their remaining days.

The next six days, the brothers travel 99 years into the future each day, they are challenged each day to understand the world around them, and find out that things they took for granted are short lived. The many aspects of changer and human condition from one century to another are descriptive and fascinating to see through different eyes.

I saw a recommendation on one of the book related groups I frequent regularly for The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer, the premise sounded very interesting so I picked it up. I really enjoyed seeing the world through alien eyes, all the wonders of the last 4 centuries which we take for granted seem as miracles. The book also reminds us that nothing is permanent, no matter how it looks at the moment.

If I didn’t already know that Mr. Mortimer is a historian, I most likely would have guessed it. The book is filled with great concept and historical detail. Mr. Mortimer does a great job showing many aspects of change, and how they affect our travelers who see them through eyes without proper context or personal and societal historical reference.

The story is set around the city of Exeter, Devon. William, one of the brothers, has worked on the cathedral in the area, which is a central focal point for him and the reader as well as a vehicle of change throughout the narrative. Noting how the cathedral has changed over the years allows the reader, through William, to gauge the changes through the centuries.

Even though this is a time-travel story, there are no heavy elements of fantasy or science-fiction. The brothers simply wake up in the next century, observe the differences (usually shocked by the way religion has changed) and continue.

I enjoyed this book very much, the pacing is off sometimes but the nuances of the story game me some points to think about. ( )
  ZoharLaor | Jun 19, 2019 |
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December 1348. What if you had just six days to save your soul? With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and suffer in the afterlife. But as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries-living each one of their remaining days ninety-nine years after the last. John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on around them. The year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them in further unexpected ways. It is not just that technology is changing: things they have taken for granted all their lives prove to be short-lived. As they find themselves in stranger and stranger times, the listener travels with them, seeing the world through their eyes as it shifts through disease, progress, enlightenment, and war. But their time is running out-can they do something to redeem themselves before the six days are up?

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From the back cover: December 1348. What if you had six days to save your soul? With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and suffer in the afterlife. But, as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries - living each one of their remaining days ninety-nine years after the last. John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on around them. They year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them in further unexpected ways. It is not just that technology is changing: things they have taken for granted all their lives prove to be short-lived. As they find themselves in stranger and stranger times, the reader travels with them, seeing the world through their eyes as it shifts through disease, progress, enlightenment, and war. But their time is running out - can they do something to redeem themselves before the six days are up?
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