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lottali's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Suicide
jessietherose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hbakertec's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
hcitation's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
testaroscia's review against another edition
2.0
Damn, damn. I really like Ian Mortimer's Non-Fiction "Time Traveller" series which I find eminently readable, interesting, and with good flow. I also loved the basis of this novel; The idea of time travelers going back in time are plenty but sending the POV character forward is rarer. However in the end this book did not work for me. It was a bit of a plod morality tale instead of what could have been. The erudition is there and it is not laid on so thickly to be an impediment to the plot, it is just that, for me, the plot fell a bit flat and was episodic.
offbrandmusclemilk's review against another edition
4.0
beautifully written, but it just seems to be lacking something essential. in some ways I agree with other reviewers that it's missing a plot, but I can live with what plot it has. I can live with the morality twist at the end even though we saw it coming. there's just something about this book that feels like could have been the last push to making it a masterpiece. I'll be damned if I know what that is, though.
itsme703's review against another edition
5.0
this book was amazing! chapters 1-5 are kinda mid, but things start to pick up really quick after that. it's definitely worth reading those first chapters to get to the really good stuff. i also usually don't like endings that are up to interpretation, but this book does it really well.
another thing about this book that i really enjoyed was the writing style! the descriptions in this book are beautiful.
my one criticism of this book is that some of the characters fall flat. the only purpose William seemed to serve was furthering the character development of John. quite a few of the female characters also are just used to show the bravery/chivalry of John and William.
other than that, this book gets 5 stars from me!
another thing about this book that i really enjoyed was the writing style! the descriptions in this book are beautiful.
my one criticism of this book is that some of the characters fall flat. the only purpose William seemed to serve was furthering the character development of John. quite a few of the female characters also are just used to show the bravery/chivalry of John and William.
other than that, this book gets 5 stars from me!
richter10's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mjporterauthor's review against another edition
4.0
I received a free E-Arc from Netgalley.
Ian Mortimer is a fantastic historian - looking at the past with new eyes and in so doing shedding light on events that are often, erroneously, presented as a fait accompli. For this reason, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review his first work of fiction.
The Outcasts of Time is a deeply intriguing novel, looking not at the past through our perception, but rather the future (which is now our past) through the eyes of a man who lived over 600 years ago. This means that instead of our own misconceptions being applied to the past, every new century is seen afresh, with old eyes that note the changes and the differences as well as the similarities. That said, the novel is not always successful in doing this in an entertaining way, there are the odd occasions where I pondered whether the novel was actually going to be able to successfully bring to a conclusion what appears, at points, as nothing more than a random collection of chance encounters in and around the area of Exeter with different people throughout the 600 year period. I must point out, however, that in the end, I was very pleased to have all the events brought together and to be given some understanding of John's 'chance' encounters.
The initial portrayal of the Black Death is as bleak as we could expect, and edged with harshness. I can understand why the events drove John to seek the option of travelling into the future as opposed to his hideous and painful death. What then transpires is a painstakingly detailed tramp through both the historical and the physical landscape. The book covers a small geographical area - wherever John and his brother could walk in a day's journey. This feels, on occasion, a little restrictive, and yet the research involved in the endeavour can not be underestimated. Ian Mortimer has either envisaged, or drawn from the historical record, painstaking detail about the way the landscape, people and places changed throughout the 600 years from the Black Death. While this detail may occasionally slow the narrative it can not be ignored. What else would you notice if you did travel through time? It would be people's clothes, haircuts, the decorations in their houses, the style of buildings and the food available to eat - not to mention the changes in bathrooms.
The grander events of history - the well known wars and kings and queens - are touched upon but they don't constitute what John is hoping to achieve. He is looking for redemption - to save a soul in order to save his own - and his comments and feelings remain those of a man born and raised in the fourteenth century, confused and beguiled by events almost beyond his comprehension, which only increases with distance from his own time.
The author works hard to bring out every naunce of change through time - right down to evolving speech and the changing of names - by the end John is no longer John of Wrayment but John Everyman - time and language mangling his name, and depriving him of almost everything apart from his brother's ring and his memories. By making John a stone carver, the author even manages to show that even something as 'permanent' as stone can be mangled and broken through time - the carvings John has made, based on his family and friends, gradually fall away and lose their shape. Nothing, it seems, is ever permanent, no matter the initial intent.
The people John meets are perhaps a little too easily convinced of his journey through time, and I do feel that the last two centuries - the 1800's and 1900's perhaps work better - but that is probably because they are more 'real' to me - they are more comprehensible to me just as those centuries closer to John seem to make more sense to him. This, I think, is to be expected.
I would also add that quite a bit of the novel is concerned with religion and religious change. This is fascinating, but also, on occasion, a little overpowering, and yet reflects the concerns of John very eloquently. It shows how recently religion has ceased to be such a major presence in the lives of many.
When John offers the opinion that "The man who has no knowledge of the past has no wisdom" he is speaking for the rationale behind this novel and doing so very eloquently.
Recommended to all who enjoy history and historical fiction.
Ian Mortimer is a fantastic historian - looking at the past with new eyes and in so doing shedding light on events that are often, erroneously, presented as a fait accompli. For this reason, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review his first work of fiction.
The Outcasts of Time is a deeply intriguing novel, looking not at the past through our perception, but rather the future (which is now our past) through the eyes of a man who lived over 600 years ago. This means that instead of our own misconceptions being applied to the past, every new century is seen afresh, with old eyes that note the changes and the differences as well as the similarities. That said, the novel is not always successful in doing this in an entertaining way, there are the odd occasions where I pondered whether the novel was actually going to be able to successfully bring to a conclusion what appears, at points, as nothing more than a random collection of chance encounters in and around the area of Exeter with different people throughout the 600 year period. I must point out, however, that in the end, I was very pleased to have all the events brought together and to be given some understanding of John's 'chance' encounters.
The initial portrayal of the Black Death is as bleak as we could expect, and edged with harshness. I can understand why the events drove John to seek the option of travelling into the future as opposed to his hideous and painful death. What then transpires is a painstakingly detailed tramp through both the historical and the physical landscape. The book covers a small geographical area - wherever John and his brother could walk in a day's journey. This feels, on occasion, a little restrictive, and yet the research involved in the endeavour can not be underestimated. Ian Mortimer has either envisaged, or drawn from the historical record, painstaking detail about the way the landscape, people and places changed throughout the 600 years from the Black Death. While this detail may occasionally slow the narrative it can not be ignored. What else would you notice if you did travel through time? It would be people's clothes, haircuts, the decorations in their houses, the style of buildings and the food available to eat - not to mention the changes in bathrooms.
The grander events of history - the well known wars and kings and queens - are touched upon but they don't constitute what John is hoping to achieve. He is looking for redemption - to save a soul in order to save his own - and his comments and feelings remain those of a man born and raised in the fourteenth century, confused and beguiled by events almost beyond his comprehension, which only increases with distance from his own time.
The author works hard to bring out every naunce of change through time - right down to evolving speech and the changing of names - by the end John is no longer John of Wrayment but John Everyman - time and language mangling his name, and depriving him of almost everything apart from his brother's ring and his memories. By making John a stone carver, the author even manages to show that even something as 'permanent' as stone can be mangled and broken through time - the carvings John has made, based on his family and friends, gradually fall away and lose their shape. Nothing, it seems, is ever permanent, no matter the initial intent.
The people John meets are perhaps a little too easily convinced of his journey through time, and I do feel that the last two centuries - the 1800's and 1900's perhaps work better - but that is probably because they are more 'real' to me - they are more comprehensible to me just as those centuries closer to John seem to make more sense to him. This, I think, is to be expected.
I would also add that quite a bit of the novel is concerned with religion and religious change. This is fascinating, but also, on occasion, a little overpowering, and yet reflects the concerns of John very eloquently. It shows how recently religion has ceased to be such a major presence in the lives of many.
When John offers the opinion that "The man who has no knowledge of the past has no wisdom" he is speaking for the rationale behind this novel and doing so very eloquently.
Recommended to all who enjoy history and historical fiction.