A few years have passed since the events of the first book. The temporally displaced people of Nantucket are adjusting well to their new lives in the Bronze Age. Trade is flourishing and new alliances are being forged. However, a storm is brewing on the horizon. William Walker, though temporarily defeat and set back, has licked his wounds and moved on to Greece. Here, Walker and his cronies have made a second, and far more successful, attempt at empire building. The people of Nantucket know that they're going to have to defeat Walker once and for all if they want their new world to be safe. Nantucket is going to make new allies, and find new adventures, in a world set against the tide of years.
As you might recall, I absolutely loved Island in the Sea of Time, the first book in the series. Against the Tide of Years not only managed to keep up the momentum, but might be even better than Island in the Sea of Time. The first notable difference is that, this time around the major civilizations of the Bronze Age Mediterranean and Near East play major roles in the plot. Walker's segments are set in Mycenaean Greece, while Nantucket has courted the Babylonian and Hittite Empires as allies against Walker. More information has survived about these civilizations compared to Bronze Age England, Tartessos, and the Olmecs. Though, that having been said, they still have a lot of blanks spaces, and details we aren't certain about. So, Stirling has more information to work with, but still had plenty of wiggle room with how he depicted these Bronze Age civilizations.
As I've said before, with so many competing theories about life in the Bronze Age, there is no way Stirling could be faithful to them all. Having said that, it is still very impressive how closely he follows many of these theories, and the attention to detail with his depiction of the Bronze Age cultures and civilizations.
Okay, so let's start in Babylon. Tartessos is allied with Walker, and they're center in Southern Spain, and have expanded into North Africa. So, sailing through the Straights of Gibraltar is not an option for Nantucket. As such, they must sail around the Cape of Good Hope, and then sail back up to Babylon. They plan to go up through Babylon, and then use Anatolia as a jumping-off point for their assault on Walker's empire in Greece. Nantucket learn how to speak Akkadian, the primary language used in Babylon, from a date merchant they found in Persia named Shamash, known as Sham for short. They took measures to be damn sure he wouldn't stab them in the back and betray them like Isketerol did.
At the start of the story, the King of Babylon is Shagarakti-Shuriadh, a member of the Kassite Dynasty. He was a real king who ruled Babylon around the time of Against the Tide of Years. Though, not very much is known about him, as is often the case with Bronze Age Mesopotamia. Shagarakti welcomes the Nantucketers with open-arms, and is more than happy to accept the many gifts and innovations that Nantucket brings to Babylon. He especially enjoyed the ride he got in a hot air balloon. There's a really interesting scene where he discusses the history of Babylon and says something to the effect of "We are an ancient land. We go back long ago to the days of Hammurabi and his law code, and further still to the days of Sargon the Great and Gilgamesh. Though that's only if you believe the old legends."
It would seem that the Babylonians are well aware that some of their legends might not have basis now reality. This goes back to a major theme of the series: people of the past were not stupid. They didn't have access to the same knowledge that modern day people do, but they had the same hardware as we do. They were ignorant, not stupid.
Shagarakti recognizes that the Nantucketers are very knowledgeable, not to mentioned quite technologically advanced, and defers to them on most matters without issue. There is a scene where he becomes a bit sad when he realizes how primitive Babylon must seem to Nantucket. However, he is assured that the civilization Nantucket comes from was only made possible thanks to the ground work laid by earlier civilizations, such as Babylon. If Nantucket sees further, it is only because they stand on the shoulders of giants like Babylon.
The most pressing concern on the Babylonian front, besides Walker, is that Assyria is due to conquer Babylon soon. Obviously, Nantucket can't have this happen if they want Babylon to be their ally against Walker. That brings us to Kashtiliash. He is, at the start of the book, the Crown Prince of Babylon, and was also a real person. In our world, he led an unsuccessful campaign against the Assyrians, which not only resulted in his death, but also lead to Assyria invading Babylon. Thanks to Nantucket, Kashtiliash survives the campaign and decisively defeats the Assyrians. Though, Nantucket does convince Babylon to keep Assyria as a nominally independent client state; that taxing Assyria is preferable to outright annexing them.
It is during the campaign that meets Kathryn Hollard. She serves in the Nantucket military alongside her brother Kenneth, who is a general. She's an extremely skilled fighter and a competent solider, as is to be expect of someone in the Nantucket Armed Forces. She keeps her hair extremely short, as is required for the Nantucket Army. Apparently, the Coast Guard has laxer standard when it comes to haircare, as Swindapa is mentioned wearing her hair in a braid a few times. Anyway, Kashtiliash couldn't care less, and thinks that Kathryn is the most amazing woman he's ever met. He relishes the opportunity to get to fighter at her side, and back-to-back, during the campaign against Assyria. She too becomes interested in him, and eventually they decide to get married.
This does make Kenneth a little worried. He rightfully points out that, though the Babylonians were better than their Islamic descendants, they still hold many less than enlightened attitudes. Thankfully, Kashtiliash is both open-minded and a true gentleman. This also makes it easier for Nantucket to plant the seeds of modernity within Babylon, and nudge Kashtiliash towards reform. Like most Bronze Age civilizations, Babylon still practices slavery, and Shagarakti gifts 200 slaves to the Nantucket delegation. The Nantucketers immediately free the slaves, and assign them to work at the hospital of Nantucket's military base in Mesopotamia. Hey, most Nantucket Coast Guard ships are named after famous abolitionist and Union general from the American Civil War. There's no way Nantucket is going to take part in slavery.
The former slaves are taught how to read and write, and about modern medical practices. Shagarakti and Kashtiliash are baffled as to way Nantucket would free so many slaves like that. Nantucket does want to end slavery, but at the moment, stopping Walker is their number one goal. They certainly wouldn't be able to free any slaves is Walker wins. One aspect of the medical reforms I found interesting was the importance of sanitation and disposal. Flies like to eat poo, and they also have a tendency to land on food that people eat. So, the germs from the poo get on the food, and people who eat the food get sick. Proper sanitation is also important is you want to avoid cholera and typhoid.
Okay, so how have things been going back on Nantucket? The Islanders have been adjusting quite well to their new home. The Coast Guard has led several expedition to far flung quarters of the world. They're really more of a navy at this point, but Alston and her crew would never dream of serving in a navy. The various branches of the American military have a bit of a rivalry. Moas are being farmed on Nantucket following a Coast Guard expedition to New Zealand. The closest living relative of the moa is a South American bird called the tinamous. They're quite tasty; in fact, they've been over hunted because of how tasty they are. So, it stands to reason that moa were also quite tasty. Moa were also one of the largest birds to ever exists; so, plenty of meat per bird.
Nantucket has also established Coast Guard bases across the world. For example, Ur Base is Nantucket's main base in Mesopotamia, and they have a base on the Cape of Good Hope named Mandela Base. There is an especially funny scene where Alston goes to inspect a base in Mauritius. For reference, they're islands off the coast of Madagascar, and famous for being home of the dodo. The man in charge of the base has been shirking his duties and subcontracting them to the Alban workers under his command. He's also allowed the animals around the base to breed unchecked. This prompts Alston to say "This is an island. It is a tropical island. BUT IT'S NOT GILLIGAN'S ISLAND! DO YOU HEAR ME, MISTER?!" It's made even more funny when Swindapa asks Ian Arnstein who this Gilligan person is.
Alston and Swindapa having been doing fairly themselves. They've adopted a pair of war orphans from Alba. Lucy and Heather company their mothers on Coast Guard mission around the world, and constantly get into mischief. Lucy in particular is notable due to who her biological parents are. Her mother was an Alban woman, but her father is George MacAndrews. He's one of Walker's cronies. MacAndrews felt that Nantucket wasn't doing enough to help African people resist colonialism. He was also concerned that Black culture on Nantucket will die out within a few generations. The total number Black people on Nantucket at the time of The Event was less than 200. Alston also had some trepidation about this, but unlike MacAndrews, she made her peace with it and learned to accept it.
We'll get into this more in the next book, but one of the things I liked about MacAndrews is that he's not stupid. He's wrongheaded about several things, not to mentions more than a bit ignorant about history, but he isn't stupid. He's fully aware that Walker isn't his friend, and he knows full well that Walker is a colonizer. However, he biding his time in hopes that Walker will send him to Egypt. Walker considers Egypt to be a potential threat to his new empire, and wants to bring them into his sphere of influence. MacAndrews hopes to be Walker's ambassador to Egypt, and then use it as an opportunity to introduce modern technology to Egypt.
I should mention that MacAndrews is one of those Afrocentrists who believes that Ancient Egypt to have been a Black civilization. In reality, however, the Ancient Egyptians were most likely Semitic people not too dissimilar to other Middle Eastern people. Genetic analysis of mummies does bear this out, and suggest Ancient Egyptians weren't too dissimilar to Modern Egyptians in terms of ethnicity. Ramses the Great had red hair and light skin; we know this thanks to his mummy. Ancient Egypt was briefly ruled by a Nubian dynasty, but this was only for short amount of time. In fact, at one point an envoy from Egypt arrives to visit Walker in Greece. He has skin the color of light toast, which clearly doesn't sit well with MacAndrews. Despite this, he remains optimistic that the envoy is simply an outlier. However, come the next book, MacAndrew will learn that denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
Despite his Afrocentrist views, MacAndrews clearly wasn't above having sex with white women. It seems that MacAndrews is unaware of Lucy's existence. Of course, he doesn't seem terribly concerned about the possibility that there might have any little MacAndrews running around somewhere. Still, could have been potentially interesting had he ever found out, especially if he learn who Lucy's adoptive mothers are. Lucy being mixed race does occasionally earn surprised looks from the Bronze Age peoples. Hey, Nantucket's technology boarders on magical to the people of the Bronze Age. For all they know, Nantucket could have found a way for two women to have a child together. This obviously isn't the case, but it makes for some amusing scenes.
Swindapa is adjusting well to life on Nantucket. Sometimes she does cartwheels down the street just for the heck of it. Though, when she takes a trip back to Alba, she finds that she feels disconnected from the other Earth Folk. It isn't just how much things have changed in Alba over the last few years. Nantucket is Swindapa's home now, and it has become a part of her. She's not the only Alban on Nantucket. Plenty of other Albans, Earth Folk and Iraiina, have immigrated to Nantucket over the years. The Earth Folk are still loyal worshippers of Moon Woman. The Iraiina, however, have become rather zealous converts to Christianity. This occasionally results in odd things, such as Iraiinas swearing pagan-style oaths in the name of Jesus and Mary.
Ian and Doreen Arnstein are doing quite well. They're acting as Nantucket's ambassadors to the Babylonian Empire. They've got a son named David, and have another child on the way. At the start of Against the Tide of Years, we get an excerpt from a history book written several decades after the events of the series. From this, we see that David will follow in Ian's footsteps and became a historian. There is a scene where Ian considers that, for all the chaos it caused, were it not for The Event, he would have never met Doreen, and David would never have been born.
Doreen jokes that, if not for Ian, her only options would be to try her luck with Moses. Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, is one of the candidates for having for having been the pharaoh of the biblical exodus. However, generally speaking biblical archeologists consider Ramses the least likely candidate to having been the exodus pharaoh. The reasons Ramses is associated as such is because he was portrayed as the exodus pharaoh in the Cecil B. DeMille movie The Ten Commandments. The Prince of Egypt, which took quite a few cues from The Ten Commandments, further reinforced this notion within the public consciousness. However, it should be noted that there is no archeological evidence that Ancient Hebrews ever lived in Egypt, or than anyone named Moses ever existed.
You could argue that it wasn't Stirling asserting this, but rather, Doreen and Ian stating their own, potentially incorrect, views. On the topic of religion, Nantucket has experienced something of a religious revival. However, it is in a quiet personal sort of way. All of the major Christian denominations have united into a single church lead by Father Gomez, who is now known as Prelate Gomez. The book makes a good case for how this happened, but you'd think at least a few denominations would put up resistance to amalgamation.
Rounding out the returning main cast, Jared and Martha are busy keeping Nantucket's government running, but are doing well. They've also adopted some war orphans from Alba, but also have kids via the conventional way. Nantucket ran out of birth control and condoms fairly quickly following The Event. At one point, Jared muses how it is entirely possible that his adopted kids were his ancestors in the original timeline. It just goes to show what a mixed-up world Nantucket has found itself in. Jared is prioritizing a new set of laws to help protect the environment. The Bronze Age world is full of natural wonders, and Jared wants to make sure they're preserved for future generations. Of course, that assume that future generations will actually stick to the laws, and not screw things up. Still, it is step in the right direction, and I suppose it is the thought that counts.
Okay, all well and good, but what has Walker been up to? He's relocated to Mycenaean Greece for a second attempt at empire building. Walker believes he failed in England because the Iraiina were still, technologically speaking, in the Stone Age. That, and England is close to Nantucket, relatively speaking. Greece already has the foundation of Bronze Age technology, and it is far away from Nantucket. Plus, he has Tartessos to help keep Nantucket at bay. Walker has created a new capital named Walkeropolis. Pretty much all of Greece, known as Greater Achaea, is firmly under his control. Greater Achaea recently conquered Sicily, and subjugated the native population.
Some historian believe that the characters of The Iliad may have been real people. Or, at the very least, they were inspired by real people. Obviously, if you subscribe to this version, then characters like Achilles and Aeneas weren't actually demigods. Stirling decides to assume that at least some of the characters of The Iliad were real people. It makes for a more entertaining story, and I do love a bit of Greek Mythology. For example, upon arriving in Mycenae, Walker quickly worms his way into the good graces of Agamemnon. Several years later, Agamemnon has come to seriously regret allying with Walker.
During the events of the story, a king from Ithaca named Odikweos comes to visit Agamemnon. He is a cunning and intelligent man, as well as a devote of the goddess Athena. The implication is that Odikweos inspired the legend of Odysseus. Odikweos quickly surmises that Walker is not to be trusted, but he's also aware that he has to bide his time, at least for now. I always viewed the Mycenaeans and Minoans as just the pre-show warm-up act to the main event of Classical Greece. Against the Tide of Years, as well as On the Oceans of Eternity, showed me that there was plenty of fun to be had during the Mycenaean era. In fact, I actually went on a bit of a Mycenaean, and Bronze Age in general, kick after I completed Nantucket trilogy. I guess that another testament to Stirling's talent as a writer.
Walker has implemented some reforms that were genuinely beneficial to the Mycenaeans. Albeit, he did so for pragmatic reasons. For example, he introduces the Latin Alphabet to Greece. Prior to that, the Mycenaean had been using the Minoan Alphabet, which isn't really suited to their language. The scribes initially objected, on the grounds that the Latin Alphabet is so simple even a child could learn it. Obviously, this is precisely why Walker wants to use it. Walker has also introduced new foods, such as tomatoes, to Greece. He's also introduced modern horse breeds; who are strong, faster and larger than Bronze Age horses. Said modern horses were ones he stole from Nantucket.
On the flip side, much of the countryside around Mycenae is an industrial hellscape due to the many factories Walker had built. Oh, and he reshaped the Mycenaean economy so that slavery forms its backbone. The Mycenaeans practiced slavery, as did most Bronze Age civilizations, but not anywhere near to the heights Walker brings it. More importantly, this makes it so that the Mycenaean economy will collapse unless Walker is around to keep things running. Walker is cruel and sadistic, but there is a certain logic to what he does. A twisted sort of logic, but one that is easy to follow and understand. It is part of what makes Walker such a compelling villain.
The same, however, can't be said of Walker's wife, Alice Wong. I should clarify that she's his favorite wife; Walker is also married to several Mycenaean women. Alice Wong used to be a doctor before The Event. As such, she knows all the best places to torture people for the most pain. Unlike Walker, she doesn't have any greater scheme with her sadism. Wong appears to be evil just for the sake of being evil. There's a scene where Walker walks in on Wong torturing a Mycenaean princess, and it's almost comical how blasé they both are about it. In fact, several of the scenes set at Mycenae have an almost sitcom feel to them. Well, if you ignore the fact that the dad is a megalomaniac with plans of world domination, and that the mom is a sadistic torture technician.
Walker has a daughter named Althea, who is well on her way to following in her father's footsteps. Interestingly, Althea's mother is not Wong, but rather, Ohotolarix’s daughter. Ohotolarix is an Iraiina chief who followed Walker to Greece. We’ll talk more about him when we get to On the Oceans of Eternity.
Against the Tide of Years ends with Walker's army arriving at the gates of Troy. Nantucket wanted to use Troy as a jumping-off point for the invasion of Greater Achaea. There's a scene where Ian Arnstein, from atop the walls of Troy, says to Walker "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elder berries." Walker cracks a smile and admits that he found that genuinely amusing. He found it amusing, but he's still going to sack Troy.
Troy is depicted as being mostly Hittite, but with some slight Mycenaean influences. This is what most historians believe that the historical Troy would have been like. Troy has been continually inhabited for thousands of years. As such, there are many archeological layers to the city. Many of these layers show clear signs of warfare. Historians and archeologists are still not entirely certain which layer was the one Homer was talking about in The Iliad. However, the date that Stirling gives is a popular estimation among historians.
Well, I'd better wrap things up before this review goes on for too long. Once again, Todd McLaren does an excellent job with the audiobook. The only point of criticism I have is that he gave Alice Long a slight Asian accent, despite there being no indication that she speaks with any discernible accent. Other than that, great work as usual. Also, I just love the image on the cover of the Babylonian charioteer with an American flag on the back of his chariot. It really gives a feel for what kind of series Island in the Sea of Time is.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
