What I’m Reading – Time Traders

Time Traders by Andre Norton (1958) A young thief is offered a chance for an adventure through space and time. What begins as a secret war with enemies on Earth will end up testing his skills on multiple worlds.

Norton is one of the big names in sci-fi of the 20^th century. An award-winning author whose work spans the genre. He’s a go-to author when I want a book that I know I’ll enjoy.

Which is exactly what brought “Time Traders” to my reading list. I was in the mood for some science fiction and wanted something that would be “comfortable”. Walking through the library searching titles and author names, I knew Norton would fit the bill.

Despite the tacky cover, the book was a great fit. It feels like a pair of short story/novellas featuring the same characters joined together. Each half of the book is a self-contained story without any large carry over in the action from the first to the second.

The idea of a force that can travel through time to protect/maintain/ manipulate history has been explored by a lot of authors. Here, Norton puts it in terms of the U.S./Russian political power struggle. The Russians have found a way to travel back in time. Once they realize the treat, the U.S. captures the technology and begins investigating what the Russians are doing. It’s the start of a dangerous game of chess with all of the future at risk.

Each story is nicely crafted, weaving interesting characters into suspense-filled stories. Norton offers a nice twist on a familiar story idea. Which is always nice to find in such familiar territory.

Unless I missed it, there’s one glaring oversight. The characters travel through space to other planets. When they arrive back on Earth, there are no time dilation issues. There are a couple ways around this, but I don’t remember seeing any discussion of them.

And then there’s the cover. Which doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the story. Other than appealing to juvenile readers’ vision of a “sci-fi” cover, it’s one in a long history of lame genre cover art.

“Time Traders” is the first of a series about this universe and characters.

Rating – *** Worth a Look