Obsolete Theorem (Across Horizons, #1) by Stan C. Smith

Obsolete Theorem (Across Horizons, #1) Reviews

• 
  Meenaz Lodhi

  “An affliction makes us stronger, not weaker. After all, here we are, sacrificing everything in an attempt to save civilization.”
  What a fascinating read! Scrumptious! I’m not at all surprised, coming from excellent author Stan C. Smith, I wouldn’t have expected less from him. On the contrary, I’m again marvelled by his extensive imagination and creativity!
  The technology involved is thrilling and the way it’s described is highly appreciated. This book is full of Mind-bending surprises, heart pounding scenarios, filled with wonder. A precise background research of history, archeology and science, detailed description of what was back in those ages, making it so credible and realistic. The Temporal Bridge Theorem: Jumping back or forward in time created an alternate time-line—a parallel universe, a mind blowing concept. The action is nearly constant and I frequently found myself tense while reading. There’s also a dark sense of humor appropriately placed. What a gut wrenching, page turning, sit on the edge of your seat book. The author does an amazing job of making the characters come to life and you feel connected to them in an emotional way. He has once again outdone himself. Congratulations! A great story and can't wait for the next book in the series, Forgone Conflict #2.
• 
  Montzalee Wittmann

  Interesting time travel book!
  
  Obsolete Theorem by Stan C. Smith is a terrific sci-fi book about time travel with with a great imagination of what it would be like to live as a Neanderthal. A terrific plot, well developed characters, lots of action, and nerdy stuff! I really didn't like the violence that was implied on the sister, although I am sure this could happen, I don't like to read about this. That's the only reason it didn't get a 5 star review.
  I plan to continue with this series!
  
• 
  Rosemary Standeven

  This book was fast paced and had some very engaging characters – my favourite being Ripple – the drone with a god-complex.
  Inventor and scientist, Lincoln, and his small team have time-travelled back 47 659 years – possibly on a one-way mission – after a message from the past demands Lincoln’s presence: “LINCOLN WOODHOUSE. COME HERE AND NOW. ENTIRE CIVILISATION AT RISK”. The message is clearly impossible – but also clearly not a hoax. Lincoln has no choice but to investigate.
  The team arrive to find a world scarcely populated by Humans (Bolups) and Neanderthals (Nandups) – the two species sworn enemies. The first person they meet is Skyra-Una-Loto, a female Neanderthal, who has been taught English by her ‘friend’, Ripple, and so the team side with the Neanderthals against their own (though many generations removed) species.
  As you might expect from life in a prehistoric, stone-age era, there is a lot of violence, and dangerous mega-fauna, though thankfully the violence is normally more alluded to, rather than described in gruesome detail.
  Skyra is an amazingly strong character, who adapts incredibly quickly and well to changes in her life. Lincoln is out of his depth in the new environment without all his technology, but never gives up, and does his best to protect Skyra and her sister Veenah.
  Apart from Ripple, Skyra and Lincoln, the other characters are rather flat. I did like that Lincoln had employed disabled people on his team, as he believed that they had already overcome so much, that they would be more successful and determined employees. Sadly, their characters did not get much story-time, and were not well developed. The other (prehistoric) Bolups and Nandups were cartoonish. Except for Veenah, who was so severely traumatised, that she had no chance to make a positive impact on the reader.
  It is not until right near the end that you find out why (or even if) the entire civilisation is at risk – and indeed which civilisation. It was not what I might have guessed, and the book ends on a cliff-hanger.
  I enjoyed reading this book. It is a good, solid sci-fi/time-travel book, with a few unique twists, but not enough to really grab me. I am – in general – not a great fan of the time-travel genre. Parallel universes are great, but time-travel seldom appeals. Readers who are more into this genre will undoubtedly rate this book higher than I have.
  I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review
  
• 
  Meenaz Lodhi

  “An affliction makes us stronger, not weaker. After all, here we are, sacrificing everything in an attempt to save civilization.”
  What a fascinating read! Scrumptious! I’m not at all surprised, coming from excellent author Stan C. Smith, I wouldn’t have expected less from him. On the contrary, I’m again marvelled by his extensive imagination and creativity!
  The technology involved is thrilling and the way it’s described is highly appreciated. This book is full of Mind-bending surprises, heart pounding scenarios, filled with wonder. A precise background research of history, archeology and science, detailed description of what was back in those ages, making it so credible and realistic. The Temporal Bridge Theorem: Jumping back or forward in time created an alternate time-line—a parallel universe, a mind blowing concept. The action is nearly constant and I frequently found myself tense while reading. There’s also a dark sense of humor appropriately placed. What a gut wrenching, page turning, sit on the edge of your seat book. The author does an amazing job of making the characters come to life and you feel connected to them in an emotional way. He has once again outdone himself. Congratulations! A great story and can't wait for the next book in the series.
• 
  Paul (Life In The Slow Lane)

  Let's go back 47,000 years to a time where Neanderthals were common...you know...like at a football game.
  
  So this pretty smart dude invents a time jump machine and takes his 4 other clever mates back 47,000 years or so, 'cos he found a message scratched on a fossilized A.I. drone he'd sent back earlier. The message invited him to come back and join the party and meet the Flintstones. Only it's not a party; It's full of big hairy cavemen - types (Oops! That's not politically correct. Oversized, hirsute, neuron-deficients) who want to beat your brains out and probably eat you. Would you go back to Neanderthal times and not take a weapon? I know I wouldn't. Apparently, our "smart" guy, Lincoln, wasn't too smart after all.
  
  The writing was good. So was the editing and the research. The time-travel theory was good too and well-explained in a chapter at the end. Yeah, there were a few silly bits, but the action scenes kept me going. This is a good read, but it isn't a stand alone book. I'm sure there's a good ending somewhere in the later books in the series.
  
  Excuse me, but I have to go and feed our sabre-toothed cat descendant.
• 
  Sherri

  Brilliant. Stan C Smith’s Obsolete theorem: Across Horizons is a feast for the imagination. The storyline, pacing, and characters are addictive. Many aspects of the book intrigued me. Lincoln (a modern Homo sapien) and Skyra (a Neanderthal) existed over 47,000 years apart, yet each had a special ability not seen in others that connected them. A message sent from the past by a robotic drone that had not even been created yet adds a mind-bending wrinkle to the story. In his quest to investigate, Lincoln brings together a diverse group of individuals each with a special (dis) ability. For me, a book must have characters who display the essential components of determination and perseverance. A hint of this can be found in Skyra’s words, “Your fear will kill you! Push your fear out of your head and into your arms and legs, then it will save you.” If you are looking for an adventure that will captivate you from the get-go and leave you reeling in the end, this is it!
• 
  Judy

  Time travel is always a fascinating theory. This books takes you to the past because of the future. This author writes the most exciting possibilities and the most realistic characters I have had the pleasure to read. I won't write an spoilers but if you read his previous series then you know just how awesome his books can be. I highly recommend this book and the coming series.
• 
  Dan

  DNF at 30%
• 
  Kelli Jae Baeli

  I start and stop reading more books than I finish. There are enough great books out there to last beyond my years on this earth, so that, combined with my sense of how precious time is as I get older, means I cannot justify the time spent on a book that doesn’t measure up. This demeanor also stems from my 30 years as an Indie author who is constantly polishing her craft. The work never ends, and there is no such thing as perfect, but I appreciate authors who excel at the craft. Stan C. Smith is one of those authors.
  
  As an adolescent, teen, and young adult, I read lots of Robert A. Heinlein. Recently, I went back to read some of those beloved works, and realized I wasn’t quite as impressed with some of them. (Bear with me, here, I’ll circle back to the book review). I started re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land. An award-winning, and some think, quintessential work by a science fiction master. Honestly, I stopped reading it this time halfway through, because it seemed artificially padded and verbose, and ultimately, I couldn’t stand the bombastic tone that pretended to be one of the characters, but was really the narrator—which was Heinlein himself. He didn’t do that with many of his other works, especially the ones they categorize as the Juveniles. So here’s the point: if I can stop reading and put away the work of a master, whom I have admired my entire life, I can put away anyone else’s book. And when I don’t do that, it’s a significant action.
  
  I read Obsolete Theorem in one sitting. One day. And I often read more slowly than I should because I am too busy studying the books I read. It’s hard for me to take off that editor/critic hat. But I sailed through this book, fingers full of virtual paper cuts. This book was like The Best of Heinlein meets Clan of the Cave Bear. Everything was handled with expert finesse: The grammar and mechanics and spelling (don’t recall any issues at all, but maybe that was because I was carried so quickly through the story), the plot (intriguing enough to make me download the book), the characters (authentic, quirky, relatable), the concept (adventurous, thought-provoking and exciting), the setting (unusual, vivid, visual), the descriptions (clean, succinct, and effective). Even the ending tied up the storyline neatly, while still leaving just enough intrigue to make me immediately download the next in the series, and mentally make a stack on my reading table with this author’s other work.
  
  Notably, I am not a physicist, and I can’t say for sure how sound that science is in this book, but I’ve written some similar books, and done the research, and I’m educated enough to know that it all seems perfectly plausible, and it’s obvious the author took great pains to understand the material. I also enjoyed and appreciated that he managed to fold that complex material into the book in an easily understood way, without talking down to the reader. So often, in these theoretical and speculative fiction books, the author is found standing on a lectern, bloviating about brainy subjects, as if to say, “Look how smart I am, and how dumb you are.” There’s nothing worse that a haughty, stuffed-shirt author, but you will find none of that here.
  
  I’m excited to be excited about a book and its author. I’ve already begun the second one, and will be reading the author’s entire catalog, whatever that may be, because he's hooked me. I can taste the metal in my mouth. If you care about intelligent, entertaining, intriguing, and well-rendered novels, this one cannot be missed.
• 
  Janalyn

  I keep seeing reviewer’s said this is a time travel book… It is not really one. It is a book about bridging from one timeline to another and anyone who is a fan of Stan see Smith’s books knows this. The reason they bridge to other timelines is to not to affect our timeline and then this book across a Rison obsolete theorem Across Horizons is about a brilliant scientist who invents bots that can go back in time to different timelines gather information and in a perfect world bring it back to Lincoln the scientist. In this instance though instead of being visited by his but he gets visited by high ups in the government that tell him his bot was found at an archaeological dig next to A female Neanderthalsthighbone… That’s not a hole though on the thigh bone in the body of the bot is a message Card then telling Lincoln he must go to the certain time and place on a certain date or Lincolns own existence and ours could be ruined forever. This is when the fun begins. I don’t know how Stan see Smith comes up with all these different worlds which such believable detail and intriguing story line. He is just so good I love his books and have read some of them three times even though I’m not a big sci-fi fan… Actually I am not a sci-fi fan at all. Having said that though I totally totally recommend this book 500%.
• 
  Margaret

  This the first book in Stan C. Smith's fantastic new series Across Horizons. In Obsolete Theorem inventor and scientist, Lincoln, and his small team have time travelled back 47 659 years most likely on a one way trip after a message received from the past: LINCOLN WOODHOUSE. COME HERE AND NOW. ENTIRE CIVILISATION AT RISK. The message makes no sense to Lincoln, but he feels compelled to try to discover what it means and how it could have been sent.
  
  What he and his small team of volunteers find is a very sophisticated drone that he had sent back there sometime in his own future! The drone, calling itself Ripple will not tell the whole story right away, but does reiterate that Lincoln is the only one who can save civilization by saving Skyla, a Neanderthal woman of about 20. She is unusual and exhibits a talent no others but her sister has. Skyla insists on saving her sister who is being held captive by humans, so Lincoln and some of his group must go with her to ensure she is not killed.
  
  I always marvel at the creative mind of Stan Smith an must read everything he writes!
  
  I was given an ARC of this book and am voluntarily posting and honest review.
• 
  Irene O'Brien

  Time should not be used lightly
  
  This is an excellent book. It begins with drones and temporal space and how things happen.
  Lincoln has invented drones that travel into the past, but not in his timeline since that is impossible. So why is one of his drones found on a ancient Paleolithic site? Lincoln and his team travel into the past to find out. There they encounter Neanderthals and early humans, they also encounter Skyra a young Neanderthal woman trying to rescue her twin from the humans.
  Veenha has been taken by the humans and is released by her sister and the strangers with her only to find her death at the hand of her own tribe. Can Lincoln and his team save themselves and Skyra from them and return to their own time?
  A must read for all lovers of prehistoric times.
• 
  Thom

  Time is a savage mistress. I wasted none devouring this tale.
  

  Time waits for no man. But a unique woman is waiting for one particular man and she doesn’t even know it. Problem is, he hasn’t been born yet. And won’t be for thousands of years.

  Lincoln Woodhouse, an eccentric genius, gets a desperate plea from 47,000 years in the past to come and save humanity. How can he refuse? Even though he knows he can never get back. Or can he?

  Stan C. Smith spins a bizarre story of time travel that threatens the very fabric of time itself. The mysteries of time with its dangers and even a smidgen of romance helped to keep me hooked. Smith does a masterful task of twisting time and bringing his characters over a chasm of events across the millennia.

  The finale left me stunned, wanting more. Where, oh where, is the sequel?
• 
  Laurie Cook

  I LOVED this book! Currently reading the sequels. I get bored easily with books and will not finish reading them if I lose interest (unlike my younger self who forced her way through torturous novels routinely- life is too short!). I had no trouble finishing this one though! You have your likable and brilliant protagonist who invents a way to send himself back into the distant past and meets a Neanderthal woman who is equally brilliant in her own way, a meddling robot that thinks it can save the world, and a cast of interesting characters that add to the story in their own ways. Also there is much adventure and angst as they fight physically and mentally for their freedom and lives. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!
• 
  Hugo Saravia

  Oh, the speculation!
  
  As speculative sci-fi goes Obsolete Theorem meets the requirements. The world building is consistent with what we know about Neanderthals but that is as far as I agree with the story, then the story kicks into the action while still developing the characters and that's where the author lost me, they were not up to the task at hand let alone the consequences of their actions and the fact that they all survived with minor scratches made also the whole thing rather underdeveloped for me. This book could be maybe for young adults who would miss the flaws in its conceptional development.
• 
  Brad

  Interesting Story with Unexpected Plot Twists
  
  The story only covers a few days and almost 48 thousand years. This is time travel with an interesting twist and a complex cast. The main characters including four from our time, one from the past, and two drones are well developed characters. The drones have almost as much depth as the living people. The story paints a vivid picture of the world and its inhabitants.
  
  My only serious complaint is that the end was abrupt and was a cliffhanger. I didn’t get a sense of closure on any major story arc. However, the trip was a very good read.
• 
  J.elaine

  Wildly Exciting and Thought Provoking!!!
  
  Wow, I started this book with the idea of just getting far enough in to get a feel for the story and stopping so I could continue reading later. That was my plan! However, I started reading and couldn’t find a place to stop. I kept thinking - maybe just read one more chapter - well, maybe just one more!!! The excitement was nonstop! I loved the way Stan C. Smith wrote in a way that not only kept me guessing but also kept me wondering at the mind blowing thoughts that raced through my mind as I read!!!!