Conquest Over Time by Michael Shaara

Conquest Over Time Reviews

• 
  Dianne Owens

  As my first book by Michael Shaara I didn't know quite what to expect. The main character is struck by the challenge of arranging a trade contract with a planet "straight out of Dickens" whose society is run completely off of their own brand of astrology. The task is made more difficult by landing there on a "bad day".
  It is an oddly amusing tale about the meeting of two humanoids civilizations through the third person POV of Pat Travis, a man that has recently been dealing with a string of bad luck. I really dug his resourcefulness and tenacity. There is a fine explanation of translation technology that is something often overlooked in stories about the meeting of two peoples. And the payoff is bang on as well.
  Whilst there is a touch of the pulp science fiction story in Conquest Over Time, it doesn't feel rushed or convenient in any regard. The characters react appropriate to their situation and background. The dialogue was neat, with the sections featuring the translation to the alien language offering a wonderful contrast to the language used by the main character. The world-building offered the right amount of conflict for the main character, and I also found it easy to imagine the odd predicament that he was in.
  I recommend this story to anyone the enjoys an adventure focusing around the conflict of two cultures. The science fiction buffs will love the descriptive of the world as well, the story offering some solid sci-fi noms. It was a fun read and a great introduction to the writing of Michael Shaara.
• 
  Ira Livingston

  I’m torn on his science fictional tales. It’s just not as good as his use of the English language in “The Killer Angels”.
  
  That being said, there is a twist in this story I had seen coming, dealing with time and space drives. Very cool in that aspect.
  
  But if you want to see Shaara at his best tackle his book on Gettysburg.
• 
  Perry Whitford

  A comedy of first contact.
  
  Pat Travis is a legendary contact man down on his luck and desperately in need of finding another Open Planet so he can sign a trade contract before anyone else gets there. It's an unpredictable occupation, you never know what kind of society you're about to barge in on:
  
  'You went from a matriarchy which refused absolutely to deal with men (the tenth ship to arrive had a lady doctor and therefore got the contract) to a planet where the earth was sacred and you couldn't dig a hole in it so mining was out, to a planet which considered your visit the end of the world and promptly committed mass suicide.'
  
  So what kind of people live on Diomed III, or Mert as the locals call it? Theirs is a culture completely predicated on astronomy. They speak in a garbled version of old English sprinkled with astrological gibberish. And poor Pat couldn't have arrived at a less propitious time.
  
  Give me the matriarchy or the suicide planet any day.
• 
  Janelle

  This was a fun and entertaining story, despite being a little bit sexist.