The Time Traders by Andre Norton Book Review

 The Time Traders 

(Time Traders/Ross Murdoch #1)

By Andre Norton 

Published Year: 1958

Page Count: 220 pages 

Medium Used : Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader 

Genre: Fantasy, Time Travel, Aliens, First Contact, Science fiction, Adventure, Classics, 2026-read. 

Rating : 4.5/5 😎 😄 😄 😄 

This is my introduction to the author and she simply blew my mind. To club together elements of time travel, scientific war between USA and the soviets(called Reds here) and aliens with unknown, mysterious intentions towards humanity is no ordinary feat. And Andre Norton shines while describing jaunts and fight scenes which also is not an easy task. Despite being published in the year 1958, some scenes in the book are simply irreplicable and indelible. Like the scene where the main character manufactures an escape strategy to pull himself out from over a burning pyre. It gave me the shivers and proved once again how hostile - even into the past - time travel can be. 

Ross Murdoch is a juvenile delinquent who is on the verge of getting sentenced. He gets his sentence waivered in the case that he serves under a secret government organisation. He is transported to a cold, arctic like region and admitted into a technologically advanced facility. There he learns that he is going to be traveling back in time with some others in a quest to find out what the Reds are upto. They believe that the Reds have found an ancient civilization in possession of some knowledge that could give them a winning edge, scientifically, over the Americans. It is counter intuitive that the secret to technical progress lies in the past but they justify this reasoning -  perhaps the civilization did exist which didn't have the means to leave behind their secret knowledge and wisdom. Ross, Ashe and McNeil go into the past in the guise of traders - hence the title Time Traders. So when they go back to one stop(Beaker period) in their numerous foot prints, they realise that their safe hideout is blasted to pieces by the Reds who tell the superstitious locals that God has shown his wrath on those traders. Catching hold of a transport plane, the three time travelers follow the Reds into a glacial period in further past. They get seperated, Ross makes contact with Aliens and almost gets killed by the hostile tribes of Beaker period. Aliens follow them back from the glacial period to this time and make deal with the locals to get hold of Ross. He fights a duel to escape this imprisonment, survives a lynching attempt and sustains a war of wills with the aliens .. until destiny showers some kindness and sends goodwill his way. The author could have made this more complex but thankfully she didn't! Its really a difficult bargain Ross got himself into - hostile locals, hostile Reds, strange aliens .. to fight them all without company of fellow travelers.. unimaginable! 

So what are the aliens after ? Why do they want Ross? What are the next books in the series gonna bring ? I liked everything about this story - even if the above questions are unanswered in this book, I have full faith that they will be in next books. I thought there is a little too much emphasis laid on fights and action sequences than I usually like. Every thing else is just awesome 👍 😎 

 Travel to the past - we expect people to be more barbaric, not more advanced and in possession of secrets that we can't fathom right? It is very difficult to not slip and betray our disguise no matter how hard we try and then face the wrath of superstitious people of those times. Is it any easier to travel into the future? For me, time travel equals an exotic journey but who can tell what we will encounter?!