Borrowed Tides

by Paul Levinson

Book Overview

The first interstellar space ship is launched from Mars to embark on a risky voyage to the star nearest to Earth and returns to Earth before it left.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812561511
• ISBN13: 9780812561517
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

good story with a "classic sf" feel

This well-written story pulls you in with its characterizations and a general atmosphere of "the unknown". It reminds me of the sf writers of the late 60's/early 70's that focused more on the psychology, sociology, philosophy of their characters - i.e. Silverberg, Sturgeon, Ellison. You don't read alot of sf like that today. Read it without any expectations of what a sf novel should be, and you won't be disappointed.

a different kind of space voyage

I found Borrowed Tides -- Paul Levinson's second science fiction novel -- very engaging and thought-provoking. It raises far more questions than it answers, but that's very satisfying too, in the end, leaving a warm-buzz itch in your mind. The pace is different from other space voyage novels that I've read. Parts of it happen in a flash; parts focus on mind-warping problems and paradoxes at great length. The truth is that we do not really know what travel to another star is like. Borrowed Tides suggests that it may be very different from what we expect. I suppose this won't be everyone's cup of tea. But it's definitely mine.

Thought Provoking Space Exploration

Paul Levinson has a gift for turning the genre coin on its edge and giving us something new and unexpected. In BORROWED TIDES what looks at the beginning to be a somewhat typical space exploration adventure is quickly transformed into a thought provoking discussion of time and the nature of reality.Upon reading the book flap I thought that I had figured out the entire story, but as I began to realize how wrong I was and began to glimpse the directions Levinson was taking his novel, I found myself truly captivated.I won't pretend that the ending is fully satisfying. But then, I don't believe Levinson wanted it to be. He sprinkles the whole novel with the "helpless" flavor of the horror genre, and the ending capitalizes on that ambience quite successfully. There is a lot of angst and frustration in that ending which I, as the reader, shared fully with the cast of the novel.I'm looking forward to Levinson's next work.

Better than the first

I liked The Silk Code -- it was good detective, science fiction stuff. But I like Borrowed Tides more. It has a depth, a view of the universe, that you don't come across too often in a novel. Sort of like, the human struggling against an immensity that we can't quite understand. That's like life, in a way, to me. I wanted to be on that ship, because it seemed so real, and not real, at the same time. Five stars for originality.

exponentially fascinating

Levinson's second novel is so different from his first, that I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised and delighted. Borrowed Tides starts off as an old-fashioned, cosy, first flight to the nearest star. But there are oddities at the beginning -- the flight is based, implausibly (yet Levinson pulls it off) on a combination of the boomerang effect (as in Apollo 13) and a Native American legend about star currents. As the novel progresses, the very fabric of space and time unwinds. One of my favorite themes -- not often explored this well or as cosmically -- is art as a best hedge against dissolution of memory. It's hard to explain in a little review -- read the book (the art part is near the end) and see if you agree. The themes and fascinations of this novel will stay with you for a very long time.