Conrads Time Machine Book Review

This book is a retroactive prequel to the adventures of Conrad Stargrad series.  It is basically the story of how the civilization that made the time machine Conrad stumbled into began.  It is a very good story about three nerdy friends who discover and develop time travel together.  Like the Conrad series this book stays mostly upbeat and stays happy while still being interesting, but there are some very unfortunate personal consequences for the main characters from the development of time travel.

This book still has an element of everything going right for the main characters, but not to the extent that the Conrad series had.  In fact there are some very sad parts for one of the main characters.  The part I really didn't like was when in the course of the story advanced inter-dimensional aliens taught them how to do time travel right, so that they didn't pollute the alien's homes.  I think that the story would have been better without it.

This book tells the story of Conrad's Uncle Tom, and two of his friends Ian and Jim, who discover and develop time travel.  Soon after its initial discovery the societies that the three of them will start show up to help, and the time travel paradoxes, antics, and tragedies begin.  This book explores both what happens to a people when they know their future from the day they were born, and the havoc reckless time travelers can cause.  The book also explores a lot of the spin off technologies that warping space and time creates.  This story explains why Tom is so willing to help his relative Conrad in the Conrad Stargrad series.  It is not just because they are related, but because he knows first hand the damage, and the good, a little bit of knowledge from the future can cause.  He wants to make sure he helps the good come about.

This book will appeal to Leo Frankowski fans, and to people who like a good engineers tale.  Large parts of the book are devoted to figuring out technical problems, and this may not be the sort of thing action adventure lovers would like.

This book can be purchased in print or as an e-book at www.baen.com or www.amazon.com.

The Adventures of Conrad Stargrad Series by Leo Frankowski Book Series Review

This is a very good science fiction world-building adventure series.  Unlike some stories in this sub-genre this story stays upbeat even when things are grim.  The main character has some flaws, but none big enough to bring the tone of the story down.  Sometimes its nice to have a series that is just fun, but still has enough plot and action to keep you guessing as to what will happen next and engaged with the characters.  For me this series filled that role.

There are only a few parts of the story that I don't really like.  The first is the fact that everything seems to go just right for the main character.  Part way through the series it becomes very clear why though and makes it believable again.  It must be nice when your great uncle owns a time machine.  The other part is that this book could be considered a bit of guys fantasy as it seems like all the attractive women in the book love the main character, and hes not shy about partaking.  To be honest the second one doesn't bother me all that much but it does limit the audience somewhat.  Despite these issues, and somewhat because of them, I really like this series and have read it many times.  It is particularly good for when I am feeling down because the books never are .

The series explores what happens when you accidentally send a modern industrial engineer to medieval Poland ten years before a mongol invasion, and don't figure that out for ten years.  That's exactly what happens to American educated Polish engineer Conrad Schwartz( hes from StarGrad) in this story.  He was on vacation hiking through Poland when he got drunk at a certain inn and stumbled into a time machine searching for the bathroom.  Once he figures out where and more importantly when he is he does what any good engineer would do: He jump starts an industrial revolution in medieval Poland to turn back the mongol hordes.  This is quite a surprise to his uncle Tom, who is one of the inventors of the time machine used to send him back, when he showed up to observe the mongol invasion.  Since he was observed at the battle that becomes a fixed point in time, and Conrad must stay in the past.  The question is will he be able to turn back the mongol hordes, and more importantly if he does what just happened to history?

This book will appeal to science fiction and adventure fans.  It is a very good world building story, and a lot of fun.  Some people may not like it due to the main characters harem forming tendencies, but if you don't mind that I definitely recommend this series.

These books are currently a little difficult to find as I just discovered.  I have some very loved but worn copies from years ago.  The original series if you can find it is composed of the following titles in order:

1.  The Cross Time Engineer
2.  The High Tech Night
3.  The Radiant Warrior
4.  The Flying Warlord
5.  Lord Conrad's Lady
6.  Conrad's Quest for Rubber

 I did a little digging and it appears the books can be purchased at www.amazon.com or www.baen.com in print or as an ebook as two compilations titled Conrad StarGrad :The Radiant Warrior, and Conrad's Lady.  The original six book series appears to be out of print otherwise.