The second and final book of this futuristic story, Simmons finishes solidly, though perhaps with a bit less of a bang than I was hoping for.

When I started reading the book, I thought I was reading about something that happened in the past, with a time traveling observer (Thomas Hockenberry, PhD, a professor of classical lit at Indiana University) who was engaged to report on the events of the Trojan War with its myriad of heroes to the gods themselves.

But somewhere along the lines, I realized that I was reading something more complicated. It is true that Hockenberry was doing exactly that, but who these gods are, and more importantly, when and where, is the real story.

I've always had a soft spot for Greek mythology, ever since reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology in HS, and was pleased to revisit some of my favorite stories, tales I hadn't thought about in years. That alone was a good reason to read this story, though for the life of me I can't imagine how one would wring two 700 page books out of such a tale. But as I found out, this is not only a story about ancient Greece and Troy, but also about our future Earth and quantum mechanics, and about how the things that we Earthlings do along the way affect us in the far flung future. The Trojan War is just a device for illustrating part of this story.

I doubt that I'm doing the story justice. Re-reading this journal entry, I doubt if I'm enticing anyone to pick up the paperbacks or check it out of the library. But it's the sort of smart speculative fiction that I have always enjoyed, and that you just don't see that much of these days.

An extremely fun, if long and time consuming, read.