Book Review

A thrilling ride across time

By

Randeep Wadehra

Time Riders by Alex Scarrow
Penguin India. Price: Rs. 299/-. Pages: 425

Indians are no strangers to the concept of time travel as literary genre. Our ancient literature mentions how various gods, demigods and brahmrishis could transcend the limits of time and space and travel to the past as well as the future anywhere in the universe. There are any number of stories on this subject in various literary works of yore like Bana’s Kadambari and various ancient literary works including the Mahabharata. The description of weaponry used in the Mahabharata war and various types of vehicles that could traverse through air, water and land indicates towards the existence of science fiction although not as a standalone genre.

However, in modern times, although HG Wells is considered as sci-fi genre’s progenitor with his Time Machine, there were other – lesser known – writers before him, viz.,   Washington Irving (1819, Rip Van Winkle), Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1771, L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fût jamais "The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Were One"), Samuel Madden (1733, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century) etc.

In Time Riders – first in new sc-fi thriller series – Scarrow has skillfully merged the concepts/imaginations related to modern as well as futuristic technologies with the conventional time travel narrative ideas – going back in past or visiting the future. This novel for young adults has a very exciting plot which is pegged on the notion that if one could change the past it would affect the present and future conditions. For this, the novel focuses on major events in our history that have had cataclysmic impacts on the subsequent course of events. For example, what if Hitler had not lost the Second World War and Germans had occupied the USA? Would the various technological inventions, innovations and space etc related achievements have happened in the same manner as they have actually happened so far? More importantly, what would have been the nature of government(s) in the world? Would democracy have survived or more regimented and oppressive regime(s) ruled the world?

The author has expertly constructed these alternate scenarios using vivid imagination backed with quite a bit of research. Although the laws of Physics do not allow giving practical shape to a workable time machine attempts have been made to ‘invent’ such a contraption by intrepid scientists around the world. Paul Kramer, who lives in the year 2066, was a pupil of one such scientist who actually invented a workable time machine. The America of 2066 is dying as is the rest of the world due to irreversible degradation of the planet and its environment. Kramer decides to go back to that precise moment in history that had triggered off momentous events which transformed the world forever. He wanted to change the history so that the world would be a better place to live in forever. He, along with his trusted lieutenant, Haas, and a lo