Beyond the Gap: A Novel of the Opening of the World

Its capital city, Nidaros, began as a mammoth hunters' camp at the edge of the great Glacier. Trasamund, a clan chief of the mammoth-herding Bizogots, the next tribe north, has come to town with strange news. Now, perhaps, the road to the legendary Golden Shrine is open. Now Nidaros is an old and many-spired city; and though they still feel the breath of the great Glacier in every winter's winds, the ice cap itself has retreated beyond the horizon. The great Glacier does not go on forever-and on its other side are new lands, new animals, and possibly new people. Who could resist the urge to go see? For Count Hamnet and his several companions, the glacier has always been the boundary of the world. Now they'll be traveling beyond it into a world that's bigger than anyone knew. Adventures will surely be had. Ancient legend says that on the other side is the Golden Shrine, put there by the gods to guard the people of their world. Count Hamnet Thyssen is a minor noble of the drowsy old Raumsdalian Empire. A narrow gap has opened in what they'd always thought was an endless and impregnable wall of ice. But that was centuries ago, and as e

Tedious Thomas Speight I read this book and the first of the two sequels. It is not Turtledove's best work. The pacing is as slow as the glacier the characters mention on every other page, and the characters are little more than cardboard cutouts. I was hoping for something more like his Videssos books than the endless alternate world war stuff he's written over the last decade, but this does not measure up.This is evidently a book where Turtledov. "Should be an interesting series" according to Fantasy Fan. Although Harry Turtledove is best known for his stories of alternate history, this one is closer to traditional fantasy, which he has also written. That said, I liked the book as an interesting adventure story. The characters are pretty common fantasy fare- the carefree adventurer, the brash, proud barbarian, the brooding nobleman, his spiteful ex-wife, the clueless and egocentric emperor, etc. There is magic, and the discov. Turteldove's New Series? N. Wishek I'll make this brief. If you are a fan of Harry Turtledove of course you will buy (or borrow) this book. If you've never heard of Turtledove you should try this book. Granted, he is not the most dynamic writer, but he is a craftsman at what he does. What he does is ideas. His sound knowledge of history makes his alternate reality settings seem real. (He is a former history professor, for crying out loud.) He also adapt at mo

(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. From Publishers Weekly In this promising first of a new saga, alternate-history maven Turtledove (Ruled Britannia) depicts a Bronze Age society in transition. A vivid setting and strong characterization bode well for future installments. All rights reserved. If the Raumsdalians and Bizogots don't always get along, their culture clash is nothing compared to the threat they face on the other side of the glacier: the Rulers, a tribe of imperious, mammoth-riding warriors. On the way, a formidable and attractive (if unbathed) Bizogot shaman, Liv, joins the expedition—and Hamnet under the animal hides. They and their entourage, which inconveniently includes Hamnet'