Project Pendulum

Twins Sean and Eric Gabrielson are the first time-travelers, hurtling 95 million years into the past and the future. In 2016, scientists discover how to stress space so much that time is altered, sending identical masses ricocheting into the past and future simultaneously. The time traveled increases exponentially on each pass, from five minutes to the ultimate 95 million years. Scan and Eric, physicist and paleontologist, are the human masses chosen for this cosmic do-si-do. On their travels they visit their childhood home, Harding's victory parade, both Neanderthal and dinosaur epochs, and futures that are increasingly strange, becoming first threatening and then unrecognizable. This is fourth in Walker's Millennium series of major science-fiction themes, in this case time travel. The author, an old pro, has won most of sf's awards and deserves a special one for sustained ingenuity. Picaresque with some scenes lasting only a few paragraphs, the plot is not the book's strength; but the sense of alienation and disorientation, the feeling of paradox lost, and the special sense of rapport between twins are well sustained. The drawings have strong lines and capture the mood well. Somewhat slighter than earlier books in the series, this is nonetheless a worthy and welcome addition. (Kirkus Reviews)