“The writing is first-rate, the action, though leisurely, moves with a massive momentum, and the characters are entirely believable.” –
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
“This is an astonishing change of pace for Mr Priest, and one which extends his powers in ways which reveal him as one of the best and most persuasive young British writers.” – The Times, London
“A most amusing conceit — and it contains mighty battles, a delicious transformation of the Thames Valley into a weed-clogged Martian canal, delightful period touches, and certainly begs comparison with John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” – Oxford Mail
“A novel that is unusual for its kind, a science fiction story with recognizable characters and a sense of style, atmosphere and humour. Imaginative and full of amusing curiosities.” – Sunday Express
“This tale has a refreshing quality which, allied to the author’s skill, can lift it away from nostalgia into a class of its own. Super.” – Yorkshire Post
“A first-class specimen. Subtitled ‘a scientific romance’, it is set in the England of the young H.G. Wells, and shamelessly follows his style of science fiction. The book as a whole is a triumph, both witty and exciting, and I recommend it most strongly.” – New Scientist
“This is an affectionate, lively pastiche of H.G. Wells. It is thoroughly entertaining: Mr Priest has so exuberantly ingenious an imagination of his own that one wonders why he wanted to lean on Wells. It is now clear that Mr Priest is not going to trot round and round the same old orbit, but is a versatile, autonomous writer from whom we can expect nothing expectable.” – Times Literary Supplement
“A really first-rate book, exciting, original, and as tender in describing its human moments as it is convincing in its descriptions of time travel.” – Illustrated London News