Time and Again

Clifford D. Simak

Asher Sutton has been gone for twenty years. He was sent to investigate for inhabitable planets in the Cygni system. He disappeared and was not expected to return after all this time. He has returned to Earth, the political center of humans throughout the galaxy. Humans have spread throughout the galaxy and have thrusted their superiority everywhere they have gone. In order to assist them androids were created that are practically the same as humans. They are also intelligent and considered an inferior race by humankind.

Ash isn't a normal human any more. He was modified while in the Cygni system. He now understands destiny. He has a dual being now that helps him as he returns to his life. Except he isn't allowed to return to his life. He has a book to write about destiny. He also has someone trying to kill him.

There is a war in time happening. Asher Sutton is a focal point of that war. One side wants to kill him off to change the future. The other is trying to protect him to keep the timeline on its current path. This war has Ash in more places than he could have guessed.

This book was published in the early 1950's. Political shades of World War II and communism were in the back of everyone's minds. Clifford Simak uses this novel to make us think about manifest destiny - the thought that one race is better than all the others. It isn't an in-your-face message but rather hidden in an interesting, twisting story. At times I was a bit confused, but it all comes together and makes sense.

The tone is interesting. Time and Again seemed quiet and didn't grab me. I also couldn't put it down for very long. Simak's writing kept me interested and intrigued. The twists keep coming right up to the last page, of which only one was I able to predict...

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