Quote Originally Posted by FreelancePoliceman View Post
I just finished Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove, about an attorney and recently divorced single mother who gets sent back in time to a town in what’s now southern Austria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. I’d never read either of them before, but this was really well-written— up until the ending.

She goes through some terrible things throughout the book — her lover and daughter die; she gets raped; she watches another woman get raped; she sees soldiers being killed; she comes close to starvation. This is all very traumatic to her, and the way this changes her view of the world is written convincingly and with an obvious amount of care put into conveying it. But then she returns suddenly to her modern life and all this characterization is immediately lost. It’s very jarring; almost like “Haha, I’ve sure learned my lesson about thinking the Romans lived better than us! How lucky I am to be living in a time where Germans don’t sack my city and rape my neighbors and kill their husbands as I watch helplessly! Man, how wild was that!


As I said, the rest of the book was fantastic. Whichever of the two didn’t write the ending I want to read more of, because they’re very talented. And whoever did write the ending ought to be ashamed of themself.

I think there is a tendency for science fiction authors to get lazy sometimes. I mean, the author is already cruising the galaxy and passing through the past and future, what more do the readers want?

For an early take on this problem, read Alfred Bester's 5,271,009.