The Sands of Honor

About the Sands of Honor:

The Sands of Honor is a real tour deforce through the author's extensive world. He first laid out his principles of Time Travel in a five volume Meridian series, the first of which was Foreword Magazine's Silver Medal Winner for Science Fiction Book of the Year when it premiered. Schettler then penned his Magnum Opus, the Kirov Series, which took the Russian battlecruiser back in time to the heart of WWII. The Meridian Team made cameo appearances in that series, mostly to explain things that were happening in the time theory. At the same time, a subplot of the Kirov Series introduced the character Sir Roger Ames, who has been romping through the Age of Imperialism, from one decisive battle to another. Now, in Sands of Honor, we get book IV in that series, though Sir Roger does not appear until well into the second half of the book.

In the meantime, come all ye desert loving Englishmen, because we get a great historical fiction that first depicts General Charles Gordon's trip to Khartum, and his scheme to compel his own rescue and pull a British Army south into the Sudan under General Wolseley. That segment of the book takes us all the way to Gordon's fate at Khartum.  Then the story jumps ahead to General Kitchener, who has become Sirdar, the commander in Chief of military forces in Egypt. Kitchener has a plan in hand with multiple goals: to restore Britain's position in the Sudan, protect it in Egypt, defeat the rebellious successor to the Mahdi, the Khalifa; to restore the honor of the British empire, and avenge Gordon. That segment follows Kitchener's advance into Sudan all the way through the Battle of Atbara and then on to the decisive Battle of Omdurman. It is there, near that battle's end that something happens to decisively upset the time line of years to come. Then the story begins to shift gears through the Author's amazing connected universe.

The Meridian Team picks up a major alteration originating in September of 1898, and they learn what has happened. Then, two missions are set up for a most special ship and crew. You guessed it, the climax of this book will see Kirov in action again, and a mission for Troyak's Marines and the Argonauts off the Argos Fire. In effect, Schettler is serving up a medley of all his major character sets: The Meridian Team, the crew of Kirov, including Volsky, Karpov and Fedorov, and the crew of Argos fire.

The book is a wild ride, a great historical fiction at the outset that suffers a catastrophic event at Omdurman, then the efforts of the Meridian Team, and Kirov and crew to heal things. It's quite a story, with a great deal at stake. Because if Fedorov can't prevail, then all the history they fought through in WWII is on the chopping block of Fate and Time. If you enjoyed the Time-travel elements of the Kirov Series, you'll love this book. It's got so much more, three land battles featuring the British against the wild Dervish Mahdist raiders. Then it has a tumultuous WWII naval battle where Kirov, the ship present in the series at the time of Paradox Hour just before it vanished, must play a very important role.

Win, lose or draw, this book becomes a landmark that can change everything that happened from Paradox Hour forward. It's astounding how adroitly the author knits together the Meridian Characters and those of Kirov and Argos Fire with the people active in his Keyholders Saga. Not to be missed!