parallel worlds, trick ending

I like some of Farmer's other work and I often like alternate history, but I bought this because Sir Humphrey Gilbert is one of the characters who comes into an alternate world. though the hero is Rger Two Hawks, a part Iriquois (as this spells it) American pilot on a bombing raid over Ploesti in a version of World War II . ( )

This book was an absolutely fascinating read. Presented here is a world in which there is no America. Roger Two-Hawks, American Indian and World War II fighter pilot accidentally finds himself in this world when he flies through a portal in the sky during an air battle. He and his friend O'Brien must learn exactly what has happened to them as they deal with the strange place they have found themselves in. Plus, there is another problem, a German has flown through the portal as well.

War seems to happen regardless of the situations of the worlds, so Two Hawks and O'Brien find themselves on the run from multiple militaries interested in the strange foreigners who speak in a language they do not know (English as we know it never developed on this world).

Fascinating example of a parallel Earth story, and unique in that it plays with the concept of a world that developed entirely separate from the one we know because the American continents were never populated because they did not exist. The entirety of human development is different here. Language, cultures, the very evolution of man is nothing like it was on our Earth. And that's what makes this story so good.

There is apparently a revised version of this story. Farmer reworked bits of The Gate of Time and changed the name to Two Hawks from Earth (better title since time has nothing to do with the gate and Two Hawks' adventures). I'd recommend getting your hands on that version, as I plan to eventually. ( )