An omnibus of the Time’s Tapestry quadrology and the Northland trilogy. Both series are alternate histories, but Northland is more of a classic alternate universe with a fixed divergence from our own history, and Time’s Tapestry is more about trying to create divergences from our history by means of sending information back in time.

Time’s Tapestry (Emperor, Conqueror, Navigator and Weaver) deals with 3 decision points: the Claudian invasion of Britain to a decision point of the attempted assassination point of the Emperor Constantine (to prevent Christianity taking hold), the Saxon invasion of Britain to the outcome of the Battle of Hastings (to create a long-lasting Saxon Empire), and the Reconquista (to make Columbus go east as a successful general rather than the discoverer of the Americas. The last book deals with what is actually behind all this and has a successful Operation Sealion in WWII.

I found the first 3 books more interesting than the fourth; in some ways it might have been better to interweave the storyline of the 4th book into the other 3; it was pretty obvious by the second book who the two actors in the story were, and I found the fourth book rather tedious and it felt like padding in many places. Warning: there’s a fair amount of Gödelian theory in the fourth book, so it might not be to everyone’s taste.

The Northland trilogy (Stone Spring, Bronze Summer and Iron Winter) deals with a single divergence: the survival of Doggerland beyond the Neolithic by means of a sea wall. The Northlanders retain their hunter gather society and become a formidable force for stability in the Old World while having long term links with the New World. Again, I felt the last book to be weakest.

Recommended, but for my part it’s likely it will never be read again.