I've read a lot of novels that are, in effect, a series of connected short stories linked together to form a continuous narrative. It's a format I quite like, it certainly allows you to dip in, read a section, take a break without having to rediscover where you are.

This book takes the form to a new level. In this, Mike Resnick tells the story of the first seventeen millenia following mankind's emergence into the galaxy. He tells this in the form of twenty six short stories set in various crucial times in the long history of man as a space-fairer with each tale accompanied by a quote or two from some of the major future history texts.

Given the nature of this book you don't get to follow characters as they develop. As soon as we get used to the names of the main players we move on and encounter a new set. That said, there is continuity here. Mr. Resnick links this all together into a very readable, involving history.

Having read many other books by the same author, this book does give background to many of them. It's an ambitious work, one which so easily could have failed to satisfy the reader. But this is where the skill of the writer becomes apparent, for Mike Resnick is an author who knows exactly how much needs to be said and how much can be assumed of his readers.

Books such as this one are never likely to gain new readers to Science Fiction and so the book is pitched at people who will readily accept concepts such as interstellar travel, deep sleep, and galactic empires. This level of explaining omitted the reader has just the flow of time to concentrate on, and he/she will enjoy a wonderful grand-scale novel of mankind's future.