Algis Budrys On Poul Anderson's Guardians Of Time

For reference, see here.

Budrys thinks that this volume resembles "...a collection of adventure pulp 'historical' romances..." I disagree. I think that Anderson perfectly synthesizes historical fiction with science fiction. It seems to be an unwritten rule of the series that, although the Time Patrol operates in our past, present and future, all the cases that we read about are set in our past. However, there is plenty of futuristic sf among Anderson's many other works and the Time Patrol series does impart some information about its future history.

The original Doctor Who TV series alternated between past and future settings because the TARDIS was out of control, operating something like Flash Gordon's Time Pendulum. Thus, the audience learned some history but not every time.

Budrys continues that Guardians Of Time is "...one of the few collections of time patrol stories that isn't obviously immediately inconsistent with its own premises." I might go further. How many "...collections of time patrol stories..." are there? And how many of them are not "...obviously immediately inconsistent..."?

Budrys identifies the common theme of the four stories as "...decency circumvented..." and the common motive as "...nostalgia inverted..." and thinks that this makes the book "...too even reading." I disagree. This original tetralogy, which has since grown into a much longer series, builds to a climax:

Everard is recruited, completes his first mission and is promoted to Unattached;
he makes a minor historical change to rescue a friend;
he learns that the Patrol itself alters the course of history when necessary;
history has been changed and Everard must change it back.

A rather bumpy ride.