by Julian May
First published 1982
In 2110, a group of misfits prepares to escape through Theo Guderian's one-way time portal to the Pliocene Epoch. The travelers include a starship captain, an athlete, a paleontologist, and a woman priest, all fleeing the sterile perfection of twenty-second-century life. They expect to find an empty prehistoric world six million years in the past. Instead, they discover that Pliocene Europe belongs to two alien races locked in ancient conflict. The elegant Tanu possess powerful psychic abilities and rule from their shining cities. Their enemies, the dwarf-like Firvulag, skulk in the forests with supernatural powers of their own. The Tanu capture the human arrivals and drag them across primordial landscapes. The humans break free and forge a dangerous alliance with the Firvulag. Together they mount an assault on the Tanu stronghold beside the proto-Rhine River. The story weaves together myth and science as ordinary people confront forces beyond their understanding in a world that transforms exile into unexpected adventure.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, fantasy, alternate-history
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Europe, Pliocene
Period: 2110, 6 Million Years Ago
411 pages · Paperback · Pan Books