This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer. Title: The Ivanhoe Gambit Series: Time Wars Author: Simon Hawke Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: SFF Pages: 228 Synopsis: In the "Future", war is waged by keeping points of soldiers who fight in past battles. Those keep track of the points are the Elite, who also double as Time Agents who prevent paradoxes from occurring. Well, one of these Refs goes rogue and tries to derail the timeline by taking Richard the Lionhearted's place in History and changing everything. A group of soldiers are sent in to stop a Paradox from happening and they happen to land in the story of Ivanhoe. And thus the story proceeds. My Thoughts: I would have eaten this stuff up like pudding back in the early 90's, but since I've read a good bit of Time Travel, Time Paradox AND the original Ivanhoe, well, this was only so-so. First off, Hawke takes the Ivanhoe story as his outline and then interweaves his own, so to be honest, I felt like he was cheating. Yeah, you heard me, cheating. If someone reads this and it gets them to read the actual Ivanhoe, then I'm ok with that, but to be honest, I don't see that happening. If I compared this to food [ I'm hungry right now :-D ] I'd have to go with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, made with skippy peanut "spread", on super de duper processed sliced white bread. It does its job, but you don't want more than 1 in a great while. There are 12 in the series. I wonder if I can read them all? At least unlike that terrible Endworld series, this is internally consistent with how the characters act. " ( )

The Ivanhoe Gambit is the book that started it all. The story introduces us to Sgt. Major Lucas Priest, a soldier in the Temporal Corps. In the future, once time travel has been discovered, national conflicts are resolved by sending soldiers to serve among the armies of the past. The scores are tallied and then the winner announced. A bit silly perhaps, but it makes a good backdrop for the tale. Anyway, Sgt. Major Priest has just returned from a hitch in the Punic Wars and decides to volunteer for a hitch with his friend, Sgt. Bobby Johnson. He's in for a surprise, however, since Bobby is assigned to an adjustment mission--one where past events have been messed up by time travelers and need to be restored by the Temporal Corps. In this case, a rogue time referee has assumed the role of King Richard the Lionheart and threatens to alter the history of England. Priest, Johnson and two other soldiers assume the roles of Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, Little John and Ivanhoe's squire and attempt to stop the imposter. What follows is an enjoyable adventure tale which vaguely parallels the plot of Ivanhoe. It isn't great literature, but it is entertaining. Mr. Hawke's characters are likable and there's some surprising twists. It's a book to keep on my shelf for those times I want a quick, enjoyable read.
--J. ( )