The End of Eternity (Isaac Asimov)

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The End of Eternity
by Isaac Asimov

*****
Not many novels have I completed with a feeling of utter speechlessness, but this is one of those books. Despite being a triumph of many things, including originality, characterization, and pacing, The End of Eternity could be best termed a triumph of surprise. There's something awfully good about the book you're reading if your jaw keeps dropping every other chapter at something you weren't expecting. The average jaw-drop in a novel is about once. Mine dropped seven times while reading this one.

Basically, the story revolves around Andrew Harlan, a technician working in a place known as Eternity. Eternity operates outside of space/time; its primary task is to alter minute events in the ‘time-strip' of human history in order to avert disasters like war and severe depression. Harlan's job is an important one: he has to figure out which alteration will change what, and how it will affect the time line. He's exceptionally good at his job, until one day he stumbles upon a beautiful woman in one of the human centuries and falls in love with her. People from Eternity aren't supposed to fall in love with people in ‘real' time, since it obviously interferes with their tasks. Harlan is determined to have his way, however, and he sets out to break the rules so that he can be with the one he loves. Of course, things don't always turn out the right way...

Much more cannot be given away without ruining the novel. All I can say is read it. The space/time paradoxes that Harlan encounters are enough to awe even the most cynical of cynics. It is consistently surprising, and also deeply challenging. Being ‘trapped by freedom' is a phrase that often occurs to me when reading the story. Harlan, who jumps back and forth through time like a god, yet appears perpetually confined and lost, inhabits this concept perfectly. He's also a wonderful, sympathetic character, doomed by the decisions of others even as he struggles to have his voice heard.

If you haven't picked up an Asimov book yet, get this one right a way. It's slim (around 200 pages), it's fast, and totally, totally unpredictable—an invaluable facet in any story.