Beyond the Gap: A Novel of the Opening of the World

Written by Harry Turtledove

Narrated by William Dufris

Count Hamnet Thyssen is a minor noble of the drowsy old Raumsdalian Empire. Its capital city, Nidaros, began as a mammoth hunters' camp at the edge of the great Glacier. But that was centuries ago, and as everyone knows, it's the nature of the great Glacier to withdraw a few feet every year. Now Nidaros is an old and many-spired city; and though they still feel the breath of the great Glacier in every winter's winds, the ice cap itself has retreated beyond the horizon.

Trasamund, a clan chief of the mammoth-herding Bizogots, the next tribe north, has come to town with strange news. A narrow gap has opened in what they'd always thought was an endless and impregnable wall of ice. The great Glacier does not go on forever-and on its other side are new lands, new animals, and possibly new people.
Ancient legend says that on the other side is the Golden Shrine, put there by the gods to guard the people of their world. Now, perhaps, the road to the legendary Golden Shrine is open. Who could resist the urge to go see?

For Count Hamnet and his several companions, the glacier has always been the boundary of the world. Now they'll be traveling beyond it into a world that's bigger than anyone knew. Adventures will surely be had...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781400173822

Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove is an American novelist of science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. Publishers Weekly has called him the “master of alternate history,” and he is best known for his work in that genre. Some of his most popular titles include The Guns of the South, the novels of the Worldwar series, and the books in the Great War trilogy. In addition to many other honors and nominations, Turtledove has received the Hugo Award, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and the Prometheus Award. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a PhD in Byzantine history. Turtledove is married to mystery writer Laura Frankos, and together they have three daughters. The family lives in Southern California.

Reviews for Beyond the Gap

[markknapp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One I hadn't heard of before, or had skipped over. But another great Turtledove book. Alternate history, but you could imagine it fitting into our timeline. Interesting characters, great descriptions of the environment, surprising storylines.

[aalyssa0714 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5-3.75?// This read very much like a first book in a series. Nothing much happened and the looming sense of foreboding went on and on. This is not a fun and exciting read (for me, that is), but rather, a relaxing one that kind of reminded me of typical Japanese adventure lightnovels where the main character from the modern world is transported to a fantasy one. It has a slice-of-life feel to it with the constant description of the food they had to eat as they continued on in their long journey; the habitation and way of life of the different nomadic clans they passed by on their way; and the appreciation of the beauty and might of the country tney traversed to reach their goal.Humour, mostly in the form of sexual innuendos and vulgar jokes as well as attacks on "manliness" (rolled my eyes so hard on these ones), was interpersed in almost every page that it got really annoying after reading 3/4 of the way through.The ongoing assertion of cultural superiority of one race over another was interesting, though, especially, with how concrete the author presented the differences between the two in almost every cultural aspect. I liked how this particularly made me think of third-world and first-world relationships and interactions.Most of the characters were made very much alive with how their quirks, backstories--sometimes scandalous ones-- and personalities were presented, some from the get-go, the others unravelled through bits and pieces of interactions and conversations throughout the book.Relied a bit heavily on subtext to deliver meanings, especially in conversations. There's also bit too much description of landscapes (which I liked), the weather, the Bizogots' (nomads and tribes) way of life and "odd" habits, and how dung fuel is used to cook the food. Conversations, jokes, complaints, and internal monologues on the latter happened a lot more than I cared to count, honestly. The same point was made over and over about it, though-- when you're dying of hunger you'll eat whatever it is in front of you even if it was cooked in feces. I got that the first time, and on the second, as well as the third time it was mentioned. It didn't need to have to be repeated more than twice, honestly.There were a couple more scenes, albeit shorter ones, that can be considered as fillers that dragged the whole thing more , even though the plot was already at a pretty relaxed pace.The worldbuilding saved it for me, as well as 2 or 3 of the characters, and the ending where the conflict for the whole series was finally revealed.I'm going to continue on with Book 2 at least.*************p.s. It's annoying how there's only 2 female characters whose personalities are so different from each other that, if you dumbed it down, can be depicted simply as one "good female" and "one bad female". I liked Liv a lot. In some ways, I liked Gudrid, too, but damn, she's annoying.

[bookslesstravelled · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story

[glennbell_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well written book. Interesting story line. Characters vary from reasonable to somewhat absurd. The main character is somewhat reasonable. The mix of magic and sword fighting is common to many other similar types of stories. The author is able to think through the understandable differences between cultures of the north and south.

[dk_phoenix_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I typically don't read alternate histories (mainly because they're set within the time frame of modern history, which I'm not all that good at retaining in terms of what actually happened in the first place... making the whole 'alternate' scheme a bit of a moot point), but this one was set in the Bronze Age (!!!) so I picked it up with enthusiasm. Perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm... I think I read the first few chapters in the store, and was convinced that this book was going to be an exciting foray into the realm of alternate *ancient* history... a far too little explored niche, in my opinion (unless there are scads of these kinds of books out there that I simply haven't stumbled across yet???). Anyhow, the book was by Turtledove - The Master of Alternate History - so I figured I couldn't go wrong.The first few chapters were good. The next few chapters were alright. The following few chapters were... uh... wait a minute, I'm halfway through the book and absolutely NOTHING has happened yet??? Why am I still reading?!?Allow me to summarize (*spoilers ahead*... sort of...): They journey toward the gap. They go through the gap. They have one significant encounter on the other side of the gap. They come back through the gap. They tell the southern people about the danger. Then... 3/4 of the same people head back up toward the gap. Annnnd... that's a wrap.Seriously. Nothing happens. They travel. The main character whines and broods about his ex-wife and her whoreishness at LEAST TWICE ON EVERY PAGE. I mean... come ON! Give it a rest already, we get the point: you're still not over her even though years have passed, and she's easy. Auuugh. Please. Just stop. Please.This book... in the end... made my brain hurt. It seems like the entire novel was just a setup for the main conflict that doesn't come until, well, book 2. And if book 2 moves as slowly as this one, it'll send it right back to the empty gap in Turtledove's brain where it came from. Who thought this book was good enough to go ahead to publication??? WHO??? Can he write just about anything and get away with it because of his prior successes??? I've read a few other books of his, and they actually had, for example, a moving plot. Honestly, save your time - read the synopsis on Amazon.ca, and then go ahead to book 2. You can thank me later.