It probably isn't fair to quibble over historical inaccuracies in a time travel science fiction novel, but when there are so many details of one particular element, many OS which are pretty accurate, how could there be such glaring mistakes? And creative license doesn't factor as the problems are not crucial to the story, but are repeated a few times.

Anyway. Fun stuff, though I remember now this one devolved into action pulp. ( )

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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: The Nautilus Sanction Series: Time Wars Author: Simon Hawke Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: SFF Pages: 244 Synopsis: The insane Russian from the previous novel, who happens to be a time rebel and the son of one of the most important men in the Time Military, sets out to be Captain Nemo and cause so many time splits that everyone will just have to live with it. We are also introduced to a crazy genius [crazy seems to be rampant in these books] and Jules Verne, as well as our usual cast of Heroes. My Thoughts: Honestly, this was pretty meh and just kind of silly. All of the "authors are so smart and observant and brilliant and creative" bs got on my nerves too. Maybe "authors" are all that, but in this day and age I see "writers", not "authors". I'm giving this series one more book to keep me hooked. Otherwise, it's Curtains! " ( )

Ah, my 21st Hawke book. 5th in the TimeWars series.

The normal people from the prior books return. Lucas Priest, Andre Cross, Finn Delaney. And, as per the norm, Andre kind of barely has any 'lines', and Lucas is kind of cardboardy. Finn has 'lines' but even he appeared cardboardy this time. Forrester also returns, though to a lesser extent (he also, once again, traveled through time, making me wonder what that whole section in the prior book was about - the one where he went on and on about how his time had passed and now he couldn't travel in time . . . except he did in that book. And in this one). Drakov also returns. He has a meater role this time around.

Jules Verne's the 'name' addition this time, though others of historical note appear, like that Jean Lafitte guy who also was in that Pimpernel Plot book. He being based on the historical guy Lafitte who was a pirate.

This time around the 'book' being used as the basis and/or 'thing to get ideas from' is Verne's [b:Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea|33507|Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Extraordinary Voyages, #6)|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345271681s/33507.jpg|1112418]. Captain Nemo doesn't make an appearance, but the Nautilus does. Though the Nautilus is a Soviet ship from 1993 that got stolen by Drakov and renamed the Nautilus - directly based off of 20,000 Leagues under the sea, so . . . um, there's that connection. Like Verne's book, Drakov's out for revenge in his sub. There's even some action among ruins (in 20,000, the ruins are Atlantis, here the 'ruins' are a sunken treasury fleet).

It was an interesting diverting read. Just . . . not something I'd rate as highly as the prior books in the series. Both because of how much stupider the 'time commandos' acted, and the introduction of assholes all over the place (see: mysterious Dr. Darkness, who can teleport, but mostly only as a hologram, and stuff).

Oh, and like prior books, people smoke like smoking's going to be banned tomorrow and they want to go out with a bang. Or something like that. And here I mean every century - those people from the 27th century, and those natives of whatever time periods are visited by the time travellers.

April 8 2016 ( )

As I was finishing up 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I got the hankerin' to pull this one off the shelf. This is the fifth book in Simon Hawke's Time Wars series, in which time travelers have adventures in the points in "history" which inspired some of Western civilization's great tales of wonder or heroism. In this case, the Temporal Corps, allied with science fiction writer Jules Verne and whaler Ned Land, have to stop a villain who has stolen a nuclear sub and is hiding out in the waters of the mid-19th Century. Mr. Hawke starts off paralleling 20,000 Leagues fairly closely, substituting Jules Verne for Verne's character Aronnax, but once they encounter the Nautilus, the story ventures far afield as the characters travel to 1807 to encounter pirate Jean Lafitte and finally ends up in a climax reminiscent of a James Bond movie. It is still an enjoyable read and I enjoy Mr. Hawke's characters, but the Ned Land and Captain Drakov of The Nautilus Sanction can't really compare to the "real" Ned Land and Captain Nemo. All in all, it's entertaining waiting room material.
--J. ( )