Review of On the Watchtower at Plataea by Garry Kilworth

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Laurel C Kriegler

18586183A very interesting story. Time vortices, opposing time travellers and an engaging view of the siege of Plataea by the Spartans.

The story opens telling us that the group of three time travellers are unable to go further back in time than 429 BC. During the course of the story we find out more about why… though not so much about how they actually time travel. What was interesting is that the team appears to be somewhat incorporeal to the inhabitants of the ‘local’ time, and yet they’re able to handle their own equipment.

The description of the Spartans’ siege of Plataea is vivid as well as amusing – when it comes down to the role the time travellers play as perceived gods. I enjoyed the analysis of the Athenians vs the Spartans – not knowing much about that period of history, it was interesting. But more intriguing was the other group of time travellers from the past (ancient Egypt!) who appeared to have discovered the same mode of time travel, thus creating a standoff between the two time travelling groups. To the disadvantage of those who have travelled back from the future.

I don’t really have much more to say about it. An interesting and somewhat amusing, vividly written story.

4/5 rating

My fellow time travelling readers are:

Timothy C. Ward (on hiatus)
H.M. Jones
DJ (@MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape)

About Laurel C Kriegler

A born and bred South African, I was educated at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, where I graduated with an Honours Degree (post-graduate) in Economics at the end of 2001. After spending several years gaining work experience in the UK, I returned to South Africa to get married. It was during the ensuing period that my pursuits of writing and editing took hold.
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4 Responses to Review of On the Watchtower at Plataea by Garry Kilworth

  1. DJ (@MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape) says:
    March 10, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    There really isn’t much to say about this story. As much as I liked it, not much happens. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it the whole time. I think that was due to how the well the Greek-Spartan battle was written.

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  2. Hannah Jones says:
    March 10, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Yeah, I had a hard time with review on this one, too. Like DJ and you say, it’s not that it was bad, it’s just hard to know what to comment on. I did my best with what I thought was the very funny underlying theme, but there was little action to endorse a comment.

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