Book Review: Cross-Time Engineer (The Adventures of Conrad Stargard, Book 1) by Leo Frankowski - Page 2

Frankowski is a little cute with the names, having a Francis of Assisi (not the St. Francis of Assisi) teach his Polish kids the 3R’s in Polish. He has a student of the monk Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine order, as Stargard’s confessor, as well as having earlier versions of Copernicus and Marie Curie making appearances. In addition, Frankowski, who evidently watched the satirical Rocky and Bullwinkle as a kid, even has a Boris and Natasha in his book.

Naturally an American makes an appearance in the series (did you think a Midwesterner would leave the Americans out?) and the problems that Conrad causes this American is part of the fun of the series. After milking the same plotline of defeating the Mongols with advanced technology for seven books, the last book, called Conrad’s Time Machine, deals with the back-story, and begins to introduce the reader to how it was that Conrad comes across a time capsule in the first place.

From the way the last book was written, it appears that there is another one in Frankowski’s imagination (or on his hard drive) that is yet forthcoming. The snake does not yet bite his own tail, so to speak.

Cross-Time Engineer is not fit for small children who have no knowledge of sex, but any teenager with a reasonable understanding of American culture, not to mention lots of adults, can appreciate this series of books. There is lots of sex and violence in the whole series but there is nothing pornographic or gory in any of the books; Frankowski is a writer who knows how to sanitize both sex and violence and make it all come out smelling almost like a rose.

I strongly recommend this series, even though the fifth book is a bit uneven, and the last book is not properly named. Frankowski is an engaging storyteller, and even when the story flags, you learn a great deal about how the creative mind works, along with all the things it takes to make glass, gunpowder, cannon, and even a T-shirt.

In short, they’re worth opening your wallet and laying out the shekels for the hard copies.

Article Author: Ruvy

Ruvy was born in Brooklyn and lived in Minnesota for a number of years. There he managed restaurants and wrote stories. He moved with his family to Israel where they now reside. He is published by Jewish Indy, as well as by Desicritics.org.

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