Beyond the Gap cover art

Beyond the Gap

A Novel of the Opening of the World

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

 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, its 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.

©2007 Harry Turtledove (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc. Classics Fantasy Fiction Historical Science Fiction

Critic reviews

"A significant addition to most libraries' sf or speculative fiction collections, his book should interest fans of alternate history and early cultures." (Library Journal)
"A vivid setting and strong characterization bode well for future installments." (Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
really enjoyed this, I didn't think I was going to like the characters to begin with but they grew on me until I was seriously involved by chapter three. It's beautifully written and read (once you get used to some of the pronunciations). The story has a good pace and as usual Mr Turtledove has really thought it through thoroughly. Recommended to anyone living prehistory fiction. I went on to buy the second in the series.

interesting read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story itself is nothing special and nothing spectacular happens, but I liked it because how author describes events and characters.

Master narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is unbelievable. Its 15 hours long and almost all of it is the main character whining about his adulterous wife. For example at one point another character is mourning the death of everyone he has ever known and the end of his life as he knows it and the main character comes up to him and whispers in his ear “hey buddy, it’s not so bad, my wife cheated on me you know?”

It’s unbelievable.

15 Hours of whining.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.