Joe Simmons finds himself completely lost in time and space in a jungle that definitely is not on Earth. His only company is Tamarina, an enchanting young woman from a culture that regularly wanders through countless planets. But she has no idea where they are now, and blames Joe for stranding them there. This is the breezy beginning of Renegades of Time, a fast paced, adventurous jaunt through imaginative, alien settings.

In large part, this may seem to be just a very silly fantasy-adventure story, harking back to the Warlords of Mars fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Mostly that's all it is -- harmless and colorful fun. But some of the ideas are creative, such as the method of travelling to other planets using not the space, but the time aspect of the time-space continuum. And the thoughtful look at the ramifications of extreme individualism are interesting: The Algorans who are the primary fictional culture of the novel can travel to any of countless planets. But they've ended up neglecting their homeworld to the point of almost losing their own culture, while living as parasites on other planets.

The book is never preachy, but it does make a case for home and hearth, family and friends as opposed to pure, isolating individualism. And perhaps few books have ever imagined access to so many different worlds. The novel doesn't take us to them, but the Algorans describe the places they can go to: truly worlds without number, populated by an endless variety of cultures.