In stark contrast to other familiar tales of Time War science fiction — where Jack Williamson’s The Legion of Time (1952), Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity (1955), and Poul Anderson’s Time Patrol series with titles like Guardians of Time (1960) often spring to mind — Leiber’s The Big Time and the other narratives within the Change War series present a more complex moral landscape. Neither faction in the conflict, the elusive Spiders nor the Snakes, can be deemed wholly righteous or justifiable in their actions. These rarely glimpsed leaders are Machiavellian to the core, employing any means necessary for their morally ambiguous objectives. For instance, Greta’s Spiders have schemed to sway British and American politics to side-step World War II, thereby securing a Nazi victory. The rank-and-file soldiers on both sides march to the beat of strategic goals shrouded in mystery, often unaware that their battles may not champion the betterment of humankind.