Baxter, Stephen Books

Firstborn

Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Firstborn–the mysterious race of aliens who first became known to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey–have inhabited legendary master of science fiction Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s writing for decades. With Time’s Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in their acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and his brilliant co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic.

Their first act was the Discontinuity, in which Earth was carved into sections from different eras of history, restitched into a patchwork world, and renamed Mir. Mir’s inhabitants included such notables as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and United Nations peacekeeper Bisesa Dutt. For reasons unknown to her, Bisesa entered into communication with an alien artifact of inscrutable purpose and godlike power–a power that eventually returned her to Earth. There, she played an instrumental role in humanity’s race against time to stop a doomsday event: a massive solar storm triggered by the alien Firstborn designed to eradicate all life from the planet. That fate was averted at an inconceivable price. Now, twenty-seven years later, the Firstborn are back.

This time, they are pulling no punches: They have sent a “quantum bomb.” Speeding toward Earth, it is a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, that cannot be stopped or destroyed–and one that will obliterate Earth.

Bisesa’s desperate quest for answers sends her first to Mars and then to Mir, which is itself threatened with extinction. The end seems inevitable. But as shocking new insights emerge into the nature of the Firstborn and their chilling plans for mankind, an unexpected ally appears from light-years away.


From the Hardcover edition.

Time's Eye (A Time Odyssey)

Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 55 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sir Arthur C. Clarke may be the greatest science fiction writer in the world; certainly, he's the best-known, not least because he wrote the novel and coauthored the screenplay of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He's also the only SF writer to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize or to be knighted by Her Majesty Elizabeth II. This god of SF has twice collaborated with one of the best SF writers to emerge in the 1990s, Stephen Baxter, winner of the British SF Award, the Locus Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. Their first collaboration is the novel The Light of Other Days. Their second is the novel Time's Eye: Book One of a Time Odyssey.

As the subtitle indicates, Time's Eye is the first book of a series intended to do for time what 2001 did for space. Does Time's Eye succeed in this goal? No. In 2001, humanity discovers a mysterious monolith on the moon, triggering a signal that astronauts pursue to one of the moons of Jupiter. In Time's Eye, mysterious satellites appear all around the Earth and scramble time, bringing together an ape-woman; twenty- first-century soldiers and astronauts; nineteenth-century British and Indian soldiers; and the armies of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. The characters march around in search of other survivors, then clash in epic battle. It's not until the end that the novel returns to the mystery of the tiny, eye-like satellites (and doesn't solve it). In other words, the plot of Time's Eye is a nearly 300-page digression, and 2001 fans expecting exploration of the scientific enigma and examination of the meaning of existence will be disappointed. However, fans of rousing and well-written transtemporal adventure in the tradition of S.M. Stirling's novel Island in the Sea of Time will enjoy Time's Eye. --Cynthia Ward

Sunstorm (A Time Odyssey)

Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter

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Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> High Tech

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the greatest science fiction writer ever, teams up with award-winning author Stephen Baxter, who shares Clarke’s bold vision of a future where technology and humanism advance hand in hand, the result is bound to be a book of stellar ambition and accomplishment. Such was the case with Time’s Eye. Now, in the highly anticipated sequel, Clarke and Baxter draw their epic to a triumphant conclusion that is as mind-blowing as anything in Clarke’s famous Space Odyssey series.

SUNSTORM

Returned to the Earth of 2037 by the Firstborn, mysterious beings of almost limitless technological prowess, Bisesa Dutt is haunted by the memories of her five years spent on the strange alternate Earth called Mir, a jigsaw-puzzle world made up of lands and people cut out of different eras of Earth’s history. Why did the Firstborn create Mir? Why was Bisesa taken there and then brought back on the day after her original disappearance?

Bisesa’s questions receive a chilling answer when scientists discover an anomaly in the sun’s core–an anomaly that has no natural cause is evidence of alien intervention over two thousand years before. Now plans set in motion millennia ago by inscrutable watchers light-years away are coming to fruition in a sunstorm designed to scour the Earth of all life in a bombardment of deadly radiation.

Thus commences a furious race against a ticking solar time bomb. But even now, as apocalypse looms, cooperation is not easy for the peoples and nations of the Earth. Religious and political differences threaten to undermine every effort.

And all the while, the Firstborn are watching...


From the Hardcover edition.

The Time Ships

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Time Travel Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book! I've read it 3 times and it still a great read. The ideas, the forethought, and pure creativity level are fantastic. Yes, the original Time Machine novel is a classic and this book more than does it justice.

The most adventure 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is truly a treasure, the most amazing adventure I have ever read. Wonderful storyline, very believable and in keeping with real science. Tho it is over 500 pages long, in somewhat smaller print than in most paperbacks by Stephen Baxter by the time you reach the end you'll wish it was twice as long.

Editorial Review:

What if the time machine from H.G. Wells' classic novel of the same name had fallen into government hands? That's the question that led Stephen Baxter to create this modern-day sequel, which combines a basic Wellsian premise with a Baxteresque universe-spanning epic. The Time Traveller, driven by his failure to save Weena from the Morlocks, sets off again for the future. But this time the future has changed, altered by the very tale of the Traveller's previous journey.

Ring

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fundamentally Flawed 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

There are (at least) three devastating flaws in this book.

1: Baxter, despite his obvious grasp of cosmology, becomes so caught up in telling a story that spans millions of years that he simply forgets that light is still subject to its eponymous speed limit. For example, the characters notice the same abnormalities in the stellar lifecycle of stars across the galaxy (and beyond) at the same time; in fact, as Baxter well knows, an event occuring 100,000 thousand light years (or 150 million) will not be evident for another 100,000 (or 1 million) years. Baxter utterly fails to represent this most basic physical fact, and insists on presenting concurrent events separated by millions of light years as being visible at the same time.

2: The book posits the absolutely ubiquitous and universal evolution of a life form, members of which behave identically with identical results though separated by billions of light years; we know this because, again, Baxter makes changes happening now, billions of light years away, visible immediately.

3: His characters are horribly drawn, and his dialog is completely banal, littered with the same didactic turns and cheap ploys from start to end. First, every single time one character explains something to another (which happens a lot), they begin the sentence or paragraph with the other's name; e.g. "Louise, this is..." or "Morrow, that is..." Secondly, every single time a character is upset, they say "damn you", "damn it" or just "damn". Usually it's "damn you". Both of these patterns became so obvious by the end of the book that it was almost funny.

Baxter is clearly a brilliant guy and I love his big ideas, including those in this book, which is why i gave it two stars instead of one; I thought Evolution was 3/4 astoundingly good. But reading the last quarter of this book actually made me angry at him, for losing his great ideas in such a muddle of poor decisionmaking.

Editorial Review:

Michael Poole's wormholes constructed in the orbit of Jupiter had opened the galaxy to humankind. Then Poole tried looping a wormhole back on itself, tying a knot in space and ripping a hole in time.

It worked. Too well.

Poole was never seen again. Then from far in the future, from a time so distant that the stars themselves were dying embers, came an urgent SOS--and a promise. The universe was doomed, but humankind was not. Poole had stumbled upon an immense artifact, light-years across, fabricated from the very string of the cosmos.

The universe had a door. And it was open...

Conqueror: Time's Tapestry Book Two (Time's Tapestry)

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

a fabulous fictionalized account 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As predicted by the the Menologium of the Blessed Isolde Prophecy, invincible Rome is no more especially in the remote areas like Britannia (see EMPEROR); gone by AD 409. These nine stanzas, written on parchment in the Old English, predict the rise and fall of the powerful when the comet comes as treachery, avarice and wars are the norm.

Although they know the Roman legions left their island two centuries ago, in AD 607 young Saxon Wuffa and the Norse warrior Ulf travel together seeking the last Roman who they believe possesses the parchment. They believe possession of the parchment will bring them power even if it means death to the current guardian.

Late in the eighth century, a girl disguised as a boy holds the parchment while residing at Lindisfarne Monastery until the Vikings attack in AD 793 seeking to destroy all known copies of the parchment, but they failed to destroy her memory of the words. Almost a century later, Alfred the Great retakes London. Finally in AD 1066 William the Conqueror defeats Saxon King Harold at Hastings. All predicted by the Prophesy in its stanzas.

The second book in the Time's Tapestry, CONQUEROR is a fabulous fictionalized account of four bloody pivotal periods in English history (spanning just less than five centuries). The current saga is broken into four segments, which makes for easier reading over a few days. Each entry enables the audience to see deeply how people lived and tried to survive during tumultuous violent periods while the enigmatic Weaver lurks in an apparent futuristic background. Fans will appreciate Stephen Baxter's fine epic tale that can stand alone, but enhanced by reading EMPEROR first and look forward to the next cycle NAVIGATOR that will take us to 1492.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

The second novel in a thrilling alternate-history series-from national bestselling author Stephen Baxter.

Three centuries have passed since Rome fell, as The Prophecy foretold. Now The Prophecy's scroll is in the hands of a young girl, the last surviving member of the family who received The Prophecy. She lives in tranquility, disguisd as a boy among the monks on the isle of Lindisfarne-until the Vikings come, deliberately destroying the final copies of the scroll. But it remains in her memory, and when William of Normandy, who history will call the Conqueror, rises to power, once more the fate of the land rests on actions inspired by those age-old words.

But as time passes, memory of The Prophecy dims--and the veiled girl struggles to understand her heritage before all knowledge of the future will be lost to the past.

Emperor: Time's Tapestry #1 (Time's Tapestry)

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Nothing like his previous work. 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

If you're a fan of Stephen Baxter's earlier work I don't recommend this one. Science fiction writer turned to alternate history rarely works well, this is no exception.
I bought this just because it was the only book of his I didn't have at the time. I've had it for months and unfortunately just cannot finish it, It bores me too much. I have given up on it a few times but I keep trying again because I loved his other books so much. Sorry Mr Baxter, this book is most disappointing. I'll give this whole series a miss and wait for the next one.

Editorial Review:

Inscribed in Latin, The Prophecy has resided in the hands of a single family for generations, revealing secrets about the world that is to come, and guiding them to wealth and power...

It begins when a Celtic noble betrays his people at the behest of his mother's belief in The Prophecy and sides with the conquering Roman legions. For the next 400 years, Britannia thrives-as does the family that contributed to Rome's reign over the island with the construction of Emperor Hadrian's Wall and the protection of Emperor Constantine from a coup d'Žtat.

And even when the sun begins to set on the Roman Empire, The Prophecy remains. For those capable of deciphering its signs and portents, the future of Earth is in their hands

Flood

Stephen Baxter

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Next year. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than any climate change predictions; metres a year. Within two years London, only 15 metres above the sea, is drowned. New York follows, the Pope gives his last address from the Vatican, Mecca disappears beneath the waves. Where is all the water coming from? Scientists estimate that the earth was formed with seas 30 times in volume their current levels. Most of that water was burnt off by the sun but some was locked in the earth's mantle. For the tip of Everest to disappear beneath the waters would require the seas to triple their volume. That amount of water is still much less than 1% of the earth's volume. And somehow it is being released. The world is drowning. The biblical flood has returned. And the rate of increase is building all the time. Mankind is on the run, heading for high ground. Nuclear submarines prowl through clouds of corpses rising from drowned cities, populations are decimated and finally the dreadful truth is known. Before 50 years have passed there will be nowhere left to run. FLOOD tells the story of mankind's final years on earth.The stories of a small group of people caught up in the struggle to survive are woven into a tale of unimaginable global disaster. And the hope offered for a unlucky few by a second great ark ...

Resplendent: Destiny's Children Book Four (Gollancz S.F.)

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

BIG Baxter fan 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

The previous three books in the "Children of Destiny" series were all structured so that they told the story along two different timelines, switching back and forth between them. Resplendant doesn't so much follow that format, and follows a seemingly linear timeline, albeit on a literally stellar scale.

Resplendent is essentially a collection of short stories, filling in the back story from before the setting of book two "Exultant" to after the end of the events outlined in Book Three "Transcendent". So while it is a very engrossing read, many of the themes and ideas are familier from the previous books.

Editorial Review:

RESPLENDENT is a collection of stories that encompasses mankind's epic fight for survival against the Xeelee, a narrative of how man will change and evolve over our epic journey out into the universe. These tales will encompass the rise of sub-molecular empires in the first nanoseconds after the Big Bang to mankind's final transformation. Full of cutting-edge science, descriptions of time and space on a mind-boggling scale and memorable, all-too-human characters. It is both the capstone to one of the most significant series in the history of SF and a remarkable achievement in its own right. This is a mature and uniquely talented writer at the height of his powers.

Voyage

Stephen Baxter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Technically excellent, but overwhelmed by back story 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Stephen Baxter's VOYAGE takes place in an alternate past: What if John F. Kennedy had survived assassination and lobbied for NASA to send astronauts to Mars in the 1980s, instead of building the space shuttle? It's a fascinating premise and certainly one worthy of a unique Mars novel.

Baxter himself holds a doctorate in engineering, so it's no surprise that he really knows his way around the technical stuff of spaceflight. He's quite knowledgeable in space history, as well. He presents an impressive amount of authentic detail, far more than I've seen in any other novel of its kind. Perhaps too much, in fact, because many spaceflight scenes repeat events and dialogue from real-life missions almost verbatim. On the whole, VOYAGE feels quite faithful to the era described, even if it's somewhat too faithful. It's also interesting to catch him using a few historic dates in spaceflight -- July 1976, April 1981, January 1986 -- so we can contemplate the differences in his alternate past.

Geologist Natalie York is VOYAGE's most reliable protagonist; she comes across as determined but not easy to root for. Baxter makes a few generalizations based on astronaut mythology, and he rarely hides his disdain for NASA's old "pilot vs. scientist" culture. One veteran astronaut is so surly that in the real space program he would have been permanently shelved from flight status (a la Wally Schirra). Nonetheless, Baxter avoids many of the stilted stereotypes of Ben Bova's Mars novels, so at least these characters are more subtle and level-headed. For the most part, he steers clear of the soap-opera style plotting that cripples most Mars books, and that alone is commendable.

VOYAGE's "major malfunction" is that Baxter spends far too much time laying the groundwork for going to Mars, and it dominates the pace of the novel. Almost nine tenths of this book is back story. The launch of the Mars flight opens the book, but by page 200 we're only up to Day 3 and we've barely left the earth behind us. At page 466, we've reached Day 171 of the flight, yet we've only arrived at the swingby of Venus, and we're still almost seven months away from the red planet!

While the author deserves praise for presenting a credible rationale for going to Mars, you can only go so far with a book about a Mars flight without actually describing the flight. I kept pleading for Baxter to get away from the project's early days and get to the damn point, but it practically never happens. Once I figured out how diminished the Mars flight was, it took me ages to finish reading. Because it is so dominated by background, this 772-page story unfolds in almost geologic time.

Even with my complaints, VOYAGE is easily the most technically accomplished and reasonable Mars novel I've ever read, and I've read a great many of them. It is frequently interesting and packed with details, but I just wish Baxter had spent more effort flying the mission instead of building his case. It is a solid four-star novel if not for the heavy reliance on background.

Editorial Review:

Kennedy survived. Like many alternate history stories, that's the premise of Stephen Baxter's Voyage. But in Baxter's version of the past, that one altered fact is the propellant that drives humanity into space, beyond the primitive lunar landings of the 1960s. Spurred by a JFK who champions space flight and a Nixon administration that backs NASA, humans reach Mars in 1986. But this is a tragic tale as well as a triumphant one, for Baxter's relentless realism chronicles the perils of extended space flight as well as its glamorous achievements, making for a gritty, true-to-life story.