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llsburg's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book twenty years ago and count it among my favorites. I chose to re-read it to find out if it holds up today. Well, I have changed. Maybe I don't hold up lol! My math and science comprehension is not as sharp, and parts of the book were over my head. Still, I love to chew on the philosophical and metaphysical puzzles presented here. Stephen Baxter is a unique thinker, and this book is chock full of unique ideas especially for 1999.
Despite my excitement to re-read it, I found myself slogging through the first half and then zipping through the last quarter. I'd like to say this was a literary device reflecting the central theme of time dilation, but I think it has more to do with a lack of experience at this point in Baxter's career. The constant narrator shift and media shifts come off as a messy hodgepodge, and I think the writing could benefit by some strict editing.
But I love this book! You have space-faring cephalopods, super smart "blue" children who have somehow come from the future (downstream), universe-and-time-transversing wormholes, and human politics. You get to play with fun science brain nuggets like imagining matter is a fold in space time. Also, it's impossible not to compare space entrepreneur Reid Malenfant to Elon Musk ... a prescient choice by Baxter!
Ultimately, Baxter raises and explores the question: "What is the point to all THIS?" ...And then he mindfucks you by playing out the possibility of a successful, intelligent, peaceful space-colonizing civilization for millennia and millennia. It's quite depressing!
Somehow, Baxter ends the story with a hopeful solution, but without answering the question of "Does it work?" (appropriately so).
I recommend this book because I think everyone should experience this thought experiment. It was a formative book in my young adult life, and I cannot imagine never having read it. That being said, I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of technical issues with the writing.
Despite my excitement to re-read it, I found myself slogging through the first half and then zipping through the last quarter. I'd like to say this was a literary device reflecting the central theme of time dilation, but I think it has more to do with a lack of experience at this point in Baxter's career. The constant narrator shift and media shifts come off as a messy hodgepodge, and I think the writing could benefit by some strict editing.
But I love this book! You have space-faring cephalopods, super smart "blue" children who have somehow come from the future (downstream), universe-and-time-transversing wormholes, and human politics. You get to play with fun science brain nuggets like imagining matter is a fold in space time. Also, it's impossible not to compare space entrepreneur Reid Malenfant to Elon Musk ... a prescient choice by Baxter!
Ultimately, Baxter raises and explores the question: "What is the point to all THIS?" ...And then he mindfucks you by playing out the possibility of a successful, intelligent, peaceful space-colonizing civilization for millennia and millennia.
Spoiler
Well, once the universe's energy is exhausted, once the universe dies as it eventually must, what was the point of such pioneering, of all these great ideas, of all these moving experiences, if it all has to end??Somehow, Baxter ends the story with a hopeful solution, but without answering the question of "Does it work?" (appropriately so).
I recommend this book because I think everyone should experience this thought experiment. It was a formative book in my young adult life, and I cannot imagine never having read it. That being said, I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of technical issues with the writing.
dyin2respawn's review against another edition
3.0
This was a tough one to get through. The ideas and concepts in the story kept me wanting to know what would happen. Half way through I found myself reading for several pages and getting bored with the writing itself. I had to force myself to finish the book and it felt like a chore to do so, but I had to know what happened. I plan to read the next book in the series but I don't know if I can force myself to finish another one if it is like this one. Hopefully it isn't, but if it is I probably won't read anything else by Baxter.
julie_anderson's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable sci-fi with a nice, manageable cast of characters. I thought the science bits were done particularly well with explanations easily integrated.
jg17's review against another edition
4.0
This was my first Baxter and really enjoyed it, despite being slightly dated. I really liked the format- multiple POVs ; some interstitial media POVs. The squid stuff was right for me and I would have liked more of that and from the cephalopod POV. I would recommend Children of Ruin and vice versa to fans of either, although Tchiavoksky's books are equally as dense, but quicker, fresher reads. To be clear: this is hard sf and the science dumps are sensibly plotted. Exciting space stuff: rockets, astronomy, ect. There was some heavy time theory stuff I did not exactly understand, but didn't get in the way of the plot. Would I have given it 5 stars had I read it 20 years ago when it came out? Maybe, if I wanted this and wasn't so fascinated with Mieville and Stross. There is something very one-sided and dated to this. I can't put my finger on it...From someone who keeps up with contemporary 21st century SF from around the globe these days, you can still smell the white guy, Western-voice of Manifold Time. But I knew what I was getting into. The inclusion of world-wide cultures' voices in the narrative was a plus. This was well written for what it is. For me who was in the mood for: Earth-centered, “far-out weird” but also science-based, space exploration hard SF stuff, this hit the mark. (Recommendations always accepted.)
bennywhatever's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
milkywaycrossing's review against another edition
4.0
This book is definitely hard sci-fi, to the point that the science at the end is hard to understand.
darthm00s3's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
I would bet almost anything that Elon Musk read this book when it came out in 2000 and decided he would dedicate his life to becoming the main character of this book in real life.
Honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. Made all the more frustrating because the central sci-fi idea is actually pretty cool and it goes somewhere that would have been interesting in perhaps a short story but not drawn out into this overwrought mess.
Chris Nolan probably read this and wrote Interstellar, and I mean that as disparagingly as possible. At least Interstellar actually has characters you come to care about and an emotional core that this book spectacularly lacks.
Honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. Made all the more frustrating because the central sci-fi idea is actually pretty cool and it goes somewhere that would have been interesting in perhaps a short story but not drawn out into this overwrought mess.
Chris Nolan probably read this and wrote Interstellar, and I mean that as disparagingly as possible. At least Interstellar actually has characters you come to care about and an emotional core that this book spectacularly lacks.
mdshrk1's review against another edition
4.0
As with many books in this genre, the end is only the beginning.
petercawdron's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a sucker for Stephen Baxter. The characterisation is weak, but any science fiction story that works in the concept of proton decay after several billion years is five stars in my thinking :)
smalzz's review against another edition
2.0
Gubmint bad and dumb! Only the visionary billionaires can save us if the mean ol gubmint just steps aside for the glorious hand of the free market! Elon Musk probably jerks off to this book nightly.