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baddoctor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
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? No
4.5
lorune's review against another edition
3.0
There is only 1 way to describe this book....
Weird as hell.
The first part was a bit slow and not really fast moving, and before you know it your in all sorts of madness.
Did i mention it was weird ?
Weird as hell.
The first part was a bit slow and not really fast moving, and before you know it your in all sorts of madness.
Did i mention it was weird ?
spitzig's review against another edition
1.0
Crap. It was like an old school 1950's SF novel, and not in a good way. The book was mostly populated by engineers explaining things to each other. Also, it ranted about the bureaucracy of NASA(and the US govt.) as much as any Heinlein novel. The characters were not interesting. The plot was crap. Too much of the "plot" was really just talking about science, so not enough HAPPENED in the book.
touchinggrass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
beccadagoo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
stephen baxter loves describing thought-provokingly beautiful settings, then filling them with trash. i love him
mattschiller's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
High concept, hard SF is probably my 1A or 1B favorite genre. The ability to translate mind bending concepts to prose will always be amazing to me. The author does a great job of setting everything up, explaining the concepts and then letting the readers piece it together. You don’t have to have everything spelled out for you to appreciate and understand. Sad but hopeful at the same time.
crankyoldnerd's review against another edition
4.0
This was a much harder/darker science fiction book than my normal fare. I tend to read a lot of Star Wars/Star Trek with random stuff mixed in.
Always wanting more, I read this one on a recommendation from a friend.
I'll say up front, this is a great book. It's well written, kept me riveted, and had me wanting to finish including late night sessions, and finally just sitting down and finishing it.
However the topic is pretty dark. What happens when civilization thinks the world is ending? How do they behave when children start evolving ahead of them? Lots of topics like that are explored, and for once the ending is not all wrapped up and pretty, it's actually quite dark.
There are two more in the series and I will probably read them, but I need to go find some popcorn book to clear my head because this one was one of those deep thinking/dystopic with a dash of hope tossed in depending on how you view the subject.
Lots of human darkness explored as well with the sci-fi story as the backdrop.
Always wanting more, I read this one on a recommendation from a friend.
I'll say up front, this is a great book. It's well written, kept me riveted, and had me wanting to finish including late night sessions, and finally just sitting down and finishing it.
However the topic is pretty dark. What happens when civilization thinks the world is ending? How do they behave when children start evolving ahead of them? Lots of topics like that are explored, and for once the ending is not all wrapped up and pretty, it's actually quite dark.
There are two more in the series and I will probably read them, but I need to go find some popcorn book to clear my head because this one was one of those deep thinking/dystopic with a dash of hope tossed in depending on how you view the subject.
Lots of human darkness explored as well with the sci-fi story as the backdrop.
jasondlee's review against another edition
1.0
To cut to the chase, I didn't care for this book much at all. I've never read a sci-fi book so heavy on science, by which I mean he spent a LOT of time explaining various scientific principles. There were LONG passages where various ideas and theories are discussed, explained, etc, so much so that, for me, it killed the flow of the story. I like science, and I like novels. For me, this was NOT a good mix. Tell me what's going on, not why. I don't care, in the context of a novel, about Relativity, quantum theory, etc. Just tell about that darn space ships! :P
Another issue I had with this book, which may or may not carry as much weight with others, was that if the author needed a bad guy, it was probably some crazy Christian. I get that people don't accept Christianity as I do. Though I think the'yre wrong, obviously, I'm not going beat them with a buckler and force them to convert. By the same token, I'd rather not spend countless hours reading what I had hoped to be a fun sci-fi novel, only to see it make baseless caricatures of my faith. Call me petty if you will, but that part of the story was impossible for me to ignore.
I finished the book, but I don't think I'll be reading any more in the series.
Another issue I had with this book, which may or may not carry as much weight with others, was that if the author needed a bad guy, it was probably some crazy Christian. I get that people don't accept Christianity as I do. Though I think the'yre wrong, obviously, I'm not going beat them with a buckler and force them to convert. By the same token, I'd rather not spend countless hours reading what I had hoped to be a fun sci-fi novel, only to see it make baseless caricatures of my faith. Call me petty if you will, but that part of the story was impossible for me to ignore.
I finished the book, but I don't think I'll be reading any more in the series.
willia4's review against another edition
3.0
This is a weird book. At some parts, it's an excellent example of hard sci-fi (at the end of the volume, the author makes an extensive list of which of the ideas he used are true). At other times, the book gets so deep into the hand-wavy mumbo-jumbo techno-babble that it becomes frustrating and almost comical. The book introduces several super-intelligent characters whose job seems to be to babble on for several pages of science-y exposition while the view-point characters say "I don't understand." over and over.
As the reader, neither did I. And given the way this exposition butts up against the more understandable hard sci-fi elements, it all becomes a bit disconcerting. For a little while, I understand what's going on. And then I don't. And then I do, but no one ever really follows up to re-explain the bit I missed.
While all of this is going on, there's a reasonably serviceable adventure story happening. Still, at the end of it all, it seems that the adventure wasn't really a part of the plot at all. One of the characters assures us that it was, but they don't explain why. So that was somewhat dissatisfying.
And then there's the entirely new species that's created just for them to wander off without doing much. Also unsatisfying.
And then there's the end which...well, you know.
So this is an okay book. It has some fun stuff going on. It has some neat sci-fi ideas of both the hard and soft variety. It plays with some interesting questions (though never answers them in a really satisfying way). So, it's okay.
There are a couple of other books in Baxter's Manifold series (it's not REALLY a trilogy since, as Wikipedia notes, "...the books can be read in any order because the series takes place in a multiverse."). I'll probably read them one day.
But I'm not in a rush to see what happens.
As the reader, neither did I. And given the way this exposition butts up against the more understandable hard sci-fi elements, it all becomes a bit disconcerting. For a little while, I understand what's going on. And then I don't. And then I do, but no one ever really follows up to re-explain the bit I missed.
While all of this is going on, there's a reasonably serviceable adventure story happening. Still, at the end of it all, it seems that the adventure wasn't really a part of the plot at all. One of the characters assures us that it was, but they don't explain why. So that was somewhat dissatisfying.
And then there's the entirely new species that's created just for them to wander off without doing much. Also unsatisfying.
And then there's the end which...well, you know.
So this is an okay book. It has some fun stuff going on. It has some neat sci-fi ideas of both the hard and soft variety. It plays with some interesting questions (though never answers them in a really satisfying way). So, it's okay.
There are a couple of other books in Baxter's Manifold series (it's not REALLY a trilogy since, as Wikipedia notes, "...the books can be read in any order because the series takes place in a multiverse."). I'll probably read them one day.
But I'm not in a rush to see what happens.