A review by arjohnson5623
Coalescent by Stephen Baxter

2.0

For the vast majority of this book I was deeply, deeply uncomfortable. The choices of an unlikeable, selfish character set in the fall of the Roman character were almost enough to make me put the whole thing down, from prostituting out her daughter to the strange, gut reactions she had in the formation of her heritage-worshiping cult. Glimpses of a historical Arthur were possibly the only thing that saves this from a one-star review— that and the promise of science fiction world-building at the end that hinted at something better, a greater purpose to the suffering sprinkled out throughout the book. I can’t tell if the insect-like people that the Order became was misogynistic or not, or if it was a warning of groupthink, or something different. I’ll be thinking about this story for a long time, and not in a good way.