There are two positive things I can say about the Wheel of Ice.Author Stephen Baxter is superb at the art of world building and Wheel of Ice is full of great concepts: Pioneers in space, a society where humans are segregated by categories A, B, and C. And a more rigorous pioneer lifestyle for you...
Stephen Baxter (author of the 'Xeelee Sequence' series of sci-fi novels) was chosen to write this Second Doctor adventure. Which is probably aimed at us older fans who wanted a bit more from the BBC's range of Doctor Who novels. The plot does meander a bit and I found the background 'interludes' ...
Preface: Have only read one Stephen Baxter book before, Sunstorm, which he co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke. Masterful writing by Baxter. Stone Spring not only portrays the changing physical geography of climate change but the changing human geography as well. Baxter creates a simulated world wh...
This is the sort of fourth book in the Manifold series and is a collection of short stories, many of which connect to the series.Moon-Calf: A retired astronaut comes to England and finds hints of an ancient space voyage. A lovely idea which was really well executed. Open Loops: A human expansion ...
Taking on the task of writing a sequel to H.G. Wells’ classic The Time Machine must have been like painting a target on his back. Having read Baxter’s Xeelee Omnibus I was very curious if Baxter can pull it off as the Xeelee books are very hard sci-fi with some very complicated scientific exposit...
The whole aspect of destruction is one that arouses a lot of interest for a non-connected observer. This could explain why newsreel footage of terror attacks, calamities and accidents glue so many viewers across continents to their television sets. Movies like Independence Day ,Deep Impact and Ar...
This is not just one book, but loosely connected, two and a bit – a historical novel, a biological thriller and a science fiction short story – under one cover.The historical novel is about a girl growing up in Britain in the 5th century A.D., while the Roman rule disintegrates. Now, I am not a f...
You know that whole "don't judge a book by its cover" thing? Yeah, well, I totally did. In a heady bit of book buying when I graduated from college and got a full time job, I may have celebrated by overindulging in a Books-a-Million and grabbing anything that struck my fancy. I may or may not ...
From School Library Journal Adult/High School-Set in the same vast time scale and future as Coalescent (2003) and Exultant (2004, both Del Rey), Transcendent can be read independently. Michael Poole is a middle-aged engineer in the year of the digital millennium (2047) and Alia is a recognizabl...
Time travel paradox bifurcate the hero's journey.Baxter has a head full of great concepts, and not all seem to make it to the page intact. The war between human and the mysterious Xeelee introduces a lot of wild concepts (most familiar among them the idea of war as Malthusian population control),...
When telling the stories of individuals and peoples, there are three questions the story must deal with: 1) Where did we come from? 2) Where are we going? and 3) What will become of us? In Evolution, Stephen Baxter tells the story of humankind itelf, ranging from humanity's nraw beginnings in...
3 down 1 to go. This was much more boring and more gory than the first 2. Baxter does have a love for making his readers flinch. As the series has progressed, he has lengthened the sections for each time period. Unfortunately, he hasn't made the characters any more compelling than when the sectio...