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Coalescent
One thread follows George Poole, an educated and intelligent man in modern day Britain. After his father's sudden death, George has to put his affairs in order, and in the process discovers a previously unknown twin sister sent away to join "The Puissant Order of Holy Mary Queen of Virgins", a secretive (but apparently respectable) sixteen-hundred-year old religious order in Rome. He decides to find out more, and begins to investigate with the help of an old school friend, a member of a "fringe group of outsiders united by new technology" who communicate via the Internet and moderate each other's contributions to keep things ordered -- what a bizarre idea.
At the same time in Rome, Lucia is a fourteen-year old member of the Order who finds herself, unlike her fellow sisters, undergoing some alarming physical changes... puberty.
The other narrative thread follows Regina, a girl born around 400 A.D in Roman Britain. She is spoiled and pampered until her world is shattered by the death of her father and the ending of Roman rule in Britain.
Of the three threads, Regina's story is by far the most vivid and compelling. It is easy to read the broad sweep of history books documenting the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, but what did it mean for the people living through it? Currency, the rule of law, the specialised labour needed to provide metal, and the army to keep the peace... all gone. As one of the characters (Peter, in the "George" thread) says, "It must have been like a nuclear war." No longer enjoying the protection of the Emperor and his armies, the scattered and disorganised British have to fend for themselves against the invading Saxons intent on looting, pillaging and removing all traces of Roman civilisation. Regina must learn how to survive, and eventually her drive and ruthlessness leads her to Rome to confront her past and make a better future for her daughter. Driven by instinct and a desire to protect her family from the barbarian sackings of Rome, she establishes an unusual way of life which threatens to change the meaning of what it is to be human.
There is a great deal more, but it would be unfair to reveal too much and spoil things for others. The dangling threads (the mysterious Kuiper Belt anomaly) and hints (the war 20,000 years hence) leave plenty for future novels in the trilogy to push the story further into big science, big ideas and deep time that Baxter is well known for. Coalescent is scrupulously researched, intriguing, educational and has a genuine effect on the way you see social interactions and communities. Hard to beat, and highly recommended.
You can purchase Coalescent from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
"who communicate via the Internet and moderate each other's contributions to keep things ordered -- what a bizarre idea."
Does he conclude that it doesn't work?
Coalescent is unmistakeably a Stephen Baxter novel, but it's not the sort of novel you expect Stephen Baxter to write. The material is as big and bold as ever - this is a novel concerned with civilisation and society, order and chaos, as viewed through the lens of evolutionary biology - but the focus is more intense than usual. This is a novel about the role of the group and the role of the individual. This is a novel about family. Specifically, the Poole family.
I often find it more interesting when science fiction broadens its horizons into the dynamics of relationships and family, and not just blowing up spaceships.
If Destiny's Children is anything like its namesake, the worst of the three books will become disproportionately more popular than the other two, and will be mistaken as comedic and subsequently featured in an Austin Powers movie.
Your final line is nearly identical to James Joyce comment two comments above. Are you schizo (logging in under two names) or a plagiarist? No quotes are indicated.
BTW - I'm always suspicious of book review comments as the author/significant others/rabid fans/competition comments always pile on.
Your review of Quicksilver should be modded offtopic, since this article was about a completely different book. Accidental or troll?
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
There are some more reviews out there.
... shouldn't be written as trilogies. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they shouldn't be published seperately. I don't mind reading book 1 in a trilogy and waiting to find out more if the book would have been a good read on it's own. But this book comes across as a novel that is more than a little unsatisfying without the following books.
.02 worth
My
If you're interested in non-fantasy books (at least books with no orcs and dragons) about post-Roman Britain, look up the Camulod Chronicles books by Jack Whyte. Very well written, and well-researched. I just wish he'd finished them.
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
Only at /. would a comment about a Stephenson book get modded up in response to a review about a totally different book by a different author.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
how does this book stand up to such Baxter literature as Vacuum Diagrams (i realize that this is a collection of stories, but comparable to a book) which is another one of his excellent rambles through history? Baxter excels at such writing, which is evident in such works as the Time Ships, an elaboration (and stunning improvement on) Wells' Time Machine. When he grounds himself in too small a time frame, i find his imagination is somewhat constricted, which is why the manifold trilogy was good in my eyes, but was overshadowed by his more temporally epic work.
Baxter and Stephenson, who've been much discussed so far, are both doing incredible work in science fiction. anyone who hasn't read them definitely should. i would recommend Baxter's Time Ships (a lengthy but very enjoyable read) and Stephenson's Snow Crash (so entertaining) to begin, and then explore other books authored by them.
Heres a review I did of Ring, the only Baxter book I've read. Keep in mind I'm no writer myself, this is just my opinion, not a professional review.
As far as the ideas of grand scifi go, Ring ranks near the top. The story spans 5 million years, two universes and includes one character, Lieserl, a once-human AI whose life spans nearly all 5 millon years. Lieserl is one of the two most interesting characters in the book, the other is a 1000 year old man named Uvarov. Unfortunately, both characters exist only to serve a couple of key plot points. All of the characters are flat and uninteresting, with no decernable personality or drive.
The major elements are interesting, everything between is grating. Particularly the characters propensity to speak the name of the person they are addressing every second time they open their mouths. By the end of the book you will be subconciously filtering out the names, or just skipping the dialog outright. For the most part, you won't miss it.
Every problem is solved almost magically, the characters never break a sweat. Mostly they stand around addressing each other by name and explaining to each other (purely for the readers benefit) the technology and history of the story. The plot is very obviously there only as a tool for the author to speculate about some of the very cool things that an incredibly advance race might do with the universe.
If this book were a blanket, it would be a net of irritating wool holding together some very finely cut jewels. Thats why I'm giving it three stars. Its irritating to use, but still worth having around. If you want silk sheets, try Vernor Vinge instead.
2.) Homepage URL is a porn link.
(a genetically engineered squid flying a ship from earth to the astoroid belt anyone? [from the book Space]).
Actually, it's from "Manifold: Time". And personally I found the book to be rather depressing. It started off great, with a push toward space. But in the end, it was basically, "Let's see, who's not dead yet? Oh, I know! The ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!" Ugh.
And the Squid was over the top. It sounds great in the context of the book and everything, but it just doesn't jive. I mean, how exactly does the author propose that a little Frankenstein type surgery on a squid brain would result in a super intelligent squid? Or that this attribute would be passed down through generations when it wasn't actually DNA encoded?
Ugh. That's my review.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Only at slashdot could people spend more time worrying about bogus postings than the real content.
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
I've said it (here) before, and I'll say it again. If you're looking for excellent authors in the space-opera subgenre of SF, read all of Peter F Hamilton's stuff first.
I just finished his Second Chance at Eden, a collection of short-stories loosely related to his other novels and works. Very good stuff. But, the Reality Dysfunction/Neutronium Alchemist/Naked God trilogy (6 700+ pg paperbacks in the US) is just plain excellently engrossing, in my opinion. Check it out.
Sold.
Has anyone done a bot to automatically detect such duplication? Seems easy, even with the occasional edit to give it a different checksum.
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
I certainly agree that Vinge does a better job with this genre.
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
Baxter also seems to implicitly use work by Richard Dawkins, in "The Selfish Gene", where Dawkins argues that organisms are just the vessels by which their genes propagate in time. For the most part, this refers to nonsentient creatures. But the most provocative implication of Dawkins' work is that we too are bound by such imperatives. The plot in this book also seems to follow this thread.
Anyone who is up-to-date with Dawkins work would know that Dawins says the exact opposite - as sentient beings we are not bound these imperatives.
So around here we are mostly geeky nerds, right?
It follows that in order to interest us a review of a fiction book should clearly state at least the following points:
1. Why, if a trilogy, it is worth reading on beyond the first book (this test fails 87% of all SF, hard, soft, or AI-written);
2. What is the unique element distinguishing this book from the approximately 50-60 SF new books being published every month (originals, no translations, USA+UK);
3. Why the reviewer thought worth looking at this particular book rather than documenting the spaghetti code he/she had just written; we want to know a detailed explanation of the urge that assailed him/her, not just the usual fluff;
4. Before using the expression 'hard SF' which should allegedly make the book more attractive to us (though it's true I hate fantasy quests full of orcs and dwarves), submit the book to the Charles Sheffield test (i.e. every scientific deus ex machina may not be based on chemically pure drivel, but should instead be based on at least one unsupported, perhaps daring, assumption).
With thanks to all reviewers, though...
ThufirHawat
Thufir Hawat
Part-time Mentat
By the time we figure out how to "enhance" a creature's IQ, we'd have found out how to create an autonomous enough artificial intelligence. Perhaps Baxter was just trying to counterpoint Clarke's HAL. I still find machines (or robots) to be the best substitute for a crewed mission to (put your favorite space exploration destination here).
... in that I didn't know I would ever throw away a hardcover book. But baxter made me do it. I found myself reading about a diseased, pregnant gorilla on the train. A pregnant gorilla. This is sci-fi? I would have left the book when I reached my station, but they hate it when you leave trash behind, so I threw it in the nearest bin.
I did like the Xeelee stuff, but after manifold and Triton, baxter will need to send me a personal apology before I spend another cent on his new stuff.
I have not read Banks, but I have several of Reynolds books and have enjoyed reading them very much. Good enough that when I browse the shelves his is one of the few specific names I watch for.
Your comment was stupid. Very stupid. One need look no further than the phenomenom known as the LOTR trilogy to see just how stupid your comment was. The LOTR books do not by any means each stand on their own; they may each be enjoying in their own right, but they are incomplete by themselves.
Ok, I'm done being a dick, heh :P
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
As far as I can tell, most of Baxter's books are in the same universe. They may appear to be unrelated, but they aren't. Well, maybe not Time Ships, but while creating all the universes, it surely passes through the main Baxter-verse.
Check out the ultimate fate of Mike Poole, and consider what little was mentioned of the mysterious being which turned him into a super being. Later, when the people of the Raft come back into this universe, and Poole decides to care for them, they're already sitting on top of the ultimate travel machine -- go anywhere in space or time, this universe or the next. Suddenly, Poole's future begins to seem a lot like the mysterious being's past...
So, Baxter's Universe is a Very Large closed timelike curve. Woot!
FWIW, the LOTR 'trilogy' was intended by Tolkien to be published as one physical book. The cost of publishing such a large book at the time (post-WWII) was such that the publisher divided it into three volumes.
The names "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "Return of the King" were made up after the fact. Tolkien preferred "War of the Ring" as the name of the third, as he believed "Return of the King" gave away the plot.
Source: Appendices to TTT 4-DVD set. There is some info at Wikipedia also.
Besides, there are other examples of great trilogies. For example, the original Star Wars trilogy. The first and third do, however, stand on their own, but the second, while considered by many to be the best of the series, is in its entirety a bridge from the first to the third and does indeed leave much to be desired.
There are plenty of other examples - Asimov's Foundation and Robot series - while some of the books do stand on their own, some don't.
It was an overly broad and generalizing statement the original poster made, IMO. My insulting him was also purely in jest, which some moderator apparently didn't get...
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I agree. It's too bad you read Origins at first. Manifold Space was imho by far the best of the trilogy. To me basically the WHOLE book was like the very end of 2001. This guy is suddenly launched into interacting with powerful aliens, however it is a one way trip because in order to do this he must also travel hundreds of years into the future with every step he takes -- leaving his own culture and society behind forever. Although towards the end it has some aspects which are grueling in the same way where that main guy ends up with some neanderthals. Xelee books are good, Manifold Space is good, but avoid Evolution at all costs! It's like the worst parts of origins for the whole damn book. NO high tech :(
"Coalescent spans history from the Roman era to 20,000 years in the future, and examines the beginnings and evolution of a strange form of human society. "
isn't that basically the twist of almost all science fiction novels...
I read the trilogy while on a trip, and frankly I can understand any of the hype. I found the work dull and lifeless, with equally lifeless characters. Moreover the books just didn't make any sense, while it was claimed they were "hard science" the only thing "hard" was trying to understand the gigantic leaps of logic in his apparent attempt to make a linear plotline. Replace any technobabble in the story with any other technobabble and the story remains the same -- that's Star Trek, not hard sci fi.
I don't mind worm holes and warp drives, even if we don't have the physics yet to support their existence.
You're kidding, right? The physics behind wormholes and warp drive has been well established since the 40's. Where have you been?
-- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@pobox.com PGP KeyID: 0x0BD32C9B What I'm up to: http://intuitives.mine.nu
Also try Rosemary Sutcliffe.
"Sword at Sunset", for eg, is her take on the Arthurian legend positing Arthur as the son of a Roman trying to hold back the tides of barbarian darkness after the Romans have left.
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Here be Dragons
Yeah. I'm not agreeing with the original post (there's plenty of great trilogies around), I was just tossing in some related info for anyone who might be interested.