Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Manifold: Time
Book Review: Big Picture science fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
Time has been sitting on my bookshelf since the day it was published in 1999. Over the years I've collected the rest of the Manifold Sequence and they too have gathered dust. Every time I thought about starting on Time I'd talk myself out of it. Baxter has a reputation as the hardest of Hard SF writers and I usually just want something simple and fun to read before drifting off each evening. What I always forget is that, regardless of how 'hard' Baxter is, he is always very readable. So I started the book and quickly became so engrossed I was staying up late just to read one more section...and then another. That horrible cliche - of not being able to put it down - became a truth.
Baxter's most impressive talent is his ability to take the reader on a journey through time and space that encompasses years and distances that are almost unimaginable. The story begins in the year 2010 on Earth but extends trillions of years into the future and out to the farthest regions of space and through a multitude of universes. Baxter's self-confidence in writing about such grandiose elements permits the reader to be swept along for the ride. All of this is done with a minimum of difficult detail - Time isn't really a Hard SF novel after all. There's lots of science but for the most part it deals with such esoteric and hypothetical situations that it might as well be fantasy. The artefact, found on a near-Earth asteroid, that allows travel through time and space, is in essence a 'magic gate'.
I don't think Baxter gets all of his story right. In particular, the way he portrays humanity's response to the Carter Catastrophe and the images from the Deep Future just don't ring true for me. Perhaps I just have a more optimistic opinion of mankind's ability to deal with monumental crises. One of the most common complaints about Baxter's works is that his characters aren't multi-dimensional beings - each is a cypher that represents a single viewpoint. This is still true in Time. The three main characters - Reid Malefant, Emma Stoney and Cornelius Taine - don't behave in rational ways and they certainly don't seem to be entirely human in their motivations. Strangely - and interestingly - the exception to this one-dimensionality is the politician Maura Della. She is the only character that even slightly reflects on the moral dilemmas she encounters.
This is Big Picture science fiction and the little people don't matter. Lives are taken. Morality is up-turned. Science is destroyed. Cosmology is reinvented. Humanity fights and loses. And wins. It takes enormous talent to right about these sorts of concepts and to make that writing enjoyable. I'll be starting on Space, the first sequel to Time, fairly soon. I want to know what happens next - and that surely is the best recommendation a book can be given.
http://derekspace.blogspot.com/
Book Review: Captivating and Mind-Bending
Summary: 4 Stars
Here is a book that has many of the qualities that have been lacking in recent science fiction - a strong plot, good characters, good science, and the courage to grapple with big ideas. The story begins with a maverick attempt to mine the asteroid belt and assure humanity's future, and that's small potatoes compared to its ultimate destination - the fate and purpose of the universe. And lest the weight of these ideas seems ponderous, let it be known that this book is also a page turner.Book Review: Don't waste your time
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was terrible. The characters were lousy and I didn't care about any of them. The story was slow and boring. And the science was just too much. I know, it's supposed to be "hard" science fiction, but if you like it that hard, I'm sure that there are some science textbooks out there that would have a better story and much better science.Book Review: Excellent start to a "hard" SF trilogy
Summary: 4 Stars
The tantamount question of "Manifold: Time"--and, in fact, the entire series--is known as "Fermi's paradox"--if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe, why haven't we found it yet? [This question is tackled further in the remaining books of the series, "Space" and "Origin".]Setting the plot in motion is Cornelius Taine, who presents to ex-astronaut Reid Malenfant the (real) "Carter catastrophe"--the idea that humanity is likely to go extinct in the "near future" (200 years), *even if mankind colonizes space.* At first, Taine convinces Malenfant that it may be up to Malenfant to save the human race from the Carter catastrophe, and that salvation may come from a message that points to Cruithne, a satellite sharing Earth's orbit. But, as the plot progresses, Malenfant begins to question why he was brought to Cruithne.
[I had the chance to speak to Baxter about the Carter hypothesis at a recent SF convention. He finds it intriguing, although he has his doubts, especially regarding Carter's analogy (a box with one special ball out of either 10 balls or 1000). In part, the "e-mail" containing ways to refute the Carter catastrophe represents his own doubts.]
Moreover, Baxter intertwines this plot with the rise (and fall) of the "Blues," a group of preternaturally gifted children. In the end, Baxter provides a possible answer to Fermi's paradox--and it is an extremely startling one.
If you look carefully, there *is* one medium-sized plot hole with the final part of the book, although it isn't immediately obvious (in fact, it was only on a second reading that I caught it myself). That gaffe aside, this book is a thought-provoking, challenging work, and I look forward eagerly to finishing the trilogy.
Additional recommendations: I would recommend this book to fans of "Earth" by David Brin and "Mother of Storms" by John Barnes, and vice versa.
Book Review: Fairly Rotten
Summary: 1 Stars
So, after reading a slew of post modern fantastic reality/mythic stuff by Gaiman, Mieville and others, I was in the mood for a good hard science fiction book. Stay with me...so I figure, you know, I keep hearing about this Baxter guy...He's even won science fiction awards and such. Plus, I love "time" stories (think Connie Willis). So I picked up this "Manifold:Time" thing. The thing is, it had a neat looking paperback cover too. Let me tell you - think twice before you make a similar choice. This "story" (and I'm using the word generously) is nothing more than a painfully dull exercise in rehashing all the recent Hawking-type physics speculation that's been going around. The plot, if you can call it one, follows a ultra wealthy space advocate trying to save the human race from an earth-bound destiny. Geeze...Baxter throws in an ex-wife who just can't forsake her super-rich hubby, some emotionally devoid autistic kids, and a handful of super geeks who really have no business in the plot other to endlessly explain scientific theories to the more mentally challenged "characters" (and us, the readers, evidently). In fact, ALL the characters are emotionally void - not only the ones with autism. The most interesting person in the entire story was a squid...
But, don't get me wrong - if you like page after page of plotless, characterless scientific banter of a speculative nature, by all means buy this book...