Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Del Rey (2002), 512 pages
Description
"As always, [Stephen] Baxter plays with space and time with consummate skill. . . . He continues to be one of the leading writers of hard science fiction, and one of the most thought-provoking as well."--Science Fiction Chronicle The year is 2020. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, Reid Malenfant ventures to the far edge of the solar system, where he discovers a strange artifact left behind by an alien civilization: A gateway that functions as a kind of quantum transporter, allowing virtually instantaneous travel over the vast distances of interstellar space. What lies on the other side of the gateway? Malenfant decides to find out. Yet he will soon be faced with an impossible choice that will push him beyond terror, beyond sanity, beyond humanity itself. Meanwhile on Earth the Japanese scientist Nemoto fears her worst nightmares are coming true. Startling discoveries reveal that the Moon, Venus, even Mars once thrived with life--life that was snuffed out not just once but many times, in cycles of birth and destruction. And the next chilling cycle is set to begin again . . . "When the travel bug bites and usual planets don't excite, perhaps it's time to burst the bounds of this old solar system and really see the sights. . . . Baxter's expansive new novel is just the ticket."--The Washington Times "Breathtaking in its originality and scope."--The Washington Post… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
This side-quel to Manifold:Time did not work for me at all. The same main character, Reid Malenfant, is the core of the book, but in this parallel universe, his life has worked out very differently. To orient readers, at least those familiar with SF, one of the primary characters from the first
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book, his wife, is almost immediately revealed to have died of cancer, a tumor triggered by a random accident of cosmic rays. But more than local history has changed. While the mysterious interstellar gates still exist, now Fermi's Paradox is the primary theme. At first, it's where are they, but it quickly becomes "they're here, and more are coming, and it's not a good thing." The primary idea Baxter wants to play with is that in a universe this large, no matter how large it is, sooner or later, something will survive to wipe everything else out. But there's more layers to that idea than that. As Reid and several women (who dominate most of this arcs in this book) travel the light years by gate, there's no escaping the time differential. Hundreds and thousands of years pass in the history of our solar system, in Stapledonian fashion. Unfortunately, several things work against the book. The theme means that for the most part everyone is a helpless observer of solar and galactic events beyond anyone's control. The small "cast" means that despite a temporal and spatial canvas that boggles the imagination, people still run into each other more easily than I can find friends in small town. The book ends with two events, both of which seemed at odds with the "universe really doesn't care about Earth and humans, you know" theme that was the crux of the preceding 500 pages. Show Less
LibraryThing member doggie38
I really enjoyed Baxter's ideas in this book, however, dispite the story spanning 6,000 years, it can be slow moving at times.
LibraryThing member daniel.links
It didn't go where I was expecting this book. After the first few pages I was unimpressed, the middle sections I found very gripping in parts, and then it veered off into the fantastical quite a bot towards the end.
It is a story of first contact set in the near future, and tackles head on the
Not bad at all if you like hard science fiction, but I didn't find the characters particularly engaging. The bibliographic data here suggests it is part of a series - I wasn't aware of that reading it, and I can't really imagine how...
It is a story of first contact set in the near future, and tackles head on the
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question of why the aliens aren't here. It raises some interesting questions about the life-expectancy of a space faring species (or any species). We tend to assume resource scarcity is limited to Earth - maybe not so much if you think about it logically...Not bad at all if you like hard science fiction, but I didn't find the characters particularly engaging. The bibliographic data here suggests it is part of a series - I wasn't aware of that reading it, and I can't really imagine how...
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LibraryThing member lorelorn_2007
Just like Douglas Adams said, Space is big. Space is really big.
This book is a novelised exploration of the Fermi Paradox, which basically says that if aliens existed, we would see them, and since we can't they don't.
This book posits an answer.
This book is a novelised exploration of the Fermi Paradox, which basically says that if aliens existed, we would see them, and since we can't they don't.
This book posits an answer.
LibraryThing member KAzevedo
See review for Manifold: Time (1).
Must read all three books in order.
Must read all three books in order.
LibraryThing member jasonlf
Really quite stunning. I liked Manifold: Time but found it occasionally uneven and that it didn't entirely fit together. But this book was a lot better (and I recommend starting with it, there's no sense in which this is a sequel).
Manifold: Space is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox -- why we
Manifold: Space is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox -- why we
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don't see life elsewhere in the universe. And the answers it gives are quite chilling but ultimately hopeful. It is as much about evolution as physics as it explores the adaptations of humans living everywhere from Mercury to Triton -- not to mention the other non-carbon based life forms the star travellers find throughout the universe, in many cases dead or dying from violent expansionary cultures and ultimately recurrent physical phenomenon themselves. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
Although this book starts out with a premise - and characters - already encountered in 'Time; Manifold 1', very quickly we head off in a different direction. Whilst the first book focused on Reid Malenfant and his companions travelling backwards and forwards in time, this book sees a different Reid
In a way, this book is a return to the big, wide-screen Baxter of his early years; there is a larger cast of characters, and some of them are less well-drawn. But the scale and events of the story more than make up for that. Baxter's concern here is the Fermi Paradox - if more advanced alien races exist in the galaxy, why have we never seen any firm evidence of their existence? - and he suggests a very plausible reason why not.
There is a large element of old-fashioned "gosh-wowery" in this book; instead of staying effectively on a near-Earth asteroid, as in the first book in the trilogy, the action here skips from star to star, as far as the galactic core; and there are plenty of strange lifeforms, asteroid impacts with planets and exploding moons to keep anyone happy: all done in the best possible scientific taste and accuracy. (No, seriously.) The transcendant fate of the main character reveals the true nature of the artificial aliens and offers the possibility of the survival of life by the end of the book which draws hope from nearly universal destruction.
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Malenfant, with a slightly different history, becoming involved with our first contact with aliens.In a way, this book is a return to the big, wide-screen Baxter of his early years; there is a larger cast of characters, and some of them are less well-drawn. But the scale and events of the story more than make up for that. Baxter's concern here is the Fermi Paradox - if more advanced alien races exist in the galaxy, why have we never seen any firm evidence of their existence? - and he suggests a very plausible reason why not.
There is a large element of old-fashioned "gosh-wowery" in this book; instead of staying effectively on a near-Earth asteroid, as in the first book in the trilogy, the action here skips from star to star, as far as the galactic core; and there are plenty of strange lifeforms, asteroid impacts with planets and exploding moons to keep anyone happy: all done in the best possible scientific taste and accuracy. (No, seriously.) The transcendant fate of the main character reveals the true nature of the artificial aliens and offers the possibility of the survival of life by the end of the book which draws hope from nearly universal destruction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nosajeel
Really quite stunning. I liked Manifold: Time but found it occasionally uneven and that it didn't entirely fit together. But this book was a lot better (and I recommend starting with it, there's no sense in which this is a sequel).
Manifold: Space is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox -- why we
Manifold: Space is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox -- why we
Show More
don't see life elsewhere in the universe. And the answers it gives are quite chilling but ultimately hopeful. It is as much about evolution as physics as it explores the adaptations of humans living everywhere from Mercury to Triton -- not to mention the other non-carbon based life forms the star travellers find throughout the universe, in many cases dead or dying from violent expansionary cultures and ultimately recurrent physical phenomenon themselves. Show Less
LibraryThing member rondoctor
Another excellent story from Baxter. 2nd volume of Manifold series.
Subjects
Awards
Locus Recommended Reading (2000)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000-08
Physical description
512 p.; 4.23 inches
ISBN
0345430786 / 9780345430786