Stephen Baxter's epic sequence of Xeelee novels was introduced to a new generation of readers with his highly successful quartet, Destiny's Children, published by Gollancz between 2003 and 2006. But the sequence of novels began with RAFT in 1991.
From there it built into perhaps the most ambitious fictitious universe ever created. Beginning with the rise and fall of sub-quantum civilisations in the first nano-seconds after the Big Bang and ending with the heat death of the universe billions of years from now the series charts the story of mankinds epic war against the ancient and unknowable alien race the Xeelee.
Along the way it examines questions of physics, the nature of reality, the evolution of mankind and its possible future. It looks not just at the morality of war but at the morality of survival and our place in the universe.
This is a landmark in SF.
I've never read the Xeelee books by Stephen Baxter, but with this upcoming omnibus I definitely plan on picking it up. One problem - it's a 900 page beast! Being released next March by Gollancz in a spine breaking trade paperback and much more suitable hardback, it contains Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux and Ring. A must for any science fiction fan!
1 comments:
I find this interesting indeed. I've read Ring and two other Baxter books, Exaltant and Transcendant. I'm sitting on a used copy of Origins until I acquire the two previous books in the series that it belongs to. Baxter is very good at spanning time with the immenseness of space thrown in just to make my head spin.
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