Review of 'Time'

Time by Stephen Baxter
1st book in the 'Manifold' series

Reid Malenfant is an entrepreneur is dreaming of the stars - Partly in his belief in the Carter Prophecy (that earth will be destroyed in 200 years) and partly for the money. He believes that man's future lies off world and he is willing to put his reputation, and company, on the line to show it. Thrown into this is Reid's inability to let go of his former wife Emma who is left to clean up the messes he leaves behind. Events along the way include the mysterious Blue children - hyper-intelligent children that are being born across the planet, becoming targets in the process, isolating themselves in the intellectual games they play. Did I mention the super-intelligent squid that also make an appearance - the pilots of Reid's first foray to mining of a distant asteroid? Of course, there is also the mysterious message from the future that reinforces Reid's idea that man must move out to the stars…What is the meaning of it all? What exactly are the children up to?

Time plays a big role in this novel which is quite heavy on the science (losing me often for pages at a time). The characters are fairly basically drawn (typical for early Baxter novels) but the story is certainly interesting (and long) if not entirely enthralling…

Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”

Review Date: 2010-06-11


Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Voyager

Publication Date: 1999


Other reviewed books by Stephen Baxter:

Other reviewed books by Stephen Baxter, and Arthur C. Clarke: