Redemption
Xeelee Sequence, Book 7
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $21.76
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dudley Hinton
-
By:
-
Stephen Baxter
About this listen
Michael Poole finds himself in a very strange landscape....
This is the centre of the Galaxy. And in a history without war with the humans, the Xeelee have had time to built an immense structure here. The Xeelee Belt has a radius 10,000 times Earth's orbital distance. It is a light-year in circumference. If it was set in the solar system, it would be out in the Oort Cloud, among the comets - but circling the sun. If it was at rest, it would have a surface area equivalent to about 30 billion Earths. But it is not at rest: it rotates at near light speed. And because of relativistic effects, distances are compressed for inhabitants of the Belt and time drastically slowed.
The purpose of the Belt is to preserve a community of Xeelee into the very far future, when they will be able to tap dark energy, a universe-spanning antigravity field, for their own purposes. But with time the Belt has attracted populations of lesser species, here for the immense surface area, the unending energy flows. Poole, Miriam and their party, having followed the Ghosts, must explore the artefact and survive encounters with its strange inhabitants - before Poole, at last, finds the Xeelee who led the destruction of Earth....
©2018 Stephen Baxter (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
-
Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
-
-
An entirely new level of science fiction
- By Possum Bean on 01-08-23
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Thousand Earths
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Caitlin Shannon, David Monteith
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hackett, in his trusty ship the Perseus, is not just a space traveller—beginning his travels with an expedition to Neptune and back—but, thanks to the time-dilation effect, a time traveller as well. His new mission will take him to Andromeda, to get a close-up look at the constellation which will eventually crash into the Milky Way, and give humanity a heads-up about the challenges which are coming. A mission which will take him five million years to complete. Not only is Hackett exploring unknown space, but he will return to a vastly different time.
-
-
Not Baxter's best but worth a listen
- By Lord Rahl on 10-10-22
By: Stephen Baxter
-
World Engines
- A post climate change high concept science fiction odyssey
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Christopher Ragland
- Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the middle of climate-change crises, there is no mood for space-exploration stunts - but Reid Malenfant, elderly, once a shuttle pilot and frustrated would-be asteroid miner, decides to go take a look anyway. Nothing more is heard of him. But his ex-wife, Emma Stoney, sets up a trust fund to search for him the next time the Kernel returns...By 2570 Earth is transformed. A mere billion people are supported by advanced technology on a world that is almost indistinguishable from the natural, with recovered forests, oceans, ice caps.
-
-
Kinda wraps up Manifold...
- By R. Carlson on 07-04-24
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Long Earth
- A Novel
- By: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Michael Fenton-Stevens
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Western Front, 1916. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong and the wind in the leaves. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone? Madison, Wisconsin, 2015. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some say mad, others allege dangerous - scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget.
-
-
A scratching Post for Schrödinger's cat
- By Tim on 07-03-12
By: Terry Pratchett, and others
-
The Light of Other Days
- By: Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Light of Other Days tells the tale of what happens when a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses the cutting edge of quantum physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments. It amounts to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy - forever.
-
-
When Seeing All is not Understanding All
- By Lisa Callihan on 11-30-08
By: Arthur C. Clarke, and others
-
Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
-
-
An entirely new level of science fiction
- By Possum Bean on 01-08-23
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Thousand Earths
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Caitlin Shannon, David Monteith
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hackett, in his trusty ship the Perseus, is not just a space traveller—beginning his travels with an expedition to Neptune and back—but, thanks to the time-dilation effect, a time traveller as well. His new mission will take him to Andromeda, to get a close-up look at the constellation which will eventually crash into the Milky Way, and give humanity a heads-up about the challenges which are coming. A mission which will take him five million years to complete. Not only is Hackett exploring unknown space, but he will return to a vastly different time.
-
-
Not Baxter's best but worth a listen
- By Lord Rahl on 10-10-22
By: Stephen Baxter
-
World Engines
- A post climate change high concept science fiction odyssey
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Christopher Ragland
- Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the middle of climate-change crises, there is no mood for space-exploration stunts - but Reid Malenfant, elderly, once a shuttle pilot and frustrated would-be asteroid miner, decides to go take a look anyway. Nothing more is heard of him. But his ex-wife, Emma Stoney, sets up a trust fund to search for him the next time the Kernel returns...By 2570 Earth is transformed. A mere billion people are supported by advanced technology on a world that is almost indistinguishable from the natural, with recovered forests, oceans, ice caps.
-
-
Kinda wraps up Manifold...
- By R. Carlson on 07-04-24
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Long Earth
- A Novel
- By: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Michael Fenton-Stevens
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Western Front, 1916. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong and the wind in the leaves. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone? Madison, Wisconsin, 2015. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some say mad, others allege dangerous - scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget.
-
-
A scratching Post for Schrödinger's cat
- By Tim on 07-03-12
By: Terry Pratchett, and others
-
The Light of Other Days
- By: Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Light of Other Days tells the tale of what happens when a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses the cutting edge of quantum physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments. It amounts to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy - forever.
-
-
When Seeing All is not Understanding All
- By Lisa Callihan on 11-30-08
By: Arthur C. Clarke, and others
-
Time's Eye
- A Time Odyssey, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter, Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For eons, Earth has been under observation by the Firstborn, beings almost as old as the universe itself. The Firstborn are unknown to humankind - until they act. In an instant, Earth is carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single timeline.
-
-
I expected better from these two
- By Kennet on 06-04-08
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
Voyage
- The NASA Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic saga of America’s might-have-been, Voyage is a powerful, sweeping novel of how, if President Kennedy had lived, we could have sent a manned mission to Mars in the 1980s. Imaginatively created from the true lives and real events, Voyage returns to the geniuses of NASA and the excitement of the Saturn rocket and includes historical figures from Neil Armstrong to Ronald Reagan who are interwoven with unforgettable characters whose dreams mirror the promise of a young space program that held the world in thrall.
-
-
Borrrring
- By Robert on 09-11-21
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Medusa Chronicles
- By: Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first human astronaut to explore the atmosphere of Jupiter - and a combination of human ingenuity and technical expertise brought him back. But he is no longer himself. Instead he has been changed into an augmented human: part man, part machine, and exceptionally capable.
-
-
Almost stopped listening. Glad I didn't.
- By cek on 08-21-16
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
-
Cage of Souls
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor.
-
-
Slow Start, Strong Finish
- By Jacob McCollum on 05-01-23
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
A Talent for War
- An Alex Benedict Novel
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Gregory Abbey, Jack McDevitt
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knew the legend of Christopher Sim. Fighter. Leader. An interstellar hero with a rare talent for war, Sim changed mankind's history forever when he forged a ragtag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the back of the alien Ashiyyur. But now, Alex Benedict has found a startling bit of information, long buried in an ancient computer file. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a fraud.
-
-
Very good - but the cover and title are deceptive
- By Brian on 09-25-10
By: Jack McDevitt
-
Rendezvous with Rama
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence.
-
-
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
- By Fredrik Pettersen on 08-03-09
By: Arthur C. Clarke
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
A Fire Upon the Deep
- By: Vernor Vinge
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.
-
-
What a wild, wacky, awesome book!
- By Noah Smith on 06-20-10
By: Vernor Vinge
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
Related to this topic
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Medusa Chronicles
- By: Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first human astronaut to explore the atmosphere of Jupiter - and a combination of human ingenuity and technical expertise brought him back. But he is no longer himself. Instead he has been changed into an augmented human: part man, part machine, and exceptionally capable.
-
-
Almost stopped listening. Glad I didn't.
- By cek on 08-21-16
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
-
Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
-
-
Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
-
The Reality Dysfunction
- Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 41 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AD 2600, the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems, and throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace.
-
-
Finally on Audible!! My favorite Hamilton series!
- By Patrick on 04-05-16
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
The Medusa Chronicles
- By: Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first human astronaut to explore the atmosphere of Jupiter - and a combination of human ingenuity and technical expertise brought him back. But he is no longer himself. Instead he has been changed into an augmented human: part man, part machine, and exceptionally capable.
-
-
Almost stopped listening. Glad I didn't.
- By cek on 08-21-16
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
-
Beyond the Aquila Rift
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
-
-
Great story, mediocre audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-12
-
The Reality Dysfunction
- Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 41 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AD 2600, the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems, and throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace.
-
-
Finally on Audible!! My favorite Hamilton series!
- By Patrick on 04-05-16
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
In the Ocean of Night
- Galactic Center, Book 1
- By: Gregory Benford
- Narrated by: Maxwell Caulfield
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 2019. NASA astronaut Nigel Walmsley is sent on a mission to intercept a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ordered to destroy it, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal….
-
-
Like some Space with your Soaps?
- By Bradley on 05-15-12
By: Gregory Benford
-
Blue Remembered Earth
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 21 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critically acclaimed author Alastair Reynolds holds a well-deserved place “among the leaders of the hard-science space opera renaissance." ( Publishers Weekly). In Blue Remembered Earth, Geoffrey Akinya wants nothing more than to study the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But when his space-explorer grandmother dies, secrets come to light and Geoffrey is dispatched to the Moon to protect the family name - and prevent an impending catastrophe.
-
-
A surprising and staisfying departure for Reynolds
- By Michael G Kurilla on 07-21-12
-
Veiled Alliances
- A Prequel Novella to the Saga of Seven Suns
- By: Kevin J. Anderson
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook shows the origin of the green priests on Theroc, the first Roamer skymining operations on a gas-giant planet, the discovery of the Klikiss robots entombed in an abandoned alien city, the initial Ildiran expedition to Earth, the rescue of the generation ship Burton and the tragedy that leads to sinister breeding experiments. Veiled Alliances is an excellent starting point for readers new to the Saga, as well as an unforgettable adventure for fans of the series.
-
-
Start with Book One
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-05-14
-
The Engines of God
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans call them Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues scattered on distant planets throughout the galaxy, encoded with strange inscriptions that defy translation. Searching for clues about the Monument-Makers, teams of 23rd century linguists, historians, engineers and archaeologists have been excavating the enigmatic alien ruins on a number of planets, uncovering strange, massive false cities made of solid rock. But their time is running out.
-
-
Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-12-11
By: Jack McDevitt
-
Starplex
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years after the discovery of artificial wormholes launches Earth space exploration to unforeseeable heights, Starplex Director Keith Lansing investigates a mysterious vessel that soon threatens the station with intergalactic war.
-
-
Tribute to Arthur C. Clarke
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-23-12
By: Robert J. Sawyer
-
Altered Starscape
- Andromedan Dark, Book 1
- By: Ian Douglas
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 2162. Thirty-eight years after first contact, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair leads the Tellus Ad Astra on an unprecedented expedition to the Galactic Core, carrying more than a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and AIs. Despite his reservations about their alien hosts, St. Clair is deeply committed to his people - especially after they're sucked into a black hole and spat out four billion years in the future. Civilizations have risen and fallen. The Andromeda Galaxy is drifting into the Milky Way. And Earth is most certainly a distant memory.
-
-
painful
- By AndyVee on 02-04-17
By: Ian Douglas
-
Dark Space
- Dark Space, Book 1
- By: Jasper T. Scott
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years ago the Sythians invaded the galaxy with one goal: to wipe out the human race. Now the survivors are hiding in the last human sector of the galaxy: Dark Space--once a place of exile for criminals, now the last refuge of mankind.
-
-
Blech
- By Joki on 03-22-15
By: Jasper T. Scott
-
Predator - Incursion
- The Rage War, Book 1
- By: Tim Lebbon
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Predator ships stream into human space in unprecedented numbers. The Colonial Marines, controlled by Weyland-Yutani, respond to the incursion, thus entering the Rage War. This terrifying assault by the Yautja cannot go unchallenged, yet the cost of combat is high. Predators are master combatants, and each encounter yields a high body count. Then, when Lt. Johnny Mains and his marines - the VoidLarks - enter the fray, they discover an enemy deadlier than any could imagine.
-
-
I was really wanted to like this book!!
- By jeremy lamarch on 05-15-16
By: Tim Lebbon
-
Lockstep
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 17-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he' s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he' s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still - that he' s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks.
-
-
A Great Idea, Poorly Served
- By D. M. ROBISON on 04-01-14
By: Karl Schroeder
-
Tantalus Depths
- By: Evan Graham
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tantalus 13 survey expedition went off the rails as soon as Mary Ketch and the crew of the Diamelen learned that the thing beneath their feet wasn’t a planet. An impossibly vast and ancient artificial structure lies below, hidden from the universe under a façade of cratered stone. SCARAB arrived on Tantalus 13 two years ago. An artificially intelligent, self-constructing factory, it was supposed to aid the crew in their mission, to meet their every need.
-
-
Good primer for Young Adults new to sci-fi!
- By Philip Maddox on 10-09-22
By: Evan Graham
-
Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
-
Intrinsic
- By: Philip C. Quaintrell
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kalian Gaines has a secret; he just doesn't know it yet. He looks like us, he lives like us...but he is not one of us. Kalian knows nothing outside of his mundane life teaching history on 30th-century Earth, until a day like any other triggers a series of events that will tie his fate to that of humanity. A human handprint, embedded into a rock with alien script, is discovered on a moon that mankind has never set foot on. This discovery holds a secret, which will sweep Kalian into the heart of a conspiracy that has corrupted the galaxy for 200,000 years.
-
-
Unexpectedly Brilliant
- By Fraser on 04-22-18
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Fortress Sol
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Frankie Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rab was a baby, his mother made a decision which would change his life. She feared he would be sent to work in the hellish mines of Mercury, to eke out his life until he was worn out, all in the name of maintaining the defense of the Solar System. But when her desperate attempt to flee with her 2 year old failed, she took a desperate step to save him. She cut off his hand. Decades later, Rab has been spared the physical hardships he can no longer endure, and is now based on the Mask, the all-encompassing structure which hides the Solar System from alien eyes.
-
-
Typical Baxter convoluted but brilliant novel
- By Mississippi Malka on 11-22-24
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Galaxias
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Remmie Milner
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the middle of the 21st century, humanity has managed to overcome a series of catastrophic events and maintain some sense of stability. Space exploration has begun again. Science has led the way. But then one day, the sun goes out. Solar panels are useless, and the world begins to freeze. Earth begins to fall out of its orbit. The end is nigh. Someone has sent us a sign.
-
-
Not a bad idea for a story.
- By CJ on 10-26-21
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Time's Eye
- A Time Odyssey, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter, Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For eons, Earth has been under observation by the Firstborn, beings almost as old as the universe itself. The Firstborn are unknown to humankind - until they act. In an instant, Earth is carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single timeline.
-
-
I expected better from these two
- By Kennet on 06-04-08
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
The War of the Worlds
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience the horror when 19th-century London is invaded by an alien race from the red planet Mars. This 1898 science-fiction novel comes to life as narrated by Scott R. Pollak, the voice of NPR radio's WABE-FM, Atlanta. Scott's talents as an actor and narrator come to the forefront as he brings us The War of the Worlds.
-
-
timeless classic, excellent narrator
- By jeff evans on 03-14-11
By: H. G. Wells
-
Voyage
- The NASA Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic saga of America’s might-have-been, Voyage is a powerful, sweeping novel of how, if President Kennedy had lived, we could have sent a manned mission to Mars in the 1980s. Imaginatively created from the true lives and real events, Voyage returns to the geniuses of NASA and the excitement of the Saturn rocket and includes historical figures from Neil Armstrong to Ronald Reagan who are interwoven with unforgettable characters whose dreams mirror the promise of a young space program that held the world in thrall.
-
-
Borrrring
- By Robert on 09-11-21
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Proxima: Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world?
-
-
No Sense of Conclusion
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-24-16
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Fortress Sol
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Frankie Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rab was a baby, his mother made a decision which would change his life. She feared he would be sent to work in the hellish mines of Mercury, to eke out his life until he was worn out, all in the name of maintaining the defense of the Solar System. But when her desperate attempt to flee with her 2 year old failed, she took a desperate step to save him. She cut off his hand. Decades later, Rab has been spared the physical hardships he can no longer endure, and is now based on the Mask, the all-encompassing structure which hides the Solar System from alien eyes.
-
-
Typical Baxter convoluted but brilliant novel
- By Mississippi Malka on 11-22-24
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Galaxias
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Remmie Milner
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the middle of the 21st century, humanity has managed to overcome a series of catastrophic events and maintain some sense of stability. Space exploration has begun again. Science has led the way. But then one day, the sun goes out. Solar panels are useless, and the world begins to freeze. Earth begins to fall out of its orbit. The end is nigh. Someone has sent us a sign.
-
-
Not a bad idea for a story.
- By CJ on 10-26-21
By: Stephen Baxter
-
Time's Eye
- A Time Odyssey, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter, Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For eons, Earth has been under observation by the Firstborn, beings almost as old as the universe itself. The Firstborn are unknown to humankind - until they act. In an instant, Earth is carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single timeline.
-
-
I expected better from these two
- By Kennet on 06-04-08
By: Stephen Baxter, and others
-
The War of the Worlds
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience the horror when 19th-century London is invaded by an alien race from the red planet Mars. This 1898 science-fiction novel comes to life as narrated by Scott R. Pollak, the voice of NPR radio's WABE-FM, Atlanta. Scott's talents as an actor and narrator come to the forefront as he brings us The War of the Worlds.
-
-
timeless classic, excellent narrator
- By jeff evans on 03-14-11
By: H. G. Wells
-
Voyage
- The NASA Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 24 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic saga of America’s might-have-been, Voyage is a powerful, sweeping novel of how, if President Kennedy had lived, we could have sent a manned mission to Mars in the 1980s. Imaginatively created from the true lives and real events, Voyage returns to the geniuses of NASA and the excitement of the Saturn rocket and includes historical figures from Neil Armstrong to Ronald Reagan who are interwoven with unforgettable characters whose dreams mirror the promise of a young space program that held the world in thrall.
-
-
Borrrring
- By Robert on 09-11-21
By: Stephen Baxter
What listeners say about Redemption
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Greyflood
- 09-20-18
A Fitting Conclusion
This book is the epic conclusion not only to its direct predecessor (Xeelee Vengeance) but also to Baxter’s entire Xeelee cycle. Just as in Vengeance, this book is suffused with references and name drops to Baxter’s 20+ year body of work in his main sci fi series, paying off long-time readers while not being so obscure and winky that newcomers feel lost. I have been a fan of Baxter for most of that 20 year history and have been in awe of the universe he created and the scales he envisions. In this book, we finally see many of those massive scales up close and personal for the first time, as Baxter unleashes his imagination on what hitherto purely theoretical concepts would actually look like given a powerful enough uber-species to build them, such as the extreme time dilation at the orbit of a black hole. It’s Baxter in his element, using his deep understanding of math and physics to conjure scientifically-plausible what-if scenarios into functional being.
Michael Poole, longtime hero and protagonist of the Xeelee series, finally ends his arc in this book, with some of Baxter’s best character writing in years. Baxter has been criticized for not caring enough about his human characters and being more concerned with the concepts and processes he’s exploring, which is a somewhat fair criticism, at least in the past, but here he uses a cool piece of technology to give us a unique perspective on Poole, namely a digital clone (Virtual) of Poole himself, who is the same person, but…not. It works surprisingly well, as we get to see the real Poole and all his flaws through his own eyes, which are softened made wiser by that very perspective. Jophiel is one of Baxter’s most interesting protagonists. The other characters are fairly two-dimensional, but a few stand out, such as Nicola. Not incredibly deep, but often a good counterweight to the heavy hard science being bandied about.
The resolution of the book is satisfying, especially if you’re a longtime reader of this series. It brings both timelines together in a satisfying way, and gives us something Baxter’s work is often a bit light on: hope. And for old-time fans like myself, there is, at last, a big reveal of a question that has dominated the series since its beginning, and it’s suitably strange, unsettling, and interesting. This is an epic journey, one that spans time scales that make your head spin, that sees the culmination of all the concepts, themes, and lore of Baxter’s Xeelee-verse come together for the most climactic of climaxes. It’s easily my favorite piece of work in the Xeelee cycle, and my second favorite of his books (my favorite being the non-Xeelee cycle standalone “Evolution”). I doubt we’ll get any more mainline Xeelee stories outside of short fiction, but that’s okay, because Redemption brings a satisfying and appropriate ending to this mind-expanding hard sci fi epic.
The narration is great; there is some controversy over the narrator’s pronunciation of “Xeelee” (he pronounces it “CHEE-lee”) where I and many others have always pronounced it ZEE-lee, but this is a minor quibble and clearly an intentional decision. Not so sure about the Qax (which he pronounces “Chax” but which I have always pronounced "Kax") but whatever. His human inflections and characterizations are convincing and appropriate to the setting and scenes. I dig him.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Glen Grader
- 10-19-18
Needed to pay closer attention...
I'm going to have to give this one a second listen. Or better yet get the printed version and actually read it. I have feeling that it will go to a 5-star review if I do. I gravitate toward books that I can listen to on my long commute. This one simply has too much going on to make it a good listen while trying to navigate through rush hour traffic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- William L.
- 12-10-20
oh my!
I tried so hard but pooped out in the middle of chapter 3. this is mindless words of meaningless drivel chained together painstakingly by a lifeless monotone narrator who spits out the story as if timed by a metronome. what a snoozer! this is a book of adjectives, nothing more. no story by the middle of chapter three??? puhleeeze ! -CPO US Navy Retired
•••somebody save me!•••
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Carlson
- 02-18-21
Not as disappointing as "Vengeance"
The English have a saying, “In for a penny, in for a pound…”. This is how I felt approaching Xeelee Redemption. I had already invested the time in Xeelee Vengeance, and Redemption picks up right where Vengeance left off.
The good bits:
- There’s an ending…It’s not expected and may not be satisfying and leaves many questions unanswered, but there is an ending.
- You get to see all your old fiends – the Ghosts, the Qax (or at least you see Spline ships) Coalescents, Luru Paz (at least by reference) and, of course, the Xeelee
- You actually get a physical description of a Xeelee. This is possibly the first time Baxter ever described them.
- There are some seriously awesome megastructures to deal with
Now the bad bits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD – if you really want to read the book, stop right here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, you’ve been warned.
I mean it.
I’m gonna start spoiling right here.
Big Reveal – the XeeLee look like their ships – sycamore seeds with wings. Oh yeah, and they have a bunch of tentacles around their mouth which is located at the front. Yes, they have wings and can presumably swim through space.
OK, that was actually not the most disappointing part, so here goes:
- While you do get to know the Ghosts a little better, their appearance seems to be an immense and useless addition to the story. Aside from transforming one of the crew members into a Human Ghost hybrid and educating you a bit more on the inner workings of Ghost anatomy, there’s really very little point to them being in the story.
- Ditto the Qax, who the narrator in the Audiobook insists on pronouncing as “Chax” (again he’s been pronouncing “Xeelee” as “Chee-lee” since the prior book, but I’ve actually moved beyond this). There’s apparently no point at all in introducing the Qax and you never even get to see them.
- Almost no one in the story is likable. Everyone spends the time interacting like some dysfunctional family. I’ve seen this in some English TV shows – everyone’s an arsehole, everyone’s critical. Maybe it’s just because I’m American and think that an outnumbered, isolated band of explorers spinning toward the end of time should be trying to support and help one another and maybe choose the crew so a couple of them even like each other. Some tension adds to the story, but constant tension simply gets old.
- Many of the characters are introduced and discarded very quickly with almost no care as to how they could have moved the story along. Susan Chen --- 1,000 years old – we never find out what happens to her, she just fades away. Weena – the savage girl who volunteers to travel through time and protect everyone with her bow and arrow (shades of HG Wells! All I could think of was Yvette Mimieux in a loincloth ). She’s pretty much written out after the side trip to High Australia - why did she even sign up to come with the Poole team? We get to see the Coalescents again, but they’re mostly just a cautionary tale of what goes wrong with a Humanity with too much time and too little resources on their hands. The Officers of one of the three “Great Northern” class ships decides that virtual life is just fine, so they head off to M150 (a large cluster of stars) and somehow, they manage to propel the whole star cluster out of the Milky Way just as it collides with Andromeda. This is basically just a footnote. Oh yeah, speaking of footnotes – WHAT HAPPENED TO EVERYONE ON EARTH. There’s a brief quote from someone writing in the year 5,000,000 and an indication that Earth (ejected from the Solar System as the Xeelee destroys it) comes to rest at Wolfs Star and suddenly broadcasts a “who wants to fight? C’mon I’ll take you on” signal somewhere around 3,000,000 AD, but other than that, we don’t know what happens to them. In fact, in the final chapter Baxter abandons everyone except Jophiel and the Michael Poole from the original timeline (the one who ends up stuck till the end of time floating around with his own thoughts, kind of like a Boltzman Brain.)
- We never find out why Baxter can't find some other expletive than “Lethe” (a river in Hades whose waters cause drinkers to forget their past)
To be fair, there’s a lot of stuff packed in here – a (literally) three ring circus (OK, more of a zoo) that the Xeelee has built at the center of the Milky Way where the inner ring rotates so quickly it’s basically a relativistic time machine….cool…The Xeelee plans on whiling away it’s time until Boulder’s Ring is built, and in the meantime creates a “honeypot” to attract a bunch of life forms to take with it to the next universe.
The story as a whole, however, never gives any real satisfaction. The Xeelee remains implacable as ever, even when shot with a monopole gun, while everyone around it tried to guess why it destroyed the Sol system. Best guess: Humans in the first timeline were too successful and exterminated all these neat cultures, all of whom seemed to be bent on galaxy domination, but WTH, they’re baryonic as opposed to the photino Birds, so the only way to stop this was to destroy all Humans so the Xeelee could protect them…while being aloof and implacable… And in the end save them from the Photino Birds.
On that note, let’s also give a moment to contemplate the abject “horror” of the Photino Birds (AKA the Photino Fish). Their goal is to make all the stars into red dwarfs – extremely long lived suns that don’t go “BOOM”. How bad is that? OK, if you’re a low tech civilization you’ll be a bit peeved about global cooling and maybe you won’t find a way to survive. But if you’re a TYPE II civilization, you just move your planet a little closer to the star and Boo-yah! You’re set for the next 100 billion years or so. BONUS! Your 5 Billion Year warranty on your star is now 20X longer! AND, if you’re a really smart Type II civilization, you can easily tee-up to convert to a virtual existence at some point and probably last another 10 trillion years… Thanks Photino Birds/Fish – you guys rock! It’s just the stupid Xeelee who need black holes for geography who can’t survive in this type of universe who hate you!
Overall, I’d say this book was a somewhat indulgent way for Baxter to revisit a lot of old themes without a lot of editorial oversight. Having read Vengeance, I’m glad I read Redemption, but honestly, there were probably a lot better books to spend my time on.
The original Xeelee series was incredible – high concept, suspenseful, surprising, everything this “alternate timeline” series was not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful