Firstborn

Truly sorry to hear about the passing of Arthur C. Clarke - he turned me on to "hard" science fiction - and this third book in the trilogy is great - yet to be completed, but even if the end stinks, the ideas and scientific possibilities these two authors explore are worth the read - and I doubt this will have a poor ending. Then on to read Baxter on his own merits.

The Three books of the Time Odyssey Series are both very satisfying and very frustrating. The first book - Time's Eye - with the fractured history on a recreated earth - is mind boggling. The Second one - Sunstorm - with earth working together to ward off the effects of an artificially induced solar flare - is amazing, in a more techincal way. The last book - Firstborn - also presents us with a peril that must be deflected - a quantum bomb. It is not a spoiler to say that in the end the problem is solved with great ingenuity. In addition, new allies are brought in to help in the fight against the Firstborn. What is disappointing is that the cover says "The Conclusion of a Time Odyssey" but the end of the novel is about as open ended as a book can be. The war goes on - and now that Sir Arthur Clarke has died - any conclusion must be strictly that of Stephen Baxter. Firstborn is a welcome companion to the earlier books but readers should by all means read the books in the order they are written and not start with Firstborn. Firstborn (A Time Odyssey)

There are many complaints in the reviews about the length of passages that are really intended to show us how people might live in a future supported by the technology described. In other words, it is old-fashioned science fiction. Some of us are technically inclined (and became that way from reading science fiction), so it is old home week with the descriptions provided. A spaceship made of "paper"... well who saw that coming? There are a lot of really fine passages, some quite poignant (the last martians (yes plural, think about it), the last dweller on a watery world around another star). The exodus from Chicago... Perhaps it seemed that there was a lot of traveling back and forth (and there was) but it gave you a feel for the distances to be crossed (on Mir and in the solar system). As for the ending... I've read nearly that same ending before, I am sure! No, no the firstborn vs the lastborn, but something where our heroes (after a long ordeal) are suddenly confronted with a message (or messenger) from some distant point is space and/or time, with essentially the same message..."Help us, there is a war/crisis and we are losing/dying! We need you." And the heroes go. It might have been a Heinlein story, or maybe not. Perhaps Clarke and Baxter knew of the story and were paying homage, perhaps not. It's a hell of an exit, though. There was no follow-up to that story. The message was the follow-up story. Do we know the future of the universe? Not yet! We may have to get there first. Excelsior!

I enjoyed the first 2 books - very innovative and original. however in the conclusion - it just did not seem to reach my expectations like the first 2. Still a good read to find out what those firstborn were about.

I savored this book as I do all ACC books (I read all of Baxter as well). As with most all of Clarke's books, he paints complex visual imagery and amazing concepts together, using simple stories and a simple style. His books transcends the human stories and contain deep cosmic meaning. In all his books I find many paragraphs scattered throughout, containing flourishes of prose that never fail to leave me meditating on the profound nature of life and death. This book and the Time Odyssey series is no exception. If a reader expects Star Wars or the usual pop Sci-fi reading, they came to the wrong place. This book is another pinnacle of hard sci-fi combined with ACC's "cryptobuddhist" meditations. I just hope there will be MUCH more to come, from my favorite living author.