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Xeelee Sequence #15
Xeelee: Endurance
Return to the eon-spanning and universe-crossing conflict between humanity and the unknowable alien Xeelee in this selection of uncollected and unpublished stories, newly edited and placed in chronological reading order.
From tales charting the earliest days of man's adventure to the stars to stories of Old Earth, four billion years in the future, the range and startling imagination of Baxter is always on display. As humanity rises and falls, ebbs and flows, one thing is always needed - the ability to endure.
Contains eleven short stories and novellas.
From tales charting the earliest days of man's adventure to the stars to stories of Old Earth, four billion years in the future, the range and startling imagination of Baxter is always on display. As humanity rises and falls, ebbs and flows, one thing is always needed - the ability to endure.
Contains eleven short stories and novellas.
446 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2005
73 people are currently reading
692 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
403 books2,608 followersStephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the Year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships. He is currently working on his next novel, a collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Mr. Baxter lives in Prestwood, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 19, 2015
A couple of novellas, spanning billions of years of mankind's expansion of space.
Return to Titan
I was hooked in at once, and the end. Omg. The end! I wanna know more. But this is just the early days of space exploration. And this trip was about the Moon Titan. Intriguing and good.
Spacefall
The first galactic war. So I get why the war began, still asshole way of doing it.
Remembrance
This was a good one. I could not stop reading. The squeem came and conquered earth. It was hellish.
Endurance
The Qax occupation. Poor earth, but they do seem better than the Squeem.
The seer and the silverman
Humans are free and they are now the conquerors. And they are not nicer than the ones that occupied them.
Gravity Dreams
Ad 978,225. They find people in a beta universe.
Periondry's quest
AD 3,8 billion years. Humans are turning creepy and weird.
Climbing the blue
Earth is so weird now. The rest of space seems to be lost.
The time pit
We are now so far into the future that I can not relate to them as humans, even though they are.
The lowland expedition
As in a few earlier stories, earth has time zones (in an effort to same them from aliens). And by this I mean that if you go up you can be away for 40 years, but only 1 year pass below. And in this story they visit a timepit and find strange strange things. Earth is messed up!!
Formidable caress
5 billions years.
As time pass humans seem to be going backwards. Technology lost and found again. Nothing new done. Buildings are alive and ruling. Scary future.
As you can see, the more time that passed, the more bizarre it got. Humans had spread back over the universe, and then they died and earth was left. But humans stayed as before. Idiots all of them.
I could not put it down. First there were invasions. Then we invaded space. Then things got weird. So interesting.
Return to Titan
I was hooked in at once, and the end. Omg. The end! I wanna know more. But this is just the early days of space exploration. And this trip was about the Moon Titan. Intriguing and good.
Spacefall
The first galactic war. So I get why the war began, still asshole way of doing it.
Remembrance
This was a good one. I could not stop reading. The squeem came and conquered earth. It was hellish.
Endurance
The Qax occupation. Poor earth, but they do seem better than the Squeem.
The seer and the silverman
Humans are free and they are now the conquerors. And they are not nicer than the ones that occupied them.
Gravity Dreams
Ad 978,225. They find people in a beta universe.
Periondry's quest
AD 3,8 billion years. Humans are turning creepy and weird.
Climbing the blue
Earth is so weird now. The rest of space seems to be lost.
The time pit
We are now so far into the future that I can not relate to them as humans, even though they are.
The lowland expedition
As in a few earlier stories, earth has time zones (in an effort to same them from aliens). And by this I mean that if you go up you can be away for 40 years, but only 1 year pass below. And in this story they visit a timepit and find strange strange things. Earth is messed up!!
Formidable caress
5 billions years.
As time pass humans seem to be going backwards. Technology lost and found again. Nothing new done. Buildings are alive and ruling. Scary future.
As you can see, the more time that passed, the more bizarre it got. Humans had spread back over the universe, and then they died and earth was left. But humans stayed as before. Idiots all of them.
I could not put it down. First there were invasions. Then we invaded space. Then things got weird. So interesting.
short-story-read
October 15, 2020I just finished Remembrance and I’m blown away. What an incredible short story. It’s only 45 mins but it encapsulates so much. Simply put, this story is intense. Earth is invaded and it’s not a fun time.
Some minor notes....
- How they frame the invasion is terrifying
- the idea that some people might be 100s of year old and the dominant species can just stop the treatments
- the human collaborators
- the fact that the cosmos is teeming with alien life in a knock down drag out existence...
- I need to read the Xeelee sequence!
Some minor notes....
- How they frame the invasion is terrifying
- the idea that some people might be 100s of year old and the dominant species can just stop the treatments
- the human collaborators
- the fact that the cosmos is teeming with alien life in a knock down drag out existence...
- I need to read the Xeelee sequence!
September 25, 2015
Spanning across eons, Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee Sequence is very unique take on a galactic war. It’s a universe where the humans were effectively a bit player, a minor faction at best. Oblivious to the greater war around them, as humanity’s power waxed and waned, two other species fought in a greater clash, slowly leading the galaxy to its heat death. Noted for its grand scale, mind expanding ideas and fascinating use of scientific concepts, it has become one of the essential hard science fiction series all should read alongside 2001. This latest release, Endurance, serves to combine a multitude of tales throughout the timeline, further expanding upon humanity’s plight in this setting.
The real strength of Endurance stems from the broad scale, with its stories covering everything from the life and death of a man in a unique world to one of disaster and survival. While still retaining a keen cerebral edge, there’s solid variety on offer here to keep any reader interested, with the gaps filled in via brief outlines of the decades passing. Much like Dune, it manages to accomplish a true sense of gradual progression and development over time. Rather than merely advancing or altering technology, each era feels gradually more alien than the last, and the themes on hand become truly fascinating. Starfall in particular stands out exceptionally well, and depicts Baxter’s ability to utilise more human and likable characters than novels often do when handling such massive concepts.
Despite spanning an era which the books have previously explored, with readers already knowing how certain key events will play out, there’s a sense of exploration here. The way certain events are worked through and tie into the varied themes of existence helps it work as its own microcosm to a degree. While some knowledge of outside events is certainly needed, it remains oddly open to new readers.
If there is one problem to cite, it’s more down to personal preference with Baxter’s writing style. Lacking some of the grandiose descriptions and vivid imagery other authors favour, it can be hard at times to truly imagine the futuristic scale or nature of these settings. As a result, it can be sometimes difficult to feel the full impact of the far off time the book depicts.
However, despite one minor hiccup this is a worthy entry into the Xeelee Sequence and a fantastic release for this year. If you’re in search of some gripping science fiction utilising big concepts and backed by brilliant writing, look no further than Endurance.
The real strength of Endurance stems from the broad scale, with its stories covering everything from the life and death of a man in a unique world to one of disaster and survival. While still retaining a keen cerebral edge, there’s solid variety on offer here to keep any reader interested, with the gaps filled in via brief outlines of the decades passing. Much like Dune, it manages to accomplish a true sense of gradual progression and development over time. Rather than merely advancing or altering technology, each era feels gradually more alien than the last, and the themes on hand become truly fascinating. Starfall in particular stands out exceptionally well, and depicts Baxter’s ability to utilise more human and likable characters than novels often do when handling such massive concepts.
Despite spanning an era which the books have previously explored, with readers already knowing how certain key events will play out, there’s a sense of exploration here. The way certain events are worked through and tie into the varied themes of existence helps it work as its own microcosm to a degree. While some knowledge of outside events is certainly needed, it remains oddly open to new readers.
If there is one problem to cite, it’s more down to personal preference with Baxter’s writing style. Lacking some of the grandiose descriptions and vivid imagery other authors favour, it can be hard at times to truly imagine the futuristic scale or nature of these settings. As a result, it can be sometimes difficult to feel the full impact of the far off time the book depicts.
However, despite one minor hiccup this is a worthy entry into the Xeelee Sequence and a fantastic release for this year. If you’re in search of some gripping science fiction utilising big concepts and backed by brilliant writing, look no further than Endurance.
November 18, 2015
4,5 stars. A truly excellent collection of hard SF avant la lettre. Baxter is a master. I do readily admit my reviews of his longer works are not as enthusiastic, often amounting to only 3 stars or a grudging 4. I do think there's a reason for that, as he's really a man of ideas. A trained scientist and engineer, he loves to take real concepts from astronomy and physics, stretch them to breaking point, dump in humanity (not as individuals, but as a species), and let all possibilities play out over billions (literally) of years. Humans living in the atmosphere of a neutron star? You've got them here. Aliens consisting of symbiotic animals, trying to understand humanity? They're here. Earths' oceans being frozen by electricity? Look no further! Life on Saturns moon Titan, and an expedition into the liquid ocean thought to exist beneath the ice? It's here in all it's mind bogglinc speculation on different forms of life, the possibility of symbiosis (an often returning theme, and very interesting: is our long term survival only possible by achieving symbiosis with other species? Earth ecology tends to confirm this. But what about us not being really enthusiastic about working together, welcoming others, accepting the worth of those who are different? Will that ultimately be our undoing?) There are floating trees and skywhales here and a world where machines develop societies. (These last stories were a little bit vague in their relationship with the main story, but that is a minor point). Baxter is quite adept in showing these truly awe-inspiring visions. Character development is not his main forte, and this is what hurts his novels, not fatally, but enough te send them staggering. His 2,5-dimensional characters can not carry a whole novel, but they are perfect for a short story or novella, sympathetic, sometimes flawed, but carrying the story, even giving a human face to proceedings. This collection even inspires me to check out Baxters other Xeelee-related work.
October 20, 2024
A collection that showcases both Baxters' strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes, his stories are just vehicles for long exposition about some outlandish physics theory. But when he remembers to focus on people and stories, his imagination soars. The highlights of this collection are the linked tales of a time stratified world where the deeper you are, the slower the passage of time.
Sometimes, his stories are just vehicles for long exposition about some outlandish physics theory. But when he remembers to focus on people and stories, his imagination soars. The highlights of this collection are the linked tales of a time stratified world where the deeper you are, the slower the passage of time.
June 18, 2025
Yeah I especially liked the last few stories of it, the ones that took place on the Shelf.
October 11, 2018
I like Baxter's work, although I have to check out occasionally given his relentlessly grim view of humans and our priorities/prospects/chances in the long term. This is another good collection of stories from his Xeelee universe, providing several great examples of compelling narratives spun around the very extremes of modern scientific understanding. Only issue I'd really bring up is, if you're not familiar with the Xeelee series, don't start with this one. Several parts only make sense (just about, it's pretty hard sci-fi) if you've read previous books, which aren't specified at any point, so that's something that could easily deter a Baxter newbie.
December 28, 2015
More mind boggling deep future shorts and novellas depicting the Endurance of the human race in Baxter's jaw-dropping Xeelee universe.
August 26, 2020
This short story and Novella collection fills in some gaps in the Xeelee sequence that did not really need filing in, but Baxter does so nonetheless. This is not a terrible thing, as it does allow we readers to pass some more time in an amiable, if not terribly memorable, way in the Xeelee universe.
The weakest part of the collection is, as ever, Baxter’s human characters. Science fiction does have a tendency to generate more two-dimensional characters than found on average in professionally published literature, and here unfortunately we are batting well above that average. I should not complain too much however as one significant human character, Michael Poole, does get an extra facet to his character, but it is one that made me empathise much less with Poole. If you have read it, and actually do like what he does on Titan, then I am not sure that I would want too much to do with you either!
Where Baxter excels is in clever science fiction concepts and in truly alien aliens, and here, once again, he delivers. The Silver Ghosts get a lot more background (though they do end up slightly less silver-ery than I thought they were, which is a bit of a shame). The collection of both very different and blended life forms connected to one moon is also an intriguing idea that fits with the Xeelee intentions that we have seen so far. Lastly, the overall condition of Earth in the last few stories, and the story behind the evolved buildings thereon, are clever components of those end tales.
The weakest part of the collection is, as ever, Baxter’s human characters. Science fiction does have a tendency to generate more two-dimensional characters than found on average in professionally published literature, and here unfortunately we are batting well above that average. I should not complain too much however as one significant human character, Michael Poole, does get an extra facet to his character, but it is one that made me empathise much less with Poole. If you have read it, and actually do like what he does on Titan, then I am not sure that I would want too much to do with you either!
Where Baxter excels is in clever science fiction concepts and in truly alien aliens, and here, once again, he delivers. The Silver Ghosts get a lot more background (though they do end up slightly less silver-ery than I thought they were, which is a bit of a shame). The collection of both very different and blended life forms connected to one moon is also an intriguing idea that fits with the Xeelee intentions that we have seen so far. Lastly, the overall condition of Earth in the last few stories, and the story behind the evolved buildings thereon, are clever components of those end tales.
June 24, 2018
Like Baxter's excellent "Vacuum Diagrams", this book is a chronologically ordered set of short-form stories set in the author's "Xeelee Squence" future history. The first half of the book is most reminiscient of that other collection in that it varies a lot in subjects, characters, and themes. Almost all the stories in this collection feature come manner of connected hook to the story that they're adjacent to. In that respect you get a loose sense of following a single, collosal storyline... albeit loosely.
About halfway through, the story "Gravity Dreams" revisits the settling of Baxter's first novel, "Raft". It was fun to revisit that universe (using the term accurately) from a very different perspective and in a future time from the original work.
All the stories after that are closely connected and tell the story of "Old Earth": a planet that has been artificially modidied and features time layered by altitide on its surface. The is lets Baxter play with time dilation while staying on a single plnetary surface.
Overall it was a good read. Baxter is always playing out interesting thought experiments in his works. The only thing I felt was missing was a better understanding of Old Earth - its history and functional processes. The reality behind the world left me a tad vexed, even if the stories were excellent.
About halfway through, the story "Gravity Dreams" revisits the settling of Baxter's first novel, "Raft". It was fun to revisit that universe (using the term accurately) from a very different perspective and in a future time from the original work.
All the stories after that are closely connected and tell the story of "Old Earth": a planet that has been artificially modidied and features time layered by altitide on its surface. The is lets Baxter play with time dilation while staying on a single plnetary surface.
Overall it was a good read. Baxter is always playing out interesting thought experiments in his works. The only thing I felt was missing was a better understanding of Old Earth - its history and functional processes. The reality behind the world left me a tad vexed, even if the stories were excellent.
September 20, 2020
Baxter, Stephen. Xeelee: Endurance. Xeelee Sequence No. 15. Gollancz, 2015.
The Xeelee universe is Stephen Baxter’s foray into far-future, posthuman space opera on the largest possible scale. The whole timeline runs from the near future to roughly eight billion years hence, and that is not counting the multiverse or the places where time runs at different rates. These stories, written over the last decade, cover most of the timeline, so it is sometimes hard to remember that they are all in the same fictional universe. There is a chronology at the end, but frankly, the collection would be improved with some interstitial author’s notes. Of the bunch, my favorites are the stores set more than five billion hears from now in which time runs at different rates depending on altitude. The rich live on low levels and send their laundry to the attic where servants can get it done in a relative instant. But a short trip upstairs can age you quickly, so watch out. The time differential means that sex between an aristocrat and a attic servant can be problematic for all concerned. It also means that aerial warfare has to take time dilation into account. 4 stars.
The Xeelee universe is Stephen Baxter’s foray into far-future, posthuman space opera on the largest possible scale. The whole timeline runs from the near future to roughly eight billion years hence, and that is not counting the multiverse or the places where time runs at different rates. These stories, written over the last decade, cover most of the timeline, so it is sometimes hard to remember that they are all in the same fictional universe. There is a chronology at the end, but frankly, the collection would be improved with some interstitial author’s notes. Of the bunch, my favorites are the stores set more than five billion hears from now in which time runs at different rates depending on altitude. The rich live on low levels and send their laundry to the attic where servants can get it done in a relative instant. But a short trip upstairs can age you quickly, so watch out. The time differential means that sex between an aristocrat and a attic servant can be problematic for all concerned. It also means that aerial warfare has to take time dilation into account. 4 stars.
August 7, 2018
I didn't really enjoy this. OK, it was the 'filler' bits for a series I haven't read, so I'm certainly not best placed to appreciate it. On the other hand, simply as stand-alone stories they just weren't all that good.
I'm also not convinced that human beings are likely to last, pretty much unchanged, for the next million years (especially given that we've only been around for 200-300,000 years so far). I certainly couldn't believe that we can last for several billion years, but that was before I understood the time dilation aspects.
One good point to note - a rare occurrence of a minor character called Benj!
I'm also not convinced that human beings are likely to last, pretty much unchanged, for the next million years (especially given that we've only been around for 200-300,000 years so far). I certainly couldn't believe that we can last for several billion years, but that was before I understood the time dilation aspects.
One good point to note - a rare occurrence of a minor character called Benj!
April 6, 2020
Another one of Baxter's Xeelee sequence, Endurance is a collection of 11 long stories, spanning through millions of years. There is no connection between the stories, besides their adherence to the universe's timeline that Baxter devised for the sequence.
The first stories (closer to "present time") are great. Halfway, as other reviewers mention, they become bizarre. They are so far in the future that it's impossible to relate to whatever human beings seem to be at the time. Even though I did not particularly enjoy them, they are a showcase of Baxter's creative mind.
As usual, a most for any Baxter/Xeelee fan.
The first stories (closer to "present time") are great. Halfway, as other reviewers mention, they become bizarre. They are so far in the future that it's impossible to relate to whatever human beings seem to be at the time. Even though I did not particularly enjoy them, they are a showcase of Baxter's creative mind.
As usual, a most for any Baxter/Xeelee fan.
November 22, 2018
I've read a lot of Stephen Baxter over the years. He was one of the leading lights of the renaissance of British hard SF, but this roped together collection of short fiction in the Xeelee universe was a big disappointment. Characters seemed barely fleshed-out, concepts only a step above the amateurish and info dumps scarred the text like sore thumbs in an (insert your preferred cliche here).
Must try harder, Stephen.
Must try harder, Stephen.
December 14, 2023
If you like Baxter's books in the Xeelee sequence this one is a very enjoyable read, and you'll catch the moments of his other books in the sequence in here. My only gripe that keeps it from being a 5* book for me were the final short stories taking place on an earth with striated time ended up being very... well, boring really. The concept was great, but the stories themselves did so little with the idea. But overall, definitely worth the read if you enjoy his other works.
May 26, 2017
Always good to revisit the xeelee future history, even when only in short story form. Baxter still manages to fill in little corners of his mind bogglingly complex universe with things you didn't know. Don't read this first though if you haven't read any of his previous novels or stories in this series.
June 17, 2019
Wow. The entire Xeelee sequence covers gulfs of time I can barely grasp, liberally sprinkled with fascinating extrapolations of physics and alternate universes. Baxter is firmly on my top ten, along with Niven, Clement and Forward.
This collection of stories spans events from the near future to billions of years from now, all of them fascinating. Well worth the time.
This collection of stories spans events from the near future to billions of years from now, all of them fascinating. Well worth the time.
March 6, 2025
Some of the stories in this collection got very bizarre in interesting ways. While I enjoy the over-all story in the collection, Baxter's characters (as usual) are hit or miss. Though, I do have to give him credit for not making the humans the default "good guys" or making the morality of characters black or white. I ended up enjoying it, but not loving it.
July 23, 2018
Great hard science fiction book
Love how Stephen Baxter uses science concepts to tell his stories. It makes you feel like everything you read is possible, compared to other science fiction books were you know some things are just nonsensical
Love how Stephen Baxter uses science concepts to tell his stories. It makes you feel like everything you read is possible, compared to other science fiction books were you know some things are just nonsensical
January 6, 2022
Future History
I enjoyed this collection of stories about how to survive billions of years to witness the end of our cosmos. I hope we prove more competent than the beings imagined here.
I enjoyed this collection of stories about how to survive billions of years to witness the end of our cosmos. I hope we prove more competent than the beings imagined here.
August 21, 2025
A Fixup collection of short stories and Novellas that fill in some interludes in the novels timeline. makes a pretty smooth progression from physics science fiction in the first half, to what I would have to call Fantastica in the second half.
April 29, 2018
An excellent, brain-bending collection of stories!
August 21, 2018
Not as good as Vacuum Diagrams. Most of thr stories were interesting, but the Old Earth ones were boring, and I didn't read most of thosr.
November 22, 2018
Sci-fi short story collection. Mediocre. Big ideas but did not flow for me.....
March 24, 2019
Some very strange things going on...
May 30, 2019
This is a 5billion year story of Humanity, from Earth expansion into space conflicts with aliens and Galaxy wide story of endurance.
January 14, 2020
Mostly for Xeelee completists. Fills in some gaps.
Want to read
May 20, 2020ss: Even after the Xeelee had finally
ss: Timeline
ss: Timeline
August 7, 2024
Endurance is a really nice send-off for the Xeelee Sequence, filling in the gaps of its vast timeline with a number of short stories that each stand out and add up to a solid collection.
July 26, 2016
An enjoyable return to Baxter's Xeelee universe, though not the best entry point for new readers. Endurance contains a handful of short stories and novellas from various points throughout the extensive Xeelee future history, so there's a detailed backstory behind each, explored in one or more previous novels. If there's a loose thread connecting the stories it's Michael Poole, the legendary engineer, builder of wormholes, and primary character of one of the earliest Xeelee novels, Timelike Infinity.
The first stories are set relatively early in the Xeelee timeline, between Poole's era and the Qax Occupation. Return to Titan features the hubristic Poole and colleagues on a disastrous mission to the titular Saturnian moon. Starfall is from an epoch we've rarely seen, when humanity has begun the optimistic First Expansion and has yet to encounter any of the Galaxy's hostile species, but revolt is brewing in Earth's own interstellar colonies. Remembrance follows the brief Squeem Occupation. Endurance is set during the Qax Occupation, and like Starfall, connects directly to the events of Timelike Infinity: here we learn some of what occurred on the other side of the time bridge established by the GUTship Cauchy. The Seer and the Silverman features the Silver Ghosts, one of the first species conquered during humanity's genocidal Third Expansion, as well as a curious callback to a revolutionary FTL drive from The Quagma Datum.
We then make a million year leap into the future for Gravity Dreams, which is a loose sequel to Raft, before making an even greater jump for the five stories of Old Earth, which proceed directly from The Siege of Earth (collected in Resplendant). Half a million years after the Transcendence, the Xeelee Scourge reached Earth, and humanity packed the home world off into the deep future, preserved in a well of stratified time. These are probably the least accessible to new readers. It's an archetypal Baxter scenario - civilisation has long fallen, and the survivors attempt to survive amongst the ruins while dealing with a bizarre environment and piecing together the mysteries of their forgotten past - but the story feels unfinished and rather inconsequential.
Overall, a must read for anyone who's been invested in the Xeelee history since the early days of Flux and Raft. There are clearly still mysteries to be revealed, and the stories here create more loose ends than they resolve - and I'm starting to lose count of the various copies of Michael Poole left scattered throughout spacetime. Some of those threads will undoubtedly be picked up in the forthcoming Vengeance - in which the Xeelee evidently attempt to erase the original Poole from the timeline, which would have a dramatic effect on human history. Despite reading the endgame of the Xeelee Sequence twenty years ago in Ring - the Photino Birds win, the Xeelee flee, and a handful of human survivors make it to other universes - it feels like Baxter's still planning some big events, and there's far more going on than has yet been revealed.
There are some curious hints from the coda to Endurance, from Transcendence, and from the older core novels, after which you can't help but wonder if The Friends of Wigner really are nothing but a desperate cult, or if they might really be onto something after all....
The first stories are set relatively early in the Xeelee timeline, between Poole's era and the Qax Occupation. Return to Titan features the hubristic Poole and colleagues on a disastrous mission to the titular Saturnian moon. Starfall is from an epoch we've rarely seen, when humanity has begun the optimistic First Expansion and has yet to encounter any of the Galaxy's hostile species, but revolt is brewing in Earth's own interstellar colonies. Remembrance follows the brief Squeem Occupation. Endurance is set during the Qax Occupation, and like Starfall, connects directly to the events of Timelike Infinity: here we learn some of what occurred on the other side of the time bridge established by the GUTship Cauchy. The Seer and the Silverman features the Silver Ghosts, one of the first species conquered during humanity's genocidal Third Expansion, as well as a curious callback to a revolutionary FTL drive from The Quagma Datum.
We then make a million year leap into the future for Gravity Dreams, which is a loose sequel to Raft, before making an even greater jump for the five stories of Old Earth, which proceed directly from The Siege of Earth (collected in Resplendant). Half a million years after the Transcendence, the Xeelee Scourge reached Earth, and humanity packed the home world off into the deep future, preserved in a well of stratified time. These are probably the least accessible to new readers. It's an archetypal Baxter scenario - civilisation has long fallen, and the survivors attempt to survive amongst the ruins while dealing with a bizarre environment and piecing together the mysteries of their forgotten past - but the story feels unfinished and rather inconsequential.
Overall, a must read for anyone who's been invested in the Xeelee history since the early days of Flux and Raft. There are clearly still mysteries to be revealed, and the stories here create more loose ends than they resolve - and I'm starting to lose count of the various copies of Michael Poole left scattered throughout spacetime. Some of those threads will undoubtedly be picked up in the forthcoming Vengeance - in which the Xeelee evidently attempt to erase the original Poole from the timeline, which would have a dramatic effect on human history. Despite reading the endgame of the Xeelee Sequence twenty years ago in Ring - the Photino Birds win, the Xeelee flee, and a handful of human survivors make it to other universes - it feels like Baxter's still planning some big events, and there's far more going on than has yet been revealed.
There are some curious hints from the coda to Endurance, from Transcendence, and from the older core novels, after which you can't help but wonder if The Friends of Wigner really are nothing but a desperate cult, or if they might really be onto something after all....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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