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Xeelee Sequence #16
Xeelee: Vengeance
Half a million years in the future, on a dead, war-ravaged world at the centre of the Galaxy, there is a mile-high statue of Michael Poole.
Poole, born on Earth in the fourth millennium, was one of mankind's most influential heroes. He was not a warrior, not an emperor. He was an engineer, a builder of wormhole transit systems. But Poole's work would ultimately lead to a vast and destructive conflict, a million-year war between humanity and the enigmatic, powerful aliens known as the Xeelee.
The Xeelee won, but at a huge cost. And, defeated in a greater war, the Xeelee eventually fled the universe. Most of them.
A handful were left behind, equipped with time travel capabilities, their task to tidy up: to reorder history more to the Xeelee's liking. That million-year war with humankind was one blemish. It had to be erased. And in order to do that, a lone Xeelee was sent back in time to remove Michael Poole from history . . .
Poole, born on Earth in the fourth millennium, was one of mankind's most influential heroes. He was not a warrior, not an emperor. He was an engineer, a builder of wormhole transit systems. But Poole's work would ultimately lead to a vast and destructive conflict, a million-year war between humanity and the enigmatic, powerful aliens known as the Xeelee.
The Xeelee won, but at a huge cost. And, defeated in a greater war, the Xeelee eventually fled the universe. Most of them.
A handful were left behind, equipped with time travel capabilities, their task to tidy up: to reorder history more to the Xeelee's liking. That million-year war with humankind was one blemish. It had to be erased. And in order to do that, a lone Xeelee was sent back in time to remove Michael Poole from history . . .
432 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2017
109 people are currently reading
622 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
403 books2,607 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 45 reviews
September 22, 2017
Xeelee: Vengeance is a book with some great ideas, but they were destroyed by the repetitive writing, extremely slow pace and complete lack of action. It’s not a book I’d recommend and, in all honesty, it has pretty much put me off the author for good.
Michael Poole, Earth's greatest living engineer, changed the galaxy when he opened a worm hole to allow for quick and easy transportation across the solar system. However, such a thing was created with a degree of naivety and a lack of foresight because out of the worm hole flew an unknown vessel of alien origin. Unlike anything seen by human eyes before, it is unstoppable and unfathomable. Bent on an unknown path, the vessel is unresponsive to the human life around it. It ignores hails and even direct attacks. Nothing affects it, not even the surface of the sun. All it seems to want is energy, and Earth has plenty of that to be absorbed.
However, as exciting and mysterious as this early incident may sound, the plot was, unfortunately, as slow as the giant Xeelee vessel that crawled through the system: it was drawn out and dragging at a terribly slow pace. And despite the huge amount of build up for the final confrontation, there was a surprising lack of tension created for the situation. Earth was under direct threat; yet, somehow the writing did not evoke a sense of drama. It felt detached and distant, even from its own protagonist. Stephen Baxter has some grand ideas, but the writing here did not deliver them in an entertaining way nor was it thought provoking or engaging on any level.
Did I forget to mention Poole?
Poole is a name associated with brilliant ideas and ingenuity. This idea is relayed very early on in the book and it is constantly reinforced through dialogue, that much so it became increasingly frustrating and annoying to the point of absolute redundancy. It's a classic example of the importance of showing over telling. That being said, none of the characters actually displayed much in the way of creativeness or the genius they were supposed to have. One example the author drew upon was Michael using his spacecraft to shunt the Xeelee vessel, certainly not an action I would call particularly intelligent.
The ending of the book, another feat on Michael's behalf, seemed lazy and very last minute. For most of the story he seemed like a passive bystander, completely happy to let his father take charge in the upcoming crisis. He barely acted, and when he did it was out of spontaneity. All in all, he did not live up to the puffing up of his family name the author felt compelled to do at every possible opportunity. Michael's farther (only a Poole by marriage) demonstrated more of the family qualities than Michael did; it's a little odd really. Also, to felt like the author was trying to say the name “Poole” as many times as possible. I read it so many times here that I never want to rea da book with that name in again. If you’ve read this, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
On a character and plot level, this book did not deliver. But for the right reader Baxter's exploration of technology and science may be of some interest. He demonstrates an in depth knowledge of science, and the speculative possibilities of where it could take us in the future. He also had some interesting ideas about artificial intelligence and the sentience of it. At times, I felt like his writing and knowledge would be more appropriate in non-fiction theory books; it certainly was leaning towards being more informative rather than narrative based at times. I will not be reading the sequel.
Michael Poole, Earth's greatest living engineer, changed the galaxy when he opened a worm hole to allow for quick and easy transportation across the solar system. However, such a thing was created with a degree of naivety and a lack of foresight because out of the worm hole flew an unknown vessel of alien origin. Unlike anything seen by human eyes before, it is unstoppable and unfathomable. Bent on an unknown path, the vessel is unresponsive to the human life around it. It ignores hails and even direct attacks. Nothing affects it, not even the surface of the sun. All it seems to want is energy, and Earth has plenty of that to be absorbed.
However, as exciting and mysterious as this early incident may sound, the plot was, unfortunately, as slow as the giant Xeelee vessel that crawled through the system: it was drawn out and dragging at a terribly slow pace. And despite the huge amount of build up for the final confrontation, there was a surprising lack of tension created for the situation. Earth was under direct threat; yet, somehow the writing did not evoke a sense of drama. It felt detached and distant, even from its own protagonist. Stephen Baxter has some grand ideas, but the writing here did not deliver them in an entertaining way nor was it thought provoking or engaging on any level.
Did I forget to mention Poole?
Poole is a name associated with brilliant ideas and ingenuity. This idea is relayed very early on in the book and it is constantly reinforced through dialogue, that much so it became increasingly frustrating and annoying to the point of absolute redundancy. It's a classic example of the importance of showing over telling. That being said, none of the characters actually displayed much in the way of creativeness or the genius they were supposed to have. One example the author drew upon was Michael using his spacecraft to shunt the Xeelee vessel, certainly not an action I would call particularly intelligent.
The ending of the book, another feat on Michael's behalf, seemed lazy and very last minute. For most of the story he seemed like a passive bystander, completely happy to let his father take charge in the upcoming crisis. He barely acted, and when he did it was out of spontaneity. All in all, he did not live up to the puffing up of his family name the author felt compelled to do at every possible opportunity. Michael's farther (only a Poole by marriage) demonstrated more of the family qualities than Michael did; it's a little odd really. Also, to felt like the author was trying to say the name “Poole” as many times as possible. I read it so many times here that I never want to rea da book with that name in again. If you’ve read this, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
On a character and plot level, this book did not deliver. But for the right reader Baxter's exploration of technology and science may be of some interest. He demonstrates an in depth knowledge of science, and the speculative possibilities of where it could take us in the future. He also had some interesting ideas about artificial intelligence and the sentience of it. At times, I felt like his writing and knowledge would be more appropriate in non-fiction theory books; it certainly was leaning towards being more informative rather than narrative based at times. I will not be reading the sequel.
August 30, 2020
The Xeelee sequence is one of THOSE huge storylines that I just can't get out of my head. It's a monolith of HUGE HUGE HUGE space and time stories that spread from the inception of the universe to the very end of the universe, countless time-travel re-creations, battle-lines that re-form all of HISTORY many, many times, and often just punch ultimate holes in the universe to GET THE F**K out and into alternate universes.
And through it all, Humans have become the runner-ups in the galaxy-wide conflict while being unable to communicate with the more advanced and inscrutable Xeelee who freaking SHEPHERD STARS or create a naked singularity out of a galactic core. You know. Little things like that.
This particular book, late in the many, many battles and time-rewrites and massive battles, takes us back to a time -- again -- to the Pooles. And between putting a wormhole into the sun to heat remote parts of the Solar System, uncovering and engaging with an ancient Xeelee artifact that had been buried for millions of years despite having come from a very distant future (or discovering that Poole, himself, is a grand hero celebrated half a million years in the future,) (again), things soon go to total s**t again.
The war never ends. Not when time-like loops and vast scales are matched with even more vast scales in multiple timelines.
This is HARDCORE hard SF, folks. I LOVE IT.
So why did I give it only 4 stars?
Because of Poole. The first time we had an alternate timeline with another version of Poole or one of the extended historical Poole family, I was like... okay. This could get very interesting.
The fourth time, it was beginning to look like a gimmick.
The eighth time, I was already begging to just GIVE ME A NEW CHARACTER ALREADY.
If I was going to judge these books on just that one little annoyance, I'd probably say toss it only 2 stars. But when I judge these books on their great over-plots, the tactics and strategy, the mind-blowing physics and scale and creative uses of ... EVERYTHING worldbuilding? I have to give it a full 5 stars. Every time. Every book.
In fact, that's why I keep coming back. It's really awesome. Deeply, deeply satisfying.
And pity humanity.
Even Poole pulls some awesome s**t. Give him some credit.
And through it all, Humans have become the runner-ups in the galaxy-wide conflict while being unable to communicate with the more advanced and inscrutable Xeelee who freaking SHEPHERD STARS or create a naked singularity out of a galactic core. You know. Little things like that.
This particular book, late in the many, many battles and time-rewrites and massive battles, takes us back to a time -- again -- to the Pooles. And between putting a wormhole into the sun to heat remote parts of the Solar System, uncovering and engaging with an ancient Xeelee artifact that had been buried for millions of years despite having come from a very distant future (or discovering that Poole, himself, is a grand hero celebrated half a million years in the future,) (again), things soon go to total s**t again.
The war never ends. Not when time-like loops and vast scales are matched with even more vast scales in multiple timelines.
This is HARDCORE hard SF, folks. I LOVE IT.
So why did I give it only 4 stars?
Because of Poole. The first time we had an alternate timeline with another version of Poole or one of the extended historical Poole family, I was like... okay. This could get very interesting.
The fourth time, it was beginning to look like a gimmick.
The eighth time, I was already begging to just GIVE ME A NEW CHARACTER ALREADY.
If I was going to judge these books on just that one little annoyance, I'd probably say toss it only 2 stars. But when I judge these books on their great over-plots, the tactics and strategy, the mind-blowing physics and scale and creative uses of ... EVERYTHING worldbuilding? I have to give it a full 5 stars. Every time. Every book.
In fact, that's why I keep coming back. It's really awesome. Deeply, deeply satisfying.
And pity humanity.
Even Poole pulls some awesome s**t. Give him some credit.
January 7, 2019
I think no one was more surprised than Stephen Baxter himself that there were more Xeelee novels to come, with him referring to Vengeance and its sequel, Redemption, as a ‘pendant’ to the overarching Xeelee sequence (that in itself is a bit of a [groan-inducing] in-joke here).
Of course, the corollary is that Vengeance does not really end, but merely sets the stage for Redemption. I contemplated deducting a star for this, as I generally hate cliffhangers – but this one is so well done, and Baxter’s setpieces are so magnificently awe-inspiring, that I thought, fuck it. Five stars it is.
So Vengeance seems to take place in a version of reality where the great showdown at the centre of the universe has not yet taken place, or has taken place, or is still ongoing, or has been diverted somehow … You know how it is with this timey-wimey stuff. Baxter also goes all Dark Tower on the Xeelee Sequence by tying up plot strands from Coalescent to Flood. And there I thought he was just writing by the seat of his pants all of this time.
It is significant that this grand space opera series has reached book #7 here, as has another notable, but eminently more popular one, The Expanse, with Persepolis Rising. Personally, the Xeelee Sequence is much more ambitious and scientifically rigorous (all the major ideas / concepts here, no matter how seemingly outlandish, are backed-up by citations at the end, which has become something of a tradition with Baxter).
Baxter also takes a big risk in making the Poole family highly dysfunctional, generally egomaniacal, and thoroughly unlikeable, but that seems to be the trend with geniuses of any stripe. Unfortunately, this seems to have resulted in a general charge of ‘lack of characterisation’, as if every Baxter book is supposed to be a potential sequel to Ulysses rather than the latest instalment in a ‘popular’ space opera sequence.
There is a tendency for this type of hard SF – which I like to term BDO or Big Dumb Object SF – to skimp a bit on the characterisation, simply because the characters are so overwhelmed by the sheer scale and spectacle of the events usually depicted (you just need to think of Niven’s Ringworld or Banks’s Culture series to get a sense of the venerable SF tradition in which Baxter is working here).
Critics have also pointed to the seeming lack of plot: Michael Poole opens up a wormhole, a weird spacecraft pops through, and makes a beeline for the sun, where it builds a cuboid craft that it then follows on a solar system-wide swathe of planetary destruction. Cue lots of bickering and hand-wringing by the Pooles as they try to deal with / capitalise on the crisis.
A simple storyline on which to hang a tale of such cosmic import, you may think. But the setpieces that Baxter conjures up, from a journey into the heart of the sun, through to the epic destruction of Mars and Earth, are staggering and mind-boggling. Always a great craftsman, Baxter ratchets up the tension inexorably, and paces his infodumps expertly in this regard. What I have always admired about Baxter’s writing is that he never lectures or pontificates, but rides a wave of discovery and excitement that simply sweeps the reader along in the sheer sense-of-wonder of it all.
For me, this is one of the best books that Baxter has written in a long time. He seems to have taken a leaf out of the Kim Stanley Robinson manual, and conjured up a lived-in universe depicted in extraordinary detail. Some might say painstaking. As with KSR, there is a lot of focus on the socio-political and economic impact of the alien incursion, and the legacy of Michael Poole himself (who strikes me as a modern reincarnation of the Dave Bowman character from 2001, which is quite fitting given Baxter’s past collaboration with the great Arthur C. Clarke).
Given the resounding ending here, which is as much a clarion call as Roland of Gilead raising the horn to his lips, to make the very multiverse shudder from its thunder, I can’t wait to read what happens next in Redemption. Now that is a damn successful and good book, by any definition.
Of course, the corollary is that Vengeance does not really end, but merely sets the stage for Redemption. I contemplated deducting a star for this, as I generally hate cliffhangers – but this one is so well done, and Baxter’s setpieces are so magnificently awe-inspiring, that I thought, fuck it. Five stars it is.
So Vengeance seems to take place in a version of reality where the great showdown at the centre of the universe has not yet taken place, or has taken place, or is still ongoing, or has been diverted somehow … You know how it is with this timey-wimey stuff. Baxter also goes all Dark Tower on the Xeelee Sequence by tying up plot strands from Coalescent to Flood. And there I thought he was just writing by the seat of his pants all of this time.
It is significant that this grand space opera series has reached book #7 here, as has another notable, but eminently more popular one, The Expanse, with Persepolis Rising. Personally, the Xeelee Sequence is much more ambitious and scientifically rigorous (all the major ideas / concepts here, no matter how seemingly outlandish, are backed-up by citations at the end, which has become something of a tradition with Baxter).
Baxter also takes a big risk in making the Poole family highly dysfunctional, generally egomaniacal, and thoroughly unlikeable, but that seems to be the trend with geniuses of any stripe. Unfortunately, this seems to have resulted in a general charge of ‘lack of characterisation’, as if every Baxter book is supposed to be a potential sequel to Ulysses rather than the latest instalment in a ‘popular’ space opera sequence.
There is a tendency for this type of hard SF – which I like to term BDO or Big Dumb Object SF – to skimp a bit on the characterisation, simply because the characters are so overwhelmed by the sheer scale and spectacle of the events usually depicted (you just need to think of Niven’s Ringworld or Banks’s Culture series to get a sense of the venerable SF tradition in which Baxter is working here).
Critics have also pointed to the seeming lack of plot: Michael Poole opens up a wormhole, a weird spacecraft pops through, and makes a beeline for the sun, where it builds a cuboid craft that it then follows on a solar system-wide swathe of planetary destruction. Cue lots of bickering and hand-wringing by the Pooles as they try to deal with / capitalise on the crisis.
A simple storyline on which to hang a tale of such cosmic import, you may think. But the setpieces that Baxter conjures up, from a journey into the heart of the sun, through to the epic destruction of Mars and Earth, are staggering and mind-boggling. Always a great craftsman, Baxter ratchets up the tension inexorably, and paces his infodumps expertly in this regard. What I have always admired about Baxter’s writing is that he never lectures or pontificates, but rides a wave of discovery and excitement that simply sweeps the reader along in the sheer sense-of-wonder of it all.
For me, this is one of the best books that Baxter has written in a long time. He seems to have taken a leaf out of the Kim Stanley Robinson manual, and conjured up a lived-in universe depicted in extraordinary detail. Some might say painstaking. As with KSR, there is a lot of focus on the socio-political and economic impact of the alien incursion, and the legacy of Michael Poole himself (who strikes me as a modern reincarnation of the Dave Bowman character from 2001, which is quite fitting given Baxter’s past collaboration with the great Arthur C. Clarke).
Given the resounding ending here, which is as much a clarion call as Roland of Gilead raising the horn to his lips, to make the very multiverse shudder from its thunder, I can’t wait to read what happens next in Redemption. Now that is a damn successful and good book, by any definition.
January 3, 2018
I love Stephen Baxter's work and this shows yet again why.
March 6, 2019
Elendiges Scheißbuch.
August 16, 2017
It was ok. I felt the characters were written very annoying, at least the ones that had any descriptions written about them. There was not a single character to sympathize with, they all behaved like spoiled children. And don't get me started on the Poole "family", I never want to read another book with the word "Poole" in it.
The story itself was passable, I guess, this omnipotent alien thing is really stupid though. My main complaint is about the characters, they all suck extremely much.
Writing this "review" it just became apparent to me that I really didn't like this book and just finished it because I had started reading it. Not recommended.
The story itself was passable, I guess, this omnipotent alien thing is really stupid though. My main complaint is about the characters, they all suck extremely much.
Writing this "review" it just became apparent to me that I really didn't like this book and just finished it because I had started reading it. Not recommended.
November 10, 2022
review to follow
August 31, 2018
It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve written a review. I’m not sure I remember how. Ha ha! Jokes on you, I never knew how to write a review.
I finished reading Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee: Vengence a week or so ago. This book took me longer to read than just about any book in recent memory. It was weird to me, because it’s not very often I can read a book over such a long period of time and have it maintain my interest. I tend to give myself about two weeks and if I’m not done by then then I put it down forever. I can think of a few exceptions… but not many.
Regardless, Baxter went back to visit his Xeelee universe with this book. I’ve written so voluminously about how his Xeelee novels blew my mind so much when I first encountered them in the mid-nineties that I'm sure it blows your mind how much I mention it.
A bit of future history, for your enjoyment. A super-spoilery overview of all that I’d learned about Baxter’s universe over the years:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILERS ARE COMING – IF YOU EVER THINK YOU MAY READ THIS STUFF I’D STOP
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Over the course of half a dozen loosely-related novels and a whole host of short stories, we learn that humanity, about 1500 years or so from now, invents transverable wormholes. A thousand years or so of the solar system being humanity’s playground and we run into our first technologically advanced alien race. We learn that the galaxy is a true melting pot civilization filled with all sorts of truly alien aliens.
These particular aliens, the Squeem, look at us and can’t resist the urge to take us over. It’s not because they’re evil, or that we are, it’s that it was just so… well, easy. It was like we were asking for it. In the simple economics that run the larger galaxy, where each species acts more like a corporation, it was hostile takeover.
They weren’t that good at it, these Squeem, at being conquerors, they took away our tech and made us laborers in their industry. Eventually, we threw aside that yolk and stole their FTL tech and spread throughout the galaxy. Determined to not be so naïve in the future.
But we ran into one of the galaxy’s heavyweights, the Qax. They looked at humanity, saw our ambition, and decided to use it for themselves, we were conquered again.
Again, we were subjects and slaves to mighty overlords. But the Qax weren’t interested in us, not really, they wanted to use us to spy on the true overlords of the cosmos, the unquestioned rulers of the baryonic universe: The Xeelee.
Eventually, humans overthrew the Qax as well, and nearly committed Xenocide in doing so. From there on out the psychology of humanity as a whole was forever altered. No longer willing to try to fit in, we moved all our resources into conquering, our religions, our industry, our purpose… was to rule the cosmos.
That meant taking on the Xeelee. A race so enigmatic and aloof that galactic wars were fought over their discarded and abandoned items. No one could dream of inventing things that weren’t already in existence, and perfectly executed, by the Xeelee.
But we did an okay job at what we did, and over the millennia came to conquer or destroy every would-be rival the universe could throw at us. Except for the Xeelee. They tended to ignore us, couldn’t care less about what humans wanted. But we kept attacking, throwing neutron stars into the middle of their mystery projects, or attacking their outposts and stealing their precious tech.
Eventually, they noticed. And we warred with them. It lasted for a hundred thousand years, for a time, humans actually looked like they had chance, we even won real victories. But while the Xeelee weren’t all powerful, in the end, humans were still no more than a nuisance. Humans were all but wiped form the universe and the Xeelee carried on.
They had bigger problems to deal with.
.
.
.
.
End of my spoiler filled portion
This book picks very early in the timeline, and it appears that at some point, the Xeelee decided that humans were enough of a problem that we had to be taken care of, Terminator style, by coming deep into earth’s past to destroy us before we can ever pose a threat.
What this book is, honestly, is destruction porn. I mean, we got lots of detail on how fucked we were. Page after page of how super fucked we were. I mean, really. So very much screwed. In the end, the narrative is mostly about the mystery of the Xeelee, and eventually, the realization that they aren’t here on a goodwill mission, and the hopelessness we have in combating them.
His novels tend to be light on character arcs, but this one was probably even less than most. Yes, Michael has issues with his Father, but there is not arc there, they just passive aggressively communicate.
Despite this being less that my favorite of his works, it appears to have radically altered the future history I’ve described above. Time travel does that sort of thing. So I feel that I have to read the next in the promised duology to understand some of the ramifications.
In all, I don’t really recommend this to anyone, but for me, I’m committed. The man has big ideas and I love to read what he puts on the page.
I finished reading Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee: Vengence a week or so ago. This book took me longer to read than just about any book in recent memory. It was weird to me, because it’s not very often I can read a book over such a long period of time and have it maintain my interest. I tend to give myself about two weeks and if I’m not done by then then I put it down forever. I can think of a few exceptions… but not many.
Regardless, Baxter went back to visit his Xeelee universe with this book. I’ve written so voluminously about how his Xeelee novels blew my mind so much when I first encountered them in the mid-nineties that I'm sure it blows your mind how much I mention it.
A bit of future history, for your enjoyment. A super-spoilery overview of all that I’d learned about Baxter’s universe over the years:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILERS ARE COMING – IF YOU EVER THINK YOU MAY READ THIS STUFF I’D STOP
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Over the course of half a dozen loosely-related novels and a whole host of short stories, we learn that humanity, about 1500 years or so from now, invents transverable wormholes. A thousand years or so of the solar system being humanity’s playground and we run into our first technologically advanced alien race. We learn that the galaxy is a true melting pot civilization filled with all sorts of truly alien aliens.
These particular aliens, the Squeem, look at us and can’t resist the urge to take us over. It’s not because they’re evil, or that we are, it’s that it was just so… well, easy. It was like we were asking for it. In the simple economics that run the larger galaxy, where each species acts more like a corporation, it was hostile takeover.
They weren’t that good at it, these Squeem, at being conquerors, they took away our tech and made us laborers in their industry. Eventually, we threw aside that yolk and stole their FTL tech and spread throughout the galaxy. Determined to not be so naïve in the future.
But we ran into one of the galaxy’s heavyweights, the Qax. They looked at humanity, saw our ambition, and decided to use it for themselves, we were conquered again.
Again, we were subjects and slaves to mighty overlords. But the Qax weren’t interested in us, not really, they wanted to use us to spy on the true overlords of the cosmos, the unquestioned rulers of the baryonic universe: The Xeelee.
Eventually, humans overthrew the Qax as well, and nearly committed Xenocide in doing so. From there on out the psychology of humanity as a whole was forever altered. No longer willing to try to fit in, we moved all our resources into conquering, our religions, our industry, our purpose… was to rule the cosmos.
That meant taking on the Xeelee. A race so enigmatic and aloof that galactic wars were fought over their discarded and abandoned items. No one could dream of inventing things that weren’t already in existence, and perfectly executed, by the Xeelee.
But we did an okay job at what we did, and over the millennia came to conquer or destroy every would-be rival the universe could throw at us. Except for the Xeelee. They tended to ignore us, couldn’t care less about what humans wanted. But we kept attacking, throwing neutron stars into the middle of their mystery projects, or attacking their outposts and stealing their precious tech.
Eventually, they noticed. And we warred with them. It lasted for a hundred thousand years, for a time, humans actually looked like they had chance, we even won real victories. But while the Xeelee weren’t all powerful, in the end, humans were still no more than a nuisance. Humans were all but wiped form the universe and the Xeelee carried on.
They had bigger problems to deal with.
.
.
.
.
End of my spoiler filled portion
This book picks very early in the timeline, and it appears that at some point, the Xeelee decided that humans were enough of a problem that we had to be taken care of, Terminator style, by coming deep into earth’s past to destroy us before we can ever pose a threat.
What this book is, honestly, is destruction porn. I mean, we got lots of detail on how fucked we were. Page after page of how super fucked we were. I mean, really. So very much screwed. In the end, the narrative is mostly about the mystery of the Xeelee, and eventually, the realization that they aren’t here on a goodwill mission, and the hopelessness we have in combating them.
His novels tend to be light on character arcs, but this one was probably even less than most. Yes, Michael has issues with his Father, but there is not arc there, they just passive aggressively communicate.
Despite this being less that my favorite of his works, it appears to have radically altered the future history I’ve described above. Time travel does that sort of thing. So I feel that I have to read the next in the promised duology to understand some of the ramifications.
In all, I don’t really recommend this to anyone, but for me, I’m committed. The man has big ideas and I love to read what he puts on the page.
June 24, 2025
This one's pretty good, too. Nice bit of irony about the tetrahedra. Nice plan B.
November 2, 2018
Returning back to Baxter's Xeelee Sequence has been pure joy. He has always been one of my top five favorite authors and this book proves why, yet again. So well written, and an insane pace that nonetheless keeps you enthralled with the story throughout.
For those not familiar with the Xeelee Sequence stories, chronologically in story time (not when they were written), it all starts in 2005 with George Poole (in "Coalescent" in the three-part Destiny's Children books) and goes all the way to the year 5,000,000AD through many books and short story compilations, ending with the story in the book "Ring". Don't skip the short stories! They are very important. All the while following the exploits of the Poole family, especially Michael Poole, who basically becomes a god-like figure to the galaxy-spanning civilization of humans and other species by the year 5,000,000AD. Through this chronology, humans begin just exploring their own solar system, figure out wormhole technology, go through at least 2 times being conquered by other species and ultimately becoming the dominant and ruling species of the Galaxy. But through it all, they have been a witness and sometimes a player in the great universe-spanning war that started shortly after the Big Bang between the Xeelee (Lords of Baryonic Matter) and the Dark Matter beings. And involved so much sometimes that they end of really pissing off the Xeelee because humans keep interfering in their universe spanning works and deeds.
So this book, Endurance, completely wraps around and basically starts the whole story over again when the Xeelee finds a way to interfere in the vast timeline mentioned above and human's dominance of the galaxy by jumping back in time to the 3600's when Michael Poole opens his first wormhole interface. He's going about his business, opening a wormhole between Jupiter and the Earth for FTL travel between the two places, but instead of things going as planned in the timeline and the wormhole working as intended, instead, the Xeelee come through the wormhole from the future 5,000,000 years ahead to stop Michael Poole and the humans from ever expanding out into the Galaxy. And thus, a completely different story timeline is born.
Now Michael and the human race must figure out a way to survive. The Xeelee are destroying the solar system. Humans are on the run, and options are few and far between. How will they survive this invasion? Luckily, when the Xeelee ship comes through the wormhole, so does a Silver Ghost. The Silver Ghost gives a brief explanation of "when" it and the Xeelee have come from and why the Xeelee has come back in time to defeat the humans. Then Michael's father kills the Silver Ghost (really stupid) before it can impart all of its information to them. But the Poole family does at least have evidence of how the future was supposed to play out, but now they are in a different timeline and must figure out how to stop the Xeelee, or at least save the human race.
Can't wait to finish the next (and maybe last?) book, "Xeelee: Redemption".
For those not familiar with the Xeelee Sequence stories, chronologically in story time (not when they were written), it all starts in 2005 with George Poole (in "Coalescent" in the three-part Destiny's Children books) and goes all the way to the year 5,000,000AD through many books and short story compilations, ending with the story in the book "Ring". Don't skip the short stories! They are very important. All the while following the exploits of the Poole family, especially Michael Poole, who basically becomes a god-like figure to the galaxy-spanning civilization of humans and other species by the year 5,000,000AD. Through this chronology, humans begin just exploring their own solar system, figure out wormhole technology, go through at least 2 times being conquered by other species and ultimately becoming the dominant and ruling species of the Galaxy. But through it all, they have been a witness and sometimes a player in the great universe-spanning war that started shortly after the Big Bang between the Xeelee (Lords of Baryonic Matter) and the Dark Matter beings. And involved so much sometimes that they end of really pissing off the Xeelee because humans keep interfering in their universe spanning works and deeds.
So this book, Endurance, completely wraps around and basically starts the whole story over again when the Xeelee finds a way to interfere in the vast timeline mentioned above and human's dominance of the galaxy by jumping back in time to the 3600's when Michael Poole opens his first wormhole interface. He's going about his business, opening a wormhole between Jupiter and the Earth for FTL travel between the two places, but instead of things going as planned in the timeline and the wormhole working as intended, instead, the Xeelee come through the wormhole from the future 5,000,000 years ahead to stop Michael Poole and the humans from ever expanding out into the Galaxy. And thus, a completely different story timeline is born.
Now Michael and the human race must figure out a way to survive. The Xeelee are destroying the solar system. Humans are on the run, and options are few and far between. How will they survive this invasion? Luckily, when the Xeelee ship comes through the wormhole, so does a Silver Ghost. The Silver Ghost gives a brief explanation of "when" it and the Xeelee have come from and why the Xeelee has come back in time to defeat the humans. Then Michael's father kills the Silver Ghost (really stupid) before it can impart all of its information to them. But the Poole family does at least have evidence of how the future was supposed to play out, but now they are in a different timeline and must figure out how to stop the Xeelee, or at least save the human race.
Can't wait to finish the next (and maybe last?) book, "Xeelee: Redemption".
March 11, 2020
This is the first and the last book by Stephen Baxter I'm going to read
The characters are incredibly unintelligent. When an alien spacecraft of frightening dimensions and unknown capability emerges from a wormhole, lots of bad things start happening, but the humans take no action.
But when an innocuous sphere one meter in diameter emerges and start broadcasting a friendly message, a certain man called Harry Pool destroys it, and nobody says a word. Apparently there was a human pilot from the future aboard, and he is murdered in cold blood in front of TV crews and the U.N. observers, but aside from the young Michael Pool raising an eyebrow, nobody says a thing.
And the writing style itself is more suitable to producing astronomy articles rather than fiction. If I wanted a rehash of the Sun's structure, I could have read a Wikipedia article.
And the constant repetition of the name Pool got on my nerves. Pool said this. Pool did that. Pool thought. Pool grinned. And then there are GUTengines in every third paragraph, or so it seemed. Free energy out of nothing. Nope, not believable.
Over a thousand yeas from now, the AI is barely above the level of modern Siri. They can sent a spacecraft into the core of the sun. A crewed one. They have technology for that. But they have no technology to create a drone to do the same. Pathetic. There are many such silly things, like bombarding the alien craft with nuclear weapons for days and weeks even after it become clear that the nukes have no effect on the enemy. But when at the end of the book a weapon is found that works, they deploy it only on a small scale and never do it again. Why?
Toward the end of the book I felt like tearing my hair out. And there wasn't even a single beautiful sentence.
The only thing that stops me from one-starring this pathetic excuse for a novel, is that the author appears to have genuine enthusiasm for astronomy and space explorations. Did an unpaid intern write this in a hurry?
The characters are incredibly unintelligent. When an alien spacecraft of frightening dimensions and unknown capability emerges from a wormhole, lots of bad things start happening, but the humans take no action.
But when an innocuous sphere one meter in diameter emerges and start broadcasting a friendly message, a certain man called Harry Pool destroys it, and nobody says a word. Apparently there was a human pilot from the future aboard, and he is murdered in cold blood in front of TV crews and the U.N. observers, but aside from the young Michael Pool raising an eyebrow, nobody says a thing.
And the writing style itself is more suitable to producing astronomy articles rather than fiction. If I wanted a rehash of the Sun's structure, I could have read a Wikipedia article.
And the constant repetition of the name Pool got on my nerves. Pool said this. Pool did that. Pool thought. Pool grinned. And then there are GUTengines in every third paragraph, or so it seemed. Free energy out of nothing. Nope, not believable.
Over a thousand yeas from now, the AI is barely above the level of modern Siri. They can sent a spacecraft into the core of the sun. A crewed one. They have technology for that. But they have no technology to create a drone to do the same. Pathetic. There are many such silly things, like bombarding the alien craft with nuclear weapons for days and weeks even after it become clear that the nukes have no effect on the enemy. But when at the end of the book a weapon is found that works, they deploy it only on a small scale and never do it again. Why?
Toward the end of the book I felt like tearing my hair out. And there wasn't even a single beautiful sentence.
The only thing that stops me from one-starring this pathetic excuse for a novel, is that the author appears to have genuine enthusiasm for astronomy and space explorations. Did an unpaid intern write this in a hurry?
June 26, 2018
Xeelee: Vengeance by Stephen Baxter finds the Xeelee, having fled the universe, sending a lone Xeelee back in time to destroy the Earth to alter the universe's timeline.
While I'm normally a fan of Stephen Baxter this book was fairly horrible. The characters (never Baxter's strong suit) were cardboard cutouts, whose reactions were totally unrealistic and extremely basic.
The plot is simple and fairly non-sensical from the standpoint of a universe-spanning species failing to achieve a situation where they know the detail of beforehand and vastly out match there opponent.
Long time readers of Baxter will notice a lot of repetition in this book from his other books (themes, technological explanations, etc ...) while newer readers may find these same details not expounded on very well.
It felt like Stephen Baxter slept walked through this book. Very disappointed.
While I'm normally a fan of Stephen Baxter this book was fairly horrible. The characters (never Baxter's strong suit) were cardboard cutouts, whose reactions were totally unrealistic and extremely basic.
The plot is simple and fairly non-sensical from the standpoint of a universe-spanning species failing to achieve a situation where they know the detail of beforehand and vastly out match there opponent.
Long time readers of Baxter will notice a lot of repetition in this book from his other books (themes, technological explanations, etc ...) while newer readers may find these same details not expounded on very well.
It felt like Stephen Baxter slept walked through this book. Very disappointed.
September 2, 2017
When I heard about this 'reboot', I was really surprised and wary of how it would go down. Well... loved it! I can't recall any other Baxter book that felt so action-packed. He also worked more of his descriptions and exposition into the action, which made for a really enjoyable read. I think the point of this book is simply to explore how certain characters might have developed under different circumstances.
December 8, 2018
I’m sorry, I cannot understand why this book has the critical acclaim it does. The writing is utterly wretched —- a combination of cardboard one-dimensional characters and exposition that at best bores you and at worst induces comas. The reaction by the protagonists to the events is just absurd, and the plot wanders through the solar system like ants across my kitchen floor. Life is too short to be stuck reading books like this.
November 23, 2018
Incredibly disappointing continuation to the classic series, which retcons the timeline for a paint by numbers space adventure. Wooden characters, irrational decisions, epic set pieces that make no rational sense. Was this ghost written?
November 11, 2018
Some jnteresting scientific ideas presented here, but the poor storytelling ruined it for me. Clunky narration, one dimensional characters and oddly disjointed plot made for a boring read.
November 30, 2017
As much as I'm loving the return to the Xeelee-verse, and even though this definitely was an enjoyable read, I can't give this 5 stars. The actions of certain actors just made so little sense to me it really undetermined suspension of disbelief.
Rant full of spoilers:
Rant full of spoilers:
October 14, 2019
Ten years ago I thought I read the last Xeelee novel. A few more short stories have surfaced every now and then in the following years, but with 'Formidable Caress' I thought it was all over. Probably the author thought the same. Here's a new one though. No, not a sequel, this is not the 'new last' in the series. Not the 'new first' either. Apparently it's some sort of 'interquel'. Better put though, in IT terminology, this is a new 'branch'. The word 'reboot' has also been used in the media recently. I'll stick with this one.
'Xeelee Vengeance' reboots the Xeelee 'franchise' from about one quarter of the way in, using the mandatory time travel trick. We're also getting the mandatory Poole character, the mandatory virtual characters, the mandatory wormhole, but a relatively new direction that the (two-book) series is heading into.
However, is this a worthy stand-alone book? No, not really. Unless you've read at least some of the previous works, this will feel very strange. Yes, it's got a few tricks up its sleeve, but more than anything else it is a prologue to Xeelee: Redemption, where the 'meat' of the reboot is to be found.
'Xeelee Vengeance' reboots the Xeelee 'franchise' from about one quarter of the way in, using the mandatory time travel trick. We're also getting the mandatory Poole character, the mandatory virtual characters, the mandatory wormhole, but a relatively new direction that the (two-book) series is heading into.
However, is this a worthy stand-alone book? No, not really. Unless you've read at least some of the previous works, this will feel very strange. Yes, it's got a few tricks up its sleeve, but more than anything else it is a prologue to Xeelee: Redemption, where the 'meat' of the reboot is to be found.
January 4, 2021
This book covers the first encounter of the Xeelee and Humankind. A Xeelee spaceship uses one of Michael Poole's first wormholes to come to the Solar System, apparently from the future. Trying to avoid spoilers, let's just say that in a short time it becomes clear that the Xeelee have arrived to attack us, and Michael Poole gets involved in Humankind's defense.
This is not Baxter's finest. The main characters (in addition to Poole, his family and a friend named Nicola Emry) seem to be immature and relatively shallow. We don't read sci-fi for character depth but still, I think Baxter has done a better job in other books. In addition, they storyline is also a bit slow.
It's important to remember that this book immediately precedes Xeelee: Redemption, which I think is a better and more creative piece.
Also to consider: this (together with Redemption) is apparently an alternative timeline in the Xeelee's sequence. I quite frankly don't remember reading directly about the encounter between Xeelee and Humankind in other book, but then again, I have been reading Baxter for years and it's hard to keep up with all the overlapping stories in this fascinating sequence
This is not Baxter's finest. The main characters (in addition to Poole, his family and a friend named Nicola Emry) seem to be immature and relatively shallow. We don't read sci-fi for character depth but still, I think Baxter has done a better job in other books. In addition, they storyline is also a bit slow.
It's important to remember that this book immediately precedes Xeelee: Redemption, which I think is a better and more creative piece.
Also to consider: this (together with Redemption) is apparently an alternative timeline in the Xeelee's sequence. I quite frankly don't remember reading directly about the encounter between Xeelee and Humankind in other book, but then again, I have been reading Baxter for years and it's hard to keep up with all the overlapping stories in this fascinating sequence
August 5, 2021
The problem with not buying books is that you sometimes have to wait for one that you missed to turn up. I read this after Redemption and so finally got some answers raised there.
The Earth has been renewed after almost self destructive practices by Humans were ended and we have moved out amongst the Solar system but we now we are peace loving (in the main) and when a trial wormhole is opened an enemy we could never imagine comes amongst us.
The Xeelee have come back in time to STOP Michael Poole before a million year war between themselves and humanity can get started where losses on both sides are simply unimaginable.
I enjoyed this narrative as it postulated some really interesting thoughts on just what would happen if Humanity came under an almost impossible to deal with threat.
The Earth has been renewed after almost self destructive practices by Humans were ended and we have moved out amongst the Solar system but we now we are peace loving (in the main) and when a trial wormhole is opened an enemy we could never imagine comes amongst us.
The Xeelee have come back in time to STOP Michael Poole before a million year war between themselves and humanity can get started where losses on both sides are simply unimaginable.
I enjoyed this narrative as it postulated some really interesting thoughts on just what would happen if Humanity came under an almost impossible to deal with threat.
March 11, 2023
Includes a small spoiler!!
I've read a few of the Xeelee books, I have enjoyed them although they were a bit dry. This one crept along with a constant impending sense of doom and long timescales for doom delivery.
The end of the book was interesting but I am not sure if I was intrigued enough to pick up the next in the series.
I would hope that the next book explains how the other books in the series are affected but again, this was a bit dry on the sci-fi and the characters didnt make the reading much easier.
Small spoiler - if you arent a fan of stories that reset the previous books through time travel (without spoiling the mechanism) then avoid.
I've read a few of the Xeelee books, I have enjoyed them although they were a bit dry. This one crept along with a constant impending sense of doom and long timescales for doom delivery.
The end of the book was interesting but I am not sure if I was intrigued enough to pick up the next in the series.
I would hope that the next book explains how the other books in the series are affected but again, this was a bit dry on the sci-fi and the characters didnt make the reading much easier.
Small spoiler - if you arent a fan of stories that reset the previous books through time travel (without spoiling the mechanism) then avoid.
March 18, 2025
I went into his not realizing how it would change the Xeelee sequence storyline, and I was pleasantly surprised. Normally I'm not a fan of (seemingly) random twists, but it really works here. To be honest, the groundwork to make the twist plausible was laid almost from the beginning.
I found the beginning to be a bit slow, but I was quickly caught up in the story which, much to my pleasure, made me actually like Michael Poole again.
I found the beginning to be a bit slow, but I was quickly caught up in the story which, much to my pleasure, made me actually like Michael Poole again.
April 2, 2019
My kinda hard SF junk food. Neat ideas, lots of spacefaring fun, and characters who make it all happen and witness it for me w/o making me feel like a peeping tom in their therapy session. Baxter's work embodies a lot of the elements that I found so much fun with Niven's classic Known Space work. So... without skipping a beat I'm onto its sequel!
February 13, 2023
Baxter
For the second time in a year I read one of your books that took 300 or so pages to become interesting.
A good to decent third act does not make the previous two acts better. It just reminds me how slow and pointless most of those two acts were.
This is not acceptable!
Read Ring or Exultant instead. Leave this one out.
For the second time in a year I read one of your books that took 300 or so pages to become interesting.
A good to decent third act does not make the previous two acts better. It just reminds me how slow and pointless most of those two acts were.
This is not acceptable!
Read Ring or Exultant instead. Leave this one out.
October 21, 2018
Fantastic grand ending. But... that's it?! The BIG thing should have been followed up with more BIG stuff. IMHO. I know there is a part two, but still...
October 30, 2019
This was surprisingly good, as some of the more recent Stephen Baxter books were a little hard going. Lots of high level physics, but also a good story. Recommended.
September 13, 2020
3.5 stars
February 24, 2021
Cool world, weak story.
March 4, 2022
Good SF
July 27, 2022
I love it.
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