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World Engines #2
World Engines: Creator: A post climate change high concept science fiction odyssey
Trapped on an alternate Earth, the combined crews of a crashed Russian spaceship, a British expeditionary force and a group of strays from the future must work together to survive, escape, and discover what led them to this point. All are from parallel universes where small changes in history led to different realities, and the tensions between the groups are rising. But some changes were not small. The solar system has been altered, changed, shaped in the various realities, and the World Engineers - unspeakably powerful, completely unknown - are still active. Why have they populated this planet with humanity's ancestors and dinosaurs? What is on the moon of Saturn that gives off such an odd light? And even if they can be found, can they be stopped - and should they be? Malenfant, Deidra and the rest of their party must find a way off the planet, back into space, and into the many dimensions seeking the answer...
560 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2020
228 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
403 books2,592 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 53 reviews
June 2, 2022
But if you are out there – respect. Peace and love, as John Lennon would say.
I am a huge fan of Stephen Baxter, but man this book was a slog. Our intrepid heroes have now crash-landed on the super-earth Persephone in some alternate worldline. They have to undertake an epic 100 km trek to the site where a Russian spacecraft crashed much earlier and the survivors established a camp.
The goal is to enlist the Russians’ help to get off-planet by hopefully cannibalising their crashed spacecraft. Easier said than done. Firstly, the trek itself is roughly two thirds of the book. Baxter goes into excruciating detail about everything imaginable.
Then at the Russian camp the poor reader is subjected to a deep dive into ‘rocketry for dummies’ and how to escape the gravity well of a super-earth using only chemical rockets. Maybe Baxter thought this is riveting stuff, who knows. It is just too much info dumping and not nearly enough plot as a necessary narrative propellant.
And then the ‘mystery’ of the World Engineers themselves is wrapped up in barely a third of a 500-page novel. Either Baxter’s resolution is unconvincing, or I did not understand it properly, but I had to go back and rescan this last section. And it still didn’t make much sense. Anyway, this was a generally massive disappointment after the enjoyable first volume.
I am a huge fan of Stephen Baxter, but man this book was a slog. Our intrepid heroes have now crash-landed on the super-earth Persephone in some alternate worldline. They have to undertake an epic 100 km trek to the site where a Russian spacecraft crashed much earlier and the survivors established a camp.
The goal is to enlist the Russians’ help to get off-planet by hopefully cannibalising their crashed spacecraft. Easier said than done. Firstly, the trek itself is roughly two thirds of the book. Baxter goes into excruciating detail about everything imaginable.
Then at the Russian camp the poor reader is subjected to a deep dive into ‘rocketry for dummies’ and how to escape the gravity well of a super-earth using only chemical rockets. Maybe Baxter thought this is riveting stuff, who knows. It is just too much info dumping and not nearly enough plot as a necessary narrative propellant.
And then the ‘mystery’ of the World Engineers themselves is wrapped up in barely a third of a 500-page novel. Either Baxter’s resolution is unconvincing, or I did not understand it properly, but I had to go back and rescan this last section. And it still didn’t make much sense. Anyway, this was a generally massive disappointment after the enjoyable first volume.
September 30, 2020
This book is like opera - after 3 hours of the show you look at your watch and realize only 15 mins really passed
A tedious, unfocused journey into the lost world, with all the detail no one cares for, all the exposition you eventually skip and all the personal dramas you don't care about.
As much as I like cerebral books well thought through, this book is more of a drunken historians discussing what-ifs leading nowhere rather than a coherent story with character arcs, plot twists and resolution etc.
Almost as if your dementia- impacted grandpa decided to tell the story, losing focus every now and then, meandering all the time and finally fell asleep before delivering the punchline.
A tedious, unfocused journey into the lost world, with all the detail no one cares for, all the exposition you eventually skip and all the personal dramas you don't care about.
As much as I like cerebral books well thought through, this book is more of a drunken historians discussing what-ifs leading nowhere rather than a coherent story with character arcs, plot twists and resolution etc.
Almost as if your dementia- impacted grandpa decided to tell the story, losing focus every now and then, meandering all the time and finally fell asleep before delivering the punchline.
September 5, 2020
Last year I reviewed the first book in this series, World Engines: Destroyer, with mixed results. It was interesting, unmistakably Baxter, but used Reid Malenfant, a character as its focus that I’d not really liked the first time around, in the Manifold trilogy.
The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, too. (Warning: spoilers for the first book here, because this one doesn't make sense unless you know what's happened there!) In the 25th century Malenfant meets people from his past who are not from his actual past but alternative pasts.
The characters are from different times and alternative universes. From the 25th century Malenfant has brought with him Bartholomew, an AI doctor, and there’s Greggson Dierdra, the young girl who looked after Malenfant when he was revived in the 25th century. There’s also Emma Stoney, who on his Earth Malenfant was married to, although the Emma Malenfant encounters in 2469 is not ‘his’ Emma. Also from a different timeline is Nicola Mott, an alternate version of Malenfant’s co-pilot from the 1990’s.
Although much of the first book at the end is about watching how all these different people interact, an expedition to Phobos to find Emma leads to a greater discovery, that these worlds in alternate universes are, for reasons as yet unknown, being manipulated by beings that they call ‘World Engineers’. In Malenfant’s 25th century Earth is about to be destroyed by a collision with a planet they call Shiva, an event possibly engineered by the World Engineers. Malenfant and his fellow travellers move the moon Persephone into the path of Shiva to divert it and so save Earth.
Whilst in the process of doing this, Malenfant meets others at Phobos as Phobos seems to be a focal point that connects to a manifold of different worlds times and universes. Malenfant finds there a military group from the RASF (Royal Air and Space Force) from a British Empire dominated timeline, led by Wing Commander Geoff Lighthill. The British team have discovered what they call ‘chimneys’, which allow them to travel between the multitude of different universes.
(Spoilers done!)
With all of this set-up in the first book, the second book then is set the task of answering big questions – who are the World Engineers, and what is their purpose? Where have they come from and why have they set this challenge, or ones like it in the different universes?
The second book drops the reader straight into a situation. In a rather cyclical pattern, World Engines: Creator begins much as World Engines: Destroyer did – Malenfant wakes up, trying to remember what has happened.
This is a plot device to explain the events of the first book and introduce new characters. The survivors of the first book have, in an attempt to travel to the deep past and the origin point of the World Engineers, travelled to a universe where Persephone has become an Earth-like planet. When attempting to land on this Persephone II, there is an accident and some of the crew are killed. The survivors become stranded because of a heavier gravity on the planet and a badly damaged spaceship mean that a return to space seems unlikely. However, they meet Russian Irina Viktorenkova, who, in another one of those strange multiverse coincidences, seems to be the mother of a character that was in the first book, and Ham, a Neanderthal-like human who seems well adapted to the planet’s one-third heavier gravity. Working with the rest of Irina’s Russian cosmonauts from another Earth, they journey to a place where some of them are able to return to Commander Lighthill in his spaceship Harmonia, circling above the planet.
The explorers then find themselves in another similar, yet different, Solar System. Here they encounter an Earth which has expanded into their Solar System in a burst of international cooperation following an almost-nuclear war (‘The Nearly War’) in 1985. They explore Zeus, (a moon of a Saturn without rings) which seems to have all the building blocks required for aerobic and anaerobic life. Dierdra and Bartholomew travel down to the moon’s surface, where things become rather more cosmic and big revelations are revealed.
Baxter again has a lot of fun in telling of the different versions of history that the explorers have experienced. The crew of the RASF seem to have their stiff-upper-lips firmly in place exploring for the greater glory of the colonial British Empire, whilst the Russians got into space using nuclear rockets and following the beliefs of rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky known as Cosmism. Anyone who remembers the best-selling counterfactual The Third World War by Sir John Hackett from the 1980s will recognise one of the universes (and Baxter does reference this in the Acknowledgements.) There’s also lots of little nods to science-fiction throughout as well.
But really, this is all about the big ideas. It’s in the nature of such books that the big ideas are talked through and explained by the characters as we go along. At one point on Persephone II Malenfant even manages the equivalent of a Powerpoint presentation. This didacticism is not for everyone, but such an approach means that Stephen can tackle some really big concepts – Deep Time and space, Cosmism, the nature of life itself – and make them understandable to the non-scientist, such as myself. It’s necessary, but not everyone’s cup of tea.
The flip-coin result of this though is that there’s a lot of talk in the novel, to the point where along the way there are longueurs that are too long. Whilst there’s some nice observations about different human-like species as well as some salutary lessons about interspecies communication, the time on Persephone II, which covers about two-thirds of the 500+ page book, is just too much. There were times then the trekking to a lift-off point seemed… well, endless. (Whilst I can see that that may be the point, I was reminded of the point in the movie Scott of the Antarctic (1950), where the ongoing diary reports repeat the never-ceasing trekking by the explorers.) The key point of tension that exists here to keep the pages turning, and is left dangling over our heads as a major mystery, in the end seems to be a bigger deal to some of the characters than me as a reader. (It also made me wonder why this particular issue hadn’t happened in other places in their travels.) The overall impression is that, like the first book, the pace of the plot is uneven.
The last part of the book speeds things up. Disconcertingly, after such a big build-up, the last few (short) chapters throw out big reveals in a few pages, and lead to an event that becomes almost 2001-like, which is, I’m sure the impression Stephen is trying to create. Whilst some of the decisions made at the end seem a little abrupt, the author does manage to provide some answers that will satisfy those who have managed the journey to this point, although there is clearly more to happen in the next book.
Summing up, I enjoyed this second book more than the first, but I’m not sure that the unbalanced pace set will be appreciated by every reader. In my opinion, it’s a good read, and I welcomed the way that Baxter has managed to incorporate elements from some of his other books, but you are going to need to realise that there’s a long haul here before there’s any kind of payoff if you’re going to like this one.
Recommended for Baxter fans, and those who liked the first book, but I can see that some are going to be scratching their heads at the end of this one, and wondering what the fuss is about – again.
The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, too. (Warning: spoilers for the first book here, because this one doesn't make sense unless you know what's happened there!) In the 25th century Malenfant meets people from his past who are not from his actual past but alternative pasts.
The characters are from different times and alternative universes. From the 25th century Malenfant has brought with him Bartholomew, an AI doctor, and there’s Greggson Dierdra, the young girl who looked after Malenfant when he was revived in the 25th century. There’s also Emma Stoney, who on his Earth Malenfant was married to, although the Emma Malenfant encounters in 2469 is not ‘his’ Emma. Also from a different timeline is Nicola Mott, an alternate version of Malenfant’s co-pilot from the 1990’s.
Although much of the first book at the end is about watching how all these different people interact, an expedition to Phobos to find Emma leads to a greater discovery, that these worlds in alternate universes are, for reasons as yet unknown, being manipulated by beings that they call ‘World Engineers’. In Malenfant’s 25th century Earth is about to be destroyed by a collision with a planet they call Shiva, an event possibly engineered by the World Engineers. Malenfant and his fellow travellers move the moon Persephone into the path of Shiva to divert it and so save Earth.
Whilst in the process of doing this, Malenfant meets others at Phobos as Phobos seems to be a focal point that connects to a manifold of different worlds times and universes. Malenfant finds there a military group from the RASF (Royal Air and Space Force) from a British Empire dominated timeline, led by Wing Commander Geoff Lighthill. The British team have discovered what they call ‘chimneys’, which allow them to travel between the multitude of different universes.
(Spoilers done!)
With all of this set-up in the first book, the second book then is set the task of answering big questions – who are the World Engineers, and what is their purpose? Where have they come from and why have they set this challenge, or ones like it in the different universes?
The second book drops the reader straight into a situation. In a rather cyclical pattern, World Engines: Creator begins much as World Engines: Destroyer did – Malenfant wakes up, trying to remember what has happened.
This is a plot device to explain the events of the first book and introduce new characters. The survivors of the first book have, in an attempt to travel to the deep past and the origin point of the World Engineers, travelled to a universe where Persephone has become an Earth-like planet. When attempting to land on this Persephone II, there is an accident and some of the crew are killed. The survivors become stranded because of a heavier gravity on the planet and a badly damaged spaceship mean that a return to space seems unlikely. However, they meet Russian Irina Viktorenkova, who, in another one of those strange multiverse coincidences, seems to be the mother of a character that was in the first book, and Ham, a Neanderthal-like human who seems well adapted to the planet’s one-third heavier gravity. Working with the rest of Irina’s Russian cosmonauts from another Earth, they journey to a place where some of them are able to return to Commander Lighthill in his spaceship Harmonia, circling above the planet.
The explorers then find themselves in another similar, yet different, Solar System. Here they encounter an Earth which has expanded into their Solar System in a burst of international cooperation following an almost-nuclear war (‘The Nearly War’) in 1985. They explore Zeus, (a moon of a Saturn without rings) which seems to have all the building blocks required for aerobic and anaerobic life. Dierdra and Bartholomew travel down to the moon’s surface, where things become rather more cosmic and big revelations are revealed.
Baxter again has a lot of fun in telling of the different versions of history that the explorers have experienced. The crew of the RASF seem to have their stiff-upper-lips firmly in place exploring for the greater glory of the colonial British Empire, whilst the Russians got into space using nuclear rockets and following the beliefs of rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky known as Cosmism. Anyone who remembers the best-selling counterfactual The Third World War by Sir John Hackett from the 1980s will recognise one of the universes (and Baxter does reference this in the Acknowledgements.) There’s also lots of little nods to science-fiction throughout as well.
But really, this is all about the big ideas. It’s in the nature of such books that the big ideas are talked through and explained by the characters as we go along. At one point on Persephone II Malenfant even manages the equivalent of a Powerpoint presentation. This didacticism is not for everyone, but such an approach means that Stephen can tackle some really big concepts – Deep Time and space, Cosmism, the nature of life itself – and make them understandable to the non-scientist, such as myself. It’s necessary, but not everyone’s cup of tea.
The flip-coin result of this though is that there’s a lot of talk in the novel, to the point where along the way there are longueurs that are too long. Whilst there’s some nice observations about different human-like species as well as some salutary lessons about interspecies communication, the time on Persephone II, which covers about two-thirds of the 500+ page book, is just too much. There were times then the trekking to a lift-off point seemed… well, endless. (Whilst I can see that that may be the point, I was reminded of the point in the movie Scott of the Antarctic (1950), where the ongoing diary reports repeat the never-ceasing trekking by the explorers.) The key point of tension that exists here to keep the pages turning, and is left dangling over our heads as a major mystery, in the end seems to be a bigger deal to some of the characters than me as a reader. (It also made me wonder why this particular issue hadn’t happened in other places in their travels.) The overall impression is that, like the first book, the pace of the plot is uneven.
The last part of the book speeds things up. Disconcertingly, after such a big build-up, the last few (short) chapters throw out big reveals in a few pages, and lead to an event that becomes almost 2001-like, which is, I’m sure the impression Stephen is trying to create. Whilst some of the decisions made at the end seem a little abrupt, the author does manage to provide some answers that will satisfy those who have managed the journey to this point, although there is clearly more to happen in the next book.
Summing up, I enjoyed this second book more than the first, but I’m not sure that the unbalanced pace set will be appreciated by every reader. In my opinion, it’s a good read, and I welcomed the way that Baxter has managed to incorporate elements from some of his other books, but you are going to need to realise that there’s a long haul here before there’s any kind of payoff if you’re going to like this one.
Recommended for Baxter fans, and those who liked the first book, but I can see that some are going to be scratching their heads at the end of this one, and wondering what the fuss is about – again.
March 11, 2022
4.3| Eine Rezi wird nachgereicht...
January 8, 2021
A book that promised a great deal, but disappointingly delivered far less. Stephen Baxter is an intelligent and highly qualified man, so I am at a loss to understand this rather ordinary story.
Whilst some of the characters have certain strengths, Baxter, for some reason, fills the plot with an assortment of past and current theoretical astrophysics, cosmology, multi Universe, biochemistry,
artificial intelligence ( which does show how well read he is ) to name but a few.
But, what I found the most disappointing of all was the eventual kernel of World Engines, that, in the whole vastness of our universe ( and others ) that life originated on one planet, Earth, and Earth only.
I simply found this unacceptable - it smacks too much of the standard message of many of the worlds religions - that we are so special !!!!!
I will always prefer the viewpoint of the late, great Carl Sagan, who dared to imagine that throughout the Universe, the billions of galaxies and trillions of stars, life will be flourishing in all its splendor and unexpected variety, and we have only just this minute started looking.
Whilst some of the characters have certain strengths, Baxter, for some reason, fills the plot with an assortment of past and current theoretical astrophysics, cosmology, multi Universe, biochemistry,
artificial intelligence ( which does show how well read he is ) to name but a few.
But, what I found the most disappointing of all was the eventual kernel of World Engines, that, in the whole vastness of our universe ( and others ) that life originated on one planet, Earth, and Earth only.
I simply found this unacceptable - it smacks too much of the standard message of many of the worlds religions - that we are so special !!!!!
I will always prefer the viewpoint of the late, great Carl Sagan, who dared to imagine that throughout the Universe, the billions of galaxies and trillions of stars, life will be flourishing in all its splendor and unexpected variety, and we have only just this minute started looking.
February 15, 2021
I wasn't satisfied. The stories of the characters continue, each to an appropriate ending, but over all it felt . . . incomplete. It was interesting, and full of Baxter's "deep time" and "deep space" concepts, but overall it ended up feeling a bit like a rehash of his other works. It fits itself into his other concepts and books well, which I think left it feeling less original than those. Some of it was too "ah, we're doing that idea again".
It's not bad, and I liked how Baxter wrapped up the various characters' stories, and where they're going from here, but it didn't leave me as dazzled as his works usually do.
If you read Destroyer and enjoyed it, read this for the rest of the story. If you didn't like Destroyer, you probably won't like this, either. If you're undecided, go for it. It's not bad, it's just not as outstanding as Baxter usually produces.
It's not bad, and I liked how Baxter wrapped up the various characters' stories, and where they're going from here, but it didn't leave me as dazzled as his works usually do.
If you read Destroyer and enjoyed it, read this for the rest of the story. If you didn't like Destroyer, you probably won't like this, either. If you're undecided, go for it. It's not bad, it's just not as outstanding as Baxter usually produces.
January 2, 2021
I was completely uninterested in this. Is it just bad, or not of my taste, or am I not paying enough attention?
I wonder about this: the last couple books that I really disliked, had multiple narrators. Is that a problem for me? That’s a weird one.
I’m longing for great writing and narration like in Hyperion by Dan Simmons or Pandora’s Star by Peter F Hamilton or Daemon by Daniel Suárez.
started: 2020-08-26.Aug.Wed 13:14:40
finished: 2020-09-05.Sep.Sat 20:10:06
duration: 17h:55m
I wonder about this: the last couple books that I really disliked, had multiple narrators. Is that a problem for me? That’s a weird one.
I’m longing for great writing and narration like in Hyperion by Dan Simmons or Pandora’s Star by Peter F Hamilton or Daemon by Daniel Suárez.
started: 2020-08-26.Aug.Wed 13:14:40
finished: 2020-09-05.Sep.Sat 20:10:06
duration: 17h:55m
October 15, 2022
Stephen Baxter went over a lot of ground covered in his other novels.
Having not read him for a while, I was taken a bit aback by how much of the story is delivered in the form of characters talking about their past, or telling someone what they are currently seeing.
Near the end of the book, I was thinking 4 stars instead of 3. That part was definitely more exciting for me, with some nice grand narrative and some more background on established lore. But even so, I'll actually stick with 3 stars. Maybe 3.5.
Having not read him for a while, I was taken a bit aback by how much of the story is delivered in the form of characters talking about their past, or telling someone what they are currently seeing.
Near the end of the book, I was thinking 4 stars instead of 3. That part was definitely more exciting for me, with some nice grand narrative and some more background on established lore. But even so, I'll actually stick with 3 stars. Maybe 3.5.
November 28, 2021
Somehow I did not react to the characters at all and felt no resonance with the story as well. Did not finish.
September 23, 2022
Quintessential Stephen Baxter, a multiverse wide adventure. A good fun read
August 11, 2023
Vast, conceptual, Panspermian.
September 29, 2020
8- To appreciate the SF of Stephen Baxter you need pretty specific tastes. Not every reader will like his stories, not even every SF-fan. But the subset of readers who remember fondly the SF of Clarke and Asimov, who see SF as the literature of ideas, like speculation on the physical sciences most (physics, astronomy, chemistry and biology), and are interested in the concept of deep time will thoroughly enjoy his stories. I you read predominantly for deep characterisation or the emotional journey of individuals he is not an author to seek out, if you like exploration of social or psychological concepts you have to look elsewhere. Baxter likes to speculate about grander subjects and uses his characters and plots as the vehicles to do so. There's even an 'as you know, Bob' in this book - because there's so much exposition and speculation to go through. The bonus is that in presenting these grand scale events Baxter can conjure an immense scale of wonder. In this book there's among other things: different solar systems with variatons of planet Earth, a Neanderthal riding a pteranodon, a robot sining in the ocean of an ice moon with a superheated core, the launch of an improvised space craft built with the help of Homo erectus equivalents ... And more. As I noted in my review of the first book in the duology this feels like Baxter returning to the 'greatest hits' of his writing career (although the Xeelee are absent - but even they built a circular construction to access different universes). There's the characters Malenfant and Emma from the Manifold-books and there are other links to these novels mentioned too! The idea of a version of Earth with different hominins is e.g. from Manifold: Origin. And the question of deep time and the Fermi paradox is a theme also. But there's also a strong focus on the space program in different iterations, and building rockets in extreme circumstances like in the books Voyage, Titan and Moonseed. The descent into another planet by a robot is reminiscent of The Medusa Chronicles. And the idea of fusing biospheres first cropped up in Proxima and Ultima. for myself I don't know if this duology provided answers that were new enough or insightful enough to really justify the existence of these books, but then, Baxter doesn't need justification. If he wants to play around in his multiverse and examine the question of why we seem to be alone in the universe again, that's his prerogative. This book is not essential reading, even for fans of hard SF. But at this point in his career I think Baxter does not feel the need to create a new masterpiece, and just wants to have fun. And as long as there are sights like the aforementioned Neanderthals riding pteranodons, English spacefarers drinking tea and wobbly space craft built from scrap metal I will gladly follow along on the ride.
September 5, 2020
a nice wrap up to the universe of manifold time
This was an interesting wrap-up from Manifold: Time and manifold: origin, where humans start off alone in the universe without a sheaf of connected alternate realities. There, some of our far future descendants manipulate the past to create the multiverse.
I guess creating the multiverse still wasn't enough. We also had to help life along its way, hence the godlike being (a character from Manifold: Time) in the last tenth of the book. And it was never really explained how in some realities the solar system is a little different but even recent history on that version of Earth was almost identical to ours (same people who led different lives, for instance).
This was an interesting wrap-up from Manifold: Time and manifold: origin, where humans start off alone in the universe without a sheaf of connected alternate realities. There, some of our far future descendants manipulate the past to create the multiverse.
I guess creating the multiverse still wasn't enough. We also had to help life along its way, hence the godlike being (a character from Manifold: Time) in the last tenth of the book. And it was never really explained how in some realities the solar system is a little different but even recent history on that version of Earth was almost identical to ours (same people who led different lives, for instance).
October 3, 2021
A continuation to the story of Emma and Malefant traveling through alternative universes.
A lot of talk, a lot of exploring, a lot of... Nothing that really affects anything with how the story ends. There's a lot of nefarious goings on, a lot of exploring the highs and lows of human existence. Great technological feats dashed by tragedies that cannot be avoided.
But it all leads to 'meh', the final few chapters are where you learn anything in relation to the World Engineers, and even this it's simply an exposition dump with enough scifi thrown in to really hamfist an explanation.
I'm really disappointed. I expected better.
A lot of talk, a lot of exploring, a lot of... Nothing that really affects anything with how the story ends. There's a lot of nefarious goings on, a lot of exploring the highs and lows of human existence. Great technological feats dashed by tragedies that cannot be avoided.
But it all leads to 'meh', the final few chapters are where you learn anything in relation to the World Engineers, and even this it's simply an exposition dump with enough scifi thrown in to really hamfist an explanation.
I'm really disappointed. I expected better.
February 20, 2022
World Engines: Creator is the sequel to World Engines: Destroyer.
I finished this book a couple of months ago and it's a bit hard to pin down what annoyed me the most.
As a Baxter fan, it is almost a moral obligation (as another reviewer pointed out) to read and finish his books. And Creator is an ok book. Yes, it's just ok.
Maybe it's me.
I'm much more a Xeelee kind of fan. The concepts behind Creator are not that fascinating and the execution was boring at time. The idea of alternative realities has some flaws and you keep going with the story for the sake of it, but this is not Baxter's best.
I finished this book a couple of months ago and it's a bit hard to pin down what annoyed me the most.
As a Baxter fan, it is almost a moral obligation (as another reviewer pointed out) to read and finish his books. And Creator is an ok book. Yes, it's just ok.
Maybe it's me.
I'm much more a Xeelee kind of fan. The concepts behind Creator are not that fascinating and the execution was boring at time. The idea of alternative realities has some flaws and you keep going with the story for the sake of it, but this is not Baxter's best.
December 2, 2024
Baxter wrote of my favourite book ever : Space, the second book in the manifold series. It’s one of the most brilliant work in science fiction I’ve ever read, it’s smart, touching, gut wrenching and beautiful.
Let me tell you how both surprised and happy I was to gather that this two-book series is sort of manifold-adjacent, with the same characters, the same ideas (down to the name of the hominid species and the blue hoops and the smart kids).
Yeah, Baxter loves repeating his ideas - a lot of this work used the same few concepts.
But they are so good, and never used in the same way. I can’t get enough of this. It’s brilliant.
Seriously, get yourself some Baxter, STAT.
Let me tell you how both surprised and happy I was to gather that this two-book series is sort of manifold-adjacent, with the same characters, the same ideas (down to the name of the hominid species and the blue hoops and the smart kids).
Yeah, Baxter loves repeating his ideas - a lot of this work used the same few concepts.
But they are so good, and never used in the same way. I can’t get enough of this. It’s brilliant.
Seriously, get yourself some Baxter, STAT.
March 15, 2021
Did not finish- Too long and over written, and not engaging enough to continue-Considering my love for the first Manifold Trilogy I'm really disappointed, but knowing who the World Engineers
are didnt work for me. Too obvious and unsurprising in any way.
This is another in a long line of Baxter's work where it seems he veers between really strong, excellent stuff( manifold) really boring, not very engaging work( The Massacre of Mankind, for example. Its still more hit than miss for me, but the margins are narrowing with each book
are didnt work for me. Too obvious and unsurprising in any way.
This is another in a long line of Baxter's work where it seems he veers between really strong, excellent stuff( manifold) really boring, not very engaging work( The Massacre of Mankind, for example. Its still more hit than miss for me, but the margins are narrowing with each book
October 24, 2020
The original trilogy by Baxter has always been among my favorite reads. They are bold time spanning adventures examining why and how we are here and trying to answer the question about if there are others. Rooted in current science these novels provide an answer and provide adventure along the way. As with the original books the multiverse (manifold) are central to the story.
Well worth the read. I am very happy Stephen Baxter decided to continue the story of Reid and Emma.
Well worth the read. I am very happy Stephen Baxter decided to continue the story of Reid and Emma.
February 12, 2021
Highly recommended
Loved the story, loved the characters. An all round enjoyable, entertaining and educational tale that left me wanting… the last book felt a bit rushed, the closing unsatisfactory for reasons I cannot name. However, it is the author’s prerogative, so any personal disappointment is just that, personal.
Perhaps there’s more coming down the pipe, in which case I will be front and centre in the queues.
Loved the story, loved the characters. An all round enjoyable, entertaining and educational tale that left me wanting… the last book felt a bit rushed, the closing unsatisfactory for reasons I cannot name. However, it is the author’s prerogative, so any personal disappointment is just that, personal.
Perhaps there’s more coming down the pipe, in which case I will be front and centre in the queues.
September 21, 2020
Not Stephen Baxter at his very best but still full of the big ideas we expect from this fine author. Wrapping up both this duology and the Manifold series. Reading this Manifold series isn't necessary but reading World Engines: Destroyer is recommended before getting stuck into this.
Ray Smillie
Ray Smillie
February 27, 2021
Somewhat over technical tale of Reid Malefant, ancient space explorer and his colleagues who keep finding alternative plants and moons. Who is building these new versions of Mars, etc? Turns out it's the super beings, the World Engineers. Not one of Stephen Baxter's best. He's a wonderful fluent writer but this tale is repetitive and ultimately boring.
December 17, 2021
This book has a fantastic ability to make my mind drift and my eyes close ....I'd thoroughly recommend it for that alone.
As a piece of literature ?
It's certainly long and really feels like your skipping from one short episodic problem to another, solved as if by magic.
The conclusion ? Well its a weak as wet tissue paper
but It's great for falling asleep .
As a piece of literature ?
It's certainly long and really feels like your skipping from one short episodic problem to another, solved as if by magic.
The conclusion ? Well its a weak as wet tissue paper
but It's great for falling asleep .
February 18, 2022
I love Baxter but..
I think he gets bogged down in a lot of unnecessary technical details of evolution of biological entities and planets. It gets repetitive so much that it doesn’t even look different anymore. Especially when it comes to any kind of proto-human or proto-planet. I wanted to skip through it as I kept going.
Doesn’t seem much from a lot of his previous work .
I think he gets bogged down in a lot of unnecessary technical details of evolution of biological entities and planets. It gets repetitive so much that it doesn’t even look different anymore. Especially when it comes to any kind of proto-human or proto-planet. I wanted to skip through it as I kept going.
Doesn’t seem much from a lot of his previous work .
December 2, 2020
Enthralling and engaging
Baxter, as usual, perfectly mixes high level science concepts and factual stellar information with a human story, humour and wit.
A must-read for any fan of his work, or a good entry into his world for the uninitiated.
Baxter, as usual, perfectly mixes high level science concepts and factual stellar information with a human story, humour and wit.
A must-read for any fan of his work, or a good entry into his world for the uninitiated.
January 14, 2021
There are many alternative history interludes that make the plot even slower than it already is. Unfortunately, the alt history isn't interesting enough to justify that and the story already contains too much exposition. The revelations are underwhelming.
November 19, 2021
As I wrote about the first book in this duopoly, Baxter should have left Reid Malenfant where he was instead of resurrecti9ng him again. Yes, the story is not bad, but it is not really space opera as such and thus lacks the semi-belief that such a good author usually can bring to play.
October 4, 2020
Enjoyed this series, reminiscent of the Long Earth series he wrote with Terry Pratchett and the wonder of discovering new possibilities in parallel universes
October 21, 2020
I found this a bit slow and hard to get through at times. Still pretty enjoyable, I especially liked the multiple alternative histories and futures of human space exploration presented.
November 12, 2020
So I accidently started with this book instead of the first one. Still a great stand alone Novel! Stephen Baxter blends science and fiction seamlessly.
November 15, 2020
3.5 stars. A good wrap-up to the whole Manifold series, with an explanation at last. But, some parts of it were a little tedious.
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