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Destiny's Children #3
Transcendent
Stephen Baxter's gripping page-turners are feats of bold speculation and big ideas that, for all their time-and-space-spanning grandeur, remain firmly rooted in scientific fact and cutting-edge theory. Now Baxter is back with the final volume in his monumental Destiny's Children trilogy, a tour de force in which parallel stories unfold-and then meet as humanity stands poised on the brink of divine providence . . . or extinction.
DESTINY'S CHILDREN
TRANSCENDENT
It is the year 2047, and nuclear engineer Michael Poole is still in the throes of grief. His beloved wife, Morag, died seventeen years ago, along with their second child. Yet Michael is haunted by more than just the memory of Morag. On a beach in Miami, he sees his dead wife. But she vanishes as suddenly as she appears, leaving no clue as to her mysterious purpose.
Alia was born on a starship, fifteen thousand light years from Earth, five hundred thousand years after the death of Michael Poole. Yet she knows him intimately. In this distant future, when humanity has diversified as a species and spread across the galaxy, every person is entrusted with the duty of Witnessing the life of one man, woman, or child from the past, recovered by means of a technology able to traverse time itself. Alia's subject is Michael Poole.
When his surviving, estranged son is injured, Michael tries to reconnect with him-and to stave off a looming catastrophe. Vast reservoirs of toxic gases lie buried beneath the poles, trapped in crystals of ice. Now that ice is melting. Once it goes, the poisons released will threaten all life on Earth. A bold solution is within reach, if only Michael can convince a doubting world. Yet as Morag's ghostly visitations continue, Michael begins to doubt his own sanity.
In the future, Alia is chosen to become a Transcendent, an undying member of the group mind that is shepherding humanity toward an evolutionary apotheosis. The Witnessings are an integral part of their design, for only by redeeming the pain of every human who has lived and died can true Transcendence be achieved. Yet Alia discovers a dark side to the Transcendents' plans, a vein of madness that may lead to an unthinkable renunciation.
Somehow, Michael Poole holds the fate of the future in his hands. Now, to save that future, Alia must undertake a desperate journey into the past. . . .
From the Hardcover edition.
DESTINY'S CHILDREN
TRANSCENDENT
It is the year 2047, and nuclear engineer Michael Poole is still in the throes of grief. His beloved wife, Morag, died seventeen years ago, along with their second child. Yet Michael is haunted by more than just the memory of Morag. On a beach in Miami, he sees his dead wife. But she vanishes as suddenly as she appears, leaving no clue as to her mysterious purpose.
Alia was born on a starship, fifteen thousand light years from Earth, five hundred thousand years after the death of Michael Poole. Yet she knows him intimately. In this distant future, when humanity has diversified as a species and spread across the galaxy, every person is entrusted with the duty of Witnessing the life of one man, woman, or child from the past, recovered by means of a technology able to traverse time itself. Alia's subject is Michael Poole.
When his surviving, estranged son is injured, Michael tries to reconnect with him-and to stave off a looming catastrophe. Vast reservoirs of toxic gases lie buried beneath the poles, trapped in crystals of ice. Now that ice is melting. Once it goes, the poisons released will threaten all life on Earth. A bold solution is within reach, if only Michael can convince a doubting world. Yet as Morag's ghostly visitations continue, Michael begins to doubt his own sanity.
In the future, Alia is chosen to become a Transcendent, an undying member of the group mind that is shepherding humanity toward an evolutionary apotheosis. The Witnessings are an integral part of their design, for only by redeeming the pain of every human who has lived and died can true Transcendence be achieved. Yet Alia discovers a dark side to the Transcendents' plans, a vein of madness that may lead to an unthinkable renunciation.
Somehow, Michael Poole holds the fate of the future in his hands. Now, to save that future, Alia must undertake a desperate journey into the past. . . .
From the Hardcover edition.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
32 people are currently reading
1119 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
403 books2,595 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 70 reviews
April 27, 2019
There's a lot to love about this novel even though I have a few quibbles. My issues are purely personal in nature and do not reflect an actual fault in the novel, however.
First, the good:
We're split in the action between the digital new year coming up for us in about 25 years, at a time when Michael Poole has a stalled career and is still trying to overcome personal tragedy. The worldbuilding at this time is pretty awesome. Sentient houses and landscapes, severe environmental guilt that has led to us giving up cars in favor of virtual, and an extremely pragmatic outlook when it comes to recording genomes as so many species die.
Fast-forward half a million years in the future. Far beyond the conflict with the Xeelee, so many branches of humanity live and diverge and come back together again. Interestingly, the feel of this is very close to Olaf Stapledon's brilliant future history explorations, dealing with big species and existential issues in such a broad, astronomical space-and-time sense that I can't help but be awed by it.
Humanity has become as diverse and interesting as we could have hoped, adapted to any and all kinds of environments, developed symbiosis with alien biologies, techs, and even AIs. Some are undying, having lived a truly vast amount of time. Some are focused entirely on transcendence.
Interestingly, individuals in this far future are given the chance to be the ultimate observers for individuals in any portion of history. The MC in the future observes the MC of the past. Loves him. Feels his pain. And she is offered the opportunity to join the vast collective consciousness (augmentation) of the Transcendence.
The quibble:
The direction the transcendence takes is one of guilt and suffering, reliving every individual of humanity, of whatever flavor, and feeling their pain.
Yeah. Well, that's kinda the point of the novel, too, and it's rejected as the faulty logic it is. I'm not complaining about that. I'm only complaining that such an entitled future of humanity should fall into that trap in the first place.
But then, we've always fallen into worse, haven't we? lol
Even so, the novel is fascinating and filled to the brim with great ideas and techs and it falls into the full future history that Baxter has painstakingly built up. It's pretty amazing.
This novel does NOT need to be read in any particular order with any of the others. In fact, I might recommend it for anyone new to the SF mythos. :)
First, the good:
We're split in the action between the digital new year coming up for us in about 25 years, at a time when Michael Poole has a stalled career and is still trying to overcome personal tragedy. The worldbuilding at this time is pretty awesome. Sentient houses and landscapes, severe environmental guilt that has led to us giving up cars in favor of virtual, and an extremely pragmatic outlook when it comes to recording genomes as so many species die.
Fast-forward half a million years in the future. Far beyond the conflict with the Xeelee, so many branches of humanity live and diverge and come back together again. Interestingly, the feel of this is very close to Olaf Stapledon's brilliant future history explorations, dealing with big species and existential issues in such a broad, astronomical space-and-time sense that I can't help but be awed by it.
Humanity has become as diverse and interesting as we could have hoped, adapted to any and all kinds of environments, developed symbiosis with alien biologies, techs, and even AIs. Some are undying, having lived a truly vast amount of time. Some are focused entirely on transcendence.
Interestingly, individuals in this far future are given the chance to be the ultimate observers for individuals in any portion of history. The MC in the future observes the MC of the past. Loves him. Feels his pain. And she is offered the opportunity to join the vast collective consciousness (augmentation) of the Transcendence.
The quibble:
The direction the transcendence takes is one of guilt and suffering, reliving every individual of humanity, of whatever flavor, and feeling their pain.
Yeah. Well, that's kinda the point of the novel, too, and it's rejected as the faulty logic it is. I'm not complaining about that. I'm only complaining that such an entitled future of humanity should fall into that trap in the first place.
But then, we've always fallen into worse, haven't we? lol
Even so, the novel is fascinating and filled to the brim with great ideas and techs and it falls into the full future history that Baxter has painstakingly built up. It's pretty amazing.
This novel does NOT need to be read in any particular order with any of the others. In fact, I might recommend it for anyone new to the SF mythos. :)
November 11, 2020
I enjoyed rereading this after a decade or so, but I found I had some issues with it that I did not have before. Maybe my tastes have changed; if so, that would be quite fitting with a novel like this one! Like the other two previous volumes in the Destiny's Children series, Transcendent has two different, albeit ultimately interacting, timelines. The first is a dystopian near future (2047) where global warning and the drying up of oil have produced major changes in societies across the globe. Our lead, Michael Poole, is the nephew of Michael Poole from the first volume in the series. Transcendent assumes the form of Michael's reflections on his life and his meeting with a being from the far future (Alia) sent back to his timeline. Michael is an engineer, who worked on Nuke power plants and also taught at Cornell, but is currently between jobs so to speak. His son works on a project in Siberia trying to gather DNA of various species before they become extinct. His older brother lives in the US, and works as a kinda environmental lawyer. His mother, aged in the 90s, serves as a fulcrum in the story. Michael's brother asks him to come to Miami to help with her (he thinks she is losing it) and pays for his flight. Once there, however, he learns of a terrible explosion in Siberia and his son Tom is hurt...
In the far future, Alia, a woman born and raised on an ancient generation ship/habitat is being courted to become a member of the Transcendence-- a melding of the minds of humanity that will achieve godlike status. Part of her earliest training entailed 'witnessing' Michael Poole's life-- something the Transcendence made possible, e.g., this perfect rendering of Michael's existence from birth to death. The Transcendence, while in a process of becoming, is vexed by the concept of redemption for all the suffering and death of so many humans that came before. The hope of 'witnessing' is that the past will not be forgotten, but more, that the future can atone for the sins of the past.
While I loved the world building of Michael's timeline-- the abandonment of private cars, the harsh global warning fundamentally changing the world and the construction of new social institutions, the entire transcendence idea struck me this time reading it as rather problematic, laced with too many religious overtones to really be taken seriously. Why would some future group intelligence really care about past human suffering, let alone feel that they must seek redemption? If you can get over that, Transcendence is a very good read.
The character building of Michael and Alia flows well, and perhaps strangely for a hard science fiction novel, science does not serve as a 'character' if you will. Sure, we have some great discussions of new tech to help stabilize the planet's ecosystem, but nothing to avant garde, and it only comes into help build the narrative. Baxter, as he is prone to do, probes some serious philosophical questions, not just about the human condition, but about what gives life meaning, the nature of death and life, and so forth that was refreshing. 3.5 stars rounding up.
In the far future, Alia, a woman born and raised on an ancient generation ship/habitat is being courted to become a member of the Transcendence-- a melding of the minds of humanity that will achieve godlike status. Part of her earliest training entailed 'witnessing' Michael Poole's life-- something the Transcendence made possible, e.g., this perfect rendering of Michael's existence from birth to death. The Transcendence, while in a process of becoming, is vexed by the concept of redemption for all the suffering and death of so many humans that came before. The hope of 'witnessing' is that the past will not be forgotten, but more, that the future can atone for the sins of the past.
While I loved the world building of Michael's timeline-- the abandonment of private cars, the harsh global warning fundamentally changing the world and the construction of new social institutions, the entire transcendence idea struck me this time reading it as rather problematic, laced with too many religious overtones to really be taken seriously. Why would some future group intelligence really care about past human suffering, let alone feel that they must seek redemption? If you can get over that, Transcendence is a very good read.
The character building of Michael and Alia flows well, and perhaps strangely for a hard science fiction novel, science does not serve as a 'character' if you will. Sure, we have some great discussions of new tech to help stabilize the planet's ecosystem, but nothing to avant garde, and it only comes into help build the narrative. Baxter, as he is prone to do, probes some serious philosophical questions, not just about the human condition, but about what gives life meaning, the nature of death and life, and so forth that was refreshing. 3.5 stars rounding up.
November 24, 2025
What a crazy ending to this fabulous series. Who but Stephen Baxter could carry through on the ambition of a timeline that stretches out (and folds and collapses) five hundred thousand years? I loved the Alia character, the description of our planet Earth in 2017-2025 seen from his vantage point in 2005 and the visions of the Solar System and the Galaxy over the span of Alia's voyages. Crazy good.
Stephen Baxter’s Transcendent is a breathtaking conclusion to the Destiny’s Children trilogy, serving as a poignant eulogy for the original Xeelee Sequence before the eventual Xeelee: Vengeance reboot. It masterfully synthesizes the intimacy of Coalescent with the galactic scale of Exultant, asking the ultimate question: does humanity deserve to be saved?
The novel centers on the "Redemption," where god-like post-humans look back through time to judge their violent ancestors. This framing device finally brings Michael Poole into sharp focus. Baxter defies the "chosen one" trope; Poole is not a generic action hero, but a realistically flawed engineer whose curiosity inadvertently sparked a cosmic war. Yet, Baxter portrays him as heroic in the truest sense—his drive to explore is identified as the redeeming spark of our species. It is a refreshing departure from space opera clichés, replacing a final laser battle with a philosophical reconciliation with the Xeelee.
Transcendent is a dense, emotional farewell to a universe we spent decades exploring, arguing that our flaws are inseparable from our greatness.
"We are the universe's way of thinking about itself. If we die, the universe goes blind."
"He had been a builder. And in a universe of destruction, that was enough."
Stephen Baxter’s Transcendent is a breathtaking conclusion to the Destiny’s Children trilogy, serving as a poignant eulogy for the original Xeelee Sequence before the eventual Xeelee: Vengeance reboot. It masterfully synthesizes the intimacy of Coalescent with the galactic scale of Exultant, asking the ultimate question: does humanity deserve to be saved?
The novel centers on the "Redemption," where god-like post-humans look back through time to judge their violent ancestors. This framing device finally brings Michael Poole into sharp focus. Baxter defies the "chosen one" trope; Poole is not a generic action hero, but a realistically flawed engineer whose curiosity inadvertently sparked a cosmic war. Yet, Baxter portrays him as heroic in the truest sense—his drive to explore is identified as the redeeming spark of our species. It is a refreshing departure from space opera clichés, replacing a final laser battle with a philosophical reconciliation with the Xeelee.
Transcendent is a dense, emotional farewell to a universe we spent decades exploring, arguing that our flaws are inseparable from our greatness.
"We are the universe's way of thinking about itself. If we die, the universe goes blind."
"He had been a builder. And in a universe of destruction, that was enough."
March 6, 2010
I'd give this one 3.5 stars if I could. There's a lot to like about this book and its predecessors, Coalescent and Exultant. The three are marketed as a trilogy, but its much more fair to consider them three unrelated books set in the same universe. There is a through line that connects all of them, but it would be fairly straightforward to read them in isolation. My advice: if you like Baxter, read them all. If you're not sure, start with this one, even though it's the last.
This book in particular reminded me of Olaf Stapledon's magnificent Last and First Men in its panorama of human evolution over the next 500,000 years. It's a rich mix of physics, theology, and character study. A bit of a slow read (though not as slow as Stapledon), but worth it for the rich ideas.
And I have to confess that it's got one of the best opening paragraphs of any science fiction book I've ever read:
"The girl from the future told me that the sky is full of dying worlds.
You can spot them from far off, if you know what you're looking for. When a star gets old, it heats up, and its planets' oceans evaporate, and you can see the clouds of hydrogen and oxygen, slowly dispersing. Dying worlds cloaked in the remains of their oceans, hanging in the Galaxy's spiral arms like rotten fruit: this is what people will find, when they move out from the Earth, in the future. Ruins, museums, mausoleums.
How strange. How wistful.
My name is Michael Poole."
Despite what sounds like a bit of a downer, the book is still full of hope.
This book in particular reminded me of Olaf Stapledon's magnificent Last and First Men in its panorama of human evolution over the next 500,000 years. It's a rich mix of physics, theology, and character study. A bit of a slow read (though not as slow as Stapledon), but worth it for the rich ideas.
And I have to confess that it's got one of the best opening paragraphs of any science fiction book I've ever read:
"The girl from the future told me that the sky is full of dying worlds.
You can spot them from far off, if you know what you're looking for. When a star gets old, it heats up, and its planets' oceans evaporate, and you can see the clouds of hydrogen and oxygen, slowly dispersing. Dying worlds cloaked in the remains of their oceans, hanging in the Galaxy's spiral arms like rotten fruit: this is what people will find, when they move out from the Earth, in the future. Ruins, museums, mausoleums.
How strange. How wistful.
My name is Michael Poole."
Despite what sounds like a bit of a downer, the book is still full of hope.
July 17, 2012
More 'anyhows' than a freshman term paper. 'Baling' for 'bailing'. 'Five percent proof'?!! Did an editor read this at all?
If you can get past the bad editing and the dopey anthro-guilt global warming plot, it isn't altogether terrible. Reading 'the Warming' (capitalized so you know it's really bad and all mankind's fault^tm) as 'the Warmening' added some much-needed levity for me.
Oh, and while certain hand-wringing busybodies might consider a refrigerator that verbally warns you not to drink a beer so early in the day their version of an orderly utopia, I'm going to have to consider that a hellish vision of the future on par with waste land motorcycle gangs.
October 25, 2012
Baxter explores a number of issues--little things like love, family, the possible end of life as we know it on our planet, gods, etc. At some points the book does, I must admit, drag a bit. But when not caught up in technical or other esoteric details (which I know many adore), Baxter tells one hell of a tale. He has a wide-ranging and, frankly, beautiful vision--not exactly what one might expect from an engineer. Gea, the amazing sentient super-duper-artificial-intelligence, who visits as a toy robot; Rosa, the Catholic priest (though should she be called priestess?); Alia, the woman from the far, far future; and, of course, Micheal Poole, the engineer, there is a full compliment of well-fleshed-out characters, people readers can't help caring about. This is a great read!
I've enjoyed other of Baxter's works. Now I guess I'll have to read more of the Destiny's Children series.
I've enjoyed other of Baxter's works. Now I guess I'll have to read more of the Destiny's Children series.
August 24, 2025
Fuck me that was such a ride.
That's for THIS type of books that I am profoundly in love with science fiction.
I am such a fan of the whole future leaking through the past / space opera initiatory journey / climate fiction discussion, I LOVE Michael Poole; I LOVE the very idea of the Transcendents and their guilt. IT was just so heartbreaking and beautiful and everything in between. Baxter is criminally underrated.
That's for THIS type of books that I am profoundly in love with science fiction.
I am such a fan of the whole future leaking through the past / space opera initiatory journey / climate fiction discussion, I LOVE Michael Poole; I LOVE the very idea of the Transcendents and their guilt. IT was just so heartbreaking and beautiful and everything in between. Baxter is criminally underrated.
May 22, 2012
This was my introduction to the Destiny's Children series and it's remained my favorite still. Whereas others have had trouble with the story hopping between two timelines and all the brain crushing or mind blowing theories on human evolution, that's what I was expecting by this point in my Baxter reading career.
My favorite part was how the future storyline showed some of the extremes of humanotypes based on all the different environments we could end up in. Absolutely left me wanting more chapters of planet hopping, but damn. The center of humanity where all the transcended go, phew. I think Baxter could have explores much more of this if he wanted.
Writing this has left me hungry for more Baxter already!
My favorite part was how the future storyline showed some of the extremes of humanotypes based on all the different environments we could end up in. Absolutely left me wanting more chapters of planet hopping, but damn. The center of humanity where all the transcended go, phew. I think Baxter could have explores much more of this if he wanted.
Writing this has left me hungry for more Baxter already!
February 9, 2012
80% of this book is fine material. The other 20% delves into turgid metaphysics. It is gratifying in a way to catch up with George Poole's descendants and family, to see where they are forty years on...and the far future character of Alia is pleasing too. It's when Baxter tries to emulate the Clarke-like mystical....well, it comes apart a little at the seams.
July 10, 2023
This novel follows two narratives in alternating chapters, uniting only at the end.
Half a million years from now, humanity has spread through the Galaxy, speciating as we go. There are post-humans who have become porpoiselike creatures and lost the need for big brains. Others live in sewage and recycle it for their less smelly relations. Yet others have learned the trick of teleporting themselves. A young woman (more or less anthropomorphic) who grew up on an itinerant starship is being groomed to join the Transcendents, the league of mind-melded immortals who are guiding humanity towards the next stage of existence, whatever that might be (though it seems to have something to do with love). The process involves Atonement and Redemption by means of experiencing the lives of everyone who ever lived, or might have lived.
Meanwhile, in 2047 an engineer is working on how to avert further climate catastrophes while trying to understand why from time to time he sees apparitions of his long-dead wife. Civilization is barely surviving because of global warming. A new world government called the Stewardship has prohibited private cars have been abandoned and most air travel, and it turns out that people don't miss them much. Artificial sentiences sometimes help people out. The population has crashed. Some bands of humans are living with surprising comfort in the huge middens of discarded autos and other trash. This engineer in Michael Poole, who appears in several other Baxter novels. If I remember correctly, he turns out to be the last living sentient being at the heat death of the Universe.
The story or stories are gripping and carry you right along. They show Baxter's trademark hard science, though the causality paradoxes of time travel are breezily shrugged off. Nevertheless, religion of a sort plays an unexpected role--there's a serious exorcism. The stories don't seem totally integrated; it doesn't always seem as if Baxter is sure where he's going.
Half a million years from now, humanity has spread through the Galaxy, speciating as we go. There are post-humans who have become porpoiselike creatures and lost the need for big brains. Others live in sewage and recycle it for their less smelly relations. Yet others have learned the trick of teleporting themselves. A young woman (more or less anthropomorphic) who grew up on an itinerant starship is being groomed to join the Transcendents, the league of mind-melded immortals who are guiding humanity towards the next stage of existence, whatever that might be (though it seems to have something to do with love). The process involves Atonement and Redemption by means of experiencing the lives of everyone who ever lived, or might have lived.
Meanwhile, in 2047 an engineer is working on how to avert further climate catastrophes while trying to understand why from time to time he sees apparitions of his long-dead wife. Civilization is barely surviving because of global warming. A new world government called the Stewardship has prohibited private cars have been abandoned and most air travel, and it turns out that people don't miss them much. Artificial sentiences sometimes help people out. The population has crashed. Some bands of humans are living with surprising comfort in the huge middens of discarded autos and other trash. This engineer in Michael Poole, who appears in several other Baxter novels. If I remember correctly, he turns out to be the last living sentient being at the heat death of the Universe.
The story or stories are gripping and carry you right along. They show Baxter's trademark hard science, though the causality paradoxes of time travel are breezily shrugged off. Nevertheless, religion of a sort plays an unexpected role--there's a serious exorcism. The stories don't seem totally integrated; it doesn't always seem as if Baxter is sure where he's going.
January 30, 2018
Transcendent continues the stories and themes that were originally developed in the first book of the series, with more light being cast upon the Poole family and the Coalescents. The story explores the dynamic between Michael Poole, his son Tom and dead wife Morag, and for the beginning of the book, I felt I was learning about all the participants equally. However in the later part of the book, all character development of Tom ceases, as the story moves to focus upon Michael and his reanimated wife, and what she represents.
The reach of the story is quite grand, covering the far future of 500,000 years hence and the near future of the mid 21st century. It covers a number of current hot-button topics such as global warming, and our responsibility (or lack thereof) to manage the ecology of the planet that supports and maintains us. It also covers a number of philosophical discussions which are interesting, but weren't discussed at length, so whilst the story arc covers a lot of ground covering the mental, physical and philosophical development of the human race, it doesn't really get to the point, which may be the point - to discuss these developments in the abstract.
As a result whilst I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it for it's philosophy and content as opposed to simply reading more about a series that I'm invested in. The continued return of the Coalescents is interesting, but I feel their development which was covered at length in the first novel is now stunted, so in each of the novels in the series we revisit the same plot points: regular humans are repelled by their closeness and inhuman aspects; they are great for archiving because of reasons; they are long lived. I would love to know more about Coalescent hives that perhaps go awry or develop in other manners (since ant colonies aren't all uniform in their operation).
The reach of the story is quite grand, covering the far future of 500,000 years hence and the near future of the mid 21st century. It covers a number of current hot-button topics such as global warming, and our responsibility (or lack thereof) to manage the ecology of the planet that supports and maintains us. It also covers a number of philosophical discussions which are interesting, but weren't discussed at length, so whilst the story arc covers a lot of ground covering the mental, physical and philosophical development of the human race, it doesn't really get to the point, which may be the point - to discuss these developments in the abstract.
As a result whilst I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it for it's philosophy and content as opposed to simply reading more about a series that I'm invested in. The continued return of the Coalescents is interesting, but I feel their development which was covered at length in the first novel is now stunted, so in each of the novels in the series we revisit the same plot points: regular humans are repelled by their closeness and inhuman aspects; they are great for archiving because of reasons; they are long lived. I would love to know more about Coalescent hives that perhaps go awry or develop in other manners (since ant colonies aren't all uniform in their operation).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2024
This book is hilarious when viewed with today's perspective. With around 20 years after publishing.
Baxter is both hilariously optimistic and pessimistic at the same time.
Optimistic in that the US will be progressive and abandon all fossil fuels by the 2020's. This is the best part. Couldn't stop laughing.
And apparently the Dutch will abandon the Netherlands. Being Dutch myself, I can say his is another hilarious missed shot. Fucking absurd.
Also, this Michael Poole is quite annoying. I don't know what Baxter was thinking with naming him Michael Poole. Maybe as a callback, maybe to keep a sense of connection with the OG Michael Poole, but the one is NOTHING like the other, and only gives wrong implications.
Also the Transcendance is
I honestly don't know if I want to read the other Xeelee books after this one. I have a bit of a Baxter burnout.
Baxter is both hilariously optimistic and pessimistic at the same time.
Optimistic in that the US will be progressive and abandon all fossil fuels by the 2020's. This is the best part. Couldn't stop laughing.
And apparently the Dutch will abandon the Netherlands. Being Dutch myself, I can say his is another hilarious missed shot. Fucking absurd.
Also, this Michael Poole is quite annoying. I don't know what Baxter was thinking with naming him Michael Poole. Maybe as a callback, maybe to keep a sense of connection with the OG Michael Poole, but the one is NOTHING like the other, and only gives wrong implications.
Also the Transcendance is
I honestly don't know if I want to read the other Xeelee books after this one. I have a bit of a Baxter burnout.
November 24, 2018
Two threads run through the book. One creates an interesting setting. However, it uncomfortably settles around what amounts to a ghost story (which it is not clear is a ghost story, and quickly becomes clear it is something else). But it still plays out like a ghost story, and these never chime with me, because ghosts are such a ridiculous premise. What is truly distracting is how unphased people are at the sight of something that is so ridiculous.
Anyway, the beginnings of serious climate change in 2048 is an interesting setting.
The second narrative is mind boggling, and ultimately tootles round in circles until finally we get to the 'grand finale', or should I say THE CLUMSY EXPOSITION SCENE, so ham-fistedly forced in, the author throws away the dialogue itself and just EXPLAINS.
We then into hyperfuture metaphysics. This is where the story starts. Nothing much of any significance has happened yet. The Clumsy Exposition Scene sets up all pertinent points, and we are delivered with...universal armageddon...or not. And then it stops. And the stupid ghost nonsense comes back. It made no sense that the character even saw the 'ghost'. Its reasons for being there make no sense (Spoiler: if she had appeared at the exact moment of Morag's death, no one would be any the wiser, and it is time travel any, so why does it appear SEVENTEEN YEARS later?)
So, a short story at best, of about 50 pages. The rest is a morass of insignificance. 45o pages of it!
Anyway, the beginnings of serious climate change in 2048 is an interesting setting.
The second narrative is mind boggling, and ultimately tootles round in circles until finally we get to the 'grand finale', or should I say THE CLUMSY EXPOSITION SCENE, so ham-fistedly forced in, the author throws away the dialogue itself and just EXPLAINS.
We then into hyperfuture metaphysics. This is where the story starts. Nothing much of any significance has happened yet. The Clumsy Exposition Scene sets up all pertinent points, and we are delivered with...universal armageddon...or not. And then it stops. And the stupid ghost nonsense comes back. It made no sense that the character even saw the 'ghost'. Its reasons for being there make no sense (Spoiler: if she had appeared at the exact moment of Morag's death, no one would be any the wiser, and it is time travel any, so why does it appear SEVENTEEN YEARS later?)
So, a short story at best, of about 50 pages. The rest is a morass of insignificance. 45o pages of it!
February 26, 2019
Oh, no! After such a glorious second volume, Baxter regressed for the third volume of the Destiny's Children series, Transcendent. What you get is basically a continuation of the first volume, but without the emotional content or the cool ideas of Coalescent. Same awkward family relationships that no one really cares about, same main character who is actually driven by the actions and thoughts of people around him, rather than his own, same single final moment that shapes the world without actually making the reader feel anything, same lengthy dialogue that brings important issues into discussion, but without drawing the reader in.
As Stalin said, one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic. Same thing applies to humans 500.000 years into the future, going back into the past to redeem the sins of humanity. No one cares! The Earth is pushed to the edge by global warming and the lead character is championing a great hydrate stabilization engineering project. Who cares?!
Bottom line: the book was well written, but badly designed. It's like an engineer doing a great job building something that is fundamentally flawed. I struggled to finish the book just as I've struggled to finish Coalescent, which was far more interesting to begin with. The reason is simple: the reader cannot really empathize with any of the characters, except in disparate fragments of the storyline.
As Stalin said, one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic. Same thing applies to humans 500.000 years into the future, going back into the past to redeem the sins of humanity. No one cares! The Earth is pushed to the edge by global warming and the lead character is championing a great hydrate stabilization engineering project. Who cares?!
Bottom line: the book was well written, but badly designed. It's like an engineer doing a great job building something that is fundamentally flawed. I struggled to finish the book just as I've struggled to finish Coalescent, which was far more interesting to begin with. The reason is simple: the reader cannot really empathize with any of the characters, except in disparate fragments of the storyline.
December 29, 2023
Stephen Baxter is never boring, at least if mind-bending physics, philosophy, and science fictional speculation are your thing. Like Arthur C. Clarke, Baxter does both Big Ideas SF and Engineering SF, and you get plenty of both here. Transcendent is a "sequel" to Coalescent and Exultant, but it's not so much a continuation of the same story. There are some direct ties, especially to Coalescent, but I think you could easily read this as a standalone.
Michael Poole is a depressed engineer in 2047 in a world seeing the serious effects of climate change. He is haunted (literally, it seems, oddly enough!) by his dead wife. Eventually he works with his estranged son as well as his uncle and aunt (who were characters in Coalescent) on a potential geoengineering fix for a catastrophic climate issue. Meanwhile (in a vastly temporally extended sense of "meanwhile"!), 500,000 years in the future, a woman named Alia is "Witnessing" Michael from her generation ship. She is also contacted by the Transcendence, a group of post-humans intent on achieving a kind of god-like existence that involves some kind of time-meddling redemption of all past human suffering. She embarks on a trek across the galaxy to figure out if she will join the Transcendence, becoming a bit suspicious of them in the process. I enjoyed that each chapter alternated between Michael's and Alia's timelines. Some readers might find this disjointed, but I think it helped keep things moving.
I never quite entirely understand everything in a Stephen Baxter novel (that's part of the mind-bending fun, I guess), but in this case I'm not sure I really understood what the Transcendence wanted to do or what their motivations were, or in any case that felt underdeveloped to me, especially for a group of such allegedly advanced post-humans (it kinda felt like a loosely sketched out "space Christianity" or something). But I guess when you're juggling so many science fictional balls as Baxter, it's hard to avoid dropping one now and then. But overall, I really enjoyed this one. And I appreciated all the shoutouts to philosophers (Leibniz, Russell, Kant, and more!). I've never failed to be entertained by a Baxter novel, and Transcendent is no different on that count.
Find a review of this and other books on my blog: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
Michael Poole is a depressed engineer in 2047 in a world seeing the serious effects of climate change. He is haunted (literally, it seems, oddly enough!) by his dead wife. Eventually he works with his estranged son as well as his uncle and aunt (who were characters in Coalescent) on a potential geoengineering fix for a catastrophic climate issue. Meanwhile (in a vastly temporally extended sense of "meanwhile"!), 500,000 years in the future, a woman named Alia is "Witnessing" Michael from her generation ship. She is also contacted by the Transcendence, a group of post-humans intent on achieving a kind of god-like existence that involves some kind of time-meddling redemption of all past human suffering. She embarks on a trek across the galaxy to figure out if she will join the Transcendence, becoming a bit suspicious of them in the process. I enjoyed that each chapter alternated between Michael's and Alia's timelines. Some readers might find this disjointed, but I think it helped keep things moving.
I never quite entirely understand everything in a Stephen Baxter novel (that's part of the mind-bending fun, I guess), but in this case I'm not sure I really understood what the Transcendence wanted to do or what their motivations were, or in any case that felt underdeveloped to me, especially for a group of such allegedly advanced post-humans (it kinda felt like a loosely sketched out "space Christianity" or something). But I guess when you're juggling so many science fictional balls as Baxter, it's hard to avoid dropping one now and then. But overall, I really enjoyed this one. And I appreciated all the shoutouts to philosophers (Leibniz, Russell, Kant, and more!). I've never failed to be entertained by a Baxter novel, and Transcendent is no different on that count.
Find a review of this and other books on my blog: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
September 18, 2017
Books #1 & #2 of Destiny's Children showed a past-future parallel. Now the author attempts to do the same inside a single novel. The past parts are a sort of sequel to "Coalescent", while the future part introduces us to new elements in the distant Xeelee vs humans future. The two narratives obviously join via some kind of mind-time-travel.
The characters introduced in "Coalescent" have evolved along nicely, although their ecological preoccupations in this volume aren't the most exciting. The core idea behind the futuristic setting however is nothing short of amazing, and totally worth going through the other more boring parts.
The characters introduced in "Coalescent" have evolved along nicely, although their ecological preoccupations in this volume aren't the most exciting. The core idea behind the futuristic setting however is nothing short of amazing, and totally worth going through the other more boring parts.
August 7, 2023
3.5. While Transcendent certainly doesn’t lack Baxter’s typical treasure trove of big ideas, this one dragged a bit too much for me to enjoy it properly. As far as I know, this is Baxter’s first Xeelee novel that pushes more into the realm of cli-fi and while once again he is incredibly prescient with his predictions, it’s almost too much of a bummer for me to enjoy. That being said, there is a lot of hope in this story, but it comes in the form of a premise somewhat hard to believe. I also was a bit let down by the ending, usually Baxter’s strength, but this one fell a bit flat for me. Overall, not a bad book by any means, but I just had a hard time staying interested.
June 21, 2017
This is a book that has been on my shelf forever. I just randomly grabbed it to read. I wasn't aware that it was a part of a series, or that it was the third and final book. Luckily you don't need to read the previous books in the series to understand what is going on.
The most interesting part of the book for me was the description of the Warming. The year is 2047. Climate change has happened. Florida is receding; Miami is basically underwater. They try to discourage anyone from flying anywhere by making them go through numerous psychological exams. If you can't fly, you can spend lots of money to go somewhere through VR. Because of Virtual Reality, education has completely changed. If you want to teach, you pretty much need to go to a third world country to do so.
The point of view is split between Michael Poole in 2047 and 5,000 years later with Alia. Alia has been selected to become part of the Transcendence but first must go through multiple trials. This part honestly had me a little bored. I much preferred Poole's storyline.
I'm glad to have read this, even though it was really outside of my wheelhouse.
The most interesting part of the book for me was the description of the Warming. The year is 2047. Climate change has happened. Florida is receding; Miami is basically underwater. They try to discourage anyone from flying anywhere by making them go through numerous psychological exams. If you can't fly, you can spend lots of money to go somewhere through VR. Because of Virtual Reality, education has completely changed. If you want to teach, you pretty much need to go to a third world country to do so.
The point of view is split between Michael Poole in 2047 and 5,000 years later with Alia. Alia has been selected to become part of the Transcendence but first must go through multiple trials. This part honestly had me a little bored. I much preferred Poole's storyline.
I'm glad to have read this, even though it was really outside of my wheelhouse.
November 14, 2019
Setting presentation, design and originality (how cool is the setting?): 3
>Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 2
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 4
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 3
Characterization and character development: 4
Character sympatheticness: 5
Prose: 4
Page turner factor: 4
Mind blown factor: 2
Final (weighted) score: 3.4
>Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 2
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 4
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 3
Characterization and character development: 4
Character sympatheticness: 5
Prose: 4
Page turner factor: 4
Mind blown factor: 2
Final (weighted) score: 3.4
September 4, 2017
This was really a decent "sort-of" finale to the series. Without spoilers, it closed out most of the plot lines and told a far future version of how things turned out.
Like many of Baxter's books, it felt smooth to read and the science of the science fiction was at least (generally) based in real science. In this case, often in philosophy as much as anything else. What happens to a humanity that is embroiled in a war that spans millennia?
Like many of Baxter's books, it felt smooth to read and the science of the science fiction was at least (generally) based in real science. In this case, often in philosophy as much as anything else. What happens to a humanity that is embroiled in a war that spans millennia?
December 14, 2019
A Half-million Years of Human History
Sitting in this chair I have seen, heard and felt the history of humans as the galaxy is conquered, lost and conquered again. I have thought with near-gods as they transcended to cope with the universe entire. I am inspired with the incredible effort and brilliant creativity of this work. It could even be reality.
Sitting in this chair I have seen, heard and felt the history of humans as the galaxy is conquered, lost and conquered again. I have thought with near-gods as they transcended to cope with the universe entire. I am inspired with the incredible effort and brilliant creativity of this work. It could even be reality.
February 22, 2021
In this book Baxter brings together the en ding from the first book with the ending of the second one. He then holds them as two separate threads until right at the end, when they come together in a most surprising manner.
All-in-all, this 3 book series is well worth reading.
All-in-all, this 3 book series is well worth reading.
January 29, 2022
This is the second novel in my chronological read through and it was good. I was really expecting wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff from half a million years in the future but there ya go. I think there are some short stories to read next on the timeline.
I still haven't met a Xeelee.
I still haven't met a Xeelee.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2017
Really enjoyed this! The parts about global warming and climate change made for a very scary read, reminded me somewhat of the Sunstorm (also his book co-written with Arthur C Clarke).
September 18, 2019
I tried my best and got 24% through it but just did not find myself engaged at all.
No.1 great
No.2 good
Lost me on this
No.1 great
No.2 good
Lost me on this
March 9, 2020
Baxter presents a fascinating setting of global warming.
The plot and characters are boring and stupid.
It is boring because the characters, don't do anything; things are done to them. The characters have the emotional maturity of 15 year old kids.
It is stupid because he has taken the ideas of a Russian mystic and turned them into a "science fiction" story.
The mystic was "... Fyodorov, a futurist, who theorized about the eventual perfection of the human race and society (i.e., utopia), including radical ideas like immortality, revival of the dead, space and ocean colonization." -- Wikipedia.
The plot and characters are boring and stupid.
It is boring because the characters, don't do anything; things are done to them. The characters have the emotional maturity of 15 year old kids.
It is stupid because he has taken the ideas of a Russian mystic and turned them into a "science fiction" story.
The mystic was "... Fyodorov, a futurist, who theorized about the eventual perfection of the human race and society (i.e., utopia), including radical ideas like immortality, revival of the dead, space and ocean colonization." -- Wikipedia.
May 6, 2020
Worth reading just for the climate change issues alone. Amazing that they did so much more.
July 26, 2020
Baxter and his "trilogies" that aren't trilogies really. I felt this was the weakest of the 3 of Destiny's Children. At least #2 was strong enough to get me to buy the Xeelee Omnibus.
Read
October 26, 2022Dry. Disappointing ending.
September 11, 2024
weakest in the series, but scratched an itch for me - I don't know another author whose ideas are as wacky as Baxter's.
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