Origin (Manifold) (original 2000; edition 2002)

an unusual story ( )

Book 3. Read all three, in order.

The three books in the Manifold Trilogy will take you on a mind stretching journey. While the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, they keep you grounded enough to enjoy the science which is presented on an immense scale. Why isn't there any evidence of other sentient life in the universe? What is the purpose of intelligent life at the end of billions of years of evolution. What would the "old ones" do to change things "downstream", to make life more meaningful? Baxter's characters search for the answers to these questions in unique and fascinating ways.

Stimulating, entertaining, and ultimately satisfying. ( )

ZB13

Manifold is a series of three books. They're not a sequence, actually, as they describe parallel universes. The main character are the same, but the world they live in is different. Origin presents us a world where the good old Moon is replaced by a large red moon. As it happens, the main character, Reid Malenfant, loses his wife Emma on the new moon and has to rescue her.

Emma finds the new moon inhabited by various hominid species. Baxter offers us an interesting view to the life of different hominids, with a point of view of the hominids themselves and humans living with them. It's interesting, but it can also get slightly tedious - this is one long-winded book, with a plot that's a framework for all sorts of neat stuff Baxter wants to present.

But it works, for me at least, because even though I began reading book with some doubts, I soon got sucked into the events. It gets quite interesting and Baxter has some pretty wild ideas there. This book isn't for everybody (that is easy to see from the Amazon reviews, many of which give just one or two stars), but if you enjoyed the other Manifold books, this one is worth reading.

(Original review at my review blog) ( )

SF novel.