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The Time Ships
There is a secret passage through time
...and it leads all the way to the end of Eternity. But the journey has a terrible cost. It alters not only the future but he "present" in which we live.
A century after the publication of H. G. Wells' immortal "The Time Machine," Stephen Baxter, today's most acclaimed new "hard SF" author, and the ackno
...morePaperback, 544 pages
Published
November 27th 1995
by Harper Voyager
(first published 1995)
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Baxter did a great job capturing the feel and style of The Time Machine. What he didn't capture of H.G.'s brevity. There are some truly fascinating ideas in this book. The problem is that there's too many ideas. The result of this was a longing for the book's satisfying but predictable conclusion.
Erik
added it
Baxter takes the classic HG Wells novela and expands it in new and interesting ways, while still being faithful to the original piece. Here the Time Traveler is more thoughtful and more scientifically minded than he was in "The Time Machine," but the characterization is the same.
His journey starts where the first book ends and is split up into seven smaller "books" within the more than five-hundred page paperback. Each book takes the the Time Traveller from a child-like under...more
His journey starts where the first book ends and is split up into seven smaller "books" within the more than five-hundred page paperback. Each book takes the the Time Traveller from a child-like under...more
Baxter, the true heir of Clarke, Stapledon, Wells and Bear, has written a great science fiction novel that, while it begins as a pastiche of Wells, eventually evolves into a story taking place on a cosmic scale ala Starmaker. Along the way Baxter presents fascinating ideas about evolution, human nature, the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics, the metamathematical work of Kurt Godel on the inherent limitations of axiomatic reasoning, the physics of the early universe, thenature of lif...more
Continuación "apócrifa" de La máquina del tiempo, de H.G. Wells, me recuerda a las idas de olla metafísicas de Arthur C. Clarke con su saga Odisea.
El viajero, con cada nueva visita al pasado o al futuro, cambia su línea espacio-temporal y se desespera porque cree que con ello niega la existencia de todos aquellos atrapados en una realidad que ya no existe. Como buen autor hard, Baxter no se corta un pelo con la física, hasta tal punto que hacia el final del libro parece más bien m...more
El viajero, con cada nueva visita al pasado o al futuro, cambia su línea espacio-temporal y se desespera porque cree que con ello niega la existencia de todos aquellos atrapados en una realidad que ya no existe. Como buen autor hard, Baxter no se corta un pelo con la física, hasta tal punto que hacia el final del libro parece más bien m...more
Don't be fooled by the doofy title; this book is a marvellously reimagined "sequel" to HG Wells' classic THE TIME MACHINE. As much as Wells' book was social allegory for the issues of his day, THE TIME SHIPS plumbs some of the questions of 21st century man through the lens of Wells' 19th century hero. I am so impressed with how Baxter uses those Victorian values and perceptions as a lens to grapple with very modern issues...the narrator comes off as remarkably cosmopolitan, open-min...more
This is a fantastic book, and anyone who has read "The Time Machine" should definitely read this one. Baxter channels H. G. Wells and tells the continuing story of what happens after the time traveler returns to his own time at the end of Time Machine. Using the same voice to great effect, he continues his travels into the future trying desperately to save Weena where he failed previously only to find another, alternative future (the result of his tampering with events), as well as exp...more
Stephen Baxter's Time Ships is a sequel to HG Wells' classic The Time Machine. Where Wells was crisp, haunting and poignant, Baxter is deep and broad and offers his usual blend of hard core scifi philosophy and science.
Time Ships picks up where The Time Machine left off. The Time Traveler (TTT), after getting nothing more than a tepid response to his story of his first trip to the future, rushed headlong back into the future to find and rescue his Eloi friend Weena. Instead of return...more
Time Ships picks up where The Time Machine left off. The Time Traveler (TTT), after getting nothing more than a tepid response to his story of his first trip to the future, rushed headlong back into the future to find and rescue his Eloi friend Weena. Instead of return...more
I'm glad I read The Time Machine before The Time Ships, because it heightened my appreciation for what Stephen Baxter has achieved in the latter book -- writing an marvelous novel that manages to be both a faithful sequel to a hundred-year-old book and an epic journey through millions of years and several very different human (and post-human) civilizations.
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Anyone who read H.G. Wells' TIME MACHINE and enjoyed it wanted more. Now, over a century later, Stephen Baxter has done just that: picked up where Wells left off and then takes us for a ride equally as surprising and revelatory as Wells himself. Only this time, the traveler ventures forth millions and millions of years into the distant future, in the company of a Morlock!
This is an authorised sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, and follows the Time Traveller's journeys after he vanishes from his home in 1891 as witnessed by his friend. In this book, the Traveller is determined to return to the far future to try and rescue his companion Weena, who he left there after the attack by the Morlocks. But he never gets there. The very act of visiting the future and returning to the past to relate the fact has changed history!
I really like this book. Baxt...more
I really like this book. Baxt...more
At the start you wonder if this is really going to be a genuine sequel. I seemed to have to slog through several chapters featuring Nebogipfel making the Dyson sphere around the sun, which frankly was all a bit tedious. This is a fault of some of Baxter's other novels - they often have a few slow chapters near the start that are real slogs to get through, as if he doesn't know where he's going with the story. But then the book starts to take off, channeling elements from a variety of Wells no...more
Wow. I really did not expect to like this book so much.
I DO judge books by their covers, and the typical sci-fi shiny spaceships and planets artwork on the cover made me expect mediocre corniness. Instead I got a really solid, continuously intriguing, well-written tale of time travel. I love stories about time travel if they are done well. There was definitely a lot of "hard science" stuff about quantum physics and whatnot, but it was written in a way that wasn't tedious,...more
I DO judge books by their covers, and the typical sci-fi shiny spaceships and planets artwork on the cover made me expect mediocre corniness. Instead I got a really solid, continuously intriguing, well-written tale of time travel. I love stories about time travel if they are done well. There was definitely a lot of "hard science" stuff about quantum physics and whatnot, but it was written in a way that wasn't tedious,...more
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I picked this up after reading Anno Dracula because I wanted something solidly futuristic. As it turns out, however, this is a sequel to H.G. Wells's The Time Machine. So that may have something to do with my reaction, but I don't really think so. In this book, the narrator is the Time Traveler himself. And although the story is engaging, and the physics is plausible enough to keep you going, the Traveler is not a great protagonist; he is prone to fits of temper, not very charming, frequently bo...more
I might give it a bit less than 4 stars. It's a mixture. It's a "sequel" to H.G. Wells' Time Machine, but the SF concepts are far too modern to really feel like Wells (although Baxter maintains aspects of the writing style and such). The setting drastically changes between Victorian England, a far future Dyson sphere, an alternate history of a prolonged WWI, 50 million years ago, machine life, the Big Bang and the multiverse beyond it... In a sense, it's a tour of the issues of tim...more
The book starts off where H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" lets off, with the Time Traveller's second voyage from Victorian England. It continues to develop Wells' themes of the future and nature of man, but entwines some more modern SF elements such as alternate timelines, quantum theory, and nanotechnology, with a hint of steam-punk thrown in for good measure. Not exactly heavy reading, but with enough philosophy to make it a step up from a beach read.
I liked this more than I thought I would. The overall plot is pretty much what you would expect -- the adventures and excursions of the Time Traveler get wilder and more exotic as the story goes on, and Baxter aggressively retcons and re-imagines away the scientific plot holes that the years between Wells's story and now have introduced, as well as investigating the ramifications of the logical paradoxes that time traveling would create. A fun read.
Bryan
marked it as to-read-3-seems-promising
An unofficial sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, but with a lot more science thrown in the mix - even quantum physics. Sounds pretty interesting.
Frakkin brilliant 'sequel' to HG Wells' The Time Machine. Incredibly entertaining, extremely creative and inspiring. Captures some of the quaint magic of Wells' original as well as Baxter's own crazy far-flung futures. One of my non-SF reading friends (in fact, not very much of a reader at all) absolutely loved it.
This is the only sci-fi work I have read so far that is not afraid to tackle head-on the complete paradox of time travel. As other reviewers have noted, Baxter channels H.G. Wells's voice and style perfectly at the same time as he reinterprets the notion of time travel from a late-twentieth-century perspective. If you liked H.G. Wells, you will love Baxter!
I would have to say that this is the best time travel book I have ever read. It is the 100 year anniversary sequel to the H. G. Wells classic "The Time machine." It is even written in the same style as Wells. If you are familiar with the story, Wells never reveals the name of the main character, he just calls him "the time traveller." Baxter does the same. Except that this book is about four times longer than the original Wells short novel, and includes a variety of adventure...more
There is a reason this book was approved by the Wells family estate as an authorised sequel to H.G. Wells original Time Machine.
It takes the original concept and runs with it as far as it could go. I will not spoil the plot for you.
If you enjoyed the original story then this is a definite read.
A+
It takes the original concept and runs with it as far as it could go. I will not spoil the plot for you.
If you enjoyed the original story then this is a definite read.
A+
The Time Ships...huh?: I seem to be in a minority here, but here goes...I hated this book. I don't *care* that the science stood up to scrutiny, the narrative style was tedious and irritating, the plot was laborious, and the characterisation was shallow. Definitely not a hit for me.
Loved this book for the first 3/4 but the intensity of of all the time travel, mumbo jumbo got too much for me towards the end of the book. Some people will dig it, it was just too technical for me to stay interested in at that point.
Im glad i checked it out though.
Im glad i checked it out though.
Authorized sequel to H.G. Wells’s classic novella The Time Machine. Baxter pulls it off quite well, putting his own touch on the old story. Enjoyable, especially if you like old Steam Age stuff such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=425
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=425
A thought-provoking account of the the events straight after the original The Time Machine. This is tragic and frantic, as the scientist travels back to the future that he had just saved from the Morlocks, only to find that it's changed beyond recognition.
Very thoughtful and modern sequel to the classic by HG Wells. Some of the tech stuff drug, but for the most part, a great read and a fascinating story that leaps back and forth through time. A fascinating "alternate WW2" was very enjoyable.
It got a little slow in places. Baxter has a habit, at times, of throwing a long string of COOL IDEA!!!!!!s at the readers, to the point that it can interfere with the story. It's less evident here than in some of his work, though. (I'm looking at you, Manifold: Space.) Overall, I would say it's a good novel, and an EXCELLENT sequel to "The Time Machine".
HG Wells would be proud of what Baxter has done with Timeships, audaciously writing a sequel one hundred years later.
Read or watch The Time Machine before reading this novel and you'll find Timships a natural extension of the characters and plot, with some nice, unexpected twists.
Read or watch The Time Machine before reading this novel and you'll find Timships a natural extension of the characters and plot, with some nice, unexpected twists.
Entertaining sequel to the classic "The Time Machine" as our hero tries to go back to the future only to discover the future isn't what it used to be.
I might have rated it higher but there was one big flaw in their time line. When the Time Patrol goes back in time, they should have changed their future but didn't. I found this to be inconsistant. But still enjoyed the book.
I might have rated it higher but there was one big flaw in their time line. When the Time Patrol goes back in time, they should have changed their future but didn't. I found this to be inconsistant. But still enjoyed the book.
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Stephen 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 ...more
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