<![CDATA[Exultant (Destiny's Children (Paperback))]]>

false <![CDATA[Exultant (Destiny's Children (Paperback))]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170655912m/66791.jpg 66791 8 When it comes to cutting-edge science fiction, Stephen Baxter is in a league of his own. His mastery of hard science, his fearlessly speculative imagination, and his ability to combine grand philosophical questions with tales of rousing adventure make him essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of humankind. Now, in Exultant, Baxter takes us to a distant future of dazzling promise and deadly threat, in which a far-flung humanity battles for survival against an implacable alien foe. Destiny’s Children EXULTANT For more than twenty thousand years, humans have been at war with the alien race of Xeelee. It is a war fought with armaments so advanced as to be godlike, a war in which time itself has become an ever-shifting battleground. At the cost of billions of lives, and with ruthless and relentless efficiency, the ruling Coalition has pushed the Xeelee back to the galactic core, where the supermassive black hole known as Chandra serves the Xeelee as both fortress and power source. There, along a front millions of light-years long, a grisly stalemate reigns, until a young pilot, Pirius, faced with certain death, disobeys orders and employs an innovative time-travel maneuver that, for the first time in the history of the war, results in the capture of a Xeelee fighter. But far from being hailed as a hero when he returns to base with his prize, Pirius is court-martialed, disgraced, and sentenced to penal servitude on a bleak asteroid. It is not only Pirius who pays the price. In flying into the future and back again, Pirius returned to a time before he’d left, a time inhabited by his younger self. And that younger self, by the pitiless logic of Coalition justice, shares the older Pirius guilt and must be punished. Not everyone in the Coalition agrees. Commissary Nilis believes that the elder Pirius, whom he dubs Pirius Blue, may have found a way to defeat the Xeelee. But Nilis can do nothing for Pirius Blue. Instead, he takes charge of the younger Pirius (Pirius Red), and brings him back to Earth, the capital of a vast empire seething with intrigue. There Pirius Red will discover truths that will shatter his preconceived notions of all that he is fighting for, even of what it means to be human. Pirius Blue, meanwhile, will learn truths harsher and more discomfiting still. Yet the most shocking revelation of all is still to come, waiting for them at a place called Chandra. . . . From the Hardcover edition. 2117010 2004 Exultant (Destiny's Children (Paperback)) total:150|5:27|4:53|3:57|2:10|1:3| 150 541 223 10 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jun 29 22:42:20 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 22:42:20 -0700 2009 Baxter has a head full of great concepts, and not all seem to make it to the page intact. The war between human and the mysterious Xeelee introduces a lot of wild concepts (most familiar among them the idea of war as Malthusian population contro...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 05 06:30:13 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 06:32:16 -0700 2009 It jarred me a little.

I might've had another shot at reading it, but the character's names were too stupid for words. Just bec...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 21:33:32 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 10:05:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 07:17:23 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 05:55:25 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jul 03 19:51:09 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 19:52:55 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Wed Jan 09 20:08:11 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 22:52:19 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 03:56:45 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 04:00:28 -0700 2007 Stephen Baxter definately has a few points he is trying to make about the emergence of self-sustaining organizaions. A bit over my head with the scientific jargon and theory of the universe's creation, but a good read nonetheless.]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 22 20:28:21 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 20:33:46 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 07 08:23:54 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 07 08:25:27 -0800 2007 4 0 true false Tue Jun 12 06:50:54 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 06:52:03 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Fri Nov 27 16:04:21 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 16:04:21 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Nov 20 12:33:19 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 12:33:19 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 12:08:36 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 12:08:44 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 07:26:03 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 07:26:03 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Mon Nov 02 11:40:34 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 11:40:34 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:47:57 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 00:47:57 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Oct 26 14:51:22 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 14:51:22 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Oct 23 09:00:38 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 09:00:58 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Oct 21 08:43:29 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 08:43:32 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 17 14:42:09 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 14:42:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=66791