[Book Review]: Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter (The Xeelee Sequence Book 2)

About the Book

Genre: Sci-Fi, Time Travel

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: First published 7th December 1992

Timelike Infinity: the strange region at the end of time where the Xeelee, owners of the universe, are waiting… The second novel in Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee sequence.

First there were good times: humankind reached glorious heights, even immortality. Then there were bad times: Earth was occupied by the faceless, brutal Qax. Immortality drugs were confiscated, the human spirit crushed. Earth became a vast factory for alien foodstuffs.

Into this new dark age appears the end of a tunnel through time. Made from exotic matter, it is humanity’s greatest engineering project in the pre-Qax era, where the other end of the tunnel remains anchored near Jupiter. When a small group of humans in a makeshift craft outwit the Qax to escape to the past through the tunnel, it is not to warn the people of Earth against the Qax, who are sure to follow them. For these men and women from the future are themselves dangerous fanatics in pursuit of their own bizarre quantum grail.

Michael Poole, architect of the tunnel, must boldly confront the consequences of his genius.

About the Author

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 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.

Website

http://www.stephen-baxter.com/

My review

Timelike Infinity is the first book by Stephen Baxter I’ve read, and, to be perfectly honest, I struggle to rate it. Why?

First of all, the novel is a very, very hard sci-fi to the point that sometimes it reads like a textbook of theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Secondly, this is the second book in The Xeelee Sequence, the series which spans billions of years. Although the book can be read as a standalone and has many references to Raft (Book 1 which I haven’t read yet), I found it quite confusing in places.

The ideas of the novel are grand and deal with such fundamental topics like the expansion of Mankind, the origin of the Universe, the philosophy of time travel and history, the war between humans and alien species such as the Qax, and later on, the almost godlike Xeelee, the ones who believed to be the creators of all new technologies in the known Universe.

I like the complex plot and controversial characters like Jasoft Parz, the Earth Ambassador to the Qax, the occupiers of Earth, the collaborator but also the one who’s ready to sacrifice himself to “save the day” for humanity. There’s a space for the slow-burning romance, too, between Michael Poole and Miriam Berg, although the plot twists don’t leave them much time for their relationship to fully develop. However, in my opinion, it’s a huge plus. The author’s take on the aliens is different and well thought-through. I also like the idea of a Spline, a biological sentient spaceship, adapted for war and time travel.

In the beginning, the pace is fast and engaging, however, it bogs down in the middle due to the long and extensive data damps. I wish the author spent less time describing the quantum mechanics of a wormhole or hyper-drive and more time, developing the characters and speeding up the pace.

The ideas of consciousness’s impact on the Universe and the Ultimate Observer, similar to God, seem strange in hard sci-fi. The ending is poetical and full of metaphors. I can see the references to 2001: A Space Odyssey in it.

Overall, there’re lots of exciting theories in this book, and I highly recommend it to everybody who understands physics and enjoys hard sci-fi. As for me, I struggled with the sci- element of the novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. I just might read another book by Baxter. 

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