Coalescent

Destiny's Children #1

by Stephen Baxter

When his father dies suddenly, George Poole stumbles onto a family secret: He has a twin sister he never knew existed, who was raised by an enigmatic cult called the Order.

The Order is a hive - a human hive with a dominant queen--that has prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia.

After Poole enters the Order's vast underground city and meets the disturbing inhabitants, he uncovers evidence that they have embarked on a divergent evolutionary path.

These genetically superior humans are equipped with the tools necessary to render modern Homo sapiens as extinct as the Neanderthals. And now they are preparing to leave their underground realm.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Space Opera, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical Fiction

527 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

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.

Reviews

[Pseudonymous d'Elder · Rating 3 out of 5]

__________________________
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On my home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore
— Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

In between these covers, an alien craft has been discovered, like some feathered and loathsome demon, spawned in that icy region near Pluto and beyond. This object is just perched there, like Poe’s grim and ominous raven, just lingering and unmoving on that far Plutonian shore.

At first, I was delighted—imagined Heechee/Darleks united. Oh, what aliens I did envision, bug-eyed monsters of great derision, Martians with flaming weapons—an all-out quantum-singularity, interstellar war—all along that far Nightly Shore.

Then perhaps with dark intentions, the alien object is rarely mentioned. And after the first 100 pages, I was getting bored—after 200, I loudly snored. But though I knew I should eschew it, on and on I slogged through it. After 300, I was feeling bleak and getting bleary, while I pondered weak and weary over this ponderous volume of quaint and curious lore. I knew with great conviction, this was not alien science-fiction, only words on homo sapiens, endless words on homo sapiens of a type I oft had seen before. Only this and nothing more.

After 400 pages, some pseudo-science fiction did appear, but though the author's reason remains unclear, the visitor was still barely mentioned, and despite my strenuous objections, there were certainly no connections between the starship and the plot. Thanks a lot!

🌟🌟🌟 Stars. But tell me cruel and noisome author, why is that ebon alien waiting, I implore? Like a malignant necromancer, that foul scribbler refused to answer, but quoth this reviewer, “I shall read this book again, ‘Nevermore!’”

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I think Baxter is a hit-or-miss kind of author, thinking he goes over the same ground in rather interesting new ways, but when I think about it... His George Poole characters are all rather... DIFFERENT. Yes, yes, George Poole is here, again, but the kind of story told isn't spanning the world or the galaxy or all of time... this time.

Rather, we've got a rather cool Roman historical romance (of a kind) that brings together old English history and the Celts in rather awesome ways while jumping back to the current time in a cool family history mystery.

I was frankly entertained. Both sides of history (and later on, a future history,) were fascinating and thrilling and reminded me at times of Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, a historical drama, and a first-contact SF. All three are wonderful and at some moments I was reminded of Poul Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years. That's high praise. :)

I'm into this enough that I have to jump on the second book right away. After all, we're talking about a full transformation of humanity into a HIVE MIND!

Yay! It's what I asked Santa for Christmas! ;)

[Nick Borrelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review forthcoming

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best I can do is three stars and I’m not even sure that’s correct. This was a very difficult book to review. I liked it just fine but it didn’t deliver as hinted at on the back cover.

The promise of genetically superior humans living in some sort of literal underground cult doesn’t really happen in this novel. The last hundred pages or so detail what’s going on, but Coalescent reads more like a prequel to the main story.

This book is long and frustrated me.

The book starts out from the perspective of George, a modern Englishman who’s also a douchebag. His chapters alternate with Regina’s, and Regina is great. Her story is set around 400 AD and the story drops in at pivotal times during her lifespan. Baxter clearly did his homework on the fall of Rome in Britain and the wider decline of Rome in Europe. All this material is superb.

During the middle chapters we ditch George and enter Lucia, who’s a modern young woman living in Rome. It is her story where we first get an instruction to the Order in the present day. Lucia isn’t particularly memorable.

So there’s a secret society that’s survived since Roman times and yes, it has a lot to do with people evolving on a different path than the rest of us. But getting there took forever. This is a 550 page prequel novel that doesn’t exactly make me enthusiastic to continue.

We even get a few chapters near the end set in the far future where the Order is still in operation. Is this where the sequels will go? I saw a reference to Baxter’s Xeelee stories in the teaser for the next novel, so I guess so. Do I even care, and how many other people blew off this series because of the extra-slow burn of Coalescent?

The whole book feels like a prequel leading to something bigger.

A frustrating read that I almost abandoned. I’m glad I didn’t but it’s difficult to recommend this book unless you know what you’re getting into. Three stars because Baxter is a good writer and storyteller, even when the material feels stretched-out to the breaking point.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a Baxter fan for years and this is a reread, but oh, what a read! This is a very difficult novel to review but here goes. George Poole, our lead, travels back to Manchester from London after his father dies to take care of the house and so forth. While there, he finds a picture of himself as a small child, but next to him appears to be his twin sister, although he does not remember her. He journeys to Miami to ask his older sister about it and yes, it is his twin. There is a family legend if you will of Regina, an ancient ancestor from Roman era Britain who in the end fled to Rome and George's sister tells him that his twin was basically adopted by this side of the family. Regina founded what is now called 'the order', a supposedly religious sect in Rome that still exists. George decides, finally, that he needs to go to Rome to find his missing sister...

Alongside the present story line, Baxter takes us to Ancient Britain to a young Regina. We follow her life there and Baxter is amazing here, describing the collapse of the Roman rule and the Saxon invasion. From there on in, we constantly oscillate between the present day and Regina's, and all of her trials and tribulations. What Regina inadvertently started was the world's first 'human hive', a self-replicating society that lives basically just to live. The people in the Order, over multiple generations, began to evolve into a collective, with each member playing a role (drone, breeder, etc.). We then follow the Order via bits and orts into the present day, where the story lines once again join. Finally, at the very end, we jump far into the future, emerging in the Xeelee universe for just a moment, where human 'hives' are being harvested for soldiers...

This is a grand, sweeping novel; part historical fiction, part speculative fiction, and of course, part science fiction. Despite being a hard science fiction author, Baxter does a decent job developing characters here, something needed as 'science' plays a very small role in the story. The narrative of how humans can evolve to become coalescent is fascinating, and the careful recreation of ancient Rome and Britain is excellent. 4.5 stars!

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.25/5 wildly ambitious. Baxter is becoming cemented as one of my favorite sci-fi authors. This is wild. He manages to tie together historical fiction with a contemporary fiction and it somehow ties into the epicly huge space opera that has a complete future history (Xeelee). This is also probably the darkest book of his I've read yet and I'm here for it. This kind of gives me a Neal Stephenson flavor of the rogue hacker group mixed with the impacts of history.

This really shows his range as an author as all the previous Xeelee books have been primarily idea focused and this is much more character driven. Baxter has underrated characters even in Xeelee and the ones in this are quite good.

I do think not everything is neatly tied up and some of the premise does require some healthy amount of suspension of disbelief but I was really engaged by the book from beginning to end. I actually learned a lot about ancient Rome here and got to see some classic stories from a different angle.

[Palmyrah · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very bad book, but it did keep me reading all the way to the end. As to why, later.

The construction of Coalescent is a sloppy mess. Essentially there are two narrative streams told in alternate chapters. One is set in the present day (c.2000) and one begins in fourth-century Britain soon after Constantine left it to go purple-hunting in Rome, taking most of the Roman garrison with him and leaving the island wide open to plunder by the Saxons.

This 'Roman' stream is told in the third person. Most of it concerns the life of a young Roman Briton called Regina, who goes to rather far-fetched lengths to ensure the preservation (for all time) of her family. Except that after a while we leave Regina behind and go tripping lightly forward through the centuries till we reach the Victorian era. Not very elegant, nor very easy to follow.

The 'present-day' stream mostly stays in the present day, but even more confusingly than the 'Roman' stream, it begins as a first-person narrative, suddenly slips into the third person to cover events the narrator could not possibly have experienced, then cheekily slides back into the first person!

And then, to make matters worse, in the last three chapters of that stream, the narrative suddenly leaps forward twenty thousand years into the future, springs back to the present day and jumps forward yet again.

Cripes. Couldn't the guy have found a less clumsy way to tell his story? An epistolary frame, or a nested Thousand and One Nights-style narrative could easily have done the trick. Or can't Baxter write at all, without Arthur C. Clarke around to hold his hand?

And then there are all these strange lights in the sky, in Roman times and modern, which are clearly vital to the action but which we are never really told anything about. Obviously we've got to buy Part II, or maybe Part III, to find out what they're all about. I call that a rip-off. Stephen Baxter is no Gene Wolfe; his story ideas and literary skills aren't nearly of a calibre deserving of such trust from his readers. This blatant (and cheap) sales ploy really made me angry, and is why this book only gets one star from me instead of two.

These days, a lot of commercial SF--such as the works of Alastair Reynolds--are targeted at a juvenile audience, and are none the worse for that. Baxter is clearly aiming at adults, but his book is far less acceptable in terms of quality than anything Reynolds (and I am not a fan of his) has done. I shan't be wasting my time with any subsequent volumes of this tale.

I did say it kept me reading. That's because I soon came to detest one of the principal characters so much I just had to see him/her/it get his/her/its comeuppance. Guess what? He/she/it didn't.

Thank the Powers I borrowed this from a library. If I'd paid good money for it, I'd be kicking myself.

Oh, and did I mention that the filth and decay of civilization throughout the 'Roman' stream was so endlessly overdone and harped upon it actually did nauseate me?

[Bob(by) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lady who hangs out with King Arthur goes into hiding and creates an insect-like hive society. Some modern day dude happens upon it. Hijinks ensue.

[Daniel Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's be upfront about it: Coalescent is not a book for everyone. It alienates Baxter fans who are used to distant-future high-concept space opera, and it alienates casual fans who might pick this up as a historical novel. Essentially, it pleases neither crowd. So, is it worth reading? Absolutely, but you better be patient.

The story starts at the Fall of the Roman Empire, and follows a young British Roman woman named Regina as her world falls apart around her. The majority of the novel focuses on Regina's trials, as she escapes war-torn Britain and ends up in Rome by way of Avalon. (More on this in a moment.) In parallel with this, we follow the actions of a mild-mannered British man, a descendant of Regina, who discovers he has a long-lost twin sister secluded in an Italian religious order.

If this doesn't sound like exciting SF, well, that's because it ain't. The story of Regina is somewhat interesting, but a lot of time is spent by Baxter showing us how much historical research he put into making this a geniune historical novel. There's a somewhat interesting segue to the story as Regina joins King Arthur's court, becoming the historical inspiration for Morgan by virtue of being Merlin's rival; however, it serves no real purpose except being clever, and actually detracts from the goals of Regina's story arc, which is to provide a historically believeable context to the founding of the Order.

The modern storyline, following a descendant of Regina as he comes to grip with the existence of a long-lost twin, also unfortunately feels like filler. This is mostly because the main character, mild-mannered, middle-aged George Poole, is not that interesting at all. Fortunately, his eccentric and paranoid geek friend, Peter McLachlan, provides for tasty SF ideas such as galactic-scale weapons and Dark Matter starships. These moments are few and far between, but they provide a hint as to the greatness that is to come.

If you manage to get through the dreary start, things suddenly kick into overdrive. Regina gets to Rome, and founds a secretive Order that still exists centuries later. George Poole, in modern times, discovers the ramifications of the Order as he finds his lost sister. That's when things get really crazy, and we finally understand where Baxter was going all along.

I'm not gonna spoil it for you; I had the pleasure of reading this novel without forewarning, and I suggest you do the same. Suffice to say that the point of Coalescent is to provide a deep reflection on the nature of human society, and in this aspect, it more than delivers. If this kind of payoff seems appealing to you regardless of the obstacles I described previously, then go ahead and pick up Coalescent.

In the end, Coalescent returns to solid SF grounds, and the perspective is dizzying and highly satisfying. As a book of Big Ideas, Coalescent works perfectly, and is well worth the time investment. It's a book that rewards patience, in spades.

Coalescent is technically the first of a trilogy called Destiny's Children. The novel was strong enough to make me pick up the sequel, Exultant, but I must warn you that the sequel is nowhere near the level of Coalescent. Yes, passing references are made to it in the sequel novel, but they amount to a poor novel paying hommage to a much superior one, and you won't miss anything by skipping Exultant. Do yourself a favor and consider Coalescent a stand-alone story.

[Faith Justice · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, the back cover info is a trifle misleading, which is a shame because the real story is just as good and absorbing as the cover hype. The book weaves together three narratives: George Poole's first person mystery as he searches for his lost sister; the historical fiction 5th Century exploits of one of his ancestors Regina, who lives through the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain, moves to Rome, and founds the Order; and the modern SF story of Lucia, one of the members of the Order. Of the three, I found George's story to be the weakest. He is basically a foil for introducing the other two and a stand-in for the reader; someone to whom things can be explained rather than an active agent. As the book progressed I actually became a little impatient with the George story and always looked forward to the next installments of Regina and Lucia.

The book is a fascinating meld of science fiction and historical fiction. Baxter does a great job showing how the withdrawal of Rome from Britain resulted in the rapid decline of cities, withering of trade, decline of population and the loss of education and skills; in other words, the rapid onset of the Dark Ages in just a couple of generations. King Arthur makes an appearance--as two different characters that are frequently cited as sources for the legend--as well as Merlin. Baxter also does a credible job of creating the Order, giving it a sound basis in science and biology, and evolving it through 1500 years to the semblance of a hive. Although there is no dominant queen and they don't "plan" an invasion of the rest of earth, as trumpeted in the back matter.

I do have a nit to pick. Baxter has a penchant for punning names. In another book I reviewed, his rogue protagonist was Malenfant (bad child in French.) In this one, the founding mother of the Order is Regina (queen.) He also named some secondary characters after historical figures that lived in those times. The fictional ones had nothing to do with the historical characters, so I found it jarring whenever they appeared. There are plenty of names that don't carry any associations, which could have easily been used. Naming is a tricky thing and there is nothing wrong with using a name to reinforce a character, but if it pulls the reader out of the story, it's a distraction.

To summarize, I enjoyed the book. The writing is straight-forward, the characters interesting, the plot unique. Baxter is a deep thinker who sprinkles his narrative with discussions of social behavior, philosophy, morals, and science. I'd recommend this book to both the SF and HF communities.

[Peter Walton-Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again I have been drawn into a series of stories where the first part has left me uncertain as to whether I really want more. Science Fiction at its best challenges our view of people; history, the future, technology, religion, power, politics, culture, etc. This is a fairly good story with some interesting ideas about evolution and genetics. It spans across time from the days of "Arthur" to today and hints of the future. The genetic mutation (people mimicking hiving insects as a survival mechanism?), the "Kuiper Anomaly" in space, the mysterious "dark matter" are interesting themes, but the book is generally too long and repetitive; the narrative sometimes grinds out without really adding very much overall. I guess I will be taking on part 2...however I do not feel I must...

[Daniel]

I really enjoyed book one of the Destiny's Children series. The format of alternating between present day and 300 A.C.E. Rome was an interesting way bring all the events of the story together. It also made me question our human perception of time as a thing to be experienced as linear. By alternating each chapter between the present and ancient times events, I was able to think of the events in time as if they were happening concurrently as opposed to hundreds of years apart. I'm not sure if this was Baxter's intent, but it is one thing I took out of this book. The story was really interesting. In Coalescent Baxter spends a lot of time building up the events taking place on Earth that set up the future of the series as mankind eventually spreads out into the galaxy. A glimpse into that future won't happen until the final couple of chapters of Coalescent. You may find yourself wondering how this book qualifies as Sci-Fi as you read through the first 90 percent of it. Just wait.

[Noémie J. Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, I could not find this pretty cover physically and I refuse to buy the creepy baby one so here we go with the Kobo.
So, I don't know what I expected, but what a fuckingn ride that was - especially as a HIGHLY tokophobic person - a me issue, not a book issue. I was very skeptical (but in a good way ?) for a LOT of the book, but the last 100 pages or so just brought me in. The whole cult thing, and the future part, and the fucked up family - that's so very Baxter, I had to love it.
Even though good lord I felt squirmish majority of this book lol

[Jean-Pascal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un très bon début, un vrai turning page. Mais un ventre mou et long et une fin à la limite du ridicule. Ce qui m'a surtout gêné, c'est l'impression qu'un grand nombre d'idées autour de la ruche avait été piquées à La Ruche d'Hellstrom de Herbert qui lui est un grand roman dérangeant. Je vais tout de même lire le deuxième volume.

[Jack Pramitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un livre protéiforme : thriller, roman historique, roman de SF, roman d'horreur parfois, et même réflexion sociologique. Ambitieux, pas toujours très réussi, mais le plus souvent intéressant et dérangeant.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back cover text led me to believe that this was a very different flavor of book than it turned out to be. Almost the entirety of that supposed teaser applies not to the entire book, but to the end of the book. That’s right–instead of providing the premise, they provide the climax (and some of that description is actually incorrect). Also, the text presents an impression of a book that is heavily sci-fi and suspenseful, which simply isn’t the case. The majority of the book is a combination of George slowly tracking down his sister in parallel with the Order’s origin story in ancient Rome. Which means that most of the book is actually a historical with no sci-fi content whatsoever. There’s also virtually no suspense to the pacing–it’s a slow unfolding of history, location, and plot, with a gradual, immersive pacing and a great deal of information to impart.

Here’s the really frustrating part of that: it’s a good book. Despite the fact that historicals aren’t my thing, I’m not fond of didactic books that spend whole pages on geography and history lessons, and I was really looking forward to the SF/suspense book that I thought I was getting, it totally hooked me in. I loved it.

The characterization is interesting. Regina is the star of the show--her drive to survive, and some of the things she does in order to do so, are fascinating. Note that there’s some dark material in here–the sacking of places by invaders is rarely anything but horrific. I also appreciated the use of Lucia, a member of the Order who doesn’t entirely fit in, as a means to explore the modern-day Order.

The slow unfolding of both stories engaged me despite the fact that I’d really wanted a suspenseful novel and don’t normally read historicals. I found some of the epilogue material, which jumps ahead very far in time, confusing, but that didn’t ruin the rest of the book for me. I just hope that my review allows you to decide whether you’d enjoy the book based on the actual content.

Visit my site for a longer review including premise: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/06/r...

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always find I enjoy Stephen Baxter's books more than most people seem to. This one is very different from his other work but I loved it all the same. Usually Baxter has a decent concept which he then builds a story around. This one is slightly different in that the story sets up the concept, rather than the other way around.

The main story focuses on Regina, a young girl living in Britain as the Roman Empire begins to crumble. We see the story of her whole life as her life of luxury soon turns into a battle for survival as they travels across Britain, a country swiftly heading into the dark ages, and eventually makes her way to Rome. It's very character driven, something which is unusual for Baxter. There was obviously a lot of research involved here as post-Roman Britain feels very real and there's a real sense of doom as civilisation literally falls apart. Regina is a character created by her circumstances, turning from a spoilt child to a woman who will do anything to keep her family going.

We have alternate chapters set in the contemporary world, although these are considerably shorter. George Poole is something of a loser and he returns home to deal with the death of his father. Whilst sorting through his house he discovers he had a long-lost sister and eventually decides to find her. All he knows it that she is part of the ancient religious Order. But just what is the Order and what is it for? This is the big concept part of the book that is not really revealed until the final quarter of the book. Essentially its an entirely different way for a human society to run.

It's difficult to give this a genre. If a story is theoretically possible apart from a few minor details is it still science fiction. There's no time travel or aliens (well they are mentioned but not really part of the story) or impossible gadgets or space travel or anything we'd associate with science-fiction. I almost think this is its own genre, a sort of natural science fiction.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. A wonderful and disturbing concept housed with a great historical story to set it up. Unique and brilliant.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gros bouquin, au thème pourtant simple : le personnage principal découvre que sa famille est beaucoup plus étendue dans le temps qu'il ne pouvait le croire, mais aussi que son organisation sociale la rapproche pas mal d'une secte.
Bon, en fait, c'est plus compliqué et parfois plus spectaculaire que ça. mais, surtout, cet élément, qui est le coeur de l'intrigue, m'est passé complètement à côté, focalisé que j'étais sur le décor. Pourquoi ? simple : Rome. Rome, la ville éternelle ! Je me suis plongé moi-même dans cette ville où l'Histoire transpire dans chaque ruelle. j'ai vu moi aussi l'estrade depuis laquelle Cicéron haranguait les citoyens romains. Et je peux vous dire que, face à ça, pour qu'une histoire emporte mon intérêt, il faut qu'elle soit bien solide.
Or cette histoire de société/ruche familiale terrée sous la voie Appienne ne m'a absolument pas fasciné. Si le personnage initial de Regina, qui fuit l'Angleterre en quête d'une terre sûre m'a rappelé les personnages du Printemps d'Helliconia, le reste m'a paru assez (voire franchement) téléphoné, et la quête familiale de George n'était qu'un parasite dans ses errances romaines.
Du coup je ne sais pas trop si je lirai le prochain tome ...
Hein ? Quoi ? m'interroger sur la nature humaine (ou pas) des femmes de l'Ordre ? Pfff ... aucun intérêt.

[Tom Loock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see the objections raised by other readers, but I really liked this one and will read the sequel as my second but next novel.
Recommended for anyone who likes historic novels taking place in the final years of the Roman empire and/or different ways societies can be organized.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a big spoiler ahead. It's not fully revealed until late in the book, but it is also revealed on the dust jacket, and so maybe it isn't such a big spoiler after all.

This is an engaging novel with interesting ideas, but they come across pretty heavy-handed in the last few chapters, where a long litany of reasons the Coalescents really, truly are a hive are presented as boring conversations between George and Peter.

One of the things I like best about Baxter's writing is when he takes some fantastic hypothesis, and then relentlessly draws the most natural and logical inferences from that idea. Here, I felt like he started with where he wanted to end up and maybe overcompensated in trying to convince the reader it was believable.

Despite my complaints, this is worth reading. It is also possible that future installments in the series will cause me to improve my assessment.

my favorite quote: "Childhood is so long when you live it, but so brief when you look at it from outside."

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really drawn into the sound of this book, the beginning chapters I felt a sort of likeness to myself in the character of George. His humour, wit and how he seemed to conduct himself really drew me in. All of a sudden this book simply takes you by the hand or mind, transporting you back to England around 1500 years ago. A time of Roman occupation, as it was towards its constant crumbling exterior. We are met by Regina, a young, spoilt, rich Roman girl. Through her eyes and thoughts we get a feel of this empire, a lot like today being swept away and replaced...and crumbling. The characters are real historical figures and this made the book really special. I know this from googling them lol. The element of Sci-fi seems to be on the fringe, but as the book reveals itself you see that scientific, thought provoking element revealing itself. It is almost gross but still you need to find out why. Towards the end it literally explodes into a twist, that was simply great. It will really make you wonder in terms of evolution, survival and meaning. Glad I found it.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few notes:
* Hard to give more than three stars when the story has multiple moments where the writing bumps you out of the story/immersion.
* Moments of uncharacteristic speech (based on character, book tone, etc.).
* Interactions between characters that seem contrived to move the plot forward.
* Didn't understand some characters, why they were in it, their purpose.
* Good world building. Really liked the historical settings in England and Italy, but there's a long walk before you realize it's science fiction.
* In terms of style (sci-fi) and theme (eusocial), needed more earlier in the book for the end to feel appropriate. I thought I was reading a different book for the first 85%.
* Generally interested in the rest of the series, but depends on how world building is handled when it's not a historical novel. I don't think another book written in this series could be similar to this one, so expectations are back at zero (at least about story).

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected at all from the synopsis. It was very slow paced, yet the questions and mysteries that Stephen Baxter had embedded within the pages kept me turning. The end of the book left me teetering on an awkward fence between completely disappointed, and severely shocked. The underlying message that Stephen Baxter was communicating was worth the read. However, it is definitely not a book that I put any re-read value into.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contained interesting ideas I could appreciate, but Baxter is too often limited by his engineering background. He often comes across as a stereotypical engineer, and his characters don't quite seem fully fleshed out, acting more as schematics to aid his design. His understanding of evolution also irritated me a bit at points, as he ignored the costs of adaptations and limits of evolution in a few points, but I recognize this is a biologist niggling over how an engineer views a biological concept. I'v appreciated Baxter's work much more when he is tempered by Arthur C. Clarke; then again, who wouldn't?

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea here of divergent human evolution. The idea of a "coalescence" is an enduring contribution to science fiction.

I also have to say that I loved the historical segment about the fall of Rome. It really seemed to me to get it right: how things slowly fell apart, and never got right again. As Eliot said, "not with a bang, but a whimper."

Really 3.5 stars. See also my review of Transcendent by the same author.

[Beck Fitzsimmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book began slowly, seriously slowly! It took me three tries until i got hooked. The ideas were intriguing but the delivery felt clumsy and sort of awkward. The historical ventures into the disintegration of Roman/British society were actually quite enjoyable. But I ended up dreading the increasingly inevitable scene of eusociety projected into the future. And when it finally came (ch 49) it just seemed ridiculous. I didn't have high expectations of this book. Just a bit of post-thesis escapism - on that basis I guess it delivers.

[Jeroen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coalescent was a very mixed bag for me. While the premise and the ideas in the book are compelling, the narrative itself is an unfocused mess. Constantly jumping between different timelines telling completely different stories, the first 200 pages feel so disjointed that the narrative seems to go absolutely nowhere. When Lucia enters the narrative things get interesting, but even after finishing it, the book still felt more like a summary of interesting ideas rather than a cohesive storyline.

[Book Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised a lot of people don't like this book.
A few things about the coalescent society(subspecies?) I found pretty hard to believe. (Three month pregnacies? Developing a new organ in less than two thousand years?) but the story was great. I love the idea of eusocial humans and I love how the Xeelee Sequence goes all over time.

I think Stephen Baxter and Alestair Reynolds are the two greatest sci-fi authors of the current day.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a weird book. Three quarters of it reads as historical fiction, then a few chapters of modern day science fiction and then a chapter or two of far future science fiction. The result, for me, was that I was only marginally interested in the well written historical fiction and I found the science fiction promising but it was only covered in a very small part of the book. The characters were well formed but I found them not particularly sympathetic. Overall, an uneven read.

[Johnny Le Bon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have tried to like Stephen Baxter's novels. His books always have a good premise. But his character development turns me off. I don't like his main characters. They are abrasive and obnoxious. Maybe they are too realistic. But I read fiction to get away from realism. If I want realism I'll read the news.

If you enjoy Stephen Baxter's novels I envy you. I wish I could.