Firstborn: A Time Odyssey: Book Three
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Product Description
With this epic tale of altered histories and different earths, a universe where Alexander's empire prompted a different past, a world where strange alien 'eyes' gaze upon a fractured reality, a time when man is looking to colonise the red planet Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter scale new heights of ambition and sheer story telling brio. This is classic SF adventure from two of the biggest names in the genre. A heady combination of high concept SF, big engineering projects and human drama.
About the Author
Arthur C. Clarke was born in Minehead in 1917. During the Second World War he served as a radar instructor for the RAF, rising to the rank of flight-lieutenant. After the war, he entered King's college, London taking, in 1948, his Bsc in physics and mathematics with first class honours.One of the most respected of all science-fiction writers, he has won Kalinga Prize, the Aviation Space-Writers' Prize and the Westinghouse Science Writing Prize. He also shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was based on his story, 'The Sentinel'. He died in early 2008. Stephen Baxter is the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation. Published around the world he has also won major awards in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. Born in 1957 he has degrees from Cambridge and Southampton. He lives in Northumberland with his wife. Stephen Baxter is the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation. Published around the world he has also won major awards in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. Born in 1957 he has degrees from Cambridge and Southampton. He lives in Northumberland with his wife.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'd waited a long time for the concluding book in the excellent Time Odyssey trilogy, and wasn't disappointed by it. True to form, Clarke and Baxter's latest collabaration delivers. If sci-fantasy is your thing, this may not be for you, but for fans of pure science-fiction, there is much to make you think. In terms of style, I would say most of the writing is Baxter, but the plot is definitely ACC's broad visionary style. I would say that it is almost essential to have read the previous 2 books in the trilogy first in order to fully appreciate the detail and subtleties. Even though it is the last book in the trilogy, some details and questions remain when you get to the last page, scope for another book? I hope so. In summary, there is much here for the discerning sf reader, an excellent story backed up by good scientific thinking.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The way things are described is great, entirely feasible space elevators, procedures to stop contamination on Mars, orbital physics, light sails... all based on real knowledge. Quite exciting to the last page as doom threatens the planet.
My issue with the book was that it skips around too much. I found it hard to follow where we were being taken within the story and at some points I hadn't a clue what just happened. Maybe thats just me, but some things seemed to happen out of sync and I lost the book a couple of times. I'll be interested to read other reviews and see if people found similar to me.
Overall a good read. It didn't take me too long to finish this one.
My issue with the book was that it skips around too much. I found it hard to follow where we were being taken within the story and at some points I hadn't a clue what just happened. Maybe thats just me, but some things seemed to happen out of sync and I lost the book a couple of times. I'll be interested to read other reviews and see if people found similar to me.
Overall a good read. It didn't take me too long to finish this one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This third novel binds together the stories weaved in the first two books. The first two novels were largely independent of one other and could be enjoyed separately, but this one will make little sense unless you read the first two.
Having survived the first onslaught of the Firstborn in book two, in this one they have yet another trick up their sleeve in the form of an invulnerable quantum bomb headed straight for Earth. It will take months to arrive so can this be prevented? - This is the crux of the story.
This Q-bomb beastie creates a mini-universe that surrounds the target - which gradually removes the object from this reality. The science of expanding and imploding universes are weaved nicely into the plot lines, as well as other science fiction favourites of space travel, terraforming, anti-matter drives.
The story flips between the years after the Sunstorm of book two and the alternate reality of Mir in book one. This does tend to muddy the plot lines a fair bit which is confusing, but the authors make fair effort to bind it together into a cohesive story line.
The authors give themselves a classic hook into a possible fourth book, but this did weaken the ending considerably I think.
A good read but not outstanding.
Having survived the first onslaught of the Firstborn in book two, in this one they have yet another trick up their sleeve in the form of an invulnerable quantum bomb headed straight for Earth. It will take months to arrive so can this be prevented? - This is the crux of the story.
This Q-bomb beastie creates a mini-universe that surrounds the target - which gradually removes the object from this reality. The science of expanding and imploding universes are weaved nicely into the plot lines, as well as other science fiction favourites of space travel, terraforming, anti-matter drives.
The story flips between the years after the Sunstorm of book two and the alternate reality of Mir in book one. This does tend to muddy the plot lines a fair bit which is confusing, but the authors make fair effort to bind it together into a cohesive story line.
The authors give themselves a classic hook into a possible fourth book, but this did weaken the ending considerably I think.
A good read but not outstanding.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The book reads like a shopping list
Having been an admirer of Arthur C Clarke for a long time but never read a book by Stephen Baxter this together with the first two books is dissapointing. Read more
Published 18 months ago by I try to give an honest opinion
A curate's egg
Some authors do well in collaboration with others, (like Larry Niven), some don't. The late Sir Arthur never produced anything I really liked when in cahoots with someone else. Read more
Published 20 months ago by I. Baxter
Is this the end?
Book 3 of this fine trilogy manages to up the ante over the other 2 novels in the sequence. This time we are treated to a quantum bomb from the first ones. Read more
Published 21 months ago by zargb5
Inconclusive ending
Having enjoyed the previous two books in the series I looked forward to this book only to be disappointed with the ending. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Bagsy
brilliant end of trilogy!
First born is the last of a perfect set of esculating upways books. You simply must read! I have re-discovered that I like this sort of book. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by Mr. D. F. Green
Brilliant conclusion
This is a brilliant conclusion to the 3 parter series by the late Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. Read more
Published on 3 July 2009 by M. Vandegaer
Disappointing Ending!
"The Conclusion of A Time Odyssey" is how it is subtitled. The previous two books were superb, with the first being my favourite. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2008 by E. Hodson
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fantasy
- Books > Science Fiction > Classics
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
