Stone Spring (Gollancz)
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Book Description
The epic story of one prehistoric girl's bid to change her future and the future of our world. This is alternate history at its most mindblowing.
Product Description
8,000 years ago Europe was a very different place. England was linked to Holland by a massive swathe of land. Where the North Sea is now lay the landmass of Northland. And then came a period of global warming, a shifting of continents and, over a few short years, the sea rushed in and our history was set. But what if the sea had been kept at bay? Brythony is a young girl who lives in Northland. Like all her people she is a hunter gatherer, her simple tools fashioned from flint cutting edges lodged in wood and animal bone. When the sea first encroaches on her land her people simply move. Brythony moves further travelling to Asia. Where she sees mankind's first walled cities. And gets an idea. What if you could build a wall to keep the sea out? And so begins a colossal engineering project that will take decades, a wall that stretches for hundreds of miles, a wall that becomes an act of defiance, and containing the bones of the dead, an act of devotion. A wall that will change the geography of the world. And it's history. Stephen Baxter has become expert at embedding human stories into the grandest sweeps of history and the most mind-blowing of concepts. STONE SPRING begins a trilogy that will tell the story of a changed world. It begins in 8,000 BC with an idea and ends in 1500 in a world that never saw the Roman Empire, Christianity or Islam. It is an eye-opening look at what history could so easily have been and an inspiring tale of how we control our future.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Baxter has long since established himself as having a great talent of speculation, and he demonstrates here that he's just as good at doing it in the stone age as he is in the distant future.
The central idea behind this story is the building of a wall to hold back the rising seas, which overhwhelmed low-lying land between England and Europe in the real world. What we have is a compelling story about how this affects the main characters, and the conflicts that result. The characters of this novel are one of its strengths, and demonstrate Baxter's continuing trend of writing more complex and believable characters in recent books. Few of the main characters here are completely likeable, and the audience is lead to empathise with different characters at different stages of the story.
There are two reasons why this doesn't get a 5. The first is the considerable number of implausibilities in the story. I seriously doubt that the hunter-gatherers described at the start of the novel would have got anywhere building the wall as it's described, and the likelihood of mother and baby surviving an amateur Cesarean section is also pretty low. Finally, the pseduo-human tree-dwelling "leafy boys" are also pretty ridiculous. They seem to be an attempt at describing stone age aliens. And like stone age aliens, they don't really work.
The other problem in my view is the wall, or rather the lack thereof. I was quite surprised at how little of it we actually saw. Once the idea of the wall is hatched, it serves as more of a backdrop and a motivator for the rest of the story. The novel might be better termed "a story about the conflict that took place while the wall was being built", rather than a story about the wall.
What story Baxter does tell, however, he tells well. I look forward to seeing where he takes the concept next time.
The central idea behind this story is the building of a wall to hold back the rising seas, which overhwhelmed low-lying land between England and Europe in the real world. What we have is a compelling story about how this affects the main characters, and the conflicts that result. The characters of this novel are one of its strengths, and demonstrate Baxter's continuing trend of writing more complex and believable characters in recent books. Few of the main characters here are completely likeable, and the audience is lead to empathise with different characters at different stages of the story.
There are two reasons why this doesn't get a 5. The first is the considerable number of implausibilities in the story. I seriously doubt that the hunter-gatherers described at the start of the novel would have got anywhere building the wall as it's described, and the likelihood of mother and baby surviving an amateur Cesarean section is also pretty low. Finally, the pseduo-human tree-dwelling "leafy boys" are also pretty ridiculous. They seem to be an attempt at describing stone age aliens. And like stone age aliens, they don't really work.
The other problem in my view is the wall, or rather the lack thereof. I was quite surprised at how little of it we actually saw. Once the idea of the wall is hatched, it serves as more of a backdrop and a motivator for the rest of the story. The novel might be better termed "a story about the conflict that took place while the wall was being built", rather than a story about the wall.
What story Baxter does tell, however, he tells well. I look forward to seeing where he takes the concept next time.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm late to the party with Baxter. I came on board with Flood, wholly because I'm only interested in fantasy/sci-fi set in the world I know. This tells the story of Doggerland (renamed Northland here) before the sea rises of 6000BC submerged it and cut Britain off from mainland Europe. It's a "what if" - the question being what if Doggerland was never submerged, and this - the first book in a trilogy - tells the story of how that might have happened. It's full of solid characters, measured pathos, and often exciting action. And you learn stuff! 4 stars.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you love your alternate history books, then you've more than likely come across Stephen's work before. Here in this latest offering the tale is set in 8000BC when the North Sea didn't exist and the whole area is known as Northland. What Stephen asks in this title is "What if they built a stone wall that would prevent the land from flooding?
It is interesting, it's fascinating but above all else Stephen brings to the fore an offering that has a believability about it. Great stuff and one that will more than please readers of the old tales especially when it's backed up with credible research and great prose.
It is interesting, it's fascinating but above all else Stephen brings to the fore an offering that has a believability about it. Great stuff and one that will more than please readers of the old tales especially when it's backed up with credible research and great prose.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A fine story, but logistically implausible
I expected to hate this book. It's set in the Mesolithic, in an age when the North Sea was still mostly land, and tells an alternate history of how a tribe of primitives kept the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by D. R. Cantrell
Enjoyable Read
Another great read from Baxter, combining a good story and characters with an intriguing alternative past. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
Published 9 months ago by Mr. Andrew Williams
Great "Alternative History".
I loved this e-book, could not put my Kindle down. Stephen Baxter has used his scientific and archaeological background, together with his Arthur C Clarke collaboration influences,... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Rw Williams
Different Baxter but not his best
I have read most of Stephen Baxter's works and have enjoyed all of them, this is no exception. An alternative history set 8000 years BC with some interesting characters and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Kristopher Gray
For the SF uninitated, poor read.
This is what my English Master at school would call PULP FICTION, something to read on a plane journey or while on holiday, if you are really bored. Read more
Published 23 months ago by RoyJ
Great Read
I read other books by Stephen Baxter and loved them. So when I heard about his new book I was hooked. It won't be available from Amazon.com or .ca until spring 2011. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Danny
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