- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Voyager; (Reissue) edition (18 Aug 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 000647618X
- ISBN-13: 978-0006476184
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 638,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
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 alient 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.
From the Back Cover
TIMELIKE INFINITY: THE STRANGE REGION AT THE END OF TIME WHERE THE XEELEE, OWNERS OF THE UNIVERSE, ARE WAITING…
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.
A novel in the Xeelee sequence
'Baxter sends into freefall the most awesome ideas in science fiction today'
THE TIMES
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Timelike Infinity is the second in the Xeelee sequence, but pleasingly does not rely on knowlege of its predecessor - Raft. Sharing neither characters or setting, (it is in fact set millions of years prior to Raft - and in another universe!), Timelike Infinity instead concentrates on its own era of humanity, but contains a few teasing morsels that enrich the background of Raft.
The story itself concentrates on time travel, with pleasing dashed expectations all round; a human travels to the future expecting to find progress and instead finds humanity under the yoke of the alien Qax; from this future one of the Qax contacts his descendents even further into the future expecting information on how humanities subjugation was held - instead learning that the Qax are themselves to be overthrown. Added to this is a host of hard-sf musings on quantum physics, the nature of time, and black holes. There's altogether less invention and excitement than in Raft, but here the characters are more likeable and well-rounded, with even some time for some humorous interaction between a life extended human and a physically younger AI of his father. Theres a pleasant, if slightly ambiguous ending, but the standalone aspect is slightly scuppered by a final paragraph that seems to have no meaning within the context of the novel itself (a trailer for Flux perhaps).
Recommended for the quality of ideas, just be prepared for entertainment of a more cerebral sort than the sense-of-wonder world-building of Raft.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Marginally engaging, but gets very bogged down in the science at points, and the end is not a particularly neat wrapping up of the story. The plot felt strained at times and the characters weren't developed well either. A little disappointing from what I'd read of the reviews.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I really enjoy Stephen Baxter's books and theories but i must admit i was a bit lost at he end of this book. There seemed to be not enough detail over the last few pages about what the hell was going on, but, maybe thats just me.
All in all an OK read, but i preferred raft or the manifold series.
All in all an OK read, but i preferred raft or the manifold series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Zzzzzzzzz.....Uh! Is it over?
What a disappointment! I really like Baxter's writing style, and this is packed with great hard-science ideas and has time travel thrown in for good measure. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2001 by David Owens
Hold on for the ride!
An excellent SF novel, which maintains Baxter's reputation as one of the greatest living SF writers. Whoever said there were no new ideas in SF? Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2001
His Best
Areally good book. Best in the series. RECOMENDED
Published on 14 Oct 1999
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