Post about Stephen Baxters Manifold 3, Origin.


Date: 30. december 2001 18:29
NewsGroups: rec.arts.sf.misc,rec.arts.sf.science,rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Stephen Baxters Manifold series - what is its final conclusion ?
Author: Simon Laub


Stephen Baxters Manifold series.
Where does it end ? What is its final conclusion ?

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Stephen Baxters Manifold series is as good as it gets
in science fiction today. Or at least this is true for
Manifold 1, Time, and Manifold 2, Space. 

Manifold 3, Origin, should have been the culmination
of the series, but somehow I don't think it is as good as 
its predecessors.

Origin begins in the year 2015 when a red moon appears 
in the Earths orbit. Scientists scramble to understand what 
is on the big red moon and how it got there. 
Eventually, Manifold heroes Reid Malenfant, his wife Emma, 
and Japanese scientist Nemoto
ends up on the new moon.
We are then presented with a journey of survival. Which 
reminds me more of "The Clan of the Cave Bear" by Auel than
the science fiction of Manifold 1 and 2.
A story of Neanderthals figthing Cro-Magnons and other hominids 
on a brutal Earth like Luna world. 
A world where humans, human ancestors and could-have-been
human forms co-exist. 

Going overboard in this world of blood and pain -
Where dying without illusions of afterlife, 
redemption or hope just saves you a lot of trouble -
Stephen Baxter could have ended up with
a deeply pessimistic book. 
But actually he seems to be saying in Manifold 3, Origin,
that the (this) multiverse was created by the far 
downstreamers (our children) to avoid "a saga of 
meaningless survival in a dismal future of decay and
shadows", but instead a reshaped multiverse
that creates a storm of mind.

So, here (on the new Moon) we have blood and pain.
And we know that given sufficient time, the universe 
itself is doomed as the 'heat death' kills 
off the expanding universe. 

But by creating the multiverse, filled with different 
kinds of lonely hominids in brutal worlds, the far
downstreamers (our god-like children) actually also 
creates the worlds filled with mind. 

And so everything is alright? 
Actually, I am not completely convinced,
and would have liked to seen this explored
further. Perhaps at the expense of Stephen Baxters (too)
long depiction of the horrible hardships on
this Luna world. 

Simon Laub

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My review on Amazon of Manifold 2, Space:

Double shadows  June 5, 2001  
Stephen Baxter, "Manifold 2, Space".

Obviously, when you are in binary star system 
you must cast double shadows, 
as Reid Malenfant realizes out there on Alpha Centauri. 
Stephen Baxters book (Space) cast at least 
two kinds of shadows. First there is the wonderful 
feeling of being an astronaut out there among the stars. 
And then, on a deeper level, there is the question of 
what it means to be a sentient living thing 
in the Galaxy. The Galaxy being such a big, big place 
with so much to explore and so much to learn about. 
I suppose 2001 is year 19 before the Gaijin, 
or so at least according to Space. 
19 years before the cosmic "let the games begin". 
So there is still time to prepare for that 
strange environment called Space. 
And a good place to start preparing 
would definitely be the book Space. 
Manifold 1 (Time) was great, 
and this one Manifold 2 (Space) is just as good. 
So, now I am just looking forward 
to Manifold 3 (SpaceTime?). 


My review on Amazon of Manifold 1, Time:

Feynman radio from the future: This book is good. 
Stephen Baxter, "Manifold 1, Time".

When you have probabilistic doomsday predictions, 
intelligent squids, Feynman radios 
(to pick up signals from the future) etc. 
- thrown at you, it could easily have been 
just a lot of weird stuff that seemed pretty 
far removed from anything you could relate to. 
Not so in Stephen Baxters "Time". 
Here it all seems pretty logical and inevitable. 
Surely, some future Malenfant guy will genetically 
enhance a squid brain, 
and then let the squid control a spaceship 
instead of some old computer. 
And surely the squid will rebel 
and try to get back to Earth with 
its giant Oceans and lots of room to breed.... 
Brilliant stuff and thats just just the prelude! 
I read all 456 pages in one session. 
Simply I just had to know what would happen next....