Customer Reviews

Resplendent (Destiny's Children 4)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The previous three books in the "Children of Destiny" series were all structured so that they told the story along two different timelines, switching back and forth between them. Resplendant doesn't so much follow that format, and follows a seemingly linear timeline, albeit on a literally stellar scale.

Resplendent is essentially a collection of short stories, filling in the back story from before the setting of book two "Exultant" to after the end of the events outlined in Book Three "Transcendent". So while it is a very engrossing read, many of the themes and ideas are familier from the previous books.

Resplendent is an amazing ride that runs the course of nearly a million years. As a fan of Baxter's many books including those involving the Xeelee, I was more than curious to see how he would tie up the Destiny's Children saga. Some may bemoan the short story format which differs from the first three books in the series but the format works well with a view of history spanning such a huge time span. Those that have never read any of Baxter's earlier books on the Xeelee will probably want read those first.

The storyline covers the entire history of the human race and its explorations of the galaxy. From wars with alien species to the Xeelee, the book covers much of the material presented in earlier books but with a new angle. The main character throughout the book is a woman that happens to be immortal. Through her eyes and experiences, the reader acquires an amazing sense of humanity's tribulations, triumphs, and downfall.

I was so looking forward to reading this after reading all the other Baxter Xeelee books, and I purposely saved it since Vacuum Diagrams was my favorite and the first one I read. I still haven't read Timelike Infinity but it's on the way in the Xeelee omnibus I ordered. Anyway, even though most of the stories weren't up to the level of the VD ones they are still far superior to most Sci Fi writers today. 'In the Un-Black' may be the most awesome story Baxter has ever written, quite a morality tale, it didn't leave me for days. Think of the way 'Cilia of Gold' hit you at the end of that story and then make it human. Something like that. Still, even though it wasn't another 'Vacuum Diagrams' and some of the stories seem written just to fill in some history, I love it.

Baxter's 'Xeelee' Future History includes a lot of the future, with the timeline in the back of the book going from 2000 odd to the year 1,000,000. Therefore, a related series of stories seems to be a pretty good way to approach it. There are novels in this sequence, too, and he lists those, but I haven't read any. This seems to work pretty well, given an average of 3.68. Not a bad story to be found.

Each story has a small italicised after piece, narrated by an 'immortal' that is able to surreptitiously live through all these events, with a sneaky plan for the finale.

A 4.25 kind of book.

Qax quisling longevity memory.

4 out of 5

Coalition collaboration issues.

4 out of 5

Who is scared of who, why?

3 out of 5

Immortality decision.

3.5 out of 5

Snowball joyride first contact.

3.5 out of 5

Pocket universe execution escape refusal.

4 out of 5

Human expansion is slowed by a race of aliens, causing economic problems when the advanced alien technology is able to monkey with the laws of physics.

A not too bright teenager makes it out of the wreckage of a ship and from inside an enemy fortress with the help of the rest of his crew, with some valuable intel.

4 out of 5

Noir throwback time kill mission.

4 out of 5

Hunting party disagreement drop deal.

4 out of 5

Star wrapping investigation.

3.5 out of 5

Spline herd death takeover trip.

4 out of 5

4.5 out of 5