Customer Reviews

Sunstorm (Gollancz)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is my week for sunny sequels that weren't (very good or much like real sequels). First Greg Benford's, "Sunborn" and now Clarke and Baxter's "Sunstorm". Both follow-ups to excellent novels ("The Martian Race" and "Time's Eye", respectively) by top-notch SF authors, both terribly disappointing.

"Sunstorm" is a sequel to "Time's Eye" in the sense that one of the main characters from the former novel, Bisesa Dutt, is also one of the main chracters in the new novel. It also has something to do with the Firstborn. But there the sequelity ends. In this respect the dust jacket blurb was astonishingly misleading. It reads in part, "Why did the Fristborn create Mir? Why was Bisesa taken there and then brought back on the day after her original disappearance? Bisesa's questions receive a chilling answer..." Not! None of these questions was addressed, nor was anything else from the first novel including the fate of Mir and those left there, the purpose of the "eyes", the motives behind the actions of the Firstborn etc.

As a short (~330 pages) hard SF novel by two greats, "Sunstorm" was just OK. But as a sequel that very clearly promised to answer all those intriguing mysteries set up in the first novel it fails badly. The (already shown to be inaccurate) dust jacket says that "Clarke and Baxter draw their epic to a triumphant conclusion...", further suggesting that this is the end, but the book's subtitle "A Time Odyssey:2" sugests that maybe there is more to come. If there is, it almost has to be better than this one.

After the exhilirating joyride which was 'Time's Eye', I can't help but state how disenchanted, disappointed, and saddened I was by the near-tripe that is Sunstorm.

I'll attempt to do so with minimal/no spoilers.

First, there's the obvious: Bisesa is nearly non-existant. While this itself is acceptable, her minimal presence is, at best, distracting; at worst: disappointing. Where is the headstrong lady from the first book? Where is the go-getter? Heck, where is the presence of mind to weep for your lost love, grab your daughter, and do something. Instead....

Second, there's the more obvious: the book, unlike it's predecessor, piles on the science at the cost of the fiction. While this is fantastic in the sense of addressing a major (for sci-fi) shortcoming of the first book, it cost it's enjoyability. Within the first few pages, we (the readers) are aware of the situation and 'the cause'. We don't need 200+ more pages describing it, and the solution. Along those lines, at the cost of the (occassionally nauseating while pleasantly liberating) PC vestiges of the book: "increase the humanity". Make me, the reader, *care* for Siobhan. Or Bud. Or Eugene. Anybody.

Well, I take that back: Athena was a *worthy* addition. I empathized with her. I would have like to have more time spent on her. Of course, 'her' portion was itself limited. To the degree that became, itself discouraging, but, at the least, in line with the rest of the novel.

Finally, the resolution was... anything but. Minimal details on the First Born emerged, and the post-storm section was glossed over.

Hopefully, being the optimist, Clarke and Baxter will revisit the world a third time. Hopefully, if so, it will be the charm.

"Sunstorm by by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter is the sequel to their successful collaboration on "Time's Eye." I thoroughly enjoyed "Time's Eye." When I began reading "Sunstorm" I expected a seemless transition from one book to the other. I was sadly disappointed.

There is only one character in "Sunstorm" who comes from "Time's Eye." But the lack of characters from "Time's Eye" was only part of the problem. In "Time's Eye" there is plenty of action when people of differing eras meet. The images and ideas of time travel are craftily written by Clarke and Baxter.

In "Sunstorm" I struggled to read the first few chapters because the pace of the story drags. It lacks the energy and excitement of the first book. Certainly the catastrophe of the sun's demise is enough of a plot for one book. However, set as a sequel to a time travel novel, it fails.

I strongly recommend reading "Time's Eye" for fans of time travel science fiction. I recommend skipping the sequel "Sunstorm."

Unlike the the other reviewers to date, I preferred this novel over their last collaboration (Time's Eye). The core of the plot is solid, hard SF, requiring science and engineering to meet the threat. The threat is plausible, I think novel, and the solutions interesting. Yes, the characters are sketched, much more in the style of early SF, particularly Clarke; I prefer them that way.

Where the story detracts from being an even better novel, is the weak continuation of the alien watchers thread. This novel could have been written without reference to the Firstborn, Bisesa Dutt could have been eliminated from the story, and nothing of significance would have been lost. I suspect marketing played a role here, and of course the ending is a set up for a potential third novel.

As another reviewer noted, the science is layed on with a shovel and is very much in-your-face. Clarke used to do this so much more elegantly, a little more thought would have improved the flow.

Finally, the references to Clarke, his ideas and his works is either charming or irritating, depending on your love of his books. I think it was an overdone paean to him. Some elements were just not needed, such as the the space elevator, and some dialog lifted directly from HAL 9000 was just too cute.

Having said that, this collaboration seemed to work better for me, and I found the book quite engrossing, reading it in just two sittings. This is not the best work of either of these two authors, but it works well enough to be a very good read.

I found the prequel, "Time's Eye", to be exhilarating, creative and compelling. I agree with the earlier review that this book did not inspire me to care much for Siobhan or any of the newer characters. I also would have liked more focus on humanity preparing for armageddon, and I agree with an earlier review that said that we should have seen more of the aftermath of the storm. I also thought veiled references to Clarke, himself, and Ben Affleck were hokey to the n-th degree. There were too many potentially compelling storylines here that were simply glossed over. Unlike the first novel, which to me left the door open for a sequel to go a number of ways, this one leaves me wondering if we have seen the end. There are no remaining characters who I care enough for to want to read more. I was eagerly anticipating this novel, and it left me wanting a bit.

As an aside, I would recommend that anyone who enjoys near-furture, space-oriented sci-fi pick up Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). Robinson shares Clarke's haunting images of the future and at times skeptical mucking around the human condition, but weaves in elements of the philosophical and mystical. His books are not the light page-turners, and Red Mars requires a little patience. But if you enjoy Clarke and want the next level of engagement with some compelling characters in similar storylines to Clarke's, give Robinson a look.

If you are into reading chapter after chapter of pseudo-scientific techno-babble this book is for you. Otherwise, the story is extremely lame and the characters are two dimensional disposable pieces of cardboard. "A Time Odyssey: Book Two" is misleading as there's no time travel or time shifts involved and the part about being Book Two (Book One is the vastly better Time's Eye) is misleading as well - the part played by Bisesa is incidental and left undeveloped and as to the Firstborn: here's a complete summary of their role in the book: it's all their fault. There, you'll find no more about them.
The book is not just bad given who the authors are. It's just plain bad. Really, really bad.

What an incredible disappointment. I thought the first was a little better than average (B-) but suffered from a lack of character depth/development, which I've come to expect from Baxter. Still, the premise was intriguing and enough questions were raised that I was looking forward to the second. But this one was so mind numbingly flat that, toward the end, I wasn't so much reading because the story was pulling me along but through sheer force of will. Basically, "I've invested this much time, I'll be damned if it's all for nothing."

And the attraction of the moon scientist to his fellow researcher, which appeared suspiciously like an afterthought designed to simulate character depth, went nowhere - so why was it included?

In a nutshell, we discover that a race of super beings decided long, long ago, that humans would eventually become an issue and so decide to set in motion a chain of events that would destroy us. To accomplish this, they send a medium sized planet to smash into the Sun circa 0 A.D. This sets up a double hammer stroke that would wipe out humanity roughly 2000 years later - the first blow in the form of super solar flares immediately followed by a particle storm that would ostensibly "clean up" any survivors. The story focuses on the preparation to preserve humanity and ends with a deus ex machina (something I thought extinct in publishing).

What I find amazing is how these super advanced aliens - who are capable of flinging a planet that's more than twice the size of Earth across the galaxy to collide with our Sun in order to set up a chain reaction in a complex plot destroy our civilization 2000 years after the fact (deep breath) - don't have the smarts to figure out that a direct hit will do just fine. Amazing.

I've read this idea before, nearly 3 years ago. It's called Decipher by Stel Pavlou. Clarke and Baxter write a significantly shorter book, but stylistically it's even identical in places, peering inside the sun to watch what's it's doing, and following how it works, while a shield is erected on earth. What exasperates me is Clarke and Baxter are getting praised for the idea, and Pavlou got criticized when he was first.

Obviously you have to read "Time's Eye" first.

This book, as with most Clarke books, has some future tech that is more than a bit intriguing. That we can probably produce aluminum on the moon was a surprise to me. I love the idea of building a space sling from that material there.

Also, reading it gave me the spark of an idea to look into generating power from vacuum.

shannon norrell

I had noticed the relatively low rating this book had received, but still, couldn't resist the temptation of reading another book from these two great authors.

That being said, I must acknowledge that, it is true. This is a so-so book for Clarke and Baxter. Why?

- The characters are relatively weak. Some of their interactions, attitudes and comments are just not believable (almost as weak as pocket novels like the Da Vinci Code).
- Even though the scientifical concepts behind this book might be correct (I'm not an expert to judge), I can not but think that there were more practical ways for the Firstborn to achieve their main objective. Trying not to spoil it, I ask "why intervene in the Sun and not on Earth"? It would have been more efficient and taken less time. Of course, then we would have no book..... :)
- This book is advertised as heavily related to "Time's Eye". Not true. Besides the (unfortunately) not well known Firstborn, and the relatively obnoxious Bisesa, there is no relation between both books.
- It seems to me that this book is almost a waste. Clarke and Baxter could have written a much better sequel to Time's Eye. And, if on the other hand, they wanted to explore the concepts behind Sunstorm, they could have done a better job writing about it in an independent (no "Time Odyssey") work.

But not all is bad. On the positive side:
- As in any work from these masters, the description of the many events that happen is truly vivid and remarkable. Your mind really wanders off imagining "what would it be like". It's always refreshing to visualize these situations with the help of Clarke and Baxter.
- The book is not terrible. It's nicely written and you end up trying to read it as fast as you can to see which mysteries are solved, which not, and what happens.

In short, if you are already a fan of Clarke and/or Baxter, feel free to read this book. It's not their best but it's ok.
If you don't consider yourself in the "fan" category, I advise you to go and read any of their truly amazing pieces (in the case of Clarke, I suggest the Rama series or the Odyssey series - both are just great).