22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sunburned, April 24, 2005
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.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A letdown, 1.5 '*', graded on a curve...., April 13, 2005
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
DOES NOT ANSWER QUESTIONS LEFT FROM "TIME'S EYE", September 17, 2007
"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."
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