Timelike Infinity [Paperback]

Stephen Baxter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 1997

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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A NOVEL IN THE XEELEE SEQUENCE

'A major new talent' - Arthur C. Clark

'Baxter sends into freefall the most awesome ideas in science fiction today' - The Times

About the Author

Stephen Baxter applied to become an astronaut in 1991. He didn't make it, but achieved the next best thing by becoming a science fiction writer, and his novels and short stories have been published and won awards around the world. His science background is in maths and engineering. He is married and lives in Buckinghamshire.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Sf&F (August 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 000647618X
• ISBN-13: 978-0006476184
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #773,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Slow Pace and Flat Characters; Try the Sequel Instead, August 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Timelike Infinity (Paperback)

This novel describes a future operation to open wormholes through time. The operation is successful, but aliens from the future travel through the wormholes to invade Earth. One of the author's earlier works, Timelike Infinity has both Stephen Baxter's usual flair for the original and the inspired, and his talent for writing extremely hard science fiction. However, I would hesitate to recommend this novel for either the casual or the discerning reader. In this early book the characters are flat and unsymphathetic, the plot wanders seemingly without reason, and the science, marvelous as it may be, is allowed to interfere with the telling of the story. The theme is not evident until the end, and the point of the story is left unclear for the first two hundred pages. By then the suspense has long since declined to mere tedium, and the reader has lost all interest in both the underdeveloped characters and their predicament. Readers interested in Stephen Baxter or in hard SF should read Ring, his sequel to Timelike Infinity. Ring provides ample synopsis, and is a definite stand-alone novel. The characters in Ring are more vivid than they are in Timelike Infinity, and the plot moves at a fast and logical clip, culminating in an explosion of ideology and hypothesis certain to expand the horizons of any reader

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a very good book, September 14, 2003

By 

C. J. Schaps "Cultural Enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Timelike Infinity (Paperback)

While it moves somewhat slow, "Timelike Infinity" is still very good. This book is about Michael Poole, a brilliant scientist who wants to build gates to link up the galaxy. Using this gates, it is possible to travel from Earth to Pluto nearly instantaneusly. Once he pulls this of, Poole decides to try to make a gate to connect to the future.

This works all to well, because Poole connects to an Earth that is occupied by an alien species called the Qax. The humans in this time are desparate to end the occupation and journey back in time to stop it from happening. Poole then finds himself fighting to preserve history.

"Timelike Infinity" is a wonderful book about the consequences of innovation and a very good read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific read, June 9, 2002

By 

malcolm edge (Perrysburg Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Timelike Infinity (Paperback)

I found Stephen Baxter quite by accident in an airport bookstore. I picked up 'Titan' and thoroughly enjoyed it. So I decided to get all his books and start reading them from the beginning. I was fascinated by the Xeelee Sequence thread through his early works. Raft was very interesting and Baxter's immense imagination caught me by surprise.

I've just finished 'Timelike Infinity' and could not put the book down. It is hard SF with some deep descriptions of black holes, event horizons et al but it is a superb read. While this is hard SF, I think Michael Poole's character was well developed without giving away some secrets about how he knows all the astro-physics stuff (that comes later I hope).

All in all, a terrific read for SF'ers who want a good story, a quick read, threads to future books, and an imagination that is difficult to find nowadays.

Oh, by the way, I've read accounts of other Baxter books and there are references to the fact that the Xeelee Sequence books are standalone books. Perhaps, but my advice is to start at the beginning and work your way through the 5 books beginning with Raft. While the stories are definitely set in different era's, there are plenty of references made in each of the books I've read so far that the chronology is necessary