Rating: 
Summary: The science is better than the plot
Review: Twenty five or so years ago, you never saw books like this. Moonseed is a traditional science fiction disaster novel, but it's been written in a mainstream style, presumably for marketing reasons. What we have here is "The Poseidon Adventure", except that it's the earth that's sinking.The lead character, Henry Meacher, is a geologist. When a nano-threat from the Moon starts collapsing the Earth's crust and causing increasing vulcanism he is on the scene and soon becomes part of the race for a solution. His ex-wife, colleagues and acquaintances form more of the cast. There are dozens of viewpoint characters; each followed till they die horribly or reach safety (safety being something that changes its definition as the book progresses). The plot suffers a little from data-hiding--Baxter can't tell you what Henry's great plan is, because then the last couple of hundred pages are little more than the playing out of the idea. And in fact that happens anyway--the last thirty pages are subtitled every dozen paragraphs: "A year later", "Ten years later" and so on, as Baxter traces down the results of Henry's mission. Not a terrible ending, but not a very satisfying climax either. The science is neat, and as another reviewer said here one wishes he'd done more of it. Baxter is clearly very knowledgeable about the space program, and we get page after page of detail about technology that exists now--when a character goes up to the Space Station it takes forty pages to get from launch to where they're going. I'm not saying it's boring, but that section is going to be a hit only if you're a real space buff. Apart from problems like that with the pacing, though, the book is a good hard science techno-thriller. Baxter does a more than competent job with the characters, and the gradual breakdown of the earth's geological stability is lovingly detailed and very convincing, and rises on occasion to the sense of wonder found in books like Greg Bear's The Forge of God. Not an unconditional recommendation, but worth a try if you like sf disaster novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Plausable end-of-the-world thriller
Review: Very few end-of-the-world thrillers (in print or cinema) really come across as convincing, but Baxter has really put together one of the best. The main characters are stereotypical and at times get in the way of the story, which is why I give it four instead of five stars. The pacing of the story is good though, and the ending is plausable and not pulled out of the hat. Baxter also does a superb job of explaining the chemistry and physics behind the moonseed, whereas too many science fiction authors seem to assume their audience are expert scientists. Superb!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Intriguing
Review: Well, this is my second book that I have read by Stephen Baxter, the first being Vacuum Diagrams, and I can already tell that I am going to love every single one of his novels. I cannot believe that I haven't gotten to this book sooner. While it may not be the best book ever, it certainly is excellent. If the characters were a little deeper, it would be a classic, however, sci-fi is not known for its "classics" (save Ender's Game and the like), nor is it known for its deep characters, so overlooking this is very easy. This is deep and HEAVY science. Do not attempt to read this book if you have no brain. The fun truly lies in how much you can really learn by reading this. Don't get me wrong though, the story is absolutely excellent and gripping, you just truly have to open your mind. But whats so great, while the story is all hocus pocus "that could never happen," deep down inside you know that this is all scientifically sound and feasible, and that this all COULD be true. Absolutely excellent, I cannot wait to read Ring and his other novels.
Rating:
Summary: A triumph emerges from an unpromising beginning
Review: What you need to know: "Moonseed" uses a slightly fantastical premise (an alien rock-eating nano machine/creature which can eat worlds) to create a beatifully detailed and poignant Earth destruction scenario. The beginning however is far too slow and could have benefited from some judicious editing. This is especially felt when the main character spends at least a hundred pages describing the city of Edinburgh in minute detail (lovely city though it is). All is forgiven however when the main story begins to pick up pace, steadily building up in tempo and suspense in a manner which puts the likes of Greg Bear to shame. What also separates Baxter from the masses is the sheer level of detail and believability in his plotlines (not to mention credible characters, an all-too common failing in sci-fi). The mission to return to the Moon, for instance, was put together using only existing technology. The description of the Terraforming of the Moon itself is also highly believable and entertaining. The clincher for me however, was that the ending was true to the rest of the book - no Titan-like weird stuff here! My vote? Four out of five.
Rating:
Summary: A triumph emerges from an unpromising beginning
Review: What you need to know: "Moonseed" uses a slightly fantastical premise (an alien rock-eating nano machine/creature which can eat worlds) to create a beatifully detailed and poignant Earth destruction scenario. The beginning however is far too slow and could have benefited from some judicious editing. This is especially felt when the main character spends at least a hundred pages describing the city of Edinburgh in minute detail (lovely city though it is). All is forgiven however when the main story begins to pick up pace, steadily building up in tempo and suspense in a manner which puts the likes of Greg Bear to shame. What also separates Baxter from the masses is the sheer level of detail and believability in his plotlines (not to mention credible characters, an all-too common failing in sci-fi). The mission to return to the Moon, for instance, was put together using only existing technology. The description of the Terraforming of the Moon itself is also highly believable and entertaining. The clincher for me however, was that the ending was true to the rest of the book - no Titan-like weird stuff here! My vote? Four out of five.
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