Rating: 
Summary: Depressed? You will be.
Review: Some time ago, I read Greg Bear's Fist of God and Anvil of Stars, the first of the pair being close to the same subject explored here by Stephen Baxter. The difference is that Bear keeps propping up your sense of hope at intervals, whereas Baxter keeps knocking it down. The only time you'll feel anything positive is so close to the end you might already have taken the pills. In the end, everything is futile. How incredibly black can you get?The characters don't ever seem to get on well with each other, never a lasting sense of trust between them - a side effect of the disjointed nature of their time-spanning relationships maybe. The Gaijin, Baxter's first contact "eeties", never seem to do anything - they have mysterious projects that are never explained, and their only purpose seems to be to act as a cosmic Eurodollar and chauffeurs (who inexplicably won't go to some places) for our heroes. The scenery is mostly bleak, unforgiving terrain with a smell of destruction, and there's nothing pretty to imagine for the most part. Images of sickly worlds post-destruction. My sense of pity would been switched on better by seeing a "before" as well all the "after"s. Flicking through the book again, I feel whole chapters might have been reduced to paragraphs without loss. Although their every word seemed crucial at the time, in the end they contained little of vital importance to the story. In other places the intent is clearly to be mysterious about how the characters are being taught lessons, but when the explanation of these learning eercises finally appears it seems too trivial to have been worth the effort of the extraordinarily time-expensive lessons. When the Gaijin finally explain their teaching method, the Humans slap foreheads and say "duuuh, now we understand what you were getting at.." I can't believe this trait in the aliens, would they really be deliberately obtuse and waste eons of time and precious resources when six words and a futuristic Powerpoint presentation finally sufficed? Only to extend the novel, surely! I got to the end - but it was very hard to keep going at times because although the narrative was excellent, the futility was too much. Novels of destruction like this need at least a sprinkling of hope at intervals. Maybe I'll try Manifold:Time and see if I've misunderstood something... it isn't ever easy going into a series midway.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in space
Review: Thank you, you other reviewers on this website. Without you, I would have understood far less of this book. Not being a sci-fi buff. This book has great value because it makes us realize how small we are, compared to the larger scheme of things. Where will we be when the the years in which this book is set (3800) come around? In Heaven, maybe? Which brings up the spiritual aspect of the book, which few reviewers mentioned. I got a sort of Buddhistic concept from the author's tone. This rather fits in with the fact that one of the protagonists is a Japanese woman, Nemoto, who lives from scene to scene in a metaphysical way. Also, the inhabitants of the Moon are Japanese. The Buddhistic element in the book is embodied in the idea that as humans, we believe we are separate and autonomous individuals. But maybe, like computers, we are just electronic impulses with an aggrandized view of ourselves. Pre-programmed at the factory, melted down and recycled when the newer generation of computers takes our place. Buddha taught something similar, didn't he? Dissolving the ego? In this context, there is a character in the book, somewhat minor really, named Dorothy Chaum. She was really the most interesting character, because she starts out working for the Pope trying to convert aliens and Extra-terrestrials. She ends up something far different than a practicing Catholic, something more like, what, a Buddhist? And when you're flying around from galaxy to galaxy, visiting Venus, Triton, a strange Earth, seeing and feeling all sorts of strange feelings, living too long, who wouldn't be a Buddhist by then? Anyway, there is little mention of Christ, but he must be flying around there somewhere also, wouldn't you think? Well, this book is worth reading, but only the patient will be able to finish it. Diximus.
Rating: 
Summary: His Worst work so Far
Review: The whole time I read it I wish I hadn't. The only point that it drove home was the absolute pointlesness of our lives. There were no characters that one could relate to and that Damn Nemto just wouldn't die! I much prefer an author such as Greg Bear who offers some hope in the face of overpowering forces. There is some fun quantum specutlation but it cannot make up for all the short commings.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting- but not satisfying
Review: This book is worth reading for the interesting discussions concerning sublight space travel and even gives a scientific explanation for teleportation. However, the author fails to give satisfying motivations for the political institutions and characters. ETS are discovered in the asteriod belt, but no government sends a probe or a manned visit. Aliens threathen to invade the solar system, but no human or government is willing to put up a defense. Instead, humans relie on a group of ETS to defend the home system for 500 years; the same group of ETS that had to buy an x-ray weapon from the humans earlier in the novel. Other parts of the novel seemed to defy logic- The teleportation gates are not affected by an event that erases all other biological and constructed material from the galaxy; an old woman mounts a better defense of our solar system than a fleet of ETS. Readers who love "hard" SF will like this novel. People who like more character development or military SF will not be as pleased.
Rating:
Summary: Manifold Crock
Review: This book was supposed to be the sequel to Manifold: Time. When I finished that book and learned of a sequel, I was elated, becasue it was a very cool story. The whole concept of needing a "Big Dumb Booster" in Manifold: Time grated on my own impression of the future. We're talking about a few decades from now, 2002, and already some aerospace engineers are working on stuff that makes Baxter's BDB seem like 70's technology. I just don't get it. One of the things that really got on my nerves was Baxter's constant derision for NASA and the space program. Along with his ridiculous story, VOYAGE, he continues to belittle NASA just because the US has not sent people to Mars yet. I honestly wonder if Baxter realizes that we don't yet have the technology to do it yet. Sending probes to all the planets, launching Hubble and the cosmic background radiation explorer were far more useful to science than a manned mission to Mars. So that constantly grates on my nerves throughout this book. But on to specifics. Manifold: Time ended with "superbeings" at the end of time deciding that the universe should not have ended as it had, and so they sent a message back in time, and it was detected by Cornelius Taine and Malenfant. They found the teleporter on that asteroid. He talked about cool micro-robots that could manufacture things, about intelligent squid (which is a crock, apparently showing that Baxter knows nothing about information systems, IT, or software, but still...). His ideas were engaging, and it was a fun book. Manifold: Space, which is the sequel, was supposed to continue where Time left off, right? Instead, it's some kind of weird parallel universe that I just didn't understand at all. What is the matter with Baxter? What was all that nonsense with the Neandertals and the resurrected animals on Earth? What was the point of the colonies on Triton and Mercury? These sub-plots went absolutely NO WHERE! Okay, so the Neandertals are doing work on Triton for the Gaijin. For what purpose? We never hear anything more about it. Manifold: Origin is supposed to be something about the origin of life in the universe. Baxter has this idea in his head that the subatomic structure of the universe "brings forth" life of its own accord, as if life is built into the fabric of space/time. What a crock! This sort of crack-pot nonsense really bothers me, coming from the author of the fabulous book, The Time Ships. If you are looking for a sequel to Time and want to learn more about what happened to Malenfant and Co, this book will most certainly not answer any questions or further develop those entertaining characters. It's downright frustrating and I wholly dislike this book. I am not going to read Manifold: Origin because I think Baxter is off his rocker. If I find out that Origin finally explains what happened with the superbeings at the end of time, and if they actually did redo the universe, then okay, maybe. But if it's just another collection of short stories like Space, forget it.
Rating:
Summary: great in the beginning and end, but lost in the middle
Review: This book will stretch your mind, but at times it may stretch your patience, as well. The descriptions of different planets and places are stunning...you WILL think you're there. And the science is good and believeable (except the part about an ice age and thaw on Earth 1000 years from now). But the story wanders in the middle of the book and certain chapters start of sounding important, but then don't mean anything towards the end of the book. So I think a lot of it is filler and doesn't add to the characters or science fiction aspect. I recommend waiting until this book comes out in paperback, or rent it from the library.
Rating: 
Summary: Great space opera
Review: This has to be the most epic story out there, Stephen Baxter laces hisexcellent story with real science and tons of interesting and ralistic theories!
Rating: 
Summary: Original and scary sci-fi book
Review: This is the first book I read of Baxter and it got me interested in all his other books. I am sci-fi and astronomy passionate and find some of these ideas very original. I know many people here complained about the characters in the book, but if you forget about them for a moment , since their only purpose is to take you from one era to another, you will find a book rich of interesting and original ideas. At some points the books is scary and seems very negative, no matter how hard you try to make a difference some natural or unnatural forces will always be stronger than you, but I believe the overall message is that we should look inside ourselves and find the strenght to help others even beyong time. This is the problem with humanity, we only focus on "us" and "now" and Baxter makes of this problem the topic of his book. Great reading if you like sci-fi, but you might appreciate it even if you're not that big in sci-fi stories.
Rating: 
Summary: What Happened?
Review: This Stephen Baxter fan struggled with this book. I tried my very best to like it. While I understood that Reid Malenfant in new universes as Cosmic Time Traveler was going to be quite a different man from the flawed rebel in Manifold:Time, I was still dismayed about the changes in this character. The Pirate we all loved to hate was gone! Where was the Daredevil? The crafty & resourceful Pioneer? The crazy Ambassador for the human race? What happened to the Lover? I expected more about his lost friends from long ago: Michael & Cornelius Taine. Emma, his beloved dead wife, was barely mentioned at all. One or two times, not nearly enough. Only Maura Della reappeared. Reid Malenfant minus all of his anti-heroic arrogance, single-mindedness, foolhardiness, passion, hunger, determination, & all-consuming curiosity, was - to this reader - no Malenfant at all. Just a rocket-man trying to make it to the next gateway. I was also unprepared for the ungratifying new characters in book 2. Nemoto, for instance. That was a "forced" character. Was she really relevant to Reid's story? It was hard for me to accept her because she was everywhere & served no purpose, despite her "Great Mission." I was never given the chance to like her, & I was glad when she finally left Malenfant's story. Maybe I am narrowly-focused, "-centric," & am unable to picture universes, space-times, worlds, species, technologies, abilities, & attitudes so advanced & so unlike our own? It's possible, but I don't think so. Poorly-weaved, this sequel started out bad & got worse. And the many story jumps. There were so many "quantum-gateway-light-year" trips - back and forth - to so many worlds! Too many ETs: the Gaijin, the Chaera, the Crackers, etc. I lost count of almost everything in the story as I jumped with Malenfant from one light-year to the next, from one weird species to the next, from one puzzling galactic skirmish to another one, & I got bored. You could get pretty dizzy trying to remember it all! I fought hard to get to the end of this, & I considered myself reasonably well-informed. And the most patient of readers. Because I am a lover of Stephen Baxter's work, I truthfully felt betrayed by the man as I stumbled along, trying to reach the end of this long tale. Do not buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Manifold: Disappointment....
Review: This would've been a better title for this second installment in Mr. Baxter's series. Gone in "Space" is the face paced, entertaining read that drew me to "Manifold:time".
Malenfant returns with different personality in an aged body. However, his condition is what draws us in during the first couple of pages as a new adventure unfolds. Then Malenfant sets off and disappears for the next 300 pages(10 centuries). Meanwhile we are left with a book that becomes an incoherent collage of alien invasion and X-Files conspiracies on a grand scale. Sounds entertaining? Not! Mr. Baxter's writing is choppy and characters are so flat and typical we either forget them or want to forget them. And Mr Baxter doesn't fail to flood his story with them. Even when Malenfant returns to complete the novel he is the most uninteresting thing on the page.
One of Mr Baxter's flaws is his attempt to make characters seem important inside a story that covers a period of 1000 to a million plus years. Even though humans can live for centuries, they don't propel or excite the plot like Malenfant and Cornielus Taine did during a few hours worth of story-time in "Manifold: Time". Here the stage is filled with too much apathy to enjoy anything outside a few "cool" science-fiction ideas.
The book is poorly written for several reasons. First, the are many subplots, many of which I admit are more interesting than the story itself, that spring up and fade away without materializing or reappearing to tie up loose ends. And the are a lot of loose ends and annoying, needless mysteries after 490 pages. Second, the story, which reads like a series of bad articles on moon mining and space colonization, has no real climax and never follows up what it promises on the first few pages. The are also plenty of similarities to current generic fiction, especially Babylon 5, Planet of the Apes, Star-Trek and Earth-Final Conflict. "Manifold:Space" on no page has the freshness and originality of "Manifold:time".
I gave "Manifold:Time" 5 stars because it left a big impression on my perspective and made me interested in a new area of astronomy(asteriods) I never cared for. "Space" only left me apathetic towards Malenfant's quest and weary of anymore of Mr. Baxter's writing.
If you read "Time" and enjoyed it then you must feel you need to read "Space", but there is no link between the plots or characters. "Space", in my opinion, was a waste of time, but I can't not recommend it after recommending "Time".
"Manifold:Origin" from it's prologue that appears at the end of "Space" seems to be the book that will tie everything together. I'm reluctanct to pick it up after toiling through "Space" but I'm willing to give Mr. Baxter a second chance to make things right. After 900-plus pages into the series why quit now?
Olaf Johnson NYC
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