Being a great science fiction reader, I picked up a couple of Stephen Baxter books in early 2019 while rummaging opportunity shops - Moonseed (1998, 534p) and The Massacre of Mankind (2017, 453p). This was my first introduction to Baxter who is well known and respected as a Sci-Fi writer. Readers will probably know him as the writer of a number of the Dr Who stories (and who isn't a Dr Who fan!)
Boy, talk about underwhelmed! Let's take them one at a time.
What an underwhelming read that actually took an effort to finish. There are far too many throw-away characters who feature for a short while, only to be killed as the disaster gathers pace, yet overall character development is zilch. Finally, 534 pages of intensive describing EVERYTHING is just too much to enjoy.
The ending is so completely ridiculous. As if the remaining population of the world could all be saved in the few short years remaining. Are we expected to believe in Santa as well! Talk about ending with a whimper.
The less said, the better. Overall summary: Give it a miss.
I like reading sequels, just to see how they compare. I remember the sequel to The Day of the Triffids (see http://timsbestreads.blogspot.com/p/the-night-of-triffids-by-simon-clark.html) and was keen to see if this sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds would do justice to the original book. The blurb advertises that it has been authorized by the H.G. Wells Estate. Now that should mean something.
I felt after the first page that it was not the book for me and that proved to be the case. Far too long and roaming around far too much, it included irritating characters who are quite unrealistic. In particular, I found I did not like the heroine. Add to that the fact that the book just tried too hard to be a sequel that tells an alternate world history from the mid-1890s. Just about everyone of importance has a role in this book, ranging from Churchill to Edison to Einstein.
The ending is never in doubt, and that is spelled out quite early, as the heroine refers to her post-war book. So ho-hum, why bother reading any further.
I felt that a lot more could have been done to let us know more about the Martians, but little development happens here.
The ending is quite underwhelming, in the same way that the ending to Moonseed was underwhelming.
Not a book to be recommended.
Boy, talk about underwhelmed! Let's take them one at a time.
Moonseed by Stephen Baxter
What an underwhelming read that actually took an effort to finish. There are far too many throw-away characters who feature for a short while, only to be killed as the disaster gathers pace, yet overall character development is zilch. Finally, 534 pages of intensive describing EVERYTHING is just too much to enjoy.
The ending is so completely ridiculous. As if the remaining population of the world could all be saved in the few short years remaining. Are we expected to believe in Santa as well! Talk about ending with a whimper.
The less said, the better. Overall summary: Give it a miss.
The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter
I like reading sequels, just to see how they compare. I remember the sequel to The Day of the Triffids (see http://timsbestreads.blogspot.com/p/the-night-of-triffids-by-simon-clark.html) and was keen to see if this sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds would do justice to the original book. The blurb advertises that it has been authorized by the H.G. Wells Estate. Now that should mean something.
I felt after the first page that it was not the book for me and that proved to be the case. Far too long and roaming around far too much, it included irritating characters who are quite unrealistic. In particular, I found I did not like the heroine. Add to that the fact that the book just tried too hard to be a sequel that tells an alternate world history from the mid-1890s. Just about everyone of importance has a role in this book, ranging from Churchill to Edison to Einstein.
The ending is never in doubt, and that is spelled out quite early, as the heroine refers to her post-war book. So ho-hum, why bother reading any further.
I felt that a lot more could have been done to let us know more about the Martians, but little development happens here.
The ending is quite underwhelming, in the same way that the ending to Moonseed was underwhelming.
Not a book to be recommended.
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