The Nearest and the Farthest

So Stephen Baxter is a name in science fiction.  I don't know what else he's written, but I'm sure I've heard the name before and so when I came across the books Proxima and Ultima I decided to check it out.

It's pretty good.

It's another book about travel through space with ships, this time using a mythical energy source that no one quite knows the source of, this sets up the interesting premise of a society sitting atop a technology that no one really knows the nature of, creating an undercurrent of tension throughout.  The political underpinning is far less interesting than the scientific, being a simple tale of rampant communism versus a typically positive rendition of capitalism.  The opportunity for an interesting reflection of current affairs was completely missed through an absolute lack of finesse.  The Chinese archetypes are portrayed in an entirely negative light, the western faction are completely opposite, world saving heroes.  It's unfortunate because he was obviously going for something that might resonate in current times but falling short.

Ham fisted depictions of the other aside, the science and the fiction are pretty damned good.  They forcibly relocate a large number of people in order to claim a world, giving impetus to half the story, while a scientific family researching their method of transport create the other half.  The tales of misfortune that arise from both sides underline the characters in a way that make them more interesting than, for example, the typical renditions of government.  The interesting characters leading parallel lives come together in ever more interesting ways as the first book gives way to the second.  In a shock twist everything comes together towards the end of the duology, linking the past events together nicely to form a satisfying conclusion without it being a childish, american style happy ending.

I may have forgotten to mention, but there are space Romans.

Yeah.

I've not read many books that could pull of as ridiculous a premise with a straight face, but this one manages to build a respectable enough story around the obviously outlandish so the result is one of plausibility despite itself.

You'll notice this isn't much of a review and that's because you should just go out an buy it.

Do it.