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Jesse's Reviews > Time
Time (Manifold #1)
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Manifold: Time is one of those books that blows you away, but subtly at first--you don't realize how epic it is until you're halfway through, and you look back and can only think: "...wow."
However, it wasn't immediately love at first sight with this book, for me. I spent the first forty-odd pages getting hung up on the rapid POV shifts (sometimes several on one page), choppy two-paragraph scenes of action followed by a similarly-choppy two more paragraphs of action. The story starts out jumping between characters so much that it is difficult to build a sense of rapport with them...at first. The writing itself, the craft of the prose, is a bit wanting at times. It starts out being more "showing" than "telling"...blunt, to the point.
And then, something amazing happens.
I know that my misgivings above are arguably the tools of the trade of Hard SF--that's just how most of it is written. It's not about the skill of the prose itself or wordsmithing and all that, as much as it's about the science and the technology. And this book is heavy on the science...there is a lot of physics bring thrown around, though most of it is dumbed down for those of us who are laypersons. The fact that I didn't get half of the physics-related discussions that took place in this story was ameliorated by the fact that most of the characters in the story didn't understand it, either.
Another observation--one that I find a particular interest in, though it is very tangential and not directly related to the story itself, as much as the crafting of the story--is that the author, Stephen Baxter, is British, but the story focuses mainly on American characters and most of the scenes on Earth take place in the US. And a lot of what he writes, hits the mark, but as with any novel that is written in British English and then "translated" into American English, there are some inconsistencies which stand out like a sore thumb--some being words or phrases that were overlooked when the text was being "Americanized"...references to the windscreen of the car instead of the windshield, or forgetting to change 'colour' to 'color'...those are more editing issues and not a commentary on the story itself. But beyond that, it made me realize just how much word choice and sentence structure can vary between British and American English. Being well-acquainted with both, although most of the characters in the story were American, in my head they had British accents, because the dialogue itself was very British and not very American. Not a complaint nor a critique...I just found that interesting.
It is also interesting to look at the "future" of the story--well, let's make that the near future--which is actually our present. The book was written in 2000 but much of it was set in the 2011-12 timeframe, and it is always neat to see which things the author manages to predict correctly and which s/he doesn't. Mobile computing devices are present, but in the form of "softscreens"...which bring to mind some kind of flexible gel/fabric square instead of a smartphone. Cars that drive themselves with assistance of GPS...technically those are available now, but not to the general public. Things like that.
Another thing that really surprised me--but which also really made Stephen Baxter earn my respect--was his fairness when it came to gender. I was floored, but happy, of his use of the impersonal third person pronoun as "she" instead of "he." (Such as, "Each child would have her own choice of her course of study.) I haven't seen that much, especially from a male writer in a male-dominated genre such as hard SF. I give this book a definite thumbs-up for that. And the female characters themselves are very strong and well-written...although Manifold: Time brings to mind the great SF classics that came before it, this story has neither damsels in distress nor mothers waiting at home for the hero to return; instead it has tough women who get the job done, even when the job isn't pretty. That's pretty awesome, in my mind.
Now. As for the story itself. About halfway through, I suddenly put the book down abruptly because it had really really gotten good, on several levels, in a way that snuck up on me unawares. The parallels drawn between some of the various characters in the book and the situations they're going through, and more importantly the questions that it makes not only the characters ask themselves, but also make us ask ourselves as well--moral, soul-searching questions, which aren't as black-and-white as they first appear--leave no doubt in my mind that this book is good. Darn good.
Why the four starts instead of five, then? I struggled with that. The answer is somewhat spoilerish in nature, though, so I'll censor it. Overall, this is a very strong, very powerful book, and one I would highly recommend. Good books make you think...and WOW, does this book ever make you think.
(view spoiler)
However, it wasn't immediately love at first sight with this book, for me. I spent the first forty-odd pages getting hung up on the rapid POV shifts (sometimes several on one page), choppy two-paragraph scenes of action followed by a similarly-choppy two more paragraphs of action. The story starts out jumping between characters so much that it is difficult to build a sense of rapport with them...at first. The writing itself, the craft of the prose, is a bit wanting at times. It starts out being more "showing" than "telling"...blunt, to the point.
And then, something amazing happens.
I know that my misgivings above are arguably the tools of the trade of Hard SF--that's just how most of it is written. It's not about the skill of the prose itself or wordsmithing and all that, as much as it's about the science and the technology. And this book is heavy on the science...there is a lot of physics bring thrown around, though most of it is dumbed down for those of us who are laypersons. The fact that I didn't get half of the physics-related discussions that took place in this story was ameliorated by the fact that most of the characters in the story didn't understand it, either.
Another observation--one that I find a particular interest in, though it is very tangential and not directly related to the story itself, as much as the crafting of the story--is that the author, Stephen Baxter, is British, but the story focuses mainly on American characters and most of the scenes on Earth take place in the US. And a lot of what he writes, hits the mark, but as with any novel that is written in British English and then "translated" into American English, there are some inconsistencies which stand out like a sore thumb--some being words or phrases that were overlooked when the text was being "Americanized"...references to the windscreen of the car instead of the windshield, or forgetting to change 'colour' to 'color'...those are more editing issues and not a commentary on the story itself. But beyond that, it made me realize just how much word choice and sentence structure can vary between British and American English. Being well-acquainted with both, although most of the characters in the story were American, in my head they had British accents, because the dialogue itself was very British and not very American. Not a complaint nor a critique...I just found that interesting.
It is also interesting to look at the "future" of the story--well, let's make that the near future--which is actually our present. The book was written in 2000 but much of it was set in the 2011-12 timeframe, and it is always neat to see which things the author manages to predict correctly and which s/he doesn't. Mobile computing devices are present, but in the form of "softscreens"...which bring to mind some kind of flexible gel/fabric square instead of a smartphone. Cars that drive themselves with assistance of GPS...technically those are available now, but not to the general public. Things like that.
Another thing that really surprised me--but which also really made Stephen Baxter earn my respect--was his fairness when it came to gender. I was floored, but happy, of his use of the impersonal third person pronoun as "she" instead of "he." (Such as, "Each child would have her own choice of her course of study.) I haven't seen that much, especially from a male writer in a male-dominated genre such as hard SF. I give this book a definite thumbs-up for that. And the female characters themselves are very strong and well-written...although Manifold: Time brings to mind the great SF classics that came before it, this story has neither damsels in distress nor mothers waiting at home for the hero to return; instead it has tough women who get the job done, even when the job isn't pretty. That's pretty awesome, in my mind.
Now. As for the story itself. About halfway through, I suddenly put the book down abruptly because it had really really gotten good, on several levels, in a way that snuck up on me unawares. The parallels drawn between some of the various characters in the book and the situations they're going through, and more importantly the questions that it makes not only the characters ask themselves, but also make us ask ourselves as well--moral, soul-searching questions, which aren't as black-and-white as they first appear--leave no doubt in my mind that this book is good. Darn good.
Why the four starts instead of five, then? I struggled with that. The answer is somewhat spoilerish in nature, though, so I'll censor it. Overall, this is a very strong, very powerful book, and one I would highly recommend. Good books make you think...and WOW, does this book ever make you think.
(view spoiler)
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Time.
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Reading Progress
December 17, 2012
–
Started Reading
December 17, 2012
– Shelved
December 21, 2012
–
5.83%
"I forgot how much 'jumping around' hard SF books tend to do...sometimes more than two POV shifts in one page is a bit much...though the story seems engrossing thus far. I love the thought of space exploration, so I'm interested to see where this story will go."
page
28
December 28, 2012
–
Finished Reading
