Product Description

In "Flux", a strange yet scientifically plausible world, inhabited by sub-microscopic humans, is brought to life within the mantle of a neutron star. Dura's people, nomads and outcasts, are soon at risk from the superhuman Xeelee, and Dura and Hork must learn to control their people's destiny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #489761 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'Arthur C. Clarke, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein succeeded in doing it, but very few others. Now Stephen Baxter joins their exclusive ranks - writing science fiction in which the science is right, the author knowledgeable, and the extrapolations a sheer pleasure to read, admire, enjoy. The reaction is that which C.S. Lewis referred to when he described science fiction as the only genuine consciousness-expanding drug. Flux is a highly imaginative and moving novel .. It is a rare thing to find such a good read. Wonderful stuff!' Harry Harrison, New Scientist 'Flux puts Stephen Baxter in the front line of world-spinners.' The Times

Customer Reviews

Neutron star
Absolutely fabulous. It helps to have read some of his other stuff to get the ending. I like mad-ideas, (eg. Robert Sheckleys "Mindswap") and this time Baxter has excelled himself. I looked some things up on the web and as usual he's talking about things that either already exist or just-might exist. But this time he's taking the yellow matter...Brilliant and paradoxically many of his weird characters are very believable.

A brilliantly realised excercise in world-building
The most enjoyable aspect of Flux is its brilliantly realised world building - minute human constructs that live within the mantle of a star struggle against seemingly natural disasters that threaten their world. This is a world that is constantly strange, and always intriguing, although its very uniqueness may make initial pages a struggle as the reader tries to piece together a coherent setting in their imagination.

This is the third in the 'Xeelee' sequence, and adds some tantalising hints about Baxter's future history, although despite some distant glimpses of the Xeelee themselves there are still a lot of unanswered questions lingering in the larger series narrative. The novel itself often brings to mind the first novel in the series - Raft - with its similarly bizarre setting and 'do or die' expedition into the unknown climax, though the increased page count here has allowed Baxter to breathe more life into his characters to the extent that this is a novel that speaks as much through its cast as hard sf info-dumps.

The 'Xeelee' sequence continues strongly - recommended.

Promising but, disappointing
The most striking thing about this novel is the setting. The events take place within a thin layer just below the surface of a neutron star.

Somehow, life is possible within this environment and the main characters are a tiny race of beings created by humans to be able to live in the environment.

Within this world, the author creates a preindustrial society whose attitudes bear an odd resemblance to those on the planet Norfolk in Peter Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" series. Yes, despite the setting, the characters are really taken from pastoral England. Indeed, Baxter's heroine Dura and several of the other characters might have walked out of a novel by Thomas Hardy.

The novel follows the adventures of Dura as she starts out trying to save her small clan and ends trying to save the world and perhaps even the universe itself.

A good story, some interesting characters and a great setting. So, what could go wrong with that?

Well, despite all of this promise, the novel finally failed to be complete because of the way that the ending was handled. Suddenly, new technologies, situations and relationnships were introduced to tie up all of the dangling threads and bring things to a conclusion. I almost had the feeling the the author suddenly decided that it was time to get it all wrapped up and off to the publishers.