Product Description

Wormhole technology has revealed that our sun will die in 5,000,000 years. A race of superbeings, the fabulous Xeelee, owners of the universe, are thought to be responsible. The bizarre and wealthy cult, the Superet, funds two projects aimed at combatting the force that will murder the sun.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #329073 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Stephen Baxter applied to become an astronaut in 1991. He didn't make it, but achieved the next best thing by becoming a science fiction writer, and his novels and short stories have been published and won awards around the world. His science background is in maths and engineering. He is married and lives in Buckinghamshire.

Customer Reviews

Visionary and gripping, if you skim the science lectures
Stephen Baxter is a fascinating teller of tales, although, for me, his highbrow scientific monologues rarely blend well with the plot. In Ring - the last of the Xeelee sequence - his ensemble cast includes several characters who regularly pause the action to make turgid lectures to their colleagues. Some of this science is integral to the story - of the ultimate fate of the Universe - but the interludes are like blocks of concrete around the feet of something of otherwise mercurial pace and, for the average reader (i.e. one without a PhD in astrophysics), they are a hindrance.

Baxter has big ideas and a brilliant imagination, which makes up for the fact that his characters are inclined to be a little unbelievable and repetitive. In Ring, as in his other books, he throws together a disparate group of individuals and explores their adjustments to each other and to dramatic challenges and events, It doesn't quite come off, because, beneath the surface, it seems they weren't really that dissimilar.

Those criticisms aside, Ring stands alone as a work of vision and innovation, which left this human reader feeling very appreciative of the solidity of planet earth. There are some neat links to earlier Xeelee stories, such as Flux and Raft, and, overall, it is gripping stuff on a cosmic scale. Skim the science lessons and you won't be able to put it down.

Great ideas drowned in dull textbook science
The fourth (and, chronologically at least) final novel in Baxter's Xeelee sequence contains some wonderful sf invention at its heart, but is unfortunately let down by the presentation. Every other page we go into needlessly extended (and repetitious) textbook science lectures, primarily on the life cycles of stars, and this slows the book down to a snails pace and ultimately becomes frustrating for the reader.

Essentially a sequel to Timelike Infinity, for readers who've been following the series this book will still be required reading, as it ties up the sequence, but for any novice readers I'd recommend either Raft or Flux, both of which are solid sf novels in their own right and only touch obliquely on the Xeelee continuity.

Science Fiction the way it's meant to be
Steven Baxter has a very good knowledge of the physics he writes about and being able to incorporate these into a good story, he captures the essence of Science Fiction. The story is well placed, one feels this really could happen in the future. The technology he describes is truly amazing, and he is so adept in portraying both characters and science that it’ like stepping into a movie. All in all a very well written, highly recommended for hard core Sci-Fi fans. The narrative and story receives a 4 star rating on my behalf, but for the significant knowledge of physics and future science with the ability to elegantly explain it as to make it understood, this is clearly a 5 star novel.