Product Description

Concluding the epic Manifold series that began with TIME and continued with SPACE: the adventures of the maverick astronaut Reid Malenfant bring him at last to the beginning of everything. NASA astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying a military jet over Africa when a vast electric-blue circle appears in the air -- and the Red Moon dramatically replaces our ancient, cherished moon. Malenfant's plane is destroyed as he chases the alien circle of light. Though Malenfant survives, his wife Emma is swept up and hurled towards the Red Moon. Through the months of floods and earthquakes that follow Malenfant singlemindedly lobbies for a moonshot to rescue her. He's heading for the Red Moon where time and space converge, the origin of the manifold.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154553 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Stephen Baxter continues to think big and create SF on a grand cosmic scale in Origin, the third novel of his Manifold trilogy.

The Manifold is an infinite sheaf of alternative universes which Baxter explores in terms of Fermi's Paradox. There's no reason why humanity should be unique; logically there should be alien races, some long enough established to have made their mark on the galaxy; where are they?

Book one, Time, offered a vision of lonely humanity extending to the far end of eternity and finally rebooting a "better" universe. Space showed the consequences of teeming interstellar life, a cruel struggle for resources, punctuated by galactic-sized extinction events. Now Origin confronts the whole Manifold and its and humanity's manipulation by enigmatic "Old Ones".

Astronaut Reid Malenfant (versions of whom starred in Time and Space) again encounters advanced technology as a huge, glowing blue circle--a portal to and from the Red Moon that wanders between universes and has just replaced our own moon. It's habitable and populated by an extraordinary medley from all stages of human evolution, scooped up from different Earths. There's much conflict with primitives leading nasty, brutish and short lives... plus super-evolved humans who debate whether we are truly sentient.

At its core the Red Moon contains the failing World Engine which flips between universes. Also down there is the secret history of this multi-verse, right back to the cataclysmic branch-point from which the Manifold flowered. Who are the Old Ones? "They made the manifold"--but were maybe not so different from us and rash, quixotic Malenfant after all. Highly superior SF, guaranteed to jolt one's sense of wonder. --David Langford

Review
'Baxter is taking basic sf ideas and rebuilding them based on current science, technology and politics -- a tried and true method sor sf writers but no less effective for that. Baxter apparently has the ambition and the energy to reinvigorate hard sf all by himself' Locus on SPACE 'Like all good sf, SPACE provokes questions. What kind of species are we?! the other reason SPACE works well is that Baxter is a good writer! his format and style are assured and keep you happily suspended and engrossed. Right up to the satisfyingly vertiginous climax! Malenfant is one of sf's more memorable characters' SFX on SPACE 'Pacy, visionary, extravagantly imagined, Time places Baxter firmly in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. How reassuring to know that while so many authors are lying in the gutter of the information superhighway, someone at least is still looking at the stars' The Times 'Time is a big ambitious book! science fiction at its best' FHM

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 have won awards around the world. His science background is in maths and engineering. He is married and lives in Buckinghamshire.

Customer Reviews

Superb finale to the manifold series!
In the three books in the manifold series Stephen baxter attempts to explain the 'Fermi paradox'. For those not in the know, the Fermi pardox states that the universe has been around for so long now that intelligent life has had plenty of time to develope but if it had it would be here by now!. In the first book 'Time' the story starts in a universe where life only exists on Earth. The second and perhaps weekest book in the series 'Space' has all the same characters as the first and even starts at the same time the first book started but this time the story is set in an alternate universe where life is everywhere. Now in 'Origon' the final book in the 'Manifold' series Stephen Baxter has set a compromise where life is everywhere and only on Earth, to explain how this is possible would give away too much plot. Origon starts with the moon dissapearing and being replaced by a new red moon thriving with life. Once again our hero 'Reid Malenfant' has to convince NASA to build a 'big dumb booster' rocket to get him into space and explore this new moon. What Malenfant doesn't tell them is that he has an alternate motive to get to the moon - his wife Emma is up there, teleported by a blue ring that magically appeared over South Africa. This is a gripping finale to the manifold series never slowing down to let you catch your breath. Time was a great read, Space tailed off a little but Origon has more than made uo for that it is a superb book - If you haven'tread it yet go out and get it now! And then read everything else that Stephen Baxter has written!

Possible SPOLIER alert
Great book. I thought the first two in the series were fantastic, but this book didn't quite have the same 'ring' about it. Hoho. Still, great story which luckily held my attention. Although it may not for other lovers of hard Sci-Fi.

I am left feeling gutted. It almost feels like Baxter got a little bored near the end, or annoyed.
It's not fair. If there weren’t an infinite number of universes I'd be even more upset.
Part of me wishes I'd stopped at the second book... Although I doubt I, nor anyone who enjoyed the first two, would have been able to do that.

Interesting SF treatment of our "alien" ancestors
This is hard science fiction (ie, Baxter knows what he's talking about). It throws modern protagonists into an environment where they are confronted with Neanderthals, australopithecines and other human ancestors, including previously unknown species invented by Baxter. What's particularly impressive is Baxter's vision of the psychology of the almost-humans - speculative, but highly convincing. Themes of alternative history and a (silly but enjoyable) theory of human origins are also dealt with. The writing is good, and the characterisation is fair.
This is part of the Manifold sequence of books - I recommend you read 'Space' before you read this (and perhaps 'Time', although it's not so good) but it's not essential. They feature the same characters in alternate timelines. This works well, and is not a way to pad out a novel to saga length!
There aren't many authors writing 'proper' SF at the moment. That said, you don't need to be an expert in science to enjoy this. If you are interested in human evolution, you will find it an extremely enjoyable piece of speculation!