 | |
List Price: $7.50 | | Publisher: Del Rey
Salesrank: 394872
Released: November 23, 2004 |
| Our Price: $1.99 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
|
| Media: Mass Market Paperback |
|
Editorial Review:
Now, joined by his boyhood friend Peter McLachlan, who arrives in Rome with a dark secret of his own, George uncovers evidence suggesting that the women of the Order have embarked on a divergent evolutionary path. But they are not just a new kind of human. They are a better kind, genetically superior, equipped with all the tools necessary to render homo sapiens as extinct as the Neanderthals. And, chillingly, George and Peter soon have reason to fear that this colony is preparing to leave its overcrowded underground nest. . . .
Stephen Baxter possesses one of the most brilliant minds in modern science fiction. His vivid storytelling skills have earned him comparison to the giants of the past: Clarke, Asimov, Stapledon. Like his great predecessors, Baxter thinks on a cosmic scale, spinning cutting-edge scientific speculation into pure, page-turning gold. Now Baxter is back with a breathtaking adventure that begins during the catastrophic collapse of Roman Britain and stretches forward into an unimaginably distant, war-torn future, where the fate of humanity lies waiting at the center of the galaxy. . . .
Destiny’s Children
COALESCENT
George Poole isn’t sure whether his life has reached a turning point or a dead end. At forty-five, he is divorced and childless, with a career that is going nowhere fast. Then, when his father dies suddenly, George stumbles onto a family secret: a sister he never knew existed. A twin named Rosa, raised in Rome by an enigmatic cult. Hoping to find the answers to the missing pieces of his life, George sets out for the ancient city.
Once in Rome, he learns from Rosa the enthralling story of their distant ancestor, Regina, an iron-willed genius determined to preserve her family as the empire disintegrates around her. It was Regina who founded the cult, which has mysteriously survived and prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia. The Order, says Rosa, is her real family– and, even if he doesn’t realize it yet, it is George’s family, too. When she takes him into the vast underground city that is the Order’s secret home, he feels a strong sense of belonging, yet there is something oddly disturbing about the women he meets. They are all so young and so very much alike.
Stephen Baxter possesses one of the most brilliant minds in modern science fiction. His vivid storytelling skills have earned him comparison to the giants of the past: Clarke, Asimov, Stapledon. Like his great predecessors, Baxter thinks on a cosmic scale, spinning cutting-edge scientific speculation into pure, page-turning gold. Now Baxter is back with a breathtaking adventure that begins during the catastrophic collapse of Roman Britain and stretches forward into an unimaginably distant, war-torn future, where the fate of humanity lies waiting at the center of the galaxy. . . .
Destiny’s Children
COALESCENT
George Poole isn’t sure whether his life has reached a turning point or a dead end. At forty-five, he is divorced and childless, with a career that is going nowhere fast. Then, when his father dies suddenly, George stumbles onto a family secret: a sister he never knew existed. A twin named Rosa, raised in Rome by an enigmatic cult. Hoping to find the answers to the missing pieces of his life, George sets out for the ancient city.
Once in Rome, he learns from Rosa the enthralling story of their distant ancestor, Regina, an iron-willed genius determined to preserve her family as the empire disintegrates around her. It was Regina who founded the cult, which has mysteriously survived and prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia. The Order, says Rosa, is her real family– and, even if he doesn’t realize it yet, it is George’s family, too. When she takes him into the vast underground city that is the Order’s secret home, he feels a strong sense of belonging, yet there is something oddly disturbing about the women he meets. They are all so young and so very much alike.
Now, joined by his boyhood friend Peter McLachlan, who arrives in Rome with a dark secret of his own, George uncovers evidence suggesting that the women of the Order have embarked on a divergent evolutionary path. But they are not just a new kind of human. They are a better kind, genetically superior, equipped with all the tools necessary to render homo sapiens as extinct as the Neanderthals. And, chillingly, George and Peter soon have reason to fear that this colony is preparing to leave its overcrowded underground nest. . . .
From the Hardcover edition.
Coalescent: A Novel (Destiny's Children, Bk. 1) Reviews:
Ancient History rather than SciFi, but still worth a look 
2009-10-24 - It's not often that a SciFi book can spend three-fourths of its material in the early Middle Ages and pull it off, but the (hopefully accurate) historical story was facinating in its own right. Definitely more donkeys than spacecraft, but like all good SciFi, Transcendent does chart some new territory and suggests never before considered patterns in human development.
Please, can't this just end? 
2009-10-03 - By and large I've enjoyed previous books by this author, but this has a serious disappointment. The plot, or rather the combination of plots, is chaotic and simply not riveting. The bulk of the book is given over to a historical novel, but it's not historical enough to really be educational, not rich enough to be gripping, and it simply doesn't mesh well with what should be the main plot line.
The writing style is fine but overall the plot just doesn't feel like it works and the characters don't really win over either our empathy, compassion or hatred.
SInce I've like the author's work in the past, I held out hope for a satisfying merging of the plot lines long after I should have given up on the book. Let's just say I wasn't satisfied. It's hardly the worst book I have ever seen, but it's one of the least satisfying books I have actually stuck with from cover-to-cover, partly due to high expectations from the author.
Setting the scene for the rest of the series? 
2009-06-07 - I got the feeling with this book that its really setting the scene for the next books of the series (which I haven't read).
The trouble with this book is that its just plain dull for hundreds of pages - and only really started to get my interest in the last 50 or less pages - which is a shame, because the story has a lot of potential that will hopefully be developed in the next books. Its for that potential that I've given 3 stars.
I might try and track down the others in the series from a library (buying them is out of the question) - but Stephen really should have made an effort in making this one more lively if he expected readers to make the investment of reading others in the series.
Somebody please tell a story!
2006-10-23 - How to describe this novel? Well, there's a bunch of people, mostly women, living in the catacombs under Rome. Then there's this Brit software engineer who's going through a meaning-of-life crisis, who's somehow connected with them. His story is interleaved with the historical flashbacks of a woman named Regina, who lives through the fall of the Roman Empire and is responsible for the aforementioned catacomb community. That and a couple of other story threads lead up to the BIG SECRET, which is basically that under certain circumstances people will tend to adopt the same social patterns as naked mole rats.
Sort of an interesting premise, but not really worth all the time Baxter spends on it. Oh, and there's also yet another version of the King Arthur Was Real story that Baxter trots out as if it were new, interesting, and had anything at all to do with the rest of the book.
But what's *really* frustrating is that this book is advertised as the first volume in a new series called "Destiny's Children". Which is pretty much a lie: there's no new series, just more stories set in the "Xelee Sequence", the future history that most of Baxter's early work is set in. Which would be forgivable, except that the "Destiny's Children" stories make all kind of references to the "Xelee Sequence" stories, so you'll never understand everything that's going on unless you read the other books in the XS -- which you can't, BECAUSE THEY'RE OUT OF PRINT.
Writers like Baxter seem to think that they can just throw ideas at us without actually trying to tell a story. What am I saying, of course they can -- half the books that consider themselves "hard" SF are like this. Which is why I'm about ready to give up on the genre.
Mixed
2006-09-25 - Very very slow, but very very good. Sometimes Baxter's books feel like they were written in a rush; not this one. I get the feeling that it was very well crafted. However, it is excruciatingly slow in spots. I borrowed this book 3 times from the library and was unable to get past the first chapter each time and had to return it when it was due. Finally they gave a used copy of the book away and I snagged it, given 2 months, I could finally slog into the book enough to be able to finish it.
Overall though I would say that this is excellent writing.
