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Ark Stephen Baxter 9780575080577 Books

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Ark Stephen Baxter 9780575080577 Books

Before getting to the meat of my review, I must begin with the global warming controversy surrounding this book. Personally, I am a skeptic in this matter and shied away from the novel for some time due to my perceptions. Rest assured this is NOT a "man made climate change" disaster story. Oh, its pretty obvious Baxter is sympathetic to such theories, but he has not written this as a cautionary tale. Mr. Baxter leaves the issue open to each of us to decide.

With that out of the way, I've read a number of interstellar colonization novels and short stories over the years. The typical story I sampled has a well engineered and fully stock ship heading off to the stars with one or perhaps two speed bumps along the way. Baxter's Ark goes way off the beaten path. Because of various political, resource and time constrains, Baxter's Ark is a God awful mess. The launch method is less than optimal, the crew is very small, the ship's command structure is (in my opinion) imperfect, crew dynamics are a mess, the ship itself has a Rube Goldberg feel to it, little is known about the target planet, etc. But oh how these imperfections make for a great tale!

I did find some problems. Most importantly, the first third of the story concerns the contruction of the ship and the mission along with following the collapse of civilization as dry land disappears. I found all this interesting, but at times was chafing for Baxter to light the candle. Also, there are some issues surrounding the ship Baxter never really explains. A minor one that irked me was the Ark coffee-holic navigator who seems to have a multi-decade supply of instant coffee! Where is all this being stored?

Other than some small blemishes, this is a novel worth picking up.


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Ark Stephen Baxter 9780575080577 Books Reviews

I found Stephen Baxter many years ago and read everything he published at the time. Now, years later, I came back for more. Love how he plays with alternative universes and different ways to look at humanity in times of stress. This book provided me with a way to look at the ways humanity can struggle with how to survive dark unknowns. I wonder, even with my own belief that I am gifted enough to survive biological trauma on a global sized scale, would I be one of the few picked to keep mankind going on into the future?
I don't review every book I read and I don't waste a lot of paper reviewing the story when I do write one. Just a brief note to let the reader know that you are in for a very special treat when you read Ark. Massive in scope, beatifully written, interesting characters that you really care about and an ending that is fraught with success, tragedy, and hope for the future. Surely a third book must follow. I love a good end of the world story and this is about as good as it gets. Is it dark, yes. Is it happy and sad at the same time - yes. Is it better than the first book (Flood) which was very good in its own right - yes. Is it satisfying and worth reading - double yes.
Considerably better than Flood, this book does not live up to Baxter's earlier work. Unlike Flood, it does present a coherent story, as dark as it is. In the end I felt like the story was unfinished, in fact three stories remain to be told, the stories of Earth, Earth II, and of Earth III. I guess that in the end I, and you, will care about these characters.
Wish I had paid more attention to the previous reviews. I saw the stars but now on reading the reviews more carefully don't get the high ratings. The star ship is a mishmash of loosely reworked ideas. The people Baxter paints? Don't bother saving them! Let em' all drown and let God or evolution start over. Also, I can get the idea that the pig pen is nasty without having having the muck thrown on me. I don't see the need for graphic descriptions of pedophilia and so many references to pre adult sex.
What a depressing read full of futility and degradation.
Ark is interesting for two reasons. First, it has a very engaging story with several interesting characters. The sci-fi ark theme has been done often. This plot has several twists that keep it fresh and engaging. Second, it has a storyline that leaves you wondering somewhat about what happened to the rest of the story. When the storyline divides into three (good twist), one is dealt with as a full fledged story, the second is told in a somewhat, and in too brief, manner, and the third is almost an afterthought. Often, I think many works of fiction are too "fat" with details that don't add to the story. In this book however, we needed more heft in the other two stories.
After having read flood, which was a very unique and engaging novel, I downloaded this to my . Ark is a sequel in a way to flood with some of the same characters appearing and the background premise being at play, namely that the world is slowly flooding. However, while the previous novel dealt with the discovery of the flood phenomenon and some Earthbound characters' attempts to deal with it, this novel covers an attempt to escape the planet and send a viable group of colonizers to another habitable planet. The story begins with the selection, training and construction process and follows through the launch and mission itself which covers many decades. I am not sure how realistic it is to think that a completely untested warp ship could be built and launched while society is crumbling under an relentless flood, but that aside, this is a very interesting tale of what it might be like to embark on a journey to a relatively nearby stellar destination. While most of the action surrounds the Ark, or spaceship, there is some reference to events back on Earth which gives a bit of closure to the previous novel. Of course this book ends by leaving open the possibility of further sequels involving both the people left on Earth as well as those who traveled to another planet. I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I do enjoy an engaging and well-written tale from time to time and this book fits the bill.
Before getting to the meat of my review, I must begin with the global warming controversy surrounding this book. Personally, I am a skeptic in this matter and shied away from the novel for some time due to my perceptions. Rest assured this is NOT a "man made climate change" disaster story. Oh, its pretty obvious Baxter is sympathetic to such theories, but he has not written this as a cautionary tale. Mr. Baxter leaves the issue open to each of us to decide.

With that out of the way, I've read a number of interstellar colonization novels and short stories over the years. The typical story I sampled has a well engineered and fully stock ship heading off to the stars with one or perhaps two speed bumps along the way. Baxter's Ark goes way off the beaten path. Because of various political, resource and time constrains, Baxter's Ark is a God awful mess. The launch method is less than optimal, the crew is very small, the ship's command structure is (in my opinion) imperfect, crew dynamics are a mess, the ship itself has a Rube Goldberg feel to it, little is known about the target planet, etc. But oh how these imperfections make for a great tale!

I did find some problems. Most importantly, the first third of the story concerns the contruction of the ship and the mission along with following the collapse of civilization as dry land disappears. I found all this interesting, but at times was chafing for Baxter to light the candle. Also, there are some issues surrounding the ship Baxter never really explains. A minor one that irked me was the Ark coffee-holic navigator who seems to have a multi-decade supply of instant coffee! Where is all this being stored?

Other than some small blemishes, this is a novel worth picking up.