Book Review: "Starfall" By Stephen Baxter

Manojendu Choudhury

3 May 2009, 10:36

Disclaimer: The reviewer has not read the series called Xeelee Sequence!

When an author revisits a very successful series to add some sequels or prequels, the result is often disappointing because; firstly the writer may be bereft of original idea and passion that had created the original works, and secondly, the readerships’ expectations are somewhat skewed by the previous works. Devoid of these prejudicial vices, one may recommend this prequel to the Xeelee series as an immensely readable novella. It is a perfectly palatable fair consisting of correct ingredients in proper proportions: fast paced storyline, interesting, albeit a bit stereotypical, characters, dollops of action, along with some sauce of philosophical musings with an oblique description of the creator of this universe. The basic plot is built on the premise that the human sociological setup doesn’t undergo much change in the next few millennia.

Despite using some standard tools of science fiction writing, viz. time travel and interstellar colonies, the writer, true to his character, doesn’t deviate much from hard science. His forays into the realms of human sociological set up in some distant future, where the technical evolution has exploited all of the current scientific knowledge, is a realistic portrayal of the social conflicts that has been the driving force of the human civilization.

Baxter, despite being very economical with words, very deftly paints the large macroscopic picture of oppression that the empire of Earth unleashes on the stellar colonies, the biggest of which exist around the Alpha. The long drawn tactical moves of the rebels to overthrow the empire, and the intuitive counter defensive measures of the earthlings, form the gripping high point of the novella. The chilling single mindedness of the rebels, the occasional doubt in the mind of the captain of the earth’s navy, the ruthless decision making of the empress, all serve to describe the tension and the actions in a very simple, short and unelaborate manner. The uninvolved tone of the story effectively gets the reader more engaged with its progression.

The development of the plot is expertly interwoven with speculative philosophy regarding the nature of spacetime, the purpose of self-conscious intelligence coming into existence, and meta-mathematical sentient creations. But, despite the excellent buildup, the final twist in the story, explaining the actual motive of the rebels, introduces half cooked ideas not properly developed, and leaves a not-so-pleasant aftertaste once the book is over.

The story is told in short bursts from different perspectives, effectively drawing a collage of individual events and characters on a broad white canvas, depicting the macrocosm of the stellar-wide civilization. This helps the reader to form the wide picture from a neutral point of view. The chronological unfolding of events is well handled, with right dose of history at the right places. The brevity of the book ensures speedy action and the reader does not lose attention.

Technically, the writing style seems to follow a form which can be easily turned into a screenplay for a movie. This style, epitomized by Michael Crichton, is indeed a sharp departure from the classical hard science fiction writing, where the ideas are too complex and abstract to be filmed. This style restricts the writer from exploring the metaphysical (or rather, metamathematical) or the artificial intelligence introduced, and used, very superficially in this book. Despite trying out a lot of ideas, somewhere down the line the story meanders into a typical action flick with a not-so-convincing conclusion.

A typical trait of this book is that when two characters are talking in some isolated place, normally a room, a third character enters with a quip that shows that he/she has heard the last dialog that had been spoken inside the room. It tends to get a bit irritating when this is repeated more than a few times.

Despite the shortcomings, this new addition to the Xeelee Sequence is an enjoyable read and can be recommended to science fiction buffs because of the large number of interesting ideas generated in the book, many of which may be used in future additions to the series, (or may have already been used in the Xeelee series published so far).

Readers already acquainted with the Xeelee series will perhaps see too much of humanity in this book, with some merely passing reference to alien life, at the end. For readers like me, it is an invitation to delve into the classics created by Baxter, having the satisfaction of knowing the early stages of human foray into the Galaxy, before the Xeelees and photinos (dark matter birds in the Xeelee Sequence series of books) came into force.

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