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A review by errantdreams
Coalescent by Stephen Baxter
4.0
The back cover text led me to believe that this was a very different flavor of book than it turned out to be. Almost the entirety of that supposed teaser applies not to the entire book, but to the end of the book. That’s right–instead of providing the premise, they provide the climax (and some of that description is actually incorrect). Also, the text presents an impression of a book that is heavily sci-fi and suspenseful, which simply isn’t the case. The majority of the book is a combination of George slowly tracking down his sister in parallel with the Order’s origin story in ancient Rome. Which means that most of the book is actually a historical with no sci-fi content whatsoever. There’s also virtually no suspense to the pacing–it’s a slow unfolding of history, location, and plot, with a gradual, immersive pacing and a great deal of information to impart.
Here’s the really frustrating part of that: it’s a good book. Despite the fact that historicals aren’t my thing, I’m not fond of didactic books that spend whole pages on geography and history lessons, and I was really looking forward to the SF/suspense book that I thought I was getting, it totally hooked me in. I loved it.
The characterization is interesting. Regina is the star of the show--her drive to survive, and some of the things she does in order to do so, are fascinating. Note that there’s some dark material in here–the sacking of places by invaders is rarely anything but horrific. I also appreciated the use of Lucia, a member of the Order who doesn’t entirely fit in, as a means to explore the modern-day Order.
The slow unfolding of both stories engaged me despite the fact that I’d really wanted a suspenseful novel and don’t normally read historicals. I found some of the epilogue material, which jumps ahead very far in time, confusing, but that didn’t ruin the rest of the book for me. I just hope that my review allows you to decide whether you’d enjoy the book based on the actual content.
Visit my site for a longer review including premise: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/06/review-coalescent-stephen-baxter/
Here’s the really frustrating part of that: it’s a good book. Despite the fact that historicals aren’t my thing, I’m not fond of didactic books that spend whole pages on geography and history lessons, and I was really looking forward to the SF/suspense book that I thought I was getting, it totally hooked me in. I loved it.
The characterization is interesting. Regina is the star of the show--her drive to survive, and some of the things she does in order to do so, are fascinating. Note that there’s some dark material in here–the sacking of places by invaders is rarely anything but horrific. I also appreciated the use of Lucia, a member of the Order who doesn’t entirely fit in, as a means to explore the modern-day Order.
The slow unfolding of both stories engaged me despite the fact that I’d really wanted a suspenseful novel and don’t normally read historicals. I found some of the epilogue material, which jumps ahead very far in time, confusing, but that didn’t ruin the rest of the book for me. I just hope that my review allows you to decide whether you’d enjoy the book based on the actual content.
Visit my site for a longer review including premise: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/06/review-coalescent-stephen-baxter/