Ultima (A Proxima Novel)

Ultima fuses together various concepts Stephen Baxter has been working on in recent times. It contains early civilizations extrapolated into the future, different continuities, superintelligent computers with their own agenda.

It has little in common with his early work, there isn't the same sense of wonder and the hard science is not as prevalent.

I give it 3 stars, because although I didn't really enjoy this book in the same way as his earlier work (or even Proxima), I read it quickly and compulsively, which counts for something. This fits in well with his recent work.

Ultima sounds like a sports drink but it is actually the sequel to Stephen Baxter's Proxima. You should read Proxima before reading Ultima if you want to understand all of the novel's references to past events, but enough of those are summarized that Ultima can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Ultima is a novel of big ideas -- or, more precisely, it is an exploration of one big idea. It won't appeal to science fiction fans who think that sf should always include Wookiees or Vulcans. It won't appeal to fans who crave action. It might not appeal to sf fans who think that an "idea" novel should consist of ideas piled on top of ideas (the kind of novel that usually treats plot and characterization as unimportant).

I give Baxter credit for creating the Dreamers, a Machiavellian alien race that differs from other science fiction aliens in imaginative ways. Saying more about them would spoil the fun. I will say, however, that while the enigmatic Dreamers are at the novel's core, the novel focuses upon the consequences of the Dreamers' actions rather than the Dreamers themselves.

Proxima introduced an old idea, portals (or "hatches" in this incarnation) that take people to different places in the universe, or different universes, or different times. Hatches are coupled with transitional events that change the nature of the universes that key characters inhabit. In one alternate history/universe/timeline, there are three space-faring Terran powers: the Romans, the Xin (Chinese), and the Brikanti (Brits allied with Scandinavians). The civilizations have mastered a crude form of interstellar travel (combining power sources known as kernels left by the Hatch builders with "point and shoot" navigation) despite their failure to develop computers.

War is brewing and one of the ships has undertaken the mission of saving Earthshine, an AI that serves as a repository of information designed to allow human civilization to survive, or to rebuild it if necessary. Earthshine has its own agenda. It is, in its own way, as Machiavellian as the Dreamers. Earthshine "hatches" a plan of itsown that bears fruit in another universe/alternate history, one in which Incas dominate. That plan puts Earthshine, another AI, and several human characters in a position to understand what the Dreamers have been up to and what purpose all the Hatches serve. It is, as I said, a pretty cool idea.

The rest of the story fills up space with (alternate) historical and political developments and character building. I didn't think any of that was bad or boring (although that might be the reaction of readers who lack interest in history and politics), but I did think those parts of the book could have been profitably shortened. To the extent that Ultima is read as a mystery novel -- with Earthshine serving as the detective who unravels the mystery of the Dreamers -- everything else comes across as padding that keeps the story from delivering the suspense that a mystery should have. On the other hand, I liked the characters and I enjoyed Baxter's speculation about what alternative histories might be like, so I had no difficulty hanging in until the end. Readers who suffer from ADD or wookiee-mania might have a different experience.

The best part of this novel of the future takes place in the far far far distant future. It is wonderfully descriptive and even a little enthralling. Even if it takes quite a long time for the reader to get there, the destination is worth the effort of the journey.

SPOILERS

This book kept me interested through the first couple of parts but quickly bogged down into an unreadable mass of text. I was willing to overlook the fact that somehow the Romans could develop into a star spanning empire yet have not evolved culturally in any way. Would it have been far more interesting to explore a modern Roman culture? Sure, but this is an alternate universe so anything's possible I guess. So after reading through the first 'original' universe storyline, then the 'Roman' alternate universe we have all our main characters slip into yet another alternate existence where this time another ancient empire went on to conquer the world - the Incas.

When this Part (4?) began I was ready to embrace what felt like a starting over of the previous Roman storyline but thought, surely, these Incas would have an interesting modern take on their history. Nope. Romans Pt 2. Here again the only difference in millenia of development is the technology. They still have a sun god and human sacrifice (really?), still hang rugs on walls etc. I quickly got bogged down in the extensive descriptions of Incan history overlaid with future tech. At this point I had to stop reading. Maybe it got better, maybe the ending made up for it, but there was no way I could slog through another lazy depiction of an ancient empire that survived into the future.

At that point I stopped caring about the characters anyway, as they were uninteresting and not well fleshed out. I didn't care about these microbes or their purpose anymore either. The story was just too dull at the roughly halfway mark to continue on. This is only the second book I've ever been unable to finish, so understand that I really tried to keep going even as an Incan space station was highly militarized with warriors in ancient garb despite the fact that there were no longer any other empires left in humanity.

If you're going to introduce magic into your story then it better be interesting. The kernals and hatches were basically magic that probably kept the author from abandoning this story all together. Bored with your current story/universe? Go through a hatch and you get to come up with another one. Don't feel like coming up with various technologies? Insert Kernal here, it can do it all! This is a lazy effort.

Ultima sounds like a sports drink but it is actually the sequel to Stephen Baxter's Proxima. You should read Proxima before reading Ultima if you want to understand all of the novel's references to past events, but enough of those are summarized that Ultima can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Ultima is a novel of big ideas -- or, more precisely, it is an exploration of one big idea. It won't appeal to science fiction fans who think that sf should always include Wookiees or Vulcans. It won't appeal to fans who crave action. It might not appeal to sf fans who think that an "idea" novel should consist of ideas piled on top of ideas (the kind of novel that usually treats plot and characterization as unimportant).

I give Baxter credit for creating the Dreamers, a Machiavellian alien race that differs from other science fiction aliens in imaginative ways. Saying more about them would spoil the fun. I will say, however, that while the enigmatic Dreamers are at the novel's core, the novel focuses upon the consequences of the Dreamers' actions rather than the Dreamers themselves.

Proxima introduced an old idea, portals (or "hatches" in this incarnation) that take people to different places in the universe, or different universes, or different times. Hatches are coupled with transitional events that change the nature of the universes that key characters inhabit. In one alternate history/universe/timeline, there are three space-faring Terran powers: the Romans, the Xin (Chinese), and the Brikanti (Brits allied with Scandinavians). The civilizations have mastered a crude form of interstellar travel (combining power sources known as kernels left by the Hatch builders with "point and shoot" navigation) despite their failure to develop computers.

War is brewing and one of the ships has undertaken the mission of saving Earthshine, an AI that serves as a repository of information designed to allow human civilization to survive, or to rebuild it if necessary. Earthshine has its own agenda. It is, in its own way, as Machiavellian as the Dreamers. Earthshine "hatches" a plan of itsown that bears fruit in another universe/alternate history, one in which Incas dominate. That plan puts Earthshine, another AI, and several human characters in a position to understand what the Dreamers have been up to and what purpose all the Hatches serve. It is, as I said, a pretty cool idea.

The rest of the story fills up space with (alternate) historical and political developments and character building. I didn't think any of that was bad or boring (although that might be the reaction of readers who lack interest in history and politics), but I did think those parts of the book could have been profitably shortened. To the extent that Ultima is read as a mystery novel -- with Earthshine serving as the detective who unravels the mystery of the Dreamers -- everything else comes across as padding that keeps the story from delivering the suspense that a mystery should have. On the other hand, I liked the characters and I enjoyed Baxter's speculation about what alternative histories might be like, so I had no difficulty hanging in until the end. Readers who suffer from ADD or wookiee-mania might have a different experience.

The best part of this novel of the future takes place in the far far far distant future. It is wonderfully descriptive and even a little enthralling. Even if it takes quite a long time for the reader to get there, the destination is worth the effort of the journey.

Ultima is a continuation of Proxima, which started with an offbeat form of colonization of an extrasolar planet and ended with the prospect of parallel universes. Although it lagged at times, Proxima nonetheless brought with it a number of promising elements, including a novel exo-ecology, some relatively interesting if sometimes enigmatic characters, and appealing and varied artificial intelligences. All that promise, however, is washed away in this tedious, tiresome and half-baked second half. Most of the book is spent in two very boring timelines in which, respectively, the Roman and Incan Empires survived, apparently largely unchanged over hundreds of years, to dominate Earth and take to space travel. The successive travelogues and treks through these alternate worlds develop character in a very inefficient manner and do nothing at all to advance the main plotline. About a hundred pages from the end, things finally start to become interesting, only to dissolve in hand-waving, inept explanation that raises far more questions than the answers it provides.

This is a true disappointment.

An intriguing sequel to Proxima, with many mind-expanding ideas that are to be expected of Baxter. That being said, I found some of his speculations about alternate realities a little hard to swallow.

Very well written. Baxter is, as I recall, a trained engineer/physicist, so his writing on science that's understood is impeccable, and his writing on "stuff beyond our comprehension" is still quite plausible.
Characters are (mostly) well developed, and the plot devices clever.
This is the ultimate in "alternative reality, multiverse" story.
Highly recommended.
Note: I very rarely give 5 stars - maybe to life-changing books.