Baxter Stephen 03

Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

Origin : Manifold 3 by Stephen Baxter

The appropriately named Origin is the third book in the Manifold trilogy. In the first two books Malenfant travels throughout the galaxy in space and time. In this one, he stays in the Solar system, exploring a mysterious red moon which has replaced our Moon. He goes in search of his wife who has been abducted on to this moon. Emma (Mrs Malenfant) is the real hero(ine) of this book as she learns to survive in a tropical paradise / hell with a number of groups of extinct hominids and proto-humans such as Homo Erectus, Australopithecus and Neanderthals who have also been mysteriously transported to this moon.
I found this book to be harder going than the first two. There is little scientific thought here as Emma fights to stay alive despite the best efforts of various tribal leaders. If you enjoy books set in the Old Stone Age, then you will probably enjoy this. It reminded me a bit of Pierre Boulle's Monkey Planet (inspired Planet of the Apes). If you have read and enjoyed the first two books, then Origin is worth reading just to hear Stephen Baxter's conclusion to his argument. But, be warned it is completely different in style and content from the first two volumes. For the most part it is even a different genre.

Publisher: Voyager (Harper Collins)
Date: 2001
Pages: 455 pp
Price: £16.99
Format: Hardback
Reviewed by: Rod Cameron
Date Reviewed: October 2001