Who Would Like This Book:
If you're a hard sci-fi enthusiast who loves bold, mind-bending premises, "Raft" is a wild ride. Stephen Baxter imagines a universe turned upside down by gravity a billion times stronger than our own, which leads to fascinating world-building and some truly original concepts. For physics fans or anyone who loves exploring the 'what ifs' of science, this book is packed with clever ideas and strange, memorable settings. It's short, punchy, and offers a fresh take on human survival in a radically different cosmos.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If you're more into character-driven stories or softer science fiction, "Raft" might feel a bit cold. Some readers find the science explanations tricky to follow and the plot a little thin, especially at first. The world can be disorienting and the characters sometimes come off as a bit flat, with dialogue that won’t win any awards. Newcomers to hard sci-fi or those who like their science more in the background may struggle to connect with the story.
About:
'Raft' in the Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter is set in an alternate dimension where gravity works very differently. Humans living on a 'raft' struggle to survive several generations after their ancestors arrived. The plot follows a young protagonist named Rees who stows away on a flying tree to explore the world and society on the ship, which is split between scientists and miners. As the story unfolds, a race against time ensues as the humans must find a way to migrate to a new nebula before their current one becomes uninhabitable. Baxter's writing style is described as sparse yet capable of conveying the story effectively, with some social commentary on class systems and equality woven into the narrative.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book contains themes of violence and existential dread due to the harsh environment and societal issues it depicts.
From The Publisher:
Stephen Baxter's highly acclaimed first novel and the beginning of his stunning Xeelee Sequence finally enters the SF Masterwork series!
A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived, aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole, which provided a breathable atmosphere.
Five hundred years later, their descendants still struggle for existence, divided into two main groups. The Miners live on the Belt, a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star, which they excavate for raw materials. These can be traded for food from the Raft, a structure built from the wreckage of the ship, on which a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible.
Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him stow away on a flying tree - just one of the many strange local lifeforms - carrying trade between the Belt and the Raft. And what he finds will change his world…
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What can you read after
Raft?
About the Author:
Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. He holds degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University; engineering, from Southampton University; and business administration, from Henley Management College.
He’s a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.
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