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Coalescent
by Stephen Baxter
(US edition: Ballantine/Del Rey, $25.95, 485 pages, hardcover; published
in December 2003. UK editions: Gollancz, October 2003; hardcover, £17.99,
608 pages; paperback, £12.99, 473 pages; mass market paperback,
£6.99, 536 pages, 10 June 2004.)
Stephen Baxter is a prolific writer whose oeuvre firmly establishes
itself in the tradition of science fiction's most influential figures.
His ambitious and  fascinating
novel Coalescent, the first installment in his Destiny's Children
series, combines a vast historical scope à la Olaf Stapledon
with an astronomical scenario reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke.
As in his previous (and unrelated) novel, Evolution, Baxter
takes an epic look at human evolution. He postulates how, in certain
circumstances, humans might evolve into "coalescents" -- hive creatures
with social and biological imperatives akin to those of ants or bees.
He further speculates on a centuries-old secret society of coalescents
living in the bowels of Rome under the guise of a religious order.
For most of its length, Coalescent skips between two timelines.
In the present, George Poole discovers evidence of a long-lost twin
sister and eventually tracks her to Rome, where he encounters Lucia,
a young coalescent who wants to escape the Order. In the past, a woman's
relentless quest for survival during the decline of the Roman Empire
leads her to lay the foundations for a startling evolutionary leap.
Near the end, Baxter introduces a third timeline, the future, in which
humanity uses coalescents as expendable bodies during a devastating
interstellar war.
Baxter's evocation of the declining Roman Empire is tactile and intriguing,
and his present-day plot is a thrilling page-turner.
While searching for his sister, George gets enmeshed in the obsessions
of a childhood acquaintance who believes that a bizarre astronomical
anomaly poses a threat to humanity's survival -- according to him, evidence
of a malign alien intelligence probing for signs of advanced technological
development.
Baxter ties together all of these disparate elements with consummate
skill, creating a captivatingly original novel and introducing a universe
that excites the imagination.
Originally published in
The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 24 January 2004.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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