Books

If you as a reader have an interest in intellectually lively and suspenseful science fiction, but haven't yet read the first two volumes in the "Time Odyssey" trilogy, jointly composed by the esteemed Arthur C. Clarke and the distinguished British science fiction writer Stephen Baxter, I suggest you take up the first two installments, A Time Odyssey: Time's Eye and A Time Odyssey: Sun Storm, as quickly as you can.

And then dive into this third volume.

The first book in the trilogy presents an entertaining account of a number of characters who find themselves caught on an Earth struck by a series of time warps that juxtapose various historical periods and terrestrial geography. This leads to characters from various moments in historical time mingling and sometimes clashing in disastrous ways.

The second installment, with its vivid depiction of the solar storm sent to destroy Earth by the mysterious Old Ones, who apparently view the universe as their private domain, offers just as much, if not more, imaginative stimulation.

Firstborn, the third and final volume, is set in the middle of a 21st century when the situation that people refer to as The War with the Sky takes some new turns. Seems as though the Old Ones have become vindictive toward us after leaving that memorable monolith on the moon, which every reader of Mr. Clarke's first volume in the Space Odyssey series remembers. In this latest installment, they've unleashed an artifact of overpowering energy, which human beings dub the Q-Bomb, and have sent it racing earthward.

Q-Bombs and space elevators and sun sails make up only some of the fascinating new technology in these new pages. Pretty much the same cohort of characters stands in defense against the plans of the Old Ones, technicians and military figures, male and female, U.S. and foreign-born. Or Last Born, as they think of themselves in the end.

But is it truly the end?

As it's fashionable to do these days, these two science fiction writers have left open a tiny crack in the door. It's hard to imagine Sir Arthur setting out to write yet another novel in his grand old age, but then who would have imagined a few years back that he would have produced such an intellectually thrilling trilogy as the new millennium advanced?

National Public Radio commentator Alan Cheuse's latest book is The Fires: Two Novellas.

Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

(Del Rey, $25.95)

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