Stephen Baxter’s “imaginative [and] bold” novel Stone Spring drew readers into an alternate prehistoric scenario that now continues with Bronze Summer*. Thousands of years have passed. And a wall that was built to hold back the sea, must now hold back the advancing armies of a reviving Troy…
What would have been the bed of the North Sea is now Northland, a society of prosperous, literate and self-sufficient people. They live off the bounty of the land, an area created by the building of the Wall. It began as a simple dam, thousands of years ago. Now, inhabited from end to end, the Wall is a linear city stretching for hundreds of miles, and a wonder of the world.
For millennia, the Wall has also kept the growing empires of the Bronze Age at bay. But decades of drought have destabilized those eastern civilizations. Men—and women—filled with greed and ambition have now turned their eyes toward the fertile West. A new and turbulent age is dawning. For any wall, no matter how strong, can be breached—particularly from within…
From Booklist
This second in Baxter’s series set in Bronze Age Europe around 1100 BCE (following Stone Spring, 2011) describes cultures on the move: traders, squabbling factions from the East, refugees from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Most of the novel is a slowly paced, well-researched (if somewhat pedantic) description of a world perched on the edge of massive climate change and groups of people from different lands wangling for power. Although this construct affords a fabulous view of the author’s imagined Bronze Age Europe—one in which Britain is connected to the Continent—the many characters act mainly as vehicles for the message about earth science and ethno-ecology and are difficult to tell apart; the plot is disjointed; and the action, not inappropriately, is often crude (rape, mutilation, bodily functions). Intriguing and compelling story lines, such as murder schemes, separated lovers, people stranded on an erupting volcano, slave captures, pagan rites, and familial relationships, are often abandoned in favor of descriptive passages of the bleak, amorphous setting. Those who enjoyed the series debut will want to read this follow-up, but historical-fiction readers hoping for a storyteller like Jean Auel (and Baxter’s science-fiction fans looking for action and plot) are likely to be disappointed. --Jen Baker
“Thought-provoking, the characters within fascinating....Add to this Stephen’s own unique writing style, cracking prose...a piece that demonstrates the futility of war, [and that] creates a story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.”—Falcata Times
Description:
Stephen Baxter’s “imaginative [and] bold” novel Stone Spring drew readers into an alternate prehistoric scenario that now continues with Bronze Summer*. Thousands of years have passed. And a wall that was built to hold back the sea, must now hold back the advancing armies of a reviving Troy…
What would have been the bed of the North Sea is now Northland, a society of prosperous, literate and self-sufficient people. They live off the bounty of the land, an area created by the building of the Wall. It began as a simple dam, thousands of years ago. Now, inhabited from end to end, the Wall is a linear city stretching for hundreds of miles, and a wonder of the world.
For millennia, the Wall has also kept the growing empires of the Bronze Age at bay. But decades of drought have destabilized those eastern civilizations. Men—and women—filled with greed and ambition have now turned their eyes toward the fertile West. A new and turbulent age is dawning. For any wall, no matter how strong, can be breached—particularly from within…
From Booklist
This second in Baxter’s series set in Bronze Age Europe around 1100 BCE (following Stone Spring, 2011) describes cultures on the move: traders, squabbling factions from the East, refugees from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Most of the novel is a slowly paced, well-researched (if somewhat pedantic) description of a world perched on the edge of massive climate change and groups of people from different lands wangling for power. Although this construct affords a fabulous view of the author’s imagined Bronze Age Europe—one in which Britain is connected to the Continent—the many characters act mainly as vehicles for the message about earth science and ethno-ecology and are difficult to tell apart; the plot is disjointed; and the action, not inappropriately, is often crude (rape, mutilation, bodily functions). Intriguing and compelling story lines, such as murder schemes, separated lovers, people stranded on an erupting volcano, slave captures, pagan rites, and familial relationships, are often abandoned in favor of descriptive passages of the bleak, amorphous setting. Those who enjoyed the series debut will want to read this follow-up, but historical-fiction readers hoping for a storyteller like Jean Auel (and Baxter’s science-fiction fans looking for action and plot) are likely to be disappointed. --Jen Baker
“Thought-provoking, the characters within fascinating....Add to this Stephen’s own unique writing style, cracking prose...a piece that demonstrates the futility of war, [and that] creates a story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.”—Falcata Times