Ring (The Xeelee Sequence)

Ring is a great example of a hard science fiction book. First of all, I'd recommend reading Timelike Infinity first before Ring. Vacuum Diagrams is a also great book to read which fills in the gaps.There is a lot of science explained to the reader, kind of what Michael Crichton's books are like. It does help to understand a good deal of physics. I don't have a physics degree but have learned a lot from Brian Green's books, science channel shows on dark matter and black holes, etc. I love how Baxter doesn't think in terms of decades into the future but millions of years into it.You know you are reading a good book when you spend more time thinking about each chapter than you did reading it.

I loved it. It is hard to believe this story was imagined, let alone written. Take a mixed bag of characters (virtual humans, genetically altered primitive humans, space born humans, etc.) place them in exotic locations from the heart of our sun to the great attractor and then send on a journey through millions of years of time and millions of light years in distance to the very end of the universe itself and you have a novel worthy of any SF fan's attention. Baxter's knowledge of hard science, creative imagination and story-telling skills deliver a strong addition to the cannon of hard SF with Ring. Don't let this one pass you by.

Not being a great writer myself I will let others do the plot summaries and simply state my opinion of the book.I consider Baxter one of the core group of hard science fiction writers however reading his books often feels too much like work...unlike Banks or Reynolds. Maybe its too much exposition on physics and too little character development. The balance between the two is off.All in all, a so so book.

The sense of wonder is a bit muddle by the enormous input of information; hence only four stars.

I absolutately flew through this book! It was amazing. The story seems predictable at first, though the reader will quickly find that this is not true. I read this book without realizing that is was part of a series (believe me I am going to be reading all the books in this series) and it stands alone just fine. All relative information needed is rehashed for the reader quickly. The imagination this guy has is truely humbling.Bottom line: Buy this book without delay!

Enthralling

Great story

I'm a big Baxter fan. For hard, well written sci-fi he's hard to beat. I like the fact that the stories are sometimes a bit bleak, but always hopeful

I adore Stephen Baxters work and I am totally on his wave length, if you want to read his books you will need to read them in order, he never fails to blow your mind with his unbelieveable imagination and detailed and descriptive writing. The Ring delivers it all and makes people like me crave foer more.

Having read the other three in this series this ends it nicely. Lots of technical language which adds satisfying weight to the story.

I've read many Stephen Baxter books and they are all built around solid proven facts and information. This book has a very interesting storyline but at times my mind was blown by to much complicated scientific information.

Brought the first set of the Xeelee sequence to a neat end with fan references to the first three books.

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