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    Ultima
    Ultima
    Ultima
    Audiobook21 hours

    Ultima

    Written by Stephen Baxter

    Narrated by Kyle McCarley

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    On the planet of Per Ardua, alien artifacts were discovered-hatches that allowed humans to step across light-years of space as if they were stepping into another room. But this newfound freedom has consequences.

    As humanity discovers the real nature of the universe, a terrifying truth comes to light: We all have countless pasts converging in this present-and our future is terrifyingly finite. There are minds in the universe that are billions of years old, and now we are vulnerable to their plans for us.

    It's time to fight back and take control.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 4, 2015
    ISBN9781494576851
    Ultima
    Author

    Stephen Baxter

    Stephen Baxter is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee Sequence series, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and The Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's classic The Time Machine. He lives in England.

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    Reviews for Ultima

    3/5

    98 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This doesn't suffer the problems of some sequels in that it doesn't take the story into enough new places, as this branches out in various directions, while still leaving unanswered questions for book 3!
    • 1/5
      I like alternative histories, it is a completely unmined field of novel entertainment, if done right. This one is done terribly wrong. Apparently the Romans have both constructed spaceships but those appear still like rowboats completely with chain anchors. The poor crew has resort to using parchment because their charts aren't digital, even though consoles light up in the background. If that wasn't enough the writing is so convoluted with ever changing perspectives that I had to go back every few sentences to make sure I had read everything correctly.
    • 3/5
      This is a sequel to the author’s Proxima, and while I have read some reviews that said it can be read as a stand-alone work, I strongly disagree. In any event, why would you ever want to read book two of a series before reading the work that preceded it?I enjoyed Proxima and looked forward to reading this book, right up until the last couple of pages of Proxima, where an introduction into Ultima was presented. Unfortunately, my premonition was verified. In Ultima, the concept of alternate histories was advanced, a notion that I sometimes find very compelling. In this case, however, the alternative histories which were advanced were so absurd, that I couldn’t work my way past them.MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW. You see, in the first alternate history, the Roman Empire never falls, but instead proceeds into the realm of space exploration. The problem is, they never advance beyond their turn of the millennium (First Millennium) technological or cultural proficiency. They just fly around in spaceships, essentially habitats which model ancient Roman cities, guided by Arab navigators (no computers), carrying lances and short swords and utilizing slave labor. Believe me, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.The next alternate history posits an Incan civilization that ultimately conquers the world and also advances to the level of space exploration, again without any additional technological or cultural advancement. The have constructed a space habitat of the following dimension: A cylinder 3,000 miles long and 400 miles in diameter. Okay, a bunch of Incans, wearing colorful feathers, sacrificing virgins, with no obvious technology, travel the stars and construct an impossible piece of complex engineering.These absurdly implausible plot constructs destroy what is otherwise a very original and thoughtful work. Loaded with hard science fiction and sometimes very challenging philosophy and astrophysical theory (wormholes, frictionless slide/tunnels, energy kernels), the story continually gets bogged down in frustratingly stupid scenarios. It is a sometimes inconvenient character trait that I am unable to simply look past such absurdities, but instead allow them to destroy my enjoyment of what could otherwise be an enjoyable reading experience. If you are able to suspend disbelief, you might enjoy this sequel.
    • 2/5
      This writer has been around now for many years as a mainstay of British SF but all good things come and go and this writer is plainly running on empty. In this book we have ancient civilisations with space travel, aloof AIs, a chatty android and a mysterious chain of portals that open into 'somewhere else'. Fun maybe hardly deep. Nevertheless, I will continue to buy books by this author for old times...
    • 3/5
      Ultima is the sequel to Proxima. I greatly enjoyed Proxima and looked forward to Ultima. I was somewhat disappointed upon reading Ultima. The story is ok, but the characters are thinly portrayed and the plot line has degenerated into a formula. The ending is predictable and almost shouts out "there is a sequel in the future." I like almost all of Stephen Baxter's books, but this one is not high on my list of favorites. Still, Ultima is a worthwhile read ... if you have nothing else more pressing.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful!

      Very good second act. Left wanting a sequel! The science is solid and the history is intriguing. Cliff hanger at the end!
    • 2/5
      The sequel to Proxima – did you see what he did there? Proxima: nearest; Ultima: furthest. Where the first was near-future sf, this one drags in Baxter’s other great interest, alternate history. It seems that the Hatches which allow for easy travel over interstellar distances (instantaneous for the traveller, but light-speed is not violated), also trigger “resets” of history – or shift the protagonists into alternate histories. In the first, the Roman Empire makes it into space but despite making use of “kernels” (magic energy wormhole-y type things) as a power source, it doesn’t appear to have progressed much beyond the first century CE. And then it’s an interstellar Aztec Empire, which also uses kernels and has built a giant fuck-off O’Neill cylinder but still runs pretty much along the same lines as it did when Cortés stumbled across Tenochtitlan. It’s quite an impressive sustained act of imagination, but not in the least bit plausible. The book also suffers from juvenile characterisation – a running joke involving a lead character, a grizzled Roman legionary – wears thin soon after the third mention but Baxter keeps it going right to the bitter end. There’s lots of clumsy exposition, and a central premise that doesn’t really convince. Baxter has done much better than this, and it all feels a bit by-the-numbers and banged out over a quick weekend. Disappointing.
    • 3/5
      a sequel, where the setup is not well explained (having presumably been set up in the previous book) and the pacing very odd; one chapter covers several deca, with no real sense of time passing. Characters difficult to distinguish, their means and motivations not clear. Thumbs down.