Sometimes I think Baxter is a hit-or-miss kind of author, thinking he goes over the same ground in rather interesting new ways, but when I think about it... His George Poole characters are all rather... DIFFERENT. Yes, yes, George Poole is here, again, but the kind of story told isn't spanning the world or the galaxy or all of time... this time.

Rather, we've got a rather cool Roman historical romance (of a kind) that brings together old English history and the Celts in rather awesome ways while jumping back to the current time in a cool family history mystery.

I was frankly entertained. Both sides of history (and later on, a future history,) were fascinating and thrilling and reminded me at times of Greg Bear's [b:Darwin's Radio|64923|Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)|Greg Bear|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1298430821s/64923.jpg|2878580], a historical drama, and a first-contact SF. All three are wonderful and at some moments I was reminded of Poul Anderson's [b:The Boat of a Million Years|338327|The Boat of a Million Years|Poul Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463044660s/338327.jpg|2705088]. That's high praise. :)

I'm into this enough that I have to jump on the second book right away. After all, we're talking about a full transformation of humanity into a HIVE MIND!

Yay! It's what I asked Santa for Christmas! ;) ( )

I was a little disappointed with this one. There were three main "issues" for me (without giving too much away)

- The main character set in the present isn't a character I ever grew to care about. He's a bit of a bumbler and really just serves to present a pair of eyes to show us portions of the story
- Most of the book feels like exposition. It's a 4 book series, so I'm willing to give the next book a chance (who am I kidding, I'll still probably read all 4 regardless ... Baxter is an excellent author and even his "not great" stories are still good). But this book in many places felt like a slog just to get to the few points Baxter was making
- There's very little "science fiction" in this. Perhaps we could stretch and call some of the social fiction science fiction, but even with that, there's very little of it.

The most gripping part of this book really was the story set in the far past. As a historical fiction, that piece of the narrative was very successful. We'll see if, after building up all of this structure, Baxter utilizes it again in the future stories, or if much of it was "wasted" in over-describing how these groups of people came together. ( )

Read my review at http://talesfromfoxglovecottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/summer-reading-part-1.htm... ( )

From the back:
"When his father dies suddenly, George Poole stumbles onto a family secret; He has a twin sister he never knew existed, who was raised by an enigmatic cult called the Order. The Order is a hive--a human hive with a dominant queen--that has prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia. After Poole enters the Order's vast underground city and meets the disturbing inhabitants, he uncovers evidence that they have embarked on a divergent evolutionary path. These genetically superior humans are equipped with the tools necessary to render modern Homo sapiens as extinct as the Neanderthal. And now they are preparing to leave their underground realm."

My review:

First of all, the back cover info is a trifle misleading, which is a shame because the real story is just as good and absorbing as the cover hype. The book weaves together three narratives: George Poole's first person mystery as he searches for his lost sister; the historical fiction 5th Century exploits of one of his ancestors Regina, who lives through the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain, moves to Rome, and founds the Order; and the modern SF story of Lucia, one of the members of the Order. Of the three, I found George's story to be the weakest. He is basically a foil for introducing the other two and a stand-in for the reader; someone to whom things can be explained rather than an active agent. As the book progressed I actually became a little impatient with the George story and always looked forward to the next installments of Regina and Lucia.

I enjoyed the book; it's a fascinating meld of science fiction and historical fiction. Baxter does a great job showing how the withdrawal of Rome from Britain resulted in the rapid decline of cities, withering of trade, decline of population and the loss of education and skills; in other words, the rapid onset of the Dark Ages in just a couple of generations. King Arthur makes an appearance--as two different characters that are frequently cited as sources for the legend--as well as Merlin. Baxter also does a credible job of creating the Order, giving it a sound basis in science and biology, and evolving it through 1500 years to the semblance of a hive. Although there is no dominant queen and they don't "plan" an invasion of the rest of earth, as trumpeted in the back matter.

I do have a nit to pick. Baxter has a penchant for punning names. In another book I reviewed, his rogue protagonist was Malenfant (bad child in French.) In this one, the founding mother of the Order is Regina (queen.) He also named some secondary characters after historical figures that lived in those times. The fictional ones had nothing to do with the historical characters, so I found it jarring whenever they appeared. There are plenty of names that don't carry any associations, which could have easily been used. Naming is a tricky thing and there is nothing wrong with using a name to reinforce a character, but if it pulls the reader out of the story, it's a distraction.

To summarize, I enjoyed the book. The writing is straight-forward, the characters interesting, the plot unique. Baxter is a deep thinker who sprinkles his narrative with discussions of social behavior, philosophy, morals, and science. I'd recommend this book to both the SF and HF communities. ( )

I usually like Baxter, but this book was not good. This appears to be a prequel that has almost no science fiction content, and falls under the category of 'great idea I have to explain'. It seems like he wrote this to explain a concept that appears in (chronologically) later books in his universe. Mainly, its a waste of time. Baxter spends the entire book following the life of a British/Roman girl who founds a hive-like society that somehow lasts for millennia, despite being, as he himself points out, not viable. The concept has no merit, and his grasp of evolution seems a bit shaky. Its a good thing I got this free from a friend, or I would have been really unhappy at wasting money on it. ( )