Sunstorm

In this splendid sequel to Time's Eye BKL O 15 03, Bisesa Dutt returns from Mir, the scrambled world of kidnapped human samples, just when Earth is stricken by a massive solar flare. Astronomer Royal Siobhan McGorran learns from scientists on the moon that the flare is only a precursor to one that will destroy all life on Earth, and Bisesa's travels offer clues that the flares are constituents in a lengthy plot on the part of the alien Firstborn to destroy the human race. A superbly drawn battle for the survival of Earth takes up the rest of the book. The details of humanity's survival device (an Earth-sized sun shield) and the fraying of society, and the characters of the astronauts, engineers, lunar settlers, and artificial intelligences (each with its distinctive personality) are filled out with skill and total conviction, and without at any point slowing the pace. Most of the novel and its predecessor are based on concepts that Clarke absolutely masters (e.g., that of watchful elder races, though the Firstborn have entirely different plans for humanity than the Overlords had in Clarke's classic Childhood's End, 1953). Since Baxter is gaining similar mastery, Sunstorm is his and Clarke's most seamless collaboration to date. --Roland Green Copyright 2005 Booklist

Set in the same universe as Clarke's 2001 and its sequels, Clarke and Baxter's second and final Time Odyssey book (after 2004's Time's Eye) will especially appeal to fans of hard SF who appreciate well-grounded science and humans with a can-do attitude to problem solving. In 2037, the same day the enigmatic alien Firstborn return Bisea Dutt, the heroine of Time's Eye, to her home in London, the city grinds to a halt as a sun storm sends a massive surge of energy to Earth, temporarily destroying the world's electronic infrastructure. This surge presages another, much larger sun storm, due to hit in 2042, which will utterly annihilate life across the globe. Against all odds, the nations of Earth come together to construct a huge space umbrella that will shield the planet from the worst of the barrage. The answer to why the sun's activity is being manipulated to wipe out life on Earth must wait, given the day-to-day difficulties and politics of the construction project. The five-year sweep of events, the plethora of characters and the cuts from Mars to Earth to the moon during the climactic sun storm give the story a movie montage feel, but the focus on the enormously challenging task at hand will keep readers turning the pages. Agent, Scovil, Chichak, Galen. (Mar. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

British officer Bisesa Dutt, newly returned from a bizarre out-of-time experience on another world, now faces a crisis of world-shattering proportions. Along with Astronomer Royal Siobhan McGorran, Phillippa Duflot of the office of the mayor of London, and solar specialist and lunar resident Mikhail Martynov, Lieutenant Dutt must assemble an ambitious project to save Earth and its population from a fatal sunstorm just five years away. Sf grandmaster Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Baxter ("Manifold" series) deliver a page-turning sequel to Time's Eye and conclude the "Time Odyssey" series. Combining the best of disaster fiction and hard sf, the authors maintain their focus on the compelling characters caught in the midst of a cataclysmic cosmic event. Most libraries will want this. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Hostile aliens intend to blow up the Sun and wipe humanity out in this sequel to Time's Eye, (2004), where one reappearing character, unlike anybody else, retains memories from the previous adventure. In 2037, a giant solar flare disrupts electrical and electronic processes on Earth. Having predicted the flare, genius physicist Eugene Mangles (the usual planet-sized brain, zero social skills) extrapolates with implausible precision that on April 20, 2042, another huge solar eruption will fry the Earth down to the bedrock. What to do? Well, the irritatingly clueless characters--British Astronomer Royal Siobhan McGorran chief among them--finally come up with the idea of a space shield that will deflect most of the deadly radiation. To build such a shield will require all the resources and efforts of every nation on the planet (excepting China, which has its own agenda). Even then, the shield by itself won't be enough, and the world's great cities cover themselves with protective domes. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bisesa Dutt of the British Army, having lived five years in another reality and bearing the scars to prove it, contacts Siobhan with her suspicions about the mysterious Firstborn, alien intelligences who want to expunge the human race because--get this--we'll probably use up the galaxy's available energy too quickly. Calculating furiously, Mangles shows that a supergiant planet walloped our Sun in 4 b.c., destabilizing it--and that the planet was dispatched deliberately from the constellation Aquila. What's more, we're not the only race the Firstborn have pummeled. By the time the exposition-stuffed narrative gets around to reporting on the main event, few readers will care. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.