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The Thousand Earths

By: Stephen Baxter
Narrated by: Caitlin Shannon, David Monteith
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Publisher's Summary

In 2145AD John Hackett's adventure is just beginning.

In Year 30, Mela's story is coming to a close.

Hackett, in his trusty ship the Perseus, is not just a space traveller - beginning his travels with an expedition to Neptune and back - but, thanks to the time-dilation effect, a time traveller as well. His new mission will take him to Andromeda, to get a close-up look at the constellation which will eventually crash into the Milky Way, and give humanity a heads-up about the challenges which are coming.

A mission which will take him five million years to complete.

Not only is Hackett exploring unknown space, but he will return to a vastly different time.

Mela's world is coming to an end. Erosion is eating away at the edges of every landmass - first at a rate of ten metres a year, but fast accelerating, displacing people and animals as the rising Tide destroys everything in its path. Putting more and more pressure on the people - and resources - which remain.

She and her people have always known that this long-predicted end to their home, one of the Thousand Earths, is coming - but that makes their fight to survive, to protect each other, no less desperate . . . and no less doomed.

A beautiful story which interweaves the tale of these two characters, separated by both space and time, in a hopeful exploration of humanities' future, this is Stephen Baxter at his best.

©2022 Stephen Baxter (P)2022 Gollancz

What listeners say about The Thousand Earths

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable read. Great premise.

Wow! A tale a trillion years in the making. I liked it, but it’s not quite the sweeping epic it reached for.
I was intrigued about how the two story arcs would meet and was not distant the end.
The main protagonist, John, was a little annoying, but I think that was part of it, his difficulty accepting the changes (or lack of) that he witness.
Overall it was ok. You can’t write a timespan of a trillion years in a single book and expect an epic. I feel Baxter tried to reach a little to far.
The narrators were great. I’m not sure the narrator for the John Hacket arc was a good fit but I got used to it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Didn’t Quite Cut It

I read Stephen Baxter “Times Eye” many a year ago and loved it. For some reason The Thousand Earths didn’t capture me in its web. I stayed for the ride till the end but I was left wondering what it was all about. I guess we all have our moments where Favorite Authors just didn’t get us. Maybe it was just me but well we’ll leave it at that.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dark is bright

Stephen Baxter at his darkest and brightest… a wonderful extrapolation of humanity into deep time, carrying with them the same struggles, hope and longing we toil with in todays epoch…

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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I tried, but sadly a DNF for me…

The support of Mella is as gripping and heartbreaking as the story of John is tedious and uninteresting. I really tried to stick with it, for Mella’s sake. But by the second five billion year jaunt I gave up. Not only is John and his crew annoying and uninspiring, but their supposed travels strain the willing suspense of disbelief too much for me.

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