Absorption

I'm not at all clear why Stephen Baxter, according to the cover blurb, apparently believes that SF will never be the same again after this book... there's nothing particularly different in it. Hype aside, it's main problem is that it consists of a string of different stories, only one of which really goes anywhere, and which don't appear to be particularly connected. There clearly is a connection of some sort, but it's vague and presumably waiting to be explored/explained in the later volumes of the trilogy.

Of the separate stories interleaved through the book, potentially the best is that set in Europe in the run-up to World War II, but that turns out to be (I assume) no more than a prelude to whatever happens next. More significant is the story on a far future world with incredible technology, much of which is genuinely interesting, and is arguably the only section with a real plot. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is fair enough for a trilogy, and really provides the only reason to want to read book two.

Of the remaining plot threads, one has a sort of resolution, but feels rather flimsy, and mainly seems to serve as an explanation of how humanity gets from where it is now to the far future world with the main plot. Nothing much happens in the other one, set in 8th century Scandinavia, at all.

I dare say all this is going somewhere, but, if so, a trilogy does not strike me as the best format for what the author is (presumably) trying to do. Too much of this book is establishing the groundwork for the setting, rather than actually telling a story; most of it is just set-up. The format may have been pushed on the relatively new author by the publisher, rather than allowing a single, longer, volume that would have made more sense. If so, it's a misstep.