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Following an accident that almost cost him his life, Howard Falcon was not so much saved as he was converted, through the use of prosthetics, into something faster, stronger and smarter . . . but also slightly less human and more machine than he was. And with this change came an opportunity – that of piloting a mission into Jupiter’s atmosphere, and ultimately of making first contact with the life forms he discovers there.
Picking up the threads of humanity versus artificial intelligences and machines, and of encounters with the alien, this collaborative novel between two superb writers is a sequel to Howard Falcon’s adventures. A proper science fiction adventure, this is perfect for fans of Golden Age SF as well as the modern SF reader.
Read by Peter Kenny
(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group
Picking up the threads of humanity versus artificial intelligences and machines, and of encounters with the alien, this collaborative novel between two superb writers is a sequel to Howard Falcon’s adventures. A proper science fiction adventure, this is perfect for fans of Golden Age SF as well as the modern SF reader.
Read by Peter Kenny
(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group
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Reviews
The Medusa Chronicles engenders in me the sense of wonder that first brought me to SF, and reminds me why I love it so much. Two masters of the genre taking up the mantle of the grandmaster himself
A worthy sequel to a classic.
'A vivid and vital take on a pace age future that never actually happened. Clarke, you may find yourself thinking, would surely approve.'
A joy to read, it's yet another feather in Baxter and Reynolds' well-adorned hats.
With these two titans of the genre, jaw-dropping imagination and laser-sharp wordcraft are guaranteed. They have created a beautiful novel, wonderful to explore.
brings the strengths of both writers - a thorough grasp of scientific principles and the ability to present them in well-paced, engaging narratives
it certainly contains all that I love in the writing and imagination and vision of both Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds. Full justice has been done to Clarke and his original short story and I can only hope for more. My only greedy complaint is that I wish the book were longer. What there is, though, is wondrous and perfect.
Stephen Baxter and Alistair Reynolds choose to focus instead on the characters to help pull the storyline forward and that was what I liked most about The Medusa Chronicles, it's a character driven sci-fi book, something I feel the genre needs more of.
Baxter and Reynolds are the ideal writers to take this on. They capture a sense of the awe of the universe and the humility of the position of humanity within it, but they also clearly have a lot of fun with some very old SF genre conventions in the process.
if you like a political story combined with the effects of human interplanetary space travel, this book is definitely for you.
Humanist, meditative, this is old-fashioned science fiction as evidenced by its sense of wonder and a positive attitude to scientific progress but, alongside, manages to keep the thrills on overdrive and the cosmic and planetary problems ticking along. A good read.
If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting The Medusa Chronicles to be much more than a tip of the hat to Arthur C. Clarke, but Baxter and Reynolds go far farther by realising a resounding sweep of a story with rich seams of science and speculation, some unforgettable spectacle and not a few emotional moments.
One of the most compelling novels of either author's career, it combines moments of incredible action with an intricately-realised depiction of an expansive universe.