There's something about classic short science fiction stories that makes writers want to either expand or write follow ups to them. It's happened to stories by both Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, for example. Clarke's stories are especially popular for this treatment. The latest is a sequel to the 1971 novella "A Meeting With Medusa", which won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1972. This time, a couple of writers joined forces to put together a terrific followup, THE MEDUSA CHRONICLES: Stephen Baxter who, in my mind writes in the tradition of Clarke, and Alastair Reynolds, one of my personal favorites who writes wonderfully complex space operas, among other things.
I probably have read the original novella back in the depths of time - or at least sometime in the 1970s - but I do not remember doing so. Luckily, THE MEDUSA CHRONICLES does not require the original to have been read to enjoy, appreciate, and understand its story. The novel contains a brief but complete summary of its predecessor, which really is sufficient to allow the reader to move on with the larger work. As a brief synopsis here, Howard Falcon is critically injured when an experimental helium airship crashes. He survives due to surgical techniques that leave him part man, but mostly machine. He later goes on an exploratory mission to Jupiter during which he meets the titular Medusae, among other creatures, that live in the upper layers of the Jovian atmosphere.
THE MEDUSA CHRONICLES starts out as a straight sequel to "A Meeting With Medusa" (with a short side stop to Falcon's childhood, some of the details of which play a part in the later parts of CHRONICLES), but evolves into a terrific story of the conflict between man and machine that is, in effect, kick-started by Falcon who also finds himself in between the two factions trying to broker a peace between the two sides. Falcon watches and participates in events that take place starting at Jupiter, where the machines have their base, to the inner solar system as the machines take over each planet in turn, dismantling Earth in the process. Time and again Falcon is called upon to intervene in the situation that he himself started to try to get the machines to end their inevitable march through the Solar System. The last section of the book is devoted to what ends up being a joint mission to the furthest depths of Jupiter with Adam, the machine that was at the start of it all, to find out what really is way down there in the depths of the great planet and in the process maybe find a solution to the conflict.
There's really a lot going on here. Each section of the novel is a story itself, each one being an instance where Falcon is called upon to deal with the machines. It's not until the final story, where he is called to unknowingly be the delivery system for a virus that will destroy the machines, that the ultimate solution - the unification of machine and man - is the way to get the long elusive peace to occur. It's something of a lesson to the current world that the best way to peace is to work together to make it happen; a bit heavy handed perhaps, and maybe a bit too symbolic, but it is done in an effective way so that the reader may not feel hit too hard over the head with it.
While the book is wonderful on its own, it certainly pays homage to Clarke all along the way, sprinkling references to various Clarke stories, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey. The journey of Adam and Falcon to the depths of the Jovian atmosphere, if it were to be filmed today, would rival the psychedelic trip of Bowman through the monolith on the way to becoming the Star Child. It's clear that both Baxter and Reynolds know and love the work of Clarke, and at several points in the story I was thrown back to the days of my youth when I devoured all things Clarke. This is truly a terrific novel that fans of Baxter, Reynolds, and Clarke will love. It's a throwback to a different time, when the sense of wonder that was present in the science fiction that we read - maybe it was just because we read those books as young people with eyes wide open to the future - was what brought us into the field to begin with.
I was not fond of Peter Kenny as the narrator. He seemed somewhat monotone and unable to either substantially change his voice to represent different characters or sometimes keep me interested in the narration itself. Often times we are attracted to an audio book because of the narrator; Kenny is not one of those narrators. Luckily, the story itself overshadowed Kenny's performance such that I was deeply enough interested in what was going on more than I was being disappointed in the narration. I may have been distracted by the narration in spots, but the story itself pulled me through it.
Other than Reynolds' SLOW BULLETS, I haven't read anything by either one of these authors in quite a long period of time. It seems that I must dig in to my to read list and move a few books to the head of that list. I think it's time I explore these authors again. That's what a book like THE MEDUSA CHRONICLES will do for you.
The Medusa Chronicles
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Top reviews from other countries
p7mountainbiker
Well tried, but missed the mark.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 11, 2020Alan Donnelly
You need to read CLarke's "Meeting with Medusa" first
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 24, 2020William Lawrenson
Really useful back stories.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 15, 2022Chris
Ambassador to the machines
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 24, 2021
