Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5)

Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5)
Vacuum Diagrams - Xeelee, Bk 5
Author: Stephen Baxter
Collection of short stories. — "And everywhere the humans went they found life..." This dazzling future history, the most ambitious and exciting since Asimov's classic Foundation novels, tells the story of Humankind--all the way to the end of the Universe itself. — Here, in luminous and vivid narratives spanning five million years, are the first P...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780061053955
ISBN-10: 0061053953
Publication Date: 1/1/1999
Pages: 373
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 4

3.9 stars, based on 4 ratings
Publisher: Harper Prism
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5) on + 20 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Extraordinary book, I've read several other books by Baxter, and this one probably covers the longest time span of any book I've ever read. A few million years here and there, and pretty soon you're talking about REAL time.
Read All 4 Book Reviews of "Vacuum Diagrams Xeelee Bk 5"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

etruss60 avatar reviewed Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5) on + 9 more book reviews
The first half of the book was OK. The stories seemed to have about the same plot and often the same or similar lines in spots. The last half was more like fantasy than science fiction. Some science fiction can take some suspension of belief but this was just too much for me.
jeffp avatar reviewed Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5) on + 201 more book reviews
Vacuum Diagrams is a collection of science fiction short stories that collect and intertwine the author's larger works in a (relatively) cohesive whole. Baxter actually pulls this off better than many - Asimov and Heinlein come to mind as examples of those who should never have tried such a thing - probably because he actually did have a relatively cohesive world view as he wrote his various works.

Nevertheless, while I found these stories acceptable, they really didn't stick with me. There's something about huge, sweeping tales - these cover the entire history of our universe, and introduce a second, if that makes any sense out of context - that makes me want more than just short stories to get them to stick.

If you've read other things by Baxter and enjoyed them then this may be your thing. You can see the overall view of the universe(s) he imagines here. For me, though, these were simply OK stories without enough glue to make them work overall.
reviewed Vacuum Diagrams (Xeelee, Bk 5) on + 25 more book reviews
This book reads like a series of short stories, tenuously connected by an over-arching storyline. Why? Because that's what it is. It isn't apparent from the cover. (Or maybe it is and I'm just a doofus.)

Most of the stories are interesting. A few fall flat. The over-arching storyline falls flat, as does the ending.

Overall, it's a nice read if you look at it as a collection of sorta-related short stories rather than one big one. Too bad it's billed as the latter.

Book Wiki

Series
Xeelee  5 of 5

Genres: