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Ultima

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Ultima

By: Stephen Baxter
Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
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About this listen

Fresh from his latest collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the Long Earth sequence Stephen Baxter now returns to the mysteries and challanges first hinted at in his acclaimed novel PROXIMA.

In PROXIMA we discovered ancient alien artifacts on the planet of Per Ardua - hatches that allowed us to step across light years of space as if we were stepping into another room. The universe opened up to us.

Now in ULTIMA the consequences of this new freedom make themselves felt. And we discover that there are minds in the universe that are billions of years old and they have a plan for us. For some of us. But as we learn the true nature of the universe we also discover that we have countless pasts all meeting in this present and that our future is terrifyingly finite. It's time for us to fight to take back control.

This is grand scale, big idea SF of the best possible sort. It is set to build on the massive success of PROXIMA and define Stephen Baxter's work going forward.

©2014 Stephen Baxter (P)2014 Tantor Media Science Fiction Fiction Mind-bending

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All stars
Most relevant  
Performance: At first I thought there were one or two strange pronunciations: "shone" pronounced as "shown" which I had not heard before. However, the narrator's grasp of different accents from "northern English" to Australian to Roman to Inca was masterful, especially when switching between so many so quickly in a conversation. The most nuanced of all was the Col U.

You can feel the relish of both the author and narrator for Titus's wonderful catch-phrase, and the last utterance is particularly apt.

Story: the epic length through generations (a Baxter favourite device I think) and the different locations (in various ways) really developed wonderfully the promise of Proxima (mostly involving isolation and survival)

The two books are like ripples in a pond where the lives and deeds of Uri (initially) and Steph(growing) spread out to interact with, and affect, all the other characters.

At this time, this is the only series (Proxima and Ultima) that I have listened to twice. I recommend it to all.

Why, I remember once on campaign...

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I listened to this as I enjoyed the first book in the series and was intrigued by its ending, but this book is disappointing. Whilst amazing in its concept and scope it is let down by far too much mundane detail and at time ridiculous obsession with the Romanic culture. The narration is also somewhat odd with some bizarre accents and a strange pacing. I really wish I could be more positive but I ended up skipping long chunks just to get the end of the story.

Far too long and rambling in places

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I was drawn to try Stephen Baxter's 2 books (Proxima & Ultima) following the sad passing of Terry Pratchett with whom Stephen collaborated by keeping the science plausible.. Stephen handles a mixture of established science (relativity, AI, astronomy of red dwarf stars) with the latest speculations in cosmology (multiverse and parallel universes) with aplomb. He has obviously lesrmt the art of story telling from Terry as he presents an intriguing story line with mamy surprising twists. I was sorry when The tale ended.

One of the best SF books I've met for some time.

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Not as strong as the first book but still enjoyable. new and interesting characters are introduced, some which raise a smile. the conclusion of this book was the high light for me and I'm looking forward to the third offering.

a good continuation of the story

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Took longer to get in to at the start than the first but worthwhile sticking with.

Excellent Sequel to Proxima

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Liked the plot and the writing.

However, the narrator is awful, puts on a British accent that is all over the place, and mispronounced so many, many words.

American narrator, awful British accent

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After the first book in the series, I had high hopes. This however, was disappointing.
I found it completely implausible, the fact that space travel could be achieved without advanced technology and no real attempt was made to explain this, ruined the book for me.

Disappointing

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The story is full of twists and turns, it is very engaging to read. The science is explained clearly.
The narrator uses voices that could be ealily separated from each other and give a distinct sound to each character.

Great narrator, engaging storyline

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Staggeringly brilliant concept narrated superbly. Despite the depth of the science, the breadth of the scope and the wealth of characters you never feel lost or confused. A truly age spanning space opera that will expand your knowledge, love and appreciation of science fiction.

Original Brilliance

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I liked the story, but feel like the writer sort of ran out of ideas and just went with the same theme again. I feel like there should have been MORE to this book. It's still worth a read if you've do be the first one though.

Good, but could be better

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