Take some archetypal sci-fi characters (ageing moonwalker, several bright young astronauts and a dedicated but reclusive scientist), throw in the near future scenario of a declining space programme following a catastrophic fatal accident, mix well with some unusual plot twists and you have the foundations for Baxter's eighth novel.

Baxter novices may be wary of such a clichéd plot, but don't despair--his reputation as one of the UK's best sci-fi writers is well founded. Titan is an enjoyable novel, well-written, with just the right mixture of hard science fiction, strong characters and a believable, if undesirable, vision of the future. Reminiscent of 2001 and its sequel 2010, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of a declining world civilization. America is sinking into the mire of Christian fundamentalism and turning against technology, whilst a desperate NASA expends all it's remaining energy and resources on a manned mission to Titan--one- way--with the faint hope of reigniting the public's interest in space exploration. The mission is a technical success, but is ignored by the masses, leaving the astronauts stranded on the outskirts of the solar system with no hope of rescue.

But of course, that's not the end of the story? --Dave Mutton

Paula Benacerraf is appointed to oversee the dismantling of the Shuttle fleet after another disaster. Instead, she listens to the scientist, Rosenberg, who wants to explore the life Cassini discovers on Titan. Humans are hurled to the edge of the Solar System. To the edge, also, of sanity.

2007-03-26 There's something missing

I love Baxter's writing when I want to immerse myself in a technical-type novel like Voyage. The combination of the messiness of politics and vested interests, the technological challenges, the spirit of adventure, the awe at human endeavour and big engineering...

But Titan was, ultimateley, just a little too depressing. Ignoring the final chapter, which some have criticised as far too improbable, the rest of the book is an essay in how to detach humanity from human exploration.

While all of it is, of course, possible, I felt while reading it that it was never going to end well. That there was to be no redemption.

This may, in the future, be the case. But I felt that, as entertainment, it didn't have that spark of hope that makes his other books so brilliant.

I get the feeling that the book originally ended before the final chapter, which would only have been added when an editor said that it might turn into another Catcher In The Rye!