Stephen Baxter's novel Coalescent explores the SF possibilities of our own evolution--and whether, like ants or naked mole rats, a human community could develop a hive mind.

In modern England, George Poole learns in mid-life that he once had a twin sister, given as an infant to The Puissant Order of Holy Mary Queen of Virgins. The what? Poole tracks down what seems a perfectly respectable Rome-based organisation, not all that religious but with hints of underlying strangeness. Yet apparently they're not strangers. "They're family."

Sixteen centuries before, the Roman-British girl Regina lives through the final, painful passing of Roman law and order in a Britain increasingly ravaged by Saxon invasion. It's a grimly moving historical story, which even links to the legend of Arthur.

Hardened by much brutal experience, Regina is determined to protect her bloodline and her household gods through the Dark Ages, until this temporary disturbance is over. By luck, cunning and sheer ruthlessness she reaches sanctuary in Rome, where she founds an enclave that will survive into the modern era and beyond. Instinctively, Regina lays down rules that will fundamentally change "human nature" as the centuries slip by:

Ignorance is strength. Listen to your sisters. Sisters matter more than laughters.

A third narrative strand follows Lucia, a girl of the modern-day Order who sees these slogans on every wall, lives underground in the artificial light of the "Crypt" and is always surrounded by many sisters. No room is ever empty. When Lucia finds herself physically changing and becoming different from her workmates, the resulting upheaval has ripples that affect Poole, his own rediscovered sister and the world.

The lifestyle of the Order is a new quirk in mankind's evolution, alternately seductive and shocking. Baxter switches effectively between harrowing historical narrative and the slow revelation of a threat whose understated chill is reminiscent of John Wyndham's quieter menaces. Coalescent is a strong, standalone novel that opens a new SF sequence titled "Destiny's Children". --David Langford

COALESCENT is the first of a trilogy of novels that does nothing less than tell the story of mankind's possible evolutions and our role in the Universe. Coalescent charts a radical divergence in our evolution; the development of a human hive entity. It is a divergence that has its roots in the dying days of the Roman Empire. The story is told through twin narratives; one takes us through the falling apart of the Roman control of Britain as seen by one girl, the other covers a man's search for a lost sister. A sister who may be living as part of an ancient and secretive order in Rome. Through these diverse personal stories Stephen Baxter charts a story that has terrifying consequences for what we thought was our place in the world, our perceived natural ascendency in the order of things. Things are going to be very different now . . .

COALESCENT is the first of a trilogy of novels that does nothing less than tell the story of mankind's possible evolutions and our role in the Universe. Coalescent charts a radical divergence in our evolution; the development of a human hive entity. It is a divergence that has its roots in the dying days of the Roman Empire. The story is told through twin narratives; one takes us through the falling apart of the Roman control of Britain as seen by one girl, the other covers a man's search for a lost sister. A sister who may be living as part of an ancient and secretive order in Rome. Through these diverse personal stories Stephen Baxter charts a story that has terrifying consequences for what we thought was our place in the world, our perceived natural ascendency in the order of things. Things are going to be very different now ...

Published in more than 20 countries, a bestseller in the US, the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award and numerous foreign language awards Stephen Baxter is perhaps the single most important writer of SF in the world today.

2008-05-24 Excellent thought provoking Sci Fi

A very interesting, thought provoking book about the possible evolutionary pathways mankind could take (or, in this case, has already taken). Baxter's canvas of characters always add a large element of depth to his novels, unless he's focused on explaining such esoteric abstractions like the 'Lithium Spike' (read Exultant, the next in the series, and you'll understand). This book in particularly is rich in characterisation, and the intertwining storylines, between Regina living in the last days of the Roman Empire, seeking to protect her family by any means possible, to George Poole living in present day England, trying to track down his long lost sister and finding what lies beneath the Appian Way, work well and flows seamlessly.Every so often we get snippets of the truth behind the Kuiper Anomaly, possibly of alien origins, and the possibliity of dark matter beings existing in our sun. The scope of Baxter's imagination rarely lets up in its frenetic search to keep us thinking. In short, this is an excellent piece science fiction which I'd highly recommend.