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Exultant (Destiny's Children 2) by Stephen Baxter
01/04/2006 . Source: Paul Skevington 
pub: Del Rey/Ballantine. 472 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-345-45788-9. pub: Gollancz. 520 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07655-0. pub: Gollancz. 490 page enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07429-9.
Buy Exultant in the USA - or Buy Exultant in the UK  check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk and www.delreydigital.com
The second book in a series can often prove difficult, as second albums are for breakthrough bands. 'Exultant' suffers more than most as the quality of the first book in the 'Destiny's Children' sequence, 'Coalescence', was extremely high.
Now, cowering underneath the shadow of its predecessor, Stephen Baxter's sequel shows its remarkable face to the world. Has it succeeded in matching the achievements of 'Coalescence'? Sadly, I would have to say, no. However, it is still an excellent book and a fine example of far-future SF.
At the end of 'Coalescence', we were shown a vision of humanity, twenty-five thousand years into the future. In 'Exultant', this section is elaborated upon and becomes the setting for the majority of the book's events. Gone is the interesting dual timeline of the first book which featured two central tales. Both of these started in Britain and culminated in Rome. However, the first was set during the period of Rome's decline, whereas the second was set in modern Europe. 'Exultant' replaces this with multiple viewpoints from contemporaneous characters, working effectively to create much needed diversions from the main plot, building suspense between chapters. One can't help feeling that a little of the original's magic is lost, as there is a similarity of setting in this novel, resulting in it struggling to imitate the sense of wonder that was achieved by 'Coalescence's historical sections.
Never mind, though, as there are plenty of things this novel can do that are beyond the scope of book one. For instance, the main protagonist is a man named Pirius, the pilot of the Assimilator's Claw, one of humanities space-faring warships. Humanity is engaged in a millennia-old war with an alien race called the Xeelee. At the start of the book, Pirius is deep in enemy territory, fighting to stay alive. Pirius survives, but thanks to the wonders of FTL (faster than light) technology, he manages to arrive back home two years before he set out in the first place. In Baxter's universe, time is quite resilient, so luckily, instead of causing the entire universe to explode in a puff of smoke, Pirius' return serves to create a very interesting situation indeed. His timeline is wiped from Destiny's logbook and now two versions of the same person exist simultaneously. These two people are allocated the designations Pirius Red and Pirius Blue, as in red and blue-shifted. They become the main viewpoint characters in the book, providing interesting comparisons between what is and what might have been.
The 'Destiny's Children' series is focused on the development of humanity and its evolutionary possibilities. 'Coalescent' achieved this by creating an alternate history, following it into the present and, as mentioned, briefly into the future. In the book, Baxter described the existence of a hidden society of adapted people, whose social structure most closely resembled that of a beehive. This possibility can't help but seem nightmarish to an inhabitant of a culture that prizes the individual and Baxter ably brings out this quality in the work, lacing humanities potential fate with a bitter tasting thread of fear. Against the grand scale of 'Exultant's futuristic backdrop, the thread becomes a rope that human beings are using to hang themselves. Although humanity has not evolved into the hive-like structure described in 'Coalescent' (at least not overtly), it has become something equally as bad, if not worse. In the aftermath of the brutal alien occupation of the Earth, civilisation allows itself to be shaped by a nihilistic philosophy into an unthinking machine of destruction, wasting the lives of billions of its citizens on a war that it can't win. Dying young is an expectation rather than a fear. Life isn't cheap, it's free. The horror of this ancient wheel's grinding motion is acutely described, a dystopian vision with only the faintest of glimmering lights to relieve its gloominess.
Don't dismiss these little lanterns, they are Baxter's strong point. Pervading this doom-laden setting is a sense of hope, a notion that despite all of the atrocities that have transpired, there is still a fleeting chance for things to get better. Amongst the teen soldiers and the hardened veterans who make it to their early twenties, we observe the playing out of familiar human stories. They fall in love, have sex, get drunk, have arguments and make friends. In fact, they behave almost exactly as people have done throughout history. Even the most seemingly alien representatives of our species that we encounter contain within them a recognisable spark of humanity, as if to say, 'Some things may pass, but this one thing will stay forever.' Baxter then ingeniously uses chapters to depict civilisations blossoming and decaying within the first few milliseconds of the universe's existence. It is an addendum to the former statement: remember that forever is an illusion, all things end in order that others can begin.
This majestic balancing act strikes me as being the very essence of this series' approach to evolution and fate: destiny on a knife's edge. This theme is even more thoroughly emphasised in 'Exultant'. FTL technology allows complete sections of history to be re-written, over and over again. Nothing is stable and the slightest deviation can make an enormous difference. One thing these books will never provide is a sure footing, they are made up as much of unpredictability as they are of paper and ink.
OK, it's not as good as 'Coalescent'. It's still good enough to have me champing at the bit to get my hands on the next book, 'Transcendant' and find out what Mr. Baxter has in store for mankind next.
Paul Skevington
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