Flood (Flood, #1) in Interim Coalition of Stephen Baxter

Jun 16, 2017 Richard Buro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, rick-s-personal-picks

The short version first . . .

Apocalyptic visions of a future Earth are one of the sub-genres of science fiction, and probably one which has seen a variety of ways in which the Earth can be destroyed or so physically changed that we cannot imagine how life can ever come back to the “bald prairie” or the “totally water world” that are two of the rather inventive ways in which the Earth has been previously destroyed based on our various metaphysical / religious texts that are available and translat The short version first . . .

Apocalyptic visions of a future Earth are one of the sub-genres of science fiction, and probably one which has seen a variety of ways in which the Earth can be destroyed or so physically changed that we cannot imagine how life can ever come back to the “bald prairie” or the “totally water world” that are two of the rather inventive ways in which the Earth has been previously destroyed based on our various metaphysical / religious texts that are available and translated into virtually every language that exists on our planet today. Those of the Judeo-Christian faith normally refer to the flood that occurred during the time of Noah. The rain occurred for forty days and forty nights per the texts. The result was a planet covered in water which slowly began receding after the forty days and nights of rain, the hardest rain anyone had ever experienced. In Flood, author Mr. Stephen Baxter shows what might occur in the modern and near future if climatic and other changes bring about a second Deluge, in some ways similar to Noah’s experience, and in some ways very different. Let’s take a look at these similarities and differences as a means of reviewing Mr. Baxter’s work first published in 2008 by Gollanz, with the edition I read being published 11 months later in hard cover by Roc Publishing.

The first similarity is man’s lack of stewardship of resources. In Noah’s time, men were usually hard working and striving to better themselves, while providing for their families. Naturally as things seem to happen with humans involved, there came a growing level of dissent and bickering about worldly things with the spiritual falling by the wayside. With man’s move away from religious observance and teachings, God became concerned, driving Him to act according to what His Children were doing and what must become of their lack of following in His Path. The result was to have Noah, a truly God-fearing, believing man, who followed God’s desire and built a boat for Noah and his family as well as two of every animal and beast on the Earth. Aa the story goes, Noah worked on building his Ark by God’s design and plan, and at the proper time, animals came in pairs to enter the Ark and as the rain began, it would be closed, and the incessant rains would begin. As the story goes, rains occurred for 40 days and 40 nights, and after the rains stopped, in due course, they found a dry spot of ground to beach their Ark, and by direction, they let out their livestock, families, and received a Covenant from God via a rainbow in the sky with directions on what would happen in case there was a recurrence of their wickedness. The rainbow was added to the visual reminders of God’s Presence and Dominion over the Earth. The other reminder was that the Earth would never be destroyed by water again, but rather by fire.

Mr. Baxter’s view of stewardship is brought to the fore in several places, in subtlety and inference, but the exist nonetheless. Let’s see how that works . . . There are numerous references to the trash and detritus of man and his dependence on petroleum to make plastics, solvents, paints, lubricants, and a plethora of other items for the convenience of man. Of course, as one reads Flood, it becomes abundantly clear that there is a certain degree of environmental damage that is caused by these petroleum based products and the remnants which will outlive us as well as their precursors outlived the last dominant species on Earth, the dinosaurs.

Mr. Baxter is probably one of the better known of “hard science” fiction’s authors writing today. His research into topics relevant to his writing is clear as he mentioned in Flood’s After Word where he documented the topics of mantle based water caches which exceed the volume of the water in today’s oceans, something with which I was unfamiliar. His story-telling skills are impeccable with its relentless rush and push as irresistible as the flood’s waters advance over the land, raising rivers and lakes beyond their capacities. The climatological sturm and drang comes through clearly as well as the expected use of nuclear weapons in some of the final outposts of Man in the areas of South and Central Asia. There were also instances of almost Gulag or concentration camp locations where immigrants leaving flooded lower lands would be placed indefinitely, with some of the locations being both denuded of everything except the residual radiation of the fallout from the nuclear holocaust, limited though the exchanges were. In the final vestiges of dryland, it became a struggle to find enough places for all to fit. Naturally, not all would, and the development of what another author Dale Brown calls a certain type of satellite that could be launched when a military operation needs it right this second, the so-called need it right this second or (NIRTS). With special handling and a special type of launch aircraft, these little beauties were able to all that was asked of them and more. Similarly, the needs of this second in Flood included ways to get people to longer term settings where they would be relatively safe and secure.

The final analysis though came about a hundred years into the Flood. That was when the last of the land succumbed to the incessant lapping of the waters over, under, and through it. Mr. Baxter gets you to the end of the rollercoaster rides through it all, all over the world, and without exception, extinction of land-based animals and plants was occurring on a massive scale especially at the end of the book. Some young humans were learning how to be amphibious to a degree, at home on a solid surface or in the water, regardless. Their persistence, resilience, and their dogged determination would serve them well as they began the transition from human, to amphibian, to water dweller, to who knows . . . ???

Recommendations:

Flood is a longer book, at just under 500 pages, but its length is needed to tell the stories and provide a basis for its sequel, Ark. There are clear cases of murder, tragic loss of many people at once, destruction on a massive scale, and occasional language less than 1% of all words might be considered questionable or borderline. Within their context, they are mild compared to what others would consider acceptable. Mature middle schoolers and high schoolers should be able to understand and be entertained by the goings on. It is fast paced with lots of action. The style is punchy, and, at time, approaches break-neck speeds. My four-star rating suggests that I am not sanguine with Earth becoming a totally water world without any day land whatsoever. I believe my lack of adventure-some-ness, is my failing, certainly not the readers’ nor the author’s. At any rate, be sure to wear your hip-waders just in case things happen as you read this one!!!!

Review of Stephen Baxter's Flood by Richard W. Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6374994-flood.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.penguin.com/subrights/. ...more

1 like · Like · see review