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Origin - Manifold 3
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Plot Summary of Origin - Manifold 3
"

Del Rey, Feb 2002, 26.00, 576 pp.
ISBN 0345430794

    Reid Malenfant has wanted to be an astronaut since he was a little boy. When NASA accepted him into the space program as a pilot, he was ecstatic. He flew a few missions and was a great spokesperson for the agency until he was scrubbed from his latest assignment.

    While flying with his wife Emma over Africa in a T-38, he saw a new red moon appear in the sky. Emma and Reid eject from the plane but while he floats back to Earth, Emma floats through a blue wheel that suddenly appears and lands her on the new moon. Not expecting help to arrive anytime soon Emma does her best to survive, learning many shocking facts about the human race along the way. Reid, in the meantime, mounts a public outcry to allow him to visit the red moon and get his wife back.

    This final installment in the Manifold series is a fascinating tale that delves into multiple dimensions, the evolution of mankind and the true reality of the Red Moon. The emphasis in this science fiction novel is the science and Stephen Baxter does a fabulous job of keeping this work realistic within the framework of modern technologies and astrophysics.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

"The concluding novel in the Manifold series brings to conclusion (hopefuly forwver) the Characters started in Manifold Time. A dragging and depressing outlook on humanities evolution and ultimeate fate billions of years in the future."
William Rawls, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Origin - Manifold 3
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%




Tone of book - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - surviving natural elements on planet
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - info about lifeform(s)/society/phenomena
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - scientist - teacher
Age: - 20's-30's - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - none - natural phenomena
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.

Setting
Terrain - Desert - Mountains - Forests
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society - primitive aliens - empty, or nearly empty world
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a fair amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of touching personal anatomy - licking - impregnation/reproduction - description of breasts - descript. of private male anat. - rape/molest (yeech!)
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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Stephen Baxter Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Harriet Klausner  

SCHOLARS:
Barry F. Seidman  


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