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The Time Ships Mass Market Paperback – Illustrated, November 27, 1995

by Stephen Baxter (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,032 ratings
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There is a secret passage through time

...and it leads all the way to the end of Eternity. But the journey has a terrible cost. It alters not only the future but he "present" in which we live.

A century after the publication of H. G. Wells' immortal The Time Machine, Stephen Baxter, today's most acclaimed new "hard SF" author, and the acknowledged Clarke, returns to the distant conflict between the Eloi and the Morlocks in a story that is at once an exciting expansion, and a radical departure based on the astonishing new understandings of quantum physics.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    544 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Voyager
  4. Publication date
    November 27, 1995
  5. Dimensions
    4.19 x 1.36 x 6.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0061056480
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061056482
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stunning talent!" -- "Locus""Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Hcinlein succeeded...and now Stephen Baxter joins their exclusive ranks, writing science fiction in which the science is right. A sheer pleasure to read!"-- "New Scientist""A major new talent!" -- Arthur C. Clarke

About the Author

Stephen Baxter is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee Sequence series, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and The Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's classic The Time Machine. He lives in England.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Voyager; Reprint edition (November 27, 1995)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061056480
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061056482
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 1.36 x 6.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,032 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Stephen Baxter

    Stephen Baxter

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Stephen Baxter is the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation. Published around the world he has also won major awards in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. Born in 1957 he has degrees from Cambridge and Southampton. He lives in Northumberland with his wife.

    Here are the Destiny's Children novels in series order:

    Coalescent

    Exultant

    Transcendent

    Resplendent

    Time's Tapestry novels in series order:

    Emperor

    Conqueror

    Navigator Weaver

    Flood novels:

    Flood

    Ark

    Time Odyssey series (with Arthur C Clarke):

    Time's Eye

    Sunstorm

    Firstborn

    Manifold series:

    Time

    Space

    Origin

    Phase Space

    Mammoth series:

    Mammoth (aka Silverhair)

    Long Tusk

    Ice Bones

    Behemoth

    NASA trilogy:

    Voyage

    Titan

    Moonseed

    Xeelee sequence:

    Raft

    Timelike Infinity

    Flux

    Ring

    Vacuum Diagrams (linked short stories)

    The Xeelee Omnibus (Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring)

    The Web series for Young Adults:

    Gulliverzone

    Webcrash

    Coming in 2010:

    Stone Spring - book one of the Northland series

    See more on the author's page
  2. Les Edwards

    Les Edwards

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,032 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Solipso
5.0 out of 5 stars A bit slow at spots; otherwise a good sequel to HG Wells' Time Machine
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2011
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Stephen Baxter gives us a sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Once again we see the Traveller in his home in London in 1891 and in the futuristic scene of the Eloi and the Morlocks. We also see him in the far distant past and in some other times, though I do not want to reveal the specifics of all the times and places he visits. Nor do I think it polite to reveal the surprising nature of the character who becomes his time-travelling companion.

The Time Ships is a good science-fiction adventure, but only good, not great. Which prompts the questions why have reviewers here on amazon given it so many five-star ratings and why has it won the Philip K. Dick Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. The answer may have to do with the fine way that Baxter evokes the spirit of H.G. Wells.

I am reluctant to give this epic story a maximum of five stars. Here's why: During the Traveller's more lengthy journeys through time, especially during one that is an apotheosis, we get descriptions of phenomenology and cosmology. These passages felt lengthy and dull, and I found myself wishing the author would wrap them up and return to normal narration. Otherwise the novel is a five-star read.

If you are looking for another time-travel story, I recommend Jack McDevitt's Time Travellers Never Die, published in 2009. Though it is considerably shorter than Time Ships, I found it easier to read, faster paced, and all around more agreeable. McDevitt's story involves contemporary characters, however, and they have nothing to do with the Traveller from The Time Machine.
7 people found this helpful
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Steven Woodcock
4.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Sequel
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2021
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Given that this "sequel" is a good four or five times the length of the ORIGINAL book I admit I had my doubts, but the reviews looked good and I figured it was worth the chance. Turned out to be a good move on my part.

This is indeed an *excellent* book, and the author is to be commended for getting the language and the "feel" in matching the original H.G. Wells novel. The story moves along fairly quickly and is as large as it is for good reasons that I can't really divulge without spoilers, but it's worth it. The last chapter was perhaps the weakest; knowing the storyline I could only think of a handful of ways it could all end and while it seemed a bit abrupt I found it fairly satisfying.

If you liked the original H.G. Wells novel, you'll probably like this. Recommended.
12 people found this helpful
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Benjamin Kolozsy
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Fantastic handling of a visionary's work.
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2022
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H.G. Wells' Time Machine was simply visionary. Baxter follow up on his story with such intelligence and keeps the spirit of Wells' characters on course as our time traveler returns to the future.

The way I first found this book was on a road trip as a teen. There was a welcome center along the way that had a book swap set up. I don't recall if I had a book I could swap at the time, but I remember being intrigued by the title, cover art, and description on the back to the point that I just took it.

What a fantastic chance occurrence. It became one of my most beloved books of all time, and I'm nearly 40 now.

If you have read The Time Machine and are on the fence about this book, please consider giving it a chance. It is one of the best explorations of the concept of time travel I have ever read... and I simply adore the concept of time travel!
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illiandantic
3.0 out of 5 stars Tolerable But Long
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2003
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The first part of this book (up through about page 119) is pretty good. It starts out where H.G. Wells leaves off with his "Time Machine" and puts the Traveller into a different Leg of the Trousers of Time (LToT) from what he first went down. However, after that Baxter becomes internally inconsistent. The Traveller goes back to where he first gets involved in his Time Machine. Then someone from a different LToT comes back and rips that leg of the pants right off. Yet, everyone moves into that now missing LToT and is bored to death in it by Londonian details for a hundred pages or so. Then, we go WAAAAAY back and mess with various things that ought to have smashed that same LToT for sure. Instead, things come back from it yet again. Really, the book would have been better with the whole middle two-thirds missing. This is especially true since an awful lot of it (well, actually, an awful lot of the whole book) involves bashing humans as the worst thing ever developed.

I'm really not all that enamoured of the book. However, the cleverness of extending H.G. Wells' "Time Machine" the way he did lets me bring my rating up from two stars to three stars. Somewhat boring, but interesting.
9 people found this helpful
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William S. Morris
4.0 out of 5 stars Drags
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2022
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At first the writing seemed much like that of HG Wells. The first person narrative, the quaint language, and the introspection. There was an attempt to make the story consistent with modern science, but then it became very preachy with alternate universes created by reason of his first voyage into time. WWI never ends, and the Germans are bombing London with nuclear bombs, but London is protected by a giant dome. The war starts extending into time battles, and the result is that a colony is established before the dinosaur, which completely rearranges the development of history. Men go to the stars, but devolve into some sort of metallic pyramids that maintain a universal cosmic consciousness. They try to alter time which leads us to a theory of multi universes. HG eventually ends up with Weena of the Eloi, and is motivated to somehow instruct the Eloi and the Morlachs to cooperate with each other to reestablish civilization. The story is supposed to finish with a summary of an expedition into the Morlach caves, but there is no summary leaving one with the impression that it was a failed expedition. I found the book vaguely boring although well written. It was full of introspection into the foibles of mankind with a doomsday outlook. It's not a happy story.
4 people found this helpful
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Mouse
5.0 out of 5 stars If you're a fan of HG Wells
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2023
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This book is NOT to be missed. If you're a fan of HG Wells Time Machine, you will LOVE this sequel to the story. Baxter captures the heart of the original and extends the concepts HG Wells explored. I think, were HG alive today, he would approve of this brilliant gem of a story.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very in-depth and fascinating book
Reviewed in Canada on September 28, 2020
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I loved reading this and could not put it down until finished thus I read it within a few days! I had seen the movie Time Machine adapted from Orson Wells story and this book takes it past that and adds more to the story to make it complete and rounded out in the end. I like the spiritual aspects of it and also that is is universal for anyone to understand . I highly recommend this story for others to learn about life as we know it and the unknown as we don't know it.
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Paulo Azevedo da Silva Júnior
5.0 out of 5 stars Ótimo livro de viagens no tempo
Reviewed in Brazil on August 11, 2020
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Este livro em inglês, continuação de A Máquina do Tempo de H.G. Wells, é um excelente livro sobre viagens no tempo, porém quase não tem enredo. É quase que totalmente focado no tema, e é muito eficiente ao lidar com ele e suas implicações. Apesar de ser tão focado no tema, também tem um desenvolvimento razoável dos personagens. Gostei do fato de ter várias viagens no tempo para futuros e passados e também mudanças feitas na linha do tempo, tudo sem se tornar apenas ciclos sem fim igual a muitas outras tramas de viagem temporal. Mas também acho que para os dias atuais não envelheceu tão bem, pois os personagens tem uma certa inocência com relação ao tema que na época do "imperialismo nerd" que vivemos não existe mais. As ideias parecem um pouco batidas para 2020. Porém nem todas, o Stephen Baxter certamente tem muita imaginação, ao ponto de algumas ideias ainda surpreenderem.
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Mrs AG
5.0 out of 5 stars A hugely original and riveting read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2017
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An absolutely riveting read. Hugely original and beautifully written, this is a highly intelligent sequel to HG Wells "The Time Machine" which deserves all its accolades including those from such luminaries as Arthur C Clarke.
At heart, this is a pastiche of the Victorian/Edwardian ripping yarn genre, in the very best style of that tradition. Scientific and philosophical ideas interweave with some beautiful passages of writing, particularly the descriptions of the vertiginous experience of time travel itself, the immensity of space and of the time scales involved, the vast structures that arise out of future interstellar space engineering, and the emergent life-forms millennia hence. I must confess to always having had a bit of a problem with the theory of multiple universes and my heart sank when early on it became evident that this was going to be crucial to the plot but, happily, the story-telling transcends this quibble. Likewise, I became a little lost towards the end by talk of space/time boundaries, optimal and sub-optimal multiple histories, and the circularity of Time - and God only knows who The Watchers were! But I was always willingly carried forward on the bright, buoyant wave of the story and the way it was told.
Baxter is able to keep the first person narrative perspective of the Victorian original, presenting the advanced scientific concepts encountered along the way via the ingenious plot device of giving the central character a highly intelligent travelling companion, picked up unwittingly early on in the story from a trip thousands of years into the future. This is Nebogipfel, no less a character than a Morlock from the original book, but a Morlock from before the time his race degenerated and went underground. Unimaginable advances in scientific and social evolution make him a sort of cool, calm "Spock" character whom the reader, and the inventor himself, gradually warm to, in spite of his physically unattractive exterior, as the novel develops.
I disagree with the reviewer who found the relationship between Nebogipfel and the inventor coldly distant. They are indeed literally aliens to one another and the inventor is never quite able to overcome his repulsion at the sight, feel and smell of Nebogipfel. The highly advanced Morlock for his part finds it hard not to treat The inventor with scornful impatience. Nevertheless, a strangely affecting relationship does develop as our main character becomes increasingly respectful of his travelling companion's intellect and integrity. They care for one another at various points in the book and at the end, as they hurtle back towards the Dawn of Time, the terrified inventor puts his hand in that of Nebogipfel and trusts him to see him through this apocalyptic event.
"Nebogipfel? Can you still hear me?"
"I am here..."
The book made me reconsider my attitude towards the idea of artificial life forms as being both humankind's heir and legacy, for do they not spring from mankind's ability to invent and manufacture minds immeasurably superior to their own? In that sense, imagined lifeforms such as The Morlocks, who no longer reproduce physically but extrude their progeny from the all-providing floor that their race walks upon, and the metallic, pyramidal Constructors who have forsaken individual existence and have Mind as their organising principal, have evolved from us and are mankind's children. This is a refreshing contrast to current attitudes to "artificial" life which are usually expressed as "the robots are taking over!".
The overall effect of the book was to remind me of how small we are, how temporary is our presence here on this planet, and what an infinitesimally small space of time not just we, but our planetary surroundings, occupy in the scheme of things. The central character's epiphany towards the end of the book sweeps the reader into a new and vast perspective of Life, The Universe and Everything:
"The starlight was all about me, deep, unending... In an infinite and eternal universe I saw there is no centre; there can be no Beginning, no End. Each event, each point, is rendered identical to every other by the setting within which it is placed... In an infinite universe, I had become infinitesimal."
The ending of HG Wells book "The Time Machine" is picked up and developed in a most satisfactory way at the conclusion of the book, to include an explanation (with political overtones which I am sure HG Wells himself would have approved of) of the divergence of the strands of humanity which develop into the Eloi and Morlock peoples.
A tremendous feat of the imagination which makes me want to explore more Stephen Baxter.
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Dr. Colin L. Sheppard
5.0 out of 5 stars A fast paced & intellectually delightful update to Wells' story ...
Reviewed in Australia on August 30, 2014
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A fast paced & intellectually delightful update to Wells' story. It brings the story into the world of modern physics.
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Amazon Kunde
4.0 out of 5 stars It's a book
Reviewed in Germany on July 1, 2021
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Quite interesting
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