A worthy successor to the original

"The Time Ships" is a stunning novel, Both in style and substance. Baxter captures the innocent, rollicking tone of the original while adding a healthy dose of contemporary science. Granted, the invented time-traveling substance he invents here is a bit silly, and I saw one major plot point about twenty pages in, but the fast-paced, future-past-present-future-past storyline never lets up long enough for you to be bothered by any potential weakness.
Baxter is a brilliant writer with some incredibly original ideas. This book is packed with enough original ideas to fill ten novels. At the sametime, he's managed to draw characters That Actually Matter - something Baxter has had trouble doing in the past.
Baxter owes a lot to Clarke and Bear. He's so his own writer. Probably the best Hard SF writer to appear on the scene in the last 10 years. Do not be put off by the occasional bad review: Baxter is a great talent and "The Time Ships" is an Example of him at the top of his form.