Anti-Ice

Synopsis:

19th century British Empire but with portable anti-matter power sources.
Themes:

Steampunk

Eras:

British Empire

Review of Anti-Ice:

Stephen Baxter is well known for his hard science-fiction and alternate history stories. I can't say that I've read all of his work - but I have read quite a lot of it; I would say it's all intelligent, and some of it will also challenge you to think about big questions such as our place in the universe, or what will mankind's legacy be if our species were to become extinct. Much of Baxter's work, I've absolutely loved, for example, the Manifold series, Moonseed and Titan.

Many readers of this review will also be familiar with one of Baxter's better-known novels, The Time Ships, which is authorized sequel (by the estate) to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. Very much like that book (which was actually written a couple of years later), Anti-Ice is a novel that written to appeal to modern sensibilities but which nevertheless shows strong influences of H. G. Wells, and in the case of Anti-Ice, Jules Verne.

The basic premise behind the novel Anti-Ice, is a new substance known as "Anti-Ice", which is discovered in the Antarctic by British Empire explorers during the 19th century. This substance, contains incredible amounts of energy just waiting to be unlocked, and conveniently, Victorian technology is ideally suited to the task. An incredible source of power combined with Victorian technology - you can probably guess the sort of steam punk inventions that might follow.

I'm not going to go into the details of the plot - I'll leave you to read the novel for that! Throughout the book you can sense a genuine affection for the characters, background and milieu, and as a reader I found this sucked me into the story very rapidly. The other thing, which I think is entirely appropriate for this story and style book, is that a lot happens - the book is driven forward by one event happening after another, rather than by detailed description of the surroundings or deep characterization.

Over all, this is one of personal favorite alternate history novels, and I'm pretty confident that anybody who can accept the premise (or at least temporarily suspend disbelief of the premise) and who likes steam punk, will enjoy it too. Of course, I'm not going to pretend it's realistic, the substance of Anti-Ice doesn't of course exist (as far I know!), but then again, I doubt that plausibility was one of Stephen Baxter's main considerations in writing this novel. In short, this novel is a roller coaster ride of fun, and I recommend you read it - in fact just writing this review made me want to read it again - and I may just go and do that now...

Anti-ice

By Stephen Baxter

Eos
Released: 1994-09-26
Mass Market Paperback (304 pages)

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Anti-Ice

By Stephen Baxter

HarperPrism
Paperback

Anti-Ice

By Stephen Baxter

Harper Prism Pb
Paperback (288 pages)

Lowest Used Price: $71.49

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Glossary
Alien Space Bats
Alternate History
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Anachronisms
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ATL
Butterflies
Counterfactual
DBWI
Double Blind What If
ISoT
Our Timeline
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Plausibility
PoD
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TL

Themes
Anthologies
Dinosaurs
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Military
Native American
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Space
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Steampunk
Time Travel
Vampirism
World Conquest

Eras
Stone Age
Bronze Age
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Middle Ages
American Revolution
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Western
British Empire
World War I
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Cold War / World War III
Future

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