Book Review: The Medusa Chronicles by Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter
Howard Falcon is one of the most interesting characters in the oeuvre of Arthur C. Clarke. The late 21st century test pilot’s crash of an experimental helium-filled airship turns into an opportunity, as his cyborg-like existence mandated in the recovery from the accident makes him the perfect person to do the impossible: make a dive into the upper layers of Jupiter. The story of Falcon’s dive into Jupiter is in the Nebula award-winning novella “A Meeting with Medusa.” It is a story frequently anthologized, for good reason. Sense of wonder, pathos and inventive worldbuilding make it a classic. Now, with the approval of the Clarke estate, Hard SF authors Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds have teamed up to tell the continued adventures and history of Howard Falcon, and his world, in The Medusa Chronicles.
