Manifold Trilogy
science fiction
Series · science fiction
A Time Odyssey
A Time Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Time's Eye (2003).
- Books
- 3 books
- First published
- 2003
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: Time's Eye (2003) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Time's Eye
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Time's Eye - Book 2:
Sunstorm
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Sunstorm - Book 3:
Firstborn
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Firstborn
About A Time Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke's final major series pairs him with Stephen Baxter for a trilogy that echoes -- without directly continuing -- the premise of 2001: A Space Odyssey: an ancient, godlike alien intelligence intervening in human affairs through enigmatic constructs called Eyes. Time's Eye (2003) opens with a catastrophic, unexplained event that shatters Earth into disconnected fragments from different historical eras -- 19th-century British soldiers, ancient Macedonians under a young Alexander the Great, present-day observers -- all suddenly forced to coexist on one patchwork planet. Sunstorm (2005) shifts to a near-future crisis as humanity braces for a solar catastrophe engineered by the same alien intelligence to test civilizations, while Firstborn (2007) closes the trilogy by confronting that intelligence -- the Firstborn -- more directly, with the fate of humanity as the stakes.
Baxter's hard-SF rigor and Clarke's sense of cosmic wonder and scale combine here in one of the most purely "Clarke-ian" collaborations of Baxter's career, sharing 2001's fascination with incomprehensible alien intent and civilizational tests, without being a direct sequel to it.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in A Time Odyssey?
Three: Time's Eye (2003), Sunstorm (2005) and Firstborn (2007).
What order should I read A Time Odyssey in?
Publication order: Time's Eye, Sunstorm, Firstborn. It's a single continuous story across all three books.
Is A Time Odyssey connected to 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Not directly -- it shares Arthur C. Clarke's interest in enigmatic, godlike alien intelligences testing humanity, and echoes some of 2001's imagery and themes, but it is a separate trilogy with its own story and continuity.
Was this one of Arthur C. Clarke's last works?
Yes -- A Time Odyssey, co-written with Stephen Baxter, was among Clarke's final major fiction projects before his death in 2008.
Is A Time Odyssey connected to Stephen Baxter's other series?
No -- it shares no characters or continuity with the Xeelee Sequence, Destiny's Children, the NASA Trilogy, the Manifold trilogy or The Long Earth.
If you like A Time Odyssey
Reading order last verified .