from a version of Earth that had no moon and is constantly bombarded by high winds. Like the British explorers, the gorilla-like hominids came to the red moon by choice to investigate. Malenfant and Emma are finally reunited, and a diverse party of hominids led by the hyper-intelligent gorilla-like explorers journey to the centre of the red moon and learn of the moon's creators, hypothesizing what their goals might have been. Characters Emma Stoney – The central protagonist of this story and wife of Reid Malenfant Reid Malenfant – NASA astronaut, a protagonist across all books in the Manifold series Nemoto – A fiercely intelligent Japanese scientist who accompanies Malenfant to the Red Moon McCann – A British explorer stranded on the Red Moon Fire – A member of the homo erectus, or "Runners" Joshua – A Neanderthal, or "Ham" Shadow – An Australopithecine who endures several hardships at the hands of her own kind Manekatapokanemahedo – The leader of a group of hyper-intelligent gorilla-like hominids Style Origin is written in a third-person omniscient style. Rather than chapters, the story is divided into sections that follow the perspective of a particular character, with each section being titled with the character's name. Reception Jeff Zaleski was mixed in his review for Publishers Weekly saying that "a variety of characters speculate on the simpler aspects of Darwinian theory, but somewhat disappointingly they all reach the same conclusion. Gratuitous violence from time to time offers relief from the challenge of keeping straight the host of loosely related story lines. Baxter fans should be well satisfied, but those who prefer more thought-provoking SF will need to look elsewhere." Roland Green in his review for Booklist was much more positive saying "Baxter uses many more characters and viewpoint shifts than Arthur C. Clarke in support of a theme that recalls Clarke's classic Childhood's End (1953). He also details survival in primitive societies unsparingly; as a result, much of the book is not for the weak of stomach. Lovers of intelligent variations on classic sf themes, however, will embrace this worthy successor to Manifold: Time (2000) and Manifold: Space (2001)." Footnotes 2001 British novels British science fiction novels 2001 science fiction novels Novels by Stephen Baxter Fiction about neanderthals Voyager Books books