Raft

"Such realistic brilliance you can see a whole civilisation in it" - The Times

"Simply amazing science fiction that will have me grabbing book two" - Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars

"one of the best scifi concepts out there" - Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars

Stephen Baxter's highly acclaimed first novel and the beginning of his stunning Xeelee Sequence.

A spaceship from Earth accidentally survives the transition to a radically different universe. Five-hundred-years later, their descendants still struggle for existence. The Miners live on the Belt, a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star. They trade for food from the Raft, a structure built from the wreckage of the ship, and where a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible.

Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him a stowaway on a flying tree. And what he finds will change his world...

All good until...

Interesting and engaging story until the space whale took it into fantasy land. Couldn't look it in the eye after that. Will not be pursuing the rest of the series.