In an engrossing, daring and occasionally overambitious novel, Baxter (Weaver) narrates the final 42 years of dry land on earth. Four political hostages are freed in Barcelona in 2016, and their stories through the years show the attempts to save the planet even as rapidly rising ocean levels wipe out major cities. USAF Capt. Lily Brooke works with billionaire Nathan Lammockson to build a haven, while oceanographer Thandie Jones attempts to determine the causes of the flooding. Baxter skips ahead years at a time, often eliding major conflict resolutions, character development and deaths; this choice disrupts the storytelling but smartly underscores the isolation in which the characters often operate. Readers who push through will be rewarded with a fascinating apocalyptic vision—but little resolution—a nice setup for a sequel.

Most of the comments about Flood could have made about nearly any hard science fiction novel: cool science, mediocre characters. But anyone who has read a novel by Baxter (or Arthur C. Clarke, to whom he is often compared) will already be expecting these characteristics from the genre. Reviewers indicated that Flood was an engaging novel despite these expected limitations and that at times, it even overcame them. But when critics were left in awe, it was never from a character’s actions but from the setting, a world gradually coming to understand that it is doomed to drown. Baxter will continue this story in Ark, due out in 2009.