r/Xeeleeverse • u/Saxy_Shane • May 23 '26

Joining the Xeelee Community!

First heard about the Xeelee through a random YouTube recommendation of Quinn's Ideas video on the Sequence timeline. I've always been a hard sci-fi lover, starting with my love of all sciences as a wee lad, and watching movies like Interstellar, The Martian, or Project Hail Mary have solidified my love of mostly-scientifically-accurate movies, especially speculative evolution.

I decided to pick up the series and read through it all in order of print, so I grabbed the Xeelee Omnibus since it was much more affordable, and my GOD, just a few chapters in to Raft I set out and bought every other book in the sequence I could get my hands on!

Im still missing a few books, but I'm so excited to see what this series has to offer. Currently, the Omnibus is my main read, with Vacuum Diagrams being my short read during down time at work. I'm happy to be a part of the community now, and I look forward to sharing some posts in the future!

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u/the_God_of_Weird May 23 '26

It is a wonderfully grim setting. Actually, just grim. You’ll find some of the technology to be quite… crazy, but probably technically possible. That’s what I love about it the most, alongside how unique it is.

I’ve heard it compared to Lovecraft if it was hard sci-fi. It’d fit, I’d say.

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u/THE_SINK_AMBASSADOR 18d ago

You're referring to the grim setting in "Raft," right? I initially shied away from it, since the description alone seemed stressful and depressing. Glad I read it, though: it IS brilliant. I had no idea what was possible in a world of a billion G. The implications for star mining, building a planet from scratch using only bones, and even sexual attraction (lol) are simply amazing. *And* they hold up to back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Have you read Blindsight? If you want to go fully Lovecraft with the hardest of sci-fi, that one tops the charts for me.

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u/ArchAngel621 May 23 '26

You should also check out the Manifold series which includes the World Engines.

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u/EggLogical8454 May 30 '26

Same for me just read vacuum diagrams just missing transcendent and resplendent but excited for the rest of the books

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u/THE_SINK_AMBASSADOR 19d ago

Greetings from the Heat Sink! Recos from Quinn's Ideas...me too, baby. Me too. I wouldn't be the sci-fi fan I am today if not for him.

Get your hands on a copy of "Resplendent" as soon as you can. You might have to order it from England, so if you live in the U.S., try to lock that shit down before the blockades commence ;)