Vast

The Nanotech Succession #3

by Linda Nagata

Aboard Null Boundary, a giant starship thousands of years old, four survivors of an ancient alien war are making a desperate Lot, son of a fiery prophet and carrier of an insidious virus that spreads a cultlike religious mania among those it infects; Urban, Lot's boyhood friend from the city of Silk, and a man in search of challenge and adventure; Clemantine, cast adrift when her world was destroyed, and yearning for revenge; and Nikko, sometimes a living man, but always the ship's disembodied mind.

They are bound for unknown territory. Ahead of them loom vast, lightless clouds of dust and gas where stars are born, and where the alien Chenzeme are believed to live. The Chenzeme are an enigmatic race whose automated warships have ravaged the living worlds of the galaxy's Orion arm for millions of years. But why? Null Boundary's crew is driven to find out--though in their quest to discover the source of the Chenzeme, they must also explore the terrible truth of their own past, the meaning of revenge, and the price each one of them is willing to pay for survival.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 3, 1998

About the author

I'm a writer from Hawaii best known for my high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller, The Last Good Man , and the far-future adventure series, INVERTED FRONTIER.

Though I don't review books on Goodreads, I do talk about some of my favorite books on my blog and those posts are echoed here. So I invite you to follow me for news of books and many other things. You can also visit my website to learn more about my work, and to sign up for my newsletter.

Reviews

[Khalid Abdul-Mumin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vast is the third installment in the excellent Nanotech Succession series and it begins a couple of centuries after the events of the second book, Deception Well, where the main protagonists from that one are on a quest to find the source point from which the savage alien Chenzeme originate.

We follow the charismatic Lot, irascible Clemantine, and indomitable Urban as they plow the void aboard the great ship, Null Boundary, heading towards the inner edge of the Orion arm within a molecular cloud in the constellation Cygnus, long thought to be the region from whence the killer ships emerge.

They constantly battle against unfathomable alien foes, coming to grips in understanding what happened within the ruined Hallowed Vasties, a region comprising of the old Sol System where the stars have become enshrouded within vast habitats that serve as Dyson swarms.

The Post-Humanism discussed is quite thought provoking, the plot is fast and gripping, the writing is excellent and the Nanotechnology is strongly grounded in hard science as usual. A highly recommendable SciFi series all in all.

Read: 02212023
Edit III: 05192023

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

On all sides, stars like glowing fairy dust framed his world, blue and white and red and yellow. Alpha Cygni fell behind them, a signpost marking the way home. Ahead, in the direction called swan, a gathering of giant young suns dominated the sky, insufferably brilliant. Beyond them, curtains of red fire burned in vast, amorphous sheets. These were the nebulae marking centers of star formation on the edge of the cold dark mass of an immense molecular cloud, less than ninety light years away. The Swan Cloud: the Chenzeme warships had come from there.

It is abundantly clear from the outset that this is a big-idea story that will give your imagination a workout. Case in point: the hallowed vasties, habitats forming a Dyson Sphere around the sun. Nice.

Speaking of which, the above is a carry-over reference from a previous novel in the sequence. These novels are described as “stand-alone”, but Vast contained so many references to previous events and so much implied understanding regarding technology, that I did (inevitably) feel like I was losing out.

There’s a lot to take in, too. The technology in this future allows for people to make copies of themselves (basically at will) so at any given time there can be any number of versions of the same person. This forms part of the story dynamic, so you need to keep your wits about you.

He listens, but all he hears is the radio chatter of newborn stars and the whisper of complex organic molecules collecting within the cloud. Inside the ship, all is still, and very quiet.

In the time-honoured tradition of Science Fiction of this magnitude, the reader is somewhat left to their own devices. How to interpret the technology, and the strangeness of these far-future, hardly recognizable, “human” beings? That is why the story itself, and the pacing, is important. Vast does start dragging a bit toward the middle, but picks up again with a sequence towards the latter end of the story, dealing with archipelagoes in space (don’t ask me to try and explain – but it is a fascinating concept).

*How many archipelagoes are there?
*Millions. Perhaps billions

Vast is an apt title for this book. It is full of big ideas and mind-boggling concepts. I enjoyed it well enough, even though I found it challenging. My only real criticism(s) would be the mid-book slump in terms of pacing, and the fact that I never felt particularly invested in the characters (with the exception of Nikko and possibly Urban, they’re a bit of a tiresome bunch).

The novel concludes in satisfactory fashion, addressing many of the questions raised throughout. It also generates a goodly amount of (long due) excitement toward the end, which rescues it from mediocrity.

I may go back and read The Bohr Maker which is a previous entry in the Nanotech Succession sequence detailing the back story of Nikko, and I may well read Edges which is the next book in the series (if not in this particular sequence). I suppose the fact that I am considering reading more of this, says enough.

What was out there? A predator? Or prey?

3.5 stars

[Daniel Villines · Rating 2 out of 5]

The experience of reading Vast provides a proof-of-theory, the theory being that reading the middle book out of a series of science-fiction books will not result in an enjoyable experience. About a third of the content in Vast must (hopefully) rely on the content of the two previous books. The characters are sketchy, they make references to past experiences that are vaguely explained, and the plot seemed to appear fully formed out of nothing. Never again will the enticing words of a sci-fi reviewer prompt me to jump into the middle of a series.

Another negative is that Linda Nagata’s writing was an obstacle to enjoying the story. When unique points in the story were reached, Nagata could not deliver the words to adequately describe the scene. Her descriptions all seemed to float within her vision of her created world, which is expected, but they failed to link back up with my mind residing in the real world. And I think that such links are an important part of making science-fiction relevant.

On the positive side, there are a few passages with insightful contemplations on what it means to be human. At some point in our existence, the development of digital data and processors will be so complex that storing every synapse-connection in our brain will be possible. At such a point, the human that is us will continue to live alongside us in digital form inside a processor. And yet, should our human form pass, will the digital us still be us? It would have added some needed psychological depth to Vast if this philosophical question were made into an actual stress point in the plot.

About half-way through, I found myself reading Vast with the goal of reaching the end of the book. From my perspective, this goal is one step above the goal of not completing the book at all. It has been my observation that truly great books captivate and inspire throughout their journeys and that reaching the end of any one of their journeys becomes something of a disappointment. Vast was more or less a vast journey that I was happy to see end.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Vast’ is that rare thing, a character-driven hard sci-fi novel. I would describe much hard sci-fi as plot and/or technology driven, which is by no means a bad thing but lends itself to a certain kind of narrative. ‘Vast’ combines the huge scope of interstellar space with the small world of a few people living together on a spaceship. Events are pushed forward by decisions made by the characters, almost always by consensus. I appreciate this form of narrative propulsion. ‘Vast’ is also convincingly strange. The inhabitants of the Null Boundary (as their spaceship is called) are being pursued by a mysterious, implacable, apparently very hostile alien ship. They assume other human colonies are out there but don’t know of any specifically, while knowing for certain that Earth and the solar system have been destroyed. The alien Chenzeme make a fascinating antagonist as the characters know so little about them at the start and are forced to keep adjusting their hypotheses throughout. Their journey towards greater knowledge and their literal journey across the vastness of space are very well told. The biotech weirdness was also memorable, notably philosopher cells, kisheers, the cult virus, and spaceship communication by means of dust. I have many questions about how the characters ended up in a spaceship together, which I assume are answered in previous books in the series. This one stands alone, though. It built a unique, interesting world and peopled it with a small cast of appealing, enigmatic characters. I especially liked the central three, Lot, Urban, and Clemantine.

Finally, if you’ve read this novel, I’d be interested to know how you interpreted Lot’s ‘sensory tears’. Until about halfway through the book I assumed they were tears in the sense of salty water that leaks from your eyes. Thus I visualised Lot with a pierrot-style eye motif. Then I realised that tears could also mean apertures torn into his face, something like gills. I think you could argue for either interpretation. Which did you think it was?

[TPK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This won't be so much a review as it is a rumination.

The science fiction genre has been a fertile breeding ground for a number of tropes, but the commonest refrain is: How much can human beings change and still be recognized as human? In this book we see humans adapted for vacuum -- covered in scales, with long prehensile fingers and toes, an organ called a kisheer that helps them breathe in space, and lenses that cover their eyes. We see humans created in artificial wombs, woven together from artificially-merged zygotes. We see humans with a new mental structure called an atrium, which allows them to make insubstantial pattern copies of themselves (these are referred to in the book as "ghosts") which can later be incarnated, allowing for functional immortality -- and allowing their physical bodies to die over and over again. We see humans who can edit their emotions, purge their fears with drugs, repair their bodies with nanobots called Makers. We see humans who adapt alien neural organs, adding them to their own tissues. We see humans whose ghosts spread through and "live" within machines, as the souls of huge organic spaceships, only occasionally manifesting as physical beings. The most recognizably human character, both in physical nature and in motivation, is Lot, a half-human, half-alien being who exudes emotional substances called charismata that can affect the people around him, infected by an alien virus that motivates him to spread the cult of communion to others. At what point do these changes cease to be human and move into the realm of metahumanity? It's not easy to determine a precise point, but when humans have changed so much that they can merge with alien technology, or when they are physically changed by alien beings into some new form, that threshold has certainly been crossed.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite of the series, back in 1998. I really should reread it. Wonder if I still have a copy?

Here's my old Usenet pal JD Nicoll's review:
"The alien Chenzeme littered swaths of the Milky Way with ancient but still functional war machines. Although the war that spawned them is long over, the machines are perfectly happy to target humans who encounter the homicidal relics. Some human ships escape; most of them are eradicated.

The starship Null Boundary was lucky enough to survive an encounter with Chenzeme relics. Now the craft flees towards what the crew hopes will be answers, pursued by a relentless relic. Stern chases are long chases, particularly where sublight interstellar vehicles are concerned. Mortal humans might well die of old age mid-voyage. Mind-recording is only one of the marvelous technologies humanity has mastered, but it is the one that proves most useful to the crew of the Null Boundary."
https://www.tor.com/2022/04/25/five-b...

Note that she comes back to the Chenzeme relics in her currently-ongoing series, Inverted Frontiers, which I've liked a lot so far.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a tough read. Big. Confusing. With no clear plot. And no clear timescale. Lot's of ideas. Upload. Nano. Philosopher Cells. Interstellar Nano dust. A cult organ? cell? I liked bits of this very much. And other parts were just overwhelming. And then it basically petered out? I suppose if I were read this series straight through in order it would feel different but maybe not. I'm not sure what I just read. 2.5 of 5.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the Null Boundary, a spaceship travelling across the vast universe, several people may be all that's left of humanity, albeit from different planets and through nano and bio-technology they may not be recognizeable to humans of today. But those differences, dramatic as they are, may not be enough... an incomprehensible alien race, the Chenzeme has mercilessly attacked humanity everywhere it's been found with possibly automated war machine. One of those machines is following the Null Boundary now and they expect to encounter more as they head into Chenzeme space searching for some kind of answers or meaning.

This is the third book of a series that began with The Bohr Maker (or arguably fourth, as there is a prequel as well). I've heard some places say that each of the books can be read independently, and while that's more or less true of the other books, this one's a little different. It follows characters from the previous book directly, and without the context of their earlier lives, a lot of this book might be difficult to follow.

Then again, this book is probably going to be difficult to follow anyway, for all but the most hardcore SF readers. There's wild, out there concepts, like communication via chemical signals, philosopher cells that render decision through argument, viruses that promote cult behavior, atrium organs that allow you to keep copies of other people in your head, and many more, and it's tough to keep all the rules for these in your head at once. So it might be true to say that this one can be read independently, but only because if you've already got it in you to tackle all these concepts, not having the complete backstory isn't that much of an additional barrier. Still, I think it helps a lot to know what's going on. This isn't the kind of book most people can just dive into... even with the context, it may be a difficult read.

Indeed, while I liked it, a lot of the time I admit I had only a limited idea of what was going on, and was reading mostly for tantalizing technological speculation of the far future. The characters didn't entirely connect, mostly because they were too different from what I can relate to, and when they weren't engaged in an urgent battle for survival, some of their motivations seemed a little obscure (as did, I'm afraid, any romantic pairings, although a large part of that may have been because I really couldn't remember the connections or arrangements they had from the last book).

This book in particular has been listed as an influence on Alastair Reynolds who read it and thought highly of it before writing his Revelation Space series, and you can see some of the legacy, a few similar ideas, not theft by any means, but playing with a few of the same concepts, and feel. That seems to have, unfortunately, been a running theme of Nagata's career... being right at the forefront of a new trend or idea in SF, relatively unnoticed by mainstream readers but quietly influential all the same, a strong voice of hard SF that doesn't seem to be listened to as much as she deserves. I enjoyed the book, maybe on the low end of the scale because I think the ideas may have ran away with her, a little, at the expense of compelling story and characters this time around, but it really makes me crave her return to more farther future speculation. If she could somehow blend this talent for far out SF ideas with the more personal character work she displayed in her Red trilogy, I think she'd easily generate a book I don't just enjoy, but consider a favorite.

[Yaseen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fine. Kind of. This book directly picks off from book #2 (although the other books in the series are standalone). The story is intriguing, although I felt it could have been trimmed significantly and kept the same themes. I thought the premise was neat - our crew of three (then five, then nine) are onboard a sentient spacecraft (who used to be a human, and can manifest physically onboard at any time), trying to outrun a hidden enemy that they don't know anything about. It is akin to a bottle episode in book form - although a few new characters are introduced in the form of a long since former crewmate being awakened, plus four children being born on the ship over the course of the story.

The characters are the weaker part of the story - their motivations for continuing (except for Lot) are threadbare at the best, and their romantic entanglements are somehow both specific and yet vague at the same time. At one point, Lot appears to be romantically involved with two passengers (one of the now-adult children and a woman who they journeyed with from the beginning) simultaneously, but there is little exploration of the dynamic between the three of them.

I like this book because of the technological aspects it introduced - like effective immortality via digital "ghosts" that can be reformed into a new body, person-to-person communication via "atriums", which are like VR/AR/mobile phones in your brain, and biologic thinking cells that make decisions through consensus. These also affect the philosophical aspects of the story - are you really human when you can make infinite copies of yourself? Who are you when the death of your physical self can be overcome by sending a backup copy of your memories out before you die? What are centuries when you never really age?

These questions are well thought-out in the story, but there is not much in the way of how it affects the plot itself.

The plot is great, but again, the story is held back because Nagata seeks to cram a fucktonne of ideas and concepts into it and thus stretches the essence of the plot to the limit. There was a point about halfway through the book where I realised I was reading it because I was determined to finish it. The story does pick up towards the end, and the ending is satisfying enough - at least there's that.

Only read this book if you have read the rest of the series beforehand. But really, if you want to end it at Nanotech book #2, I wouldn't blame you.

[Maurizio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read about 2 sci-fi books a month, and have been for the past 10+ years. This book really stands out as one that made me think very hard about my own existence. Linda Nagata is an extremely talented author that writes as if she had been there and experienced every page. Not everything makes sense right away, sometimes you are confused as a reader as to the motives of the characters or the relationships, but that's ok, you are an observer trying to make sense of the world the characters live in. It's this honesty the book is written in that makes her such a great author. It's also this honesty that prevents the book from becoming a major bestseller. 5 out of 5.

[Stig Edvartsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's magnificent and hard sci-fi and wonderful and packed with science fiction. And also character driven.

It's not perfect. There are lots topics and ideas and concepts that are just touched on the surface, leaving lots of plots and elements unfinished or at least their potential unfulfilled. Of course, all the stuff that seemingly happens off stage makes for a grander tapestry, so it might be on purpose. But the series easily has material to be twice the length.

[Anna]

I read this to make more sense of Edges. Weird, fascinating book.

[Andreas · Rating 2 out of 5]

These three very loosely connected novels span thousand of years. Nagata writes competently about a future in which humanity is first technologically lifting itself off earth, and finally scattered about a hostile universe. I enjoyed them even though Nagata does two things which annoy me. The first is that the novels are in parts rather boring. Nothing much happens. The other thing is that she can be very depressing. Vast especially makes me feel just a bit too small in a vast (heh) universe.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1014

[Jamie Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vast (The Nanotech Succession, #3) by Linda Nagata

An amazing finish to this epic tale!
We have Lot, Urban, Nikko and some other friends along for the ride. The interplay of each of these characters in and out of various relationships with each other, and how that affects the many plot twists and turns, is very textured and well nuanced.
This has been an incredible ride!

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Linda Nagata's, Vast, was another of those 'big idea' sort of novels that always draw me in. Part of the reason I can never turn one of these stories down is that I truly believe that one can't be a dummy and write something like this that is crammed full of philosophical and scientific questions. I like reading what smart people have to say about stuff.

Well, Ms. Nagata must be very smart, because she wrote a heady book here. I'm not entirely sure of it's publication history, but I believe this was published in the 90's with a traditional publisher. I'm assuming that she has the rights to her work back and self published this novel (as well as earlier ones in this series) after the kindle direct phenomena took over the world.

I purchased it after reading a post early in the year from Alastair Reynolds, one of the more popular science fiction authors working today, saying that this book in particular influenced him when creating his Revelation Space universe. I think I had purchased this before I even finished reading his blog post that day.

That said, I sat on this book for several months before I started reading. But once I finished the last book I had, I found myself out for lunch one day without a thing to read. Thankfully, I happened to have this on my phone, so I started it.

The story, as it were, is about humanity, after spreading out through our spiral arm of the galaxy, have met an alien intelligence out there that is, quite frankly, pretty damned alien. The result of that contact has led to the destruction of almost every human outpost, colony, or world. Period. Earth is gone. A dead world. All that we know for sure that remains is the crew of a single ship that's been running for centuries from the unknowable enemy that pursues them, slowly gaining as they speed through the interstellar space.

Much of the tale is about the characters aboard the fleeing vessel and their interactions. And this is by far, the weakest part of the novel. They are not like us, these are post singular personalities, more like sentient AI's that think they're human. They behave and act a bit differently than you or I would. And the only person that we might be inclined to really empathize with has been infected with a cult virus that makes him bow to the will of these unknowable aliens that they are running from... in other words, he's not real relatable either.

So, what we have here, in my opinion, is a pretty good story, but not one with the most engaging characters. It's this type of story that really gets you to think about our place in the universe, and should get marks for being well conceived. I wanted to like it more than I actually did.

I plan on reading more form Ms. Nagata. If you can handle the type of novel I mentioned above, then read it. But if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea then don't. For me, I'm glad I read.

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is one in a very loosely related sequence. #3 and #4 share characters and plot concepts, so those should be read in order. The order of the others doesn't really matter.
1) Tech-Heaven (1995)
2) The Bohr Maker (1995)
3) Deception Well (1997)
4) Vast (1998)

The book started well, giving some explanations for what had happened in the previous volume, and re-establishing the universe in a more easily comprehended way. Four post-human incarnations from Deception Well (Lot, Urban, Clemantine, Nikko) are on board the Null Boundary heading out in search of Chenzeme origins elsewhere in the Orion Arm of the galaxy. They find they are under pursuit by mysterious entities whose alignments are not well understood. The characters begin to fork and remerge copies of themselves, and to decant and breed a few more, who develop their own motivations, and the braided complexity of characters and plot expands. Eventually, it seems that there may be factions among the Chemzene, and that the origins of some characters and intelligences lie in that conflict.

Nagata uses the symbiosis of mitochondria and their host cells as a model for the ultimate destiny of humans, or perhaps the origin of the Chemzeme. Unfortunately, the combining process, as told from the point of view of intelligent mitochondria (the post-humans), does not make for good identifiable characters in a novel. With all the exploration of ambiguities and false leads, by the end I was having trouble keeping the alignments straight in my mind. So this is an outstanding work in concept and construction, but a failure in terms of non-cerebral entertainment.

[Jesse C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating book. Lot just gets more and more interesting. His entire relationship with Clemantine is so fucked up. Like, he doesn't "want" to dominate and control her, except actually his entire biological imperative has been remapped so that is all he wants to do. Watching his transformation from ostensible hero with some questionable impulses in the second book into an almost (though inadvertent) villain is really cool. It really remaps a lot of what we know about Jupiter too, as you learn that he was basically incapable of controlling his abilities. . This books leans way harder into the "what is consciousness" question when you can digitize people than the last one, though that has been there since the first book. Just becomes much more of a plot hinge here.

Absolutely loved this series. Kinda wish I had read it back when it originally came out, because it would have totally blown my mind then. Now, it is really well done, but so many of the ideas have been picked up in stuff I've already read, it isn't quite as awe inspiring

[Eddie Novak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the type of book I would normally give 5 stars to without question or hesitation. Some of my own shortcomings ruined the experience for me though. Biology has always been a weak subject for me and ecology I just don't know enough about. These subjects do fascinate me, but in order to enjoy a book I need to visualize it and I'm terrible in that department. So there was a disconnect between being in awe of the ideas presented and trying to visualize them.

This book is a lovely, well written experience. If you're into far future explorations of humanity's potential and the age old theme of individualism versus collectivism, this book is a can't miss read. Many have written of a high-tech future involving nanotechnology, and I have found this one to be a more hopeful envisioning of that future than most others despite humanity being almost wiped out at the offset.

[Roseann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me begin this review by stating that I read this novel not knowing it was the third in a series. Nowhere on the book or in my library's description was this mentioned. Guess I should go to Goodreads from now on.

I found the story dense and very difficult to follow. I have read hard SF for years and this is normally not a problem for me. I would think that even going into the final book in a series one should be able to at least follow along with what is going on. I simply could not.

Not my best read, but I do not know if I would have felt the same had I read volumes 1 and 2.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable hard-SF/space opera. While it's book 3 of The Nanotech Succession, I had no trouble reading it as a standalone. The universe is also the setting of later books Edges and Silver, which I read first, making this, for me, something of a prequel to those books--detailing the experiences which shaped some of the main characters. For those coming to Linda Nagata's work through the Inverted Frontier books, this is a highly recommended quick-fix while waiting for more.

[Liam Proven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read long ago but Ms Nagata has recently come up in conversation twice.

I remember relatively little of this except my thorough dislike of the whole novel from beginning to end, from unconvincing pseudoscience to unpleasant characters. What I didn't know at the time is that this was one of sequence -- it wasn't made clear on the novel. That may be part of why I found it so hard to follow.

She's being recommended to me again, but I'm disinclined...

[Christopher Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definately 'hard' sci-fi. This is the last in the series and takes place in the distant future. The world Nagata creates so so alien that it is disorienting. Still, it is some of the best speculative sci-fi I have read. It's the kind of story that presents so many facinateing ideas. There were times I felt Nagata was trying g to do too much in too few pages. The best of the series is the prequel Tech Heven.

[Jamie Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an interesting review on this book, so started with the first book in the series, and really enjoyed the Bohr Maker. Vast got lost a bit in its the vastness, but more than that, got lost in the meanderings of the Deception Well. I like Linda Nagata, and she certainly knows how to pump out books, but this was in the end a bit like squeezing blood from a stone dead idea.

[Pudd'nhead Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a slow read. Hard to follow and I'm a Computer Engineer. I doubt many will get through this unless you're really hard core science fiction lover. You're probably better off if you know nothing about nanotechnology, AI, Computer Systems Integration and Engineering. I for ed myself to finish it because it was the last book in a trilogy.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story that is deep and rich in characters and for a page turner, I started reading it at the beginning of a shift rotation and couldn’t wait to get back to it see what the next chapter brought, loved it

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't as enamored of the final two installments as I was with the first two. But they were still quite good. Looking forward to the new series (following a bit palate cleansing) now that I'm all back-storied up!

[Kevin Peace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

This has been amazing, picked it up from book 1 of inverted frontier before I knew there othr books before this. Had to start from Tech heaven. Jst amazing Linda Nagata. Thank you. Hope there is more coming.

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love finding a new talent.

Excellent series, fantastic imagination, space opera, deep time, empire spanning, depth of vision and a unique storyline. Keep them coming.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a long time since I read such hard SF at the space opera scale, but this was mightily enjoyable once I got back into it

[Zeta Syanthis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this book is complicated, and left me with really complicated feels...