Noumenon Infinity

June 1, 2018
The newly relaunched Convoy Seven and its crew of clones heads back to the distant star LQ Pyx and the mysterious alien structure surrounding it in this breathtaking sequel to Lostetter's critically acclaimed Noumenon (2017).Generations and generations have passed since the Planet United Consortium sent Convoy Seven to investigate the strange strobing around the star LQ Pyx. We return to find the relaunched convoy heading back to the star to complete construction on "the Web," which is presumed to be a massive structure capable of harvesting massive amounts of energy. But while much of the convoy is dedicated to this task, a smaller but equally passionate group wants to focus on studying the Nataré, the alien species believed to be the original builders of the Web. While the idea of splitting up is totally heretical to convoy members who value unity above everything, it's possible that the consequences of abandoning the Nataré study would be much worse than they can foresee. Meanwhile, the narrative flips all the way back to the Planet United Consortium's beginning and follows the fate of a different convoy, this one meant to stay close and continue investigating methods of interstellar travel. This convoy isn't supposed to travel far from Earth, but an accident during an experiment sends them further from home than anyone had imagined possible. A novel that was anything less than stellar would be an especially disappointing follow-up to the brilliant Noumenon, but Lostetter has achieved that and much more. Part a study of the nature of love and cultural evolution, the novel also delves into spirituality and the function of religion in a scientifically advanced culture. Somehow these richly developed themes never get in the way of the enthralling deep space travel and wondrous alien discoveries fans of Noumenon will be expecting.Sci-fi action and adventure held together by universally human themes; this is the genre at its very best.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 18, 2018
The ambitious and effective sequel to Noumenon shifts gears from generation ship saga to space opera and follows two main threads. In the first, scientist Vanhi Kapoor heads a mission to research and test new forms of interdimensional star travel in near-Earth space until her convoy suffers a strange accident, which leaves Vanhi herself unusually unmoored from the laws of physics. In the second, in the far future, the crew of Convoy Seven, who spent the previous book investigating a strange characteristic of a distant star that turned out to be an incomplete alien megastructure, return to try to complete the megastructure and make it operational. Both threads wind up spanning thousands of years, generations of people, and experiences outside human understanding; they then connect to each other in a virtuoso piece of plotting that satisfies as a denouement while setting up entirely new mysteries. The massive scope of the ideas, and the more than geological amounts of time involved, mean that the human element is somewhat secondary to the full sweep of the saga, but this doesn’t read as a weakness so much as a necessity. Lostetter remains at the forefront of innovation in hard science fiction.

Starred review from June 1, 2018
The newly relaunched Convoy Seven and its crew of clones heads back to the distant star LQ Pyx and the mysterious alien structure surrounding it in this breathtaking sequel to Lostetter's critically acclaimed Noumenon (2017).Generations and generations have passed since the Planet United Consortium sent Convoy Seven to investigate the strange strobing around the star LQ Pyx. We return to find the relaunched convoy heading back to the star to complete construction on "the Web," which is presumed to be a massive structure capable of harvesting massive amounts of energy. But while much of the convoy is dedicated to this task, a smaller but equally passionate group wants to focus on studying the Natar�, the alien species believed to be the original builders of the Web. While the idea of splitting up is totally heretical to convoy members who value unity above everything, it's possible that the consequences of abandoning the Natar� study would be much worse than they can foresee. Meanwhile, the narrative flips all the way back to the Planet United Consortium's beginning and follows the fate of a different convoy, this one meant to stay close and continue investigating methods of interstellar travel. This convoy isn't supposed to travel far from Earth, but an accident during an experiment sends them further from home than anyone had imagined possible. A novel that was anything less than stellar would be an especially disappointing follow-up to the brilliant Noumenon, but Lostetter has achieved that and much more. Part a study of the nature of love and cultural evolution, the novel also delves into spirituality and the function of religion in a scientifically advanced culture. Somehow these richly developed themes never get in the way of the enthralling deep space travel and wondrous alien discoveries fans of Noumenon will be expecting.Sci-fi action and adventure held together by universally human themes; this is the genre at its very best.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.