MANKIND HAS REACHED THE STARS.
Two hundred years after the fall of Mechanism, human society has achieved a kind of stability. There are colonies beneath the oceans, throughout the solar system, and beyond: on extrasolar planets. Vast hemi-relativistic ships connect these colonies, travelling at half the speed of light. Or rather they would, if the ominous presence of the alien Watchkeepers had not led to an enforced moratorium on interstellar travel.
But when a seemingly impossible radio signal reaches the colony Crucible, everything changes:
SEND NDEGE
It’s origin is unpopulated, unexplored space. No one could be there – at least, not if they travelled using human technology – so who could have sent it? How did they get there? And what use do they have for the disgraced scientist Ndege Akinya?
Finding the answers will require one of the greatest expeditions humankind has ever launched, a journey further than ever attempted before, conducted under the implacable scrutiny of the Watchkeepers.
But as a mission is prepared on Crucible, it turns out they weren’t the only ones to see the message – or its potential . . .
‘Reynolds’ future is so brilliantly extrapolated . . . original ideas fizzing off every page’ The Guardian
‘Brilliant, self-assured, colourful space opera’ The Sun
Completing the informal trilogy which began with Blue Remembered Earth and On the Steel Breeze, this is a powerful and effective story.
Two hundred years after the fall of Mechanism, human society has achieved a kind of stability. There are colonies beneath the oceans, throughout the solar system, and beyond: on extrasolar planets. Vast hemi-relativistic ships connect these colonies, travelling at half the speed of light. Or rather they would, if the ominous presence of the alien Watchkeepers had not led to an enforced moratorium on interstellar travel.
But when a seemingly impossible radio signal reaches the colony Crucible, everything changes:
SEND NDEGE
It’s origin is unpopulated, unexplored space. No one could be there – at least, not if they travelled using human technology – so who could have sent it? How did they get there? And what use do they have for the disgraced scientist Ndege Akinya?
Finding the answers will require one of the greatest expeditions humankind has ever launched, a journey further than ever attempted before, conducted under the implacable scrutiny of the Watchkeepers.
But as a mission is prepared on Crucible, it turns out they weren’t the only ones to see the message – or its potential . . .
‘Reynolds’ future is so brilliantly extrapolated . . . original ideas fizzing off every page’ The Guardian
‘Brilliant, self-assured, colourful space opera’ The Sun
Completing the informal trilogy which began with Blue Remembered Earth and On the Steel Breeze, this is a powerful and effective story.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Although a long book, with so much story to fit in there is a brevity to the text which makes it an easy read which can be enjoyed as a standalone even though it satisfactorily revisits and resolves the majority of the threads from the previous novels
his finest moment yet and a glorious conclusion of the trilogy. A wonderful book and best that British SF has to offer at the moment
a novel that works brilliantly as a space adventure and also reads, touchingly, almost as an atheist's reflection on why a kind of optimistic agnosticism may be a useful approach to finding contentment
A well-paced, complex story replete with intrigue, invention and an optimism uncommon in contemporary SF
Transhumans, talking elephants, inscrutable aliens and good old fashioned spaceship fights all contribute to a breathtaking adventure
It's grand, involving and full of light and wonder. Poseidon's Wake is one of the best sci-fi novels of the year
a well realised sci-fi universe, with plausible character
Having completed the trilogy I now want to return to its beginning and re-read. Alastair Reynolds is one of my very favourite authors, every book is a much-anticipated event, and withPoseidon's Wake he shows yet again why that is. I loved every single page.