Endeavor (Sleeping Gods part 1) - Book Review

 I just finished Endeavor (Sleeping Gods, part 1), by Ralph Kern. It is an hard SF novel.

As classical for hard SF, it starts with a ramscoop and drones traveling from Earth to Tau Ceti, and goes exploring, finds plenty of life. Nice. 

Then they discover how to quantum teleport (the destructive kind) and send a gateway, which allows people to go and explore. The quantum teleport is light-speed only, so they effectively jump forward in time. 

Coming back, they discover that gateways are being sent to many other world. Eventually, the crew goes back to another mission - and discovers intelligent life. Then another mission. Now humankind has created Von Neumann gateways (and changed in many ways). And they go to a distant star where they see clear evidence of higher civilizations, and cool super structures. Then they meet aliens.

There is a nice flight into the alien territory, and a cute segment with the Roanoke colony (which appears in so many fiction pieces).

It then ends somewhat well, although I understand that part of the series is over (i.e. the series has parallel stories, not the same people).

Reminded me of Forever War (for obvious reasons, for those who read it), and some others. Pretty well done, exciting themes overall (skipping over time, immortality, von neuman machines, gateway). 

There was also a nice short section talking about the tech in the book, which I always like.


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