HuckleBuck411
After a young scientist discovers a far star with a “crust” almost completely surrounding it with but one opening allowing the stars light and energy through, the go-ahead is given to send a convoy of ships (Noumenon) to investigate. It is one convoy out of several sent on journeys to research other spatial curiosities. The convoyuses a subdimensional (SD) drive to shorten the time to reach its destination that will still take hundreds of years, while thousands of years will pass on Earth. While the journey and discovery are part of the plot, the main story deals with the interactions of the cloned crews of the nine ships that make up the convoy. This poses the biggest challenge for the mission as generation after generation of cloned crewmembers confront societal tensions that can threaten the mission. Throughout it all the onboard artificial intelligence (I.C.C.) acts as a tempering force to keep everything held together. The mystery of the strange star awaits as does the mystery of why Earth has broken contact with the convoy long into the mission. The story is character driven and deals mainly with the generations of cloned crew members and less with the mission discoveries. However, it kept this reader's interest enough to want to read the next book in the trilogy to see what other discoveries await.
After a young scientist discovers a far star with a “crust” almost completely surrounding it with but one opening allowing the stars light and energy through, the go-ahead is given to send a convoy of ships (Noumenon) to investigate. It is one convoy out of several sent on journeys to research other spatial curiosities. The convoyuses a subdimensional (SD) drive to shorten the time to reach its destination that will still take hundreds of years, while thousands of years will pass on Earth. While the journey and discovery are part of the plot, the main story deals with the interactions of the cloned crews of the nine ships that make up the convoy. This poses the biggest challenge for the mission as generation after generation of cloned crewmembers confront societal tensions that can threaten the mission. Throughout it all the onboard artificial intelligence (I.C.C.) acts as a tempering force to keep everything held together. The mystery of the strange star awaits as does the mystery of why Earth has broken contact with the convoy long into the mission. The story is character driven and deals mainly with the generations of cloned crew members and less with the mission discoveries. However, it kept this reader's interest enough to want to read the next book in the trilogy to see what other discoveries await.