Edges

Recently Linda Nagata has been giving us near future techno-thrillers. (Beginning with with her excellent [b:The Red: First Light 24453551 The Red First Light (The Red, #1) Linda Nagata https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436924487s/24453551.jpg 24561453].) However, with this book she returns to her far-future Nanotech Succession universe. Edges is a sequel to [b:Vast 14654789 Vast (The Nanotech Succession, #3) Linda Nagata https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348626540s/14654789.jpg 1176062] (though it can be read stand-alone), with the events in Edges picking up roughly a thousand years after Vast.At its heart, this book is an adventure story. A group of intrepid explorers decides to leave the safety of the Deception Well system and journey to the “Hallowed Vasties” (human core worlds) and discover why they seemingly have fallen to ruin. It will not be easy and they will face threats both internal and external.There are several things I like about this book. For one, its scale and imagination provide that ‘sense of wonder' that drew so many of us to science fiction in the first place. And, it is hard SF in that Nagata doesn't posit any warps, worm holes, or other undiscovered physics as ways to get around in the galaxy. It is strictly an Einsteinian universe; the speed of light is not violated. So how can short-lived humans deal with the vast expanses of space and time? Well, that would be a real spoiler; you'll have to read the book to find out. I'll just say that they have access to technology as far in advance of the present day as ours is from that of our cave-man ancestors.Edges is a good and very interesting book, but I have to dock a star from my rating because I was left a bit unsatisfied. While the book doesn't end on a cliff-hanger, the story obviously isn't over. I want more.