With the invention of subdimensional drive technologies, humanity can finally reach far beyond our solar system. Several manned missions are chosen; one, christened Noumenon, heads for a distant star that appears to be shielded by something, possibly artificial. Since the voyage will take hundreds of years, the ship is crewed by clones. As the centuries go by, the cloned descendents of the original crew discover the many difficulties of maintaining a society in space, not to mention the challenges they face when they reach their destination. The extreme time jumps necessary to tell the story of multiple generations means that this is not a primarily character-driven tale, although that doesn't mean that there are not interesting characters featured, most notably the only constant over the eons—the ship's AI. While readers might be let down by how little we learn about the star the mission discovers, there is apparently a sequel in the works.
VERDICT Revolving around a space ship's crew that is cloned and recloned, this first novel explores questions of genetics and identity.
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