Schild's Ladder

By: Greg Egan

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

The Age of Death ended countless millennia ago. No longer burdened by limited lifespans, the immortal humans who populate inhabited space now have the luxury to travel vast distances effortlessly and to tinker with the intricate mechanics of space time. But one such experiment in quantum physics has had a catastrophic and unanticipated result, creating an enormous, rapidly expanding vacuum - a region of new physics - with the frightening potential to devour countless inhabited solar systems.

Tchicaya abandoned his home world four thousand years ago to travel the universe, freely choosing, as have others of his bent, to endure the hardships of distance and loneliness for the sake of knowledge and experience. Aboard the Rindler, a starship trawling the border of the all consuming novo-vacuum, he feels his endless life has new purpose. For the Rindler is the center for the scientific study the phenomenon - a common ground for Preservationists and Yielders alike, those working to halt and destroy the encroaching worlds-eater…and those determined to investigate its marvels while allowing its growth to continue unchecked. Tchicaya has allied himself firmly with the latter camp.

The passing decades - and inevitable expansion of the void - widen the great rift between the two factions, intensifying what was once simply ideological differences into something more angry, explosive, and dangerous. And the arrival of Tchicaya's fiery first love, Mariama, and her immediate embracing of the Preservationist cause, intensifies an inner turmoil he has been struggling with since his distant childhood. But everything onboard the Rindler - and, ultimately, in the inhabited universe itself - is on the cusp of further cataclysmic change, as the Yielders' explorations threaten to transform discord into violent action and potential xenocide.

For new evidence suggests that something unthinkable is developing at an astounding rate deep within the mysterious, 600-light-years-wide void - something neither Tchicaya and his compatriots nor Mariama and hers could ever have imagined possible: life.

©2013 Greg Egan (P)2013 Audible Inc.

for star trek NG fans who wished for more tech

The title is me, I wish Star trek Ng would have been WAY more tech and WAY less social commentary. Thats exactly what Schilds Ladder is. It is not the worlds best written novel. but the concepts Egan conceived and brought forth are well worth the credit to me. The book ended with I'd like to go home, which might as well have said I'm tired of writing (since the driving force of the plot had yet to be rectified). So all faults weighed, I feel that anyone who likes to open their mind and dream of what is yet to be, how far can humanity travel, what are the boundaries of space and physics then this book is for you and you will feel your credit well spent.

Worthwhile

Physics pedants may pull apart some of the finer points, but overall it’s an enjoyable read. If you can follow contextual clues and cues and have a mild understanding of the broader concepts in physics you don’t need any specialized knowledge to understand the intent of the authors use of physics to explore the universe.

I read this book almost by accident after a Reddit thread mentioned the premise and knowing nothing else going in. The book takes a different direction and different allegorical mission than the end of our universe from a “new vacuum” but I still enjoyed the book immensely with all the unexpected additions of thought provoking issues in a post mortality society.

Performance is a little dry, this having been my first book with this narrator but totally acceptable.

AI generated performance?

if I didn't know any better, I would swear that the narrator was an AI reading the book. Paul boehmer voice is so flat and robotic. It felt like it was a very advanced AI reading a narration of a book that actually human

The story was interesting. I felt like I lost a plot multiple times during the book, but over all I liked story

yet another masterpiece

This is either the best science fiction book you've ever read, or you won't make it 20 minutes.

simply put, Greg Egan is the only author alive writing true science fiction. as in fiction of science. as such a reader must have a pretty decent grasp of the current state of physics as we understand it to get everything out of this book.

so if you already know all about things like quantum computers, general relativity, and post-humanism this is the book for you!

Good stuff

There is a lot of technical and fabricated science fiction jargon. If you don't mind that, this is a great book. Greg Egan really knows how to layer his more "out there" ideas into the events in the story