Far future science fiction is a hopeful genre. Its core assumption is that humanity survives its current time and stupidity to progress into new stupidities. In my lifetime, I’ve seen the US portion of this genre become hopeful for a wider, more diverse audience, and I feel like humanity is making progress toward an actual future. Noumenon Infinity postulates a future where humans of all variety exist among the stars. Whenever humans co-exist, drama is sure to follow, and this novel has both interpersonal and external drama in an excellent mix. Noumenon Infinity postulates a future where humanity has formed a stable society intent on finishing construction of an alien mega-structure. Marina J. Lostetter follows up her debut, Noumenon, with another installment of hope.
TL;DR
Noumenon Infinity by Marina J. Lostetter is an excellent space opera focused on beautiful character details and grand ideas on the biggest stage possible. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
Travel to the remotest reaches of deep space in this wondrous follow-up to the acclaimed Noumenon—a tale of exploration, adventure, science, and humanity with the sweep and intelligence of the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Neal Stephenson, and Octavia Butler.
Generations ago, Convoy Seven and I.C.C. left Earth on a mission that would take them far beyond the solar system. Launched by the Planet United Consortium, a global group formed to pursue cooperative Earth-wide interests in deep space, nine ships headed into the unknown to explore a distant star called LQ Pyx.
Eons later, the convoy has returned to LQ Pyx to begin work on the Web, the alien megastructure that covers the star. Is it a Dyson Sphere, designed to power a civilization as everyone believes—or something far more sinister?
Meanwhile, Planet United’s littlest convoy, long thought to be lost, reemerges in a different sector of deep space. What they discover holds the answers to unlocking the Web’s greater purpose.
Each convoy possesses a piece of the Web’s puzzle . . . but they may not be able to bring those pieces together and uncover the structure’s true nature before it’s too late.
Story
Noumenon Infinity is set on the biggest stage available, the universe, but Marina J. Lostetter writes intimate chapters focused closely on character. Each character’s reactions to the large events of the novel makes the increases the size of the story. Noumenon Infinity returns to convoy 7 of the Planet United Missions from the first novel, Noumenon. Convoy 7 is headed back to the Web, the alien mega-structure circling the star LQ Pyx. Along the way, they make a discovery that changes the future of their convoy. Noumenon Infinity expands the story beyond convoy 7 into the tragic story of convoy 12. Dr. Vanhi Kapoor leads a team of researchers into sub-dimensional engines that results in accident, and in this novel, we get the story of what happened to convoy 12.
In the first book, Ms. Lostetter dealt with a story that spanned centuries, and in the convoy 7 storyline, she returns to the long game. But convoy 12’s story compresses the story down to days, weeks, and years. The alternating timelines is interesting and creates different tension for the reader throughout the novel. The two stories don’t happen concurrently, and that is an interesting consequence of space travel and relativity. If the first novel shows how time changes between the travelers and the planet, Noumenon Infinity shows how travelers moving at different speeds means a difference in time between travelers. As a physics aficionado, I liked how these novels stick somewhat to the principles of relativity. But as with the first book, the characters are the strength of this novel.
Structure
Noumenon Infinity has the same structure where each chapter is a new character. In the convoy 7 plotline decades pass by between chapters, but the convoy 12 advances by weeks and months. It can be a bit jarring because as a reader, I’ve been trained to expect the storylines to sync up. But I enjoyed how the novel is structured, and it’s effective at creating tension and movement throughout the novel.
Where Noumenon only had one repeating character, I.C.C., Noumenon Infinity sticks with characters through the convoy 12 storyline while convoy 7 maintains continuity through I.C.C. again. Much as the convoy 7 character switches give diverse views of the history of humanity’s journey to the Web, the convoy 12 character switches show the multiple and very human reactions to a catastrophic accident. I found this incredibly effective because it presents a balanced view of the tragedy. If that old saying that every story has three sides: yours, mine, and the truth, then Noumenon Infinity attempts to present as many sides as possible, which feels like an odd thing to write considering this is fiction. I guess, even though each chapter presents an unreliable narrator, the book taken as a whole presents what feels like an unbiased account of events. Even though it’s obviously biased because it’s all what the author chose to tell us.
Writing
What I enjoyed most about Noumenon was the intense character work, and Noumenon Infinity continues with strong interpersonal narratives. The detailed, diverse cast of characters make each chapter a story on its own. The characters are distinct, deep, and believable. With such a wide cast, not all characters are equally likeable. The story of Steve Weaver, chapter 9, blew me away. While yes it served the plot, the psychology was so spot on. Characters without doubt, with certainty of purpose fascinate me, and this chapter hit all the right notes. The attention to character is reason enough to read the novel alone.
Sequels
Noumenon was one of my favorite books of 2017. Thus, I had high expectations for its sequel. Sequels have the unfortunate role of being a separate artistic entity that has to surpass its very reason for existence. Noumenon Infinity is an excellent sequel on par with its predecessor. It expands the universe that Ms. Lostetter created while making it mysterious. I want more stories about the convoys, especially convoy 7. Not all of the storylines are finished here, and I’d love to see where Ms. Lostetter’s imagination takes us.
Conclusion
Marina J. Lostetter’s Noumenon Infinity continues the tale of the Planet United Missions, an ideal view of humanity’s future. This novel effectively moves their story forward while introducing new characters, new alien mega-structures, and new problems. Ultimately, it’s a hopeful novel about humanity’s ability to come together for science and for each other.
Highly recommended!