by Wil McCarthy
First published 2005
Conrad Mursk pilots the damaged starship Newhope back to the Queendom of Sol after a thousand years away. His ship carries the frozen survivors of the failed Barnard's Star colony. The Sol he once knew has changed beyond recognition. What was once a paradise of immortal citizens has become overcrowded and unstable. Space itself has run out as the immorbid population swells beyond capacity. Rebellion threatens the kingdom while a necro cult works to bring back death itself. King Bruno de Towaji, one of history's greatest terraformers, assigns Mursk and his lover Captain Xiomara Li Weng a final mission. They must literally destroy the moon to save billions of trapped souls. Success means rescuing humanity's descendants from eternal torment. Failure condemns them to something far worse than death. Mursk faces an impossible choice between preserving the familiar and embracing radical change to save his species.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, action, alternate-history
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, impossible-choice, radical-change
Setting: Queendom of Sol, Barnard's Star
Period: 1000 years in the future
400 pages · Paperback · Bantam Spectra