Introduction
I just completed Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It is the first book in The Final Architecture trilogy. It sets place in a multi-species galaxy where something called unspace is the primary line of communication. The Orignators, a dead species, created paths in unspace across the galaxy. The paths are known, and the races of Shards of Earth can safely travel through them while they are asleep or in stasis. Only certain species, and surgically and chemically modified humans called Intermediaries, can travel through unspace while conscious or explore the “deep void” of unspace outside of the thoroughfares. The vast majority of sentient species that travel through unspace while conscious experience a menancing presence that eventually drives them insane - the Intermediaries feel this presence as well but they can withstand it.
The major villains of the book are the moon-sized Architects. These entities travel through unspace, suddenly appear in a planetary system with sentient life, and then reshape the entire planet into a beautiful shape with intricate patterns.
Brief Review
Shards of Earth was a little bit of a let down primarily because the author’s Children of Time series, which is outstanding, set my expectations high with regard to Universe Building. More specifically, the book takes place in the distant future without a sufficient explanation of how humanity reached the status quo. For example, humanity shares colonies with a leech-like species that operates on a caste system. How did humanity create this mutually-beneficial relationship with this this visually terrifying species? As another example, a member of a crab-like species is a member of the crew, but little background is given on them other than they prefer to settle disputes without violence and die when they reproduce. The Children of Time series, on the other hand, provides a more compelling background to its universe.
…. However, its exploration of lines of communication is interesting. The rest of post will be about that.
Types
Unpace in Shards of Earth is comparable to a highway system. Advanced species can travel vast distances, measured in light years, in a matter of hours. An interesting aspect of this system is that a mysterious dead species built the paths through unspace, and modern species lack understanding of how the system actually works. This mode of travel is most similiar to travel by Warp in the Warhammer Series. In Warhammer, navigators can travel through certain paths of the “warp” easier and faster than others, and entities in the warp actively seek to destroy humanity.
Startrek has a faster-than-light system but can only travel a small multiple of the speed of light. The Star Trek: Voyager series provides a compelling story about how limiting this system is for galactic travel.
Humanity in my favorite science-fiction series, The Expanse, travel through giant rings to a central node where they can travel to other parts of the universe via different rings. The Ring Builders are similar to the Originators in Shards of Earth. However, The Expanse provides a more compelling explanation of how this type of travel enrages “ring entities” which destroyed the Ring Builders and now seek to wipe out humanity for using the rings.
In my opinion, the lines of communication in The Expanse is the most interesting. The series fully explores how the discovery of this type of travel changes humanity, and how the military control of the central node empowers a particular faction. The Expanse is the only series, that I am aware of, that adequately explores logistics and logistical constraints in the near future. The Outer Planetary Alliance (OPA), for example, initially acts as exploited - but essential - logisticians in service of Earth, Mars, and their space stations throughout the solar system. An OPA demagogue is the primary antagonist is one of the books. As another example, the terraforming of Mars is not longer a compelling project after inhabitable worlds suddenly become reachable through the rings - this fact leads to the creation of the primary antagonist in the later books.
Moreover, the lines of communication in The Expanse is compelling because there is a clear cost to it which is not initially understood. Conversely, Star Wars has the least compelling lines of communication because there is no cost or mystery associated with it.
Next Books
My next book will be the Battle of Corrin to finish the Dune prequel series. After that, I might read Blood Meridian by Cormack McCarthy for the second time. Blood Meridian is not a science fiction book, but Judge Holden has the feel of a outwordly character.
In other news, PA State police is reviewing my Right-To-Know request for geo-spatial crime data. That will be an interesting project once I move to the East Coast.