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The Sleeping Gods #3
Endings
Trapped aboard the crippled starship Erebus, spiraling toward the crushing grip of a black hole, Inspector Layton Trent and his team face oblivion. Their only hope? A desperate alliance with the ship’s renegade crew. Bitter enemies must work together, or they’ll vanish into the abyss.
But survival comes at a price. When Erebus finally breaks free, they emerge 20,000 years in the future to a desolate galaxy.
Entire civilizations are extinct.
Humanity is gone.
An overwhelming, enigmatic force has swept across the stars, consuming entire worlds to fuel its relentless expansion. The last remnants of intelligent life have fled toward the galactic core, desperate to escape annihilation. With no way back and an unstoppable enemy hunting them, Layton and his crew have only one choice, to follow the survivors into the unknown.
What begins as a desperate flight soon becomes something far greater.
From the ruins of a dying galaxy to the final flickers of existence itself, Layton and his crew will push beyond the boundaries of time and space, searching for answers – about the force that hunts them, the fate of those who came before, and the ultimate mystery of what lies beyond the end of everything.
But survival comes at a price. When Erebus finally breaks free, they emerge 20,000 years in the future to a desolate galaxy.
Entire civilizations are extinct.
Humanity is gone.
An overwhelming, enigmatic force has swept across the stars, consuming entire worlds to fuel its relentless expansion. The last remnants of intelligent life have fled toward the galactic core, desperate to escape annihilation. With no way back and an unstoppable enemy hunting them, Layton and his crew have only one choice, to follow the survivors into the unknown.
What begins as a desperate flight soon becomes something far greater.
From the ruins of a dying galaxy to the final flickers of existence itself, Layton and his crew will push beyond the boundaries of time and space, searching for answers – about the force that hunts them, the fate of those who came before, and the ultimate mystery of what lies beyond the end of everything.
466 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2025
43 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 16, 2025
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
Wow! My brain hurts. The author says it took him ten years to write this book and that’s still amazing. I don’t know how anyone could do the research for a book like this without it taking far longer than that. There are so many scientific concepts that are put to the test that it’s, well, mind-boggling! As for the book, let’s just say you’re going on a trip, a very, very, very long trip!
As we start, starship *Erebus* is flying towards an enormous black hole named V4641 Sagi or Sagi’s Black Hole! They’re not doing this on purpose exactly. In fact, they are desperately trying to fix the Erebus so it doesn’t fly into the black hole. Something was wrong with their Alcubierre drive and they were desperately trying to fix it, of course! Commander Beverly Tasker was gently reminding those working on the drive that without it fully functioning, they were, well, doomed!
The other members of the Erebus crew are Major Ava Phillips, a tough as nails soldier or Marine, Xander Frain, a former enemy and somewhat of an android, and Dexter Frampton, the young geek smarter than anyone else in this small world right now. The *Erebus* was attempting to dock with a lander of the *Gagarin* another ship lost to time. Still, the lander had the parts needed to fix the Alcubierre drive and that made it vitally important that they successfully dock with it. If they missed, they were just on the edge of the black hole’s event horizon. Let’s just say they have to fix the A-drive or their story ends here.
Now there is one other person aboard the *Erebus* and that’s Layton Trent, a London detective! If you’ll take the time to remember back to book 2, you’ll know that Trent is after a criminal and when he’s after someone, he doesn’t stop just because they went Into space. Not even if they fell through an FTL gateway, which they did! Trent is about as out of place as you can get. He really doesn’t have a purpose on this ship, but he does seem to ask a lot of questions. I guess if he didn’t then most of the smarter than average crew would only think their actions through and never tell anyone what they were doing until it was done! Not a great way to run a ship.
I’m not going to rehash how everyone including the Erebus got to this point. Let’s just say they do fix the A-drive and head out of the vicinity of the Sagi black hole. Then the question of where to go comes up and of course everyone as they want to go home. But, due to time dilation, which you’ll be hearing a lot about, their home won’t be the same place they left. No, this trip has taken some twenty thousand years already and it’s not any where near completed. Oh, you have no idea how far and how long this story is going to take you.
That’s where the heavy, heavy hand of science comes into play. As you near the speed of light, which seems really absurd, time acts differently on those doing the traveling than those who were left behind, a lot differently. Even just approaching a small percentage of the speed of light is going to cause a time dilation. There’s that word again. I’m not going to get into all the scientific stuff since this book does that on its own.
Then there’s the problem with the Watchers. It turns out that something has been in our solar system watching humanity since the beginning of time. It actually built the FTL gateways, as I understand it, so humanity could leap great distances but now that has all stopped. The Watchers are now doing something else and it’s not in humanities favor. The Erebus will make it close to home, well, actually they will see Earth, but it’s not their home any more. You’ll see, you’ll read about how time dilation can and does destroy everything and why long space travel in ships not coming near the speed of light will cause humans untold problems. It’s like once you leave, you’re not coming back here, because here won’t ever exist again.
But then what if you keep going and going. Where do you wind up if you run out of time? Well, this book is going to tell you that. Put on your thinking caps because Mr. Kern is going to stretch your brain quite a bit. I now understand why it took him ten years to finish this book. I’ll be thinking about it probably for the next ten.
A very good read, very exciting and while there is a lot of scientific stuff thrown around, there are a lot of just down-right exciting scenes that are writing very well.
Wow! My brain hurts. The author says it took him ten years to write this book and that’s still amazing. I don’t know how anyone could do the research for a book like this without it taking far longer than that. There are so many scientific concepts that are put to the test that it’s, well, mind-boggling! As for the book, let’s just say you’re going on a trip, a very, very, very long trip!
As we start, starship *Erebus* is flying towards an enormous black hole named V4641 Sagi or Sagi’s Black Hole! They’re not doing this on purpose exactly. In fact, they are desperately trying to fix the Erebus so it doesn’t fly into the black hole. Something was wrong with their Alcubierre drive and they were desperately trying to fix it, of course! Commander Beverly Tasker was gently reminding those working on the drive that without it fully functioning, they were, well, doomed!
The other members of the Erebus crew are Major Ava Phillips, a tough as nails soldier or Marine, Xander Frain, a former enemy and somewhat of an android, and Dexter Frampton, the young geek smarter than anyone else in this small world right now. The *Erebus* was attempting to dock with a lander of the *Gagarin* another ship lost to time. Still, the lander had the parts needed to fix the Alcubierre drive and that made it vitally important that they successfully dock with it. If they missed, they were just on the edge of the black hole’s event horizon. Let’s just say they have to fix the A-drive or their story ends here.
Now there is one other person aboard the *Erebus* and that’s Layton Trent, a London detective! If you’ll take the time to remember back to book 2, you’ll know that Trent is after a criminal and when he’s after someone, he doesn’t stop just because they went Into space. Not even if they fell through an FTL gateway, which they did! Trent is about as out of place as you can get. He really doesn’t have a purpose on this ship, but he does seem to ask a lot of questions. I guess if he didn’t then most of the smarter than average crew would only think their actions through and never tell anyone what they were doing until it was done! Not a great way to run a ship.
I’m not going to rehash how everyone including the Erebus got to this point. Let’s just say they do fix the A-drive and head out of the vicinity of the Sagi black hole. Then the question of where to go comes up and of course everyone as they want to go home. But, due to time dilation, which you’ll be hearing a lot about, their home won’t be the same place they left. No, this trip has taken some twenty thousand years already and it’s not any where near completed. Oh, you have no idea how far and how long this story is going to take you.
That’s where the heavy, heavy hand of science comes into play. As you near the speed of light, which seems really absurd, time acts differently on those doing the traveling than those who were left behind, a lot differently. Even just approaching a small percentage of the speed of light is going to cause a time dilation. There’s that word again. I’m not going to get into all the scientific stuff since this book does that on its own.
Then there’s the problem with the Watchers. It turns out that something has been in our solar system watching humanity since the beginning of time. It actually built the FTL gateways, as I understand it, so humanity could leap great distances but now that has all stopped. The Watchers are now doing something else and it’s not in humanities favor. The Erebus will make it close to home, well, actually they will see Earth, but it’s not their home any more. You’ll see, you’ll read about how time dilation can and does destroy everything and why long space travel in ships not coming near the speed of light will cause humans untold problems. It’s like once you leave, you’re not coming back here, because here won’t ever exist again.
But then what if you keep going and going. Where do you wind up if you run out of time? Well, this book is going to tell you that. Put on your thinking caps because Mr. Kern is going to stretch your brain quite a bit. I now understand why it took him ten years to finish this book. I’ll be thinking about it probably for the next ten.
A very good read, very exciting and while there is a lot of scientific stuff thrown around, there are a lot of just down-right exciting scenes that are writing very well.
August 1, 2025
After reading the first 2 books in this series, I was looking forward to the closure of a final book. I did not get it at all. I stopped reading after 47 chapters due to the slog the book devolved into. The book starts with Erebus' escape from the Stagi black hole and then spends the next 40+ chapters giving the reader a physics lesson on traveling close to the speed of light and how black holes work. The only action happens when they briefly return to the destroyed Sol system and then get chased by the Watcher until they dive into Sag A*. Then it's a couple of chapters with more physics lessons. Then I stopped reading. This is a very boring physics lesson disguised as a story.
To help you not lose valuable time reading this horrible novel, here's my synopsis:
Erebus gets out of the black hole
Erebus meets Linked survivors from Jupiter
Erebus goes back to Sol
Erebus sees Watcher ships around Jupiter.
Erebus sends out a message to see if there are any human survivors and gets the attention of the Watcher.
Erebus gets chased to center of the Milky Way by Watcher
Erebus loops around Sag A* to escape into the future where they think the survivors have gone.
Boring things happen
I stopped reading.
It's a real shame that book 3 was so bad. The author could have gone in so many better ways with the story. He could have gone forward with other versions of the Sol people attempting to beat the Watcher and it would have been a better novel. Heck, he could have had one of the other versions manage to push the Watcher's planet into the Sagi black hole and stopped the attacks from ever happening. So many better ideas than what he did.
The only saving grace of this book is that I got it via Kendle Unlimited. I'd be more upset if I had paid full price for it.
My final bit of advice: Avoid this book at all costs.
To help you not lose valuable time reading this horrible novel, here's my synopsis:
Erebus gets out of the black hole
Erebus meets Linked survivors from Jupiter
Erebus goes back to Sol
Erebus sees Watcher ships around Jupiter.
Erebus sends out a message to see if there are any human survivors and gets the attention of the Watcher.
Erebus gets chased to center of the Milky Way by Watcher
Erebus loops around Sag A* to escape into the future where they think the survivors have gone.
Boring things happen
I stopped reading.
It's a real shame that book 3 was so bad. The author could have gone in so many better ways with the story. He could have gone forward with other versions of the Sol people attempting to beat the Watcher and it would have been a better novel. Heck, he could have had one of the other versions manage to push the Watcher's planet into the Sagi black hole and stopped the attacks from ever happening. So many better ideas than what he did.
The only saving grace of this book is that I got it via Kendle Unlimited. I'd be more upset if I had paid full price for it.
My final bit of advice: Avoid this book at all costs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2025
Onward
What a ride! If skimming a few words here and there is acceptable, this panorama of plots raises the books to almost an encyclopedia of science and scifi. Imagination fertilizes questions often explored before the pages turn. A fine ride for readers of teen age and old hands, too.
What a ride! If skimming a few words here and there is acceptable, this panorama of plots raises the books to almost an encyclopedia of science and scifi. Imagination fertilizes questions often explored before the pages turn. A fine ride for readers of teen age and old hands, too.
April 17, 2025
it’s been a long time coming.
This popped up as a sequel to something I read but could not place the story, then I remembered I read the first two books 11 years ago. If you read the first two, this is well worth the read. But the story can make your brain spin considering the time frames involved.
This popped up as a sequel to something I read but could not place the story, then I remembered I read the first two books 11 years ago. If you read the first two, this is well worth the read. But the story can make your brain spin considering the time frames involved.
February 25, 2026
Excellent story!
From very grounded beginnings in a gritty story of terrorists and murders, that we see or hear of on our world today, on a journey in and beyond the Universe. It did get a bit metaphysical towards the end but stick with it for the finale. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.
From very grounded beginnings in a gritty story of terrorists and murders, that we see or hear of on our world today, on a journey in and beyond the Universe. It did get a bit metaphysical towards the end but stick with it for the finale. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.
March 26, 2025
An incredible story
Super good Read I really enjoyed it I won't spoil it for you but it's deep Deep and long Very good story Had to have taken a lot of thought to write Very very Fun read Check it out .
Super good Read I really enjoyed it I won't spoil it for you but it's deep Deep and long Very good story Had to have taken a lot of thought to write Very very Fun read Check it out .
March 23, 2025
Endings
I can see why this took so long to write. Incredible masterpiece of thought and prose. Concepts so complex made simple and yet mind numbing in span. Love it.
I can see why this took so long to write. Incredible masterpiece of thought and prose. Concepts so complex made simple and yet mind numbing in span. Love it.
September 2, 2025
Wow. . this series is a long trip to to no where.
The author knows a lot of cosmology, and he wants to make sure you know it. As a trilogy, this series is bad. Really, it's a duology as no major character in the first
books is a protagonist through all three. The character development is lazy, and the resolution is poorly executed.
For all the excruciating detail spent on the cosmology and the inexplicable amount of energy spent on the back story of a colony which only functions as a minor subplot, the auther does an impressive job of poorly defining the antagonists.
Pretty much it's "aliens gonna alien, what can you do".
Can you tell I thought it was unevenly written? Let me be clear it was unevenly written.
These books are a long trip you don't have to take .
The author knows a lot of cosmology, and he wants to make sure you know it. As a trilogy, this series is bad. Really, it's a duology as no major character in the first
books is a protagonist through all three. The character development is lazy, and the resolution is poorly executed.
For all the excruciating detail spent on the cosmology and the inexplicable amount of energy spent on the back story of a colony which only functions as a minor subplot, the auther does an impressive job of poorly defining the antagonists.
Pretty much it's "aliens gonna alien, what can you do".
Can you tell I thought it was unevenly written? Let me be clear it was unevenly written.
These books are a long trip you don't have to take .
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews