Inheritance

The Quantum Realm #2

by Robert P. Edwards

Torn apart by conflict, humanity stands at the brink.

The Northern Alliance’s Quant purge is almost complete thanks to bio-engineered soldiers equipped to find and destroy. The Alliance is also keen to put down the rebellion in the South and is engaged in a Cold War with Greater China.

Seeing the world falling apart, Mackenzie and Chris seek to escape to the Moon colony. However, the collapse of the Thermashield in Antarctica sends Chris on a desperate mission to avoid a global climate disaster.

Sophie still believes there is hope despite being fundamentally altered by her near-death experience with Quants. When the Alliance calls her back to ‘read’ a Scania Quant, she comes to realise a devastating truth: the machines are not done yet.

Genres: Science Fiction

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 16, 2024

About the author

Robert began his literary journey after a thirty-five-year career in IT. He recently returned to the UK from Australia, and can be found in the Cotswolds with his partner and spaniel. A climate change believer, he writes science fiction thrillers that balance hard science with deeply human stories, leaving you questioning what it means to be human in the era of artificial intelligence.

Reviews

[Damir Salkovic]

Inheritance picks up a decade after “Unnatural Selection”, as Sophie and her allies grapple with the explosive revelation that human evolution itself has been hijacked. What begins as damage control quickly escalates into a globe-spanning race to stop billionaire technocrats and semi-autonomous machines from deciding who gets to inherit the future of the species.

Leaning harder into scale and momentum, Robert P. Edwards widens the lens from conspiracy thriller to full-on science fiction epic. Systems fail, alliances fracture, and the Quants – once obedient human creations – begin to look unsettlingly self-directed. Sophie's evolution into a reluctant leader is convincingly portrayed, while Kazumi’s behind-the-scenes scheming injects welcome energy into the narrative. Again, the book occasionally pauses for big-idea explanations, but the stakes are so clearly drawn and the premise so chillingly plausible that the propulsion rarely falters. “Inheritance” is smart, ambitious, and unapologetically geeky in its fascination with technology and consequence. In the Quantum Realm Trilogy, this is a worthy, crowd-pleasing middle chapter that raises the philosophical and narrative stakes.