What do you think?
Rate this book
The Quantum Evolution #4
The Quantum Dawn
Not yet published
Expected 3 Nov 26The highly-anticipated fourth volume in the number-one bestselling Quantum Evolution series. An all-new, ground-breaking, action-packed science fiction adventure set in the universe of The Quantum Magician.
A HUNT THROUGH ETERNITY
In the closing moments of the Quantum War, Belisarius disappeared into a collapsing wormhole, and was thought lost forever.
Now the Puppet priestess Rosalie Johns-10 is suffering increasingly powerful nightmares, revealing strange geometries. Belisarius’s old lover Cassandra and the AI Saint Matthew eventually work out the nightmares are a signal, originating somewhere—and somewhen—in the 11-dimensional space of the Axis Mundi time gates.
Cassandra, Rosalie and Saint Matthew, joined by their comrade Stills, head off on a hunt through time itself—a hunt that will take them to the ancient beginnings of the mysterious network, in the earliest era of the universe…
A HUNT THROUGH ETERNITY
In the closing moments of the Quantum War, Belisarius disappeared into a collapsing wormhole, and was thought lost forever.
Now the Puppet priestess Rosalie Johns-10 is suffering increasingly powerful nightmares, revealing strange geometries. Belisarius’s old lover Cassandra and the AI Saint Matthew eventually work out the nightmares are a signal, originating somewhere—and somewhen—in the 11-dimensional space of the Axis Mundi time gates.
Cassandra, Rosalie and Saint Matthew, joined by their comrade Stills, head off on a hunt through time itself—a hunt that will take them to the ancient beginnings of the mysterious network, in the earliest era of the universe…
- GenresScience Fiction
400 pages, Paperback
Expected publication November 3, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 7, 2026
One caveat before I give a full review. I thought the opening, or perhaps even the first sixth of the novel was kinda rough. No great hooks and the only eye-catching things was the SF aspects and not the characters. And this is even after a much-appreciated recap of the first three books.
But after? Once it really gets going?
It just doesn't stop. It gets crazy good on the adventure side, trouncing even some of the best big-scope hard-SF out there. Reynolds and Brin on this level. And in some ways, when we get right into the really great imaginative stuff, it's pretty mind blowing. And that's AFTER we've got quantum analyses on the fly, religious AIs, water dog space pilots, quantum tunneling flora, and a huge ass chase through time that doesn't always follow (or even usually follow) causal patterns.
Indeed, this stuff goes non-linear early on, proving that things HAD to go a certain way because they were puzzling over the EFFECTS already accomplished and had to catch up to events after decoding it through racial alien DNA messages sent backward in time to warn of several future catastrophes that had to happen to force the correct effect. And if that isn't confusing enough, I spotted several MORE instances where this had to happen minus the alien DNA and all of a sudden the whole book sounds more like a sly refutation of religious determinism by positing the infallibility of the determinism in this cosmos.
And all the while, we STILL have to treat it like the mystery it so obviously is. And it's still crazy because we're STILL unable to see the whole picture. Right, Tesseract? Muahahahahahaha.
Did I mention this is a wonderfully nerdy book? So, yeah, forgive the front of it. You'll be in for one hell of a ride by the end. Even if there is no Bel. And even if the whole novel is fraught and tense.
It's still much more exciting than it has any right to be.
But after? Once it really gets going?
It just doesn't stop. It gets crazy good on the adventure side, trouncing even some of the best big-scope hard-SF out there. Reynolds and Brin on this level. And in some ways, when we get right into the really great imaginative stuff, it's pretty mind blowing. And that's AFTER we've got quantum analyses on the fly, religious AIs, water dog space pilots, quantum tunneling flora, and a huge ass chase through time that doesn't always follow (or even usually follow) causal patterns.
Indeed, this stuff goes non-linear early on, proving that things HAD to go a certain way because they were puzzling over the EFFECTS already accomplished and had to catch up to events after decoding it through racial alien DNA messages sent backward in time to warn of several future catastrophes that had to happen to force the correct effect. And if that isn't confusing enough, I spotted several MORE instances where this had to happen minus the alien DNA and all of a sudden the whole book sounds more like a sly refutation of religious determinism by positing the infallibility of the determinism in this cosmos.
And all the while, we STILL have to treat it like the mystery it so obviously is. And it's still crazy because we're STILL unable to see the whole picture. Right, Tesseract? Muahahahahahaha.
Did I mention this is a wonderfully nerdy book? So, yeah, forgive the front of it. You'll be in for one hell of a ride by the end. Even if there is no Bel. And even if the whole novel is fraught and tense.
It's still much more exciting than it has any right to be.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was resigned to reading this at the end of the year when it was actually released, but Jess at Solaris publishings had other plans. Thank you, Jess. And Netgalley, I suppose.
This is such a wonderfully nerdy sci-fi novel. Definitely not for everybody. Possibly not even enjoyable for fans of the previous books in the series. This is not a fun and cool story like The Quantum Magician was. If there are jokes in this story, they don't quite land. Even my fave character, Stills, failed to get a smirk or chuckle out of me. This story is Bel-less.The puppets aren't doing their kinky religious stuff. The Sub-Saharan Union are too busy fighting for their immediate survival to be involved in this story that spans millennia. A story of Cassandra, Saint Matthew, Stills, and Rosalie unknowingly going up against an Empire that seeks to rule all of time. It's not grim, but it's never light and fun. I read it in two days but it's definitely not a book your average reader would claim is 'un-putdownable'.
Nothing I've written so far justifies a 4 star rating but I'm fairly confident that the story merits it. After the many crimes against humanity in The Quantum War, we couldn't just go back to heists and cool one liners. Monsters were made. People unable to come to terms with their grief are having to deal with the consequences of their actions and it's all very intellectually emo. Intellectually emo isn't a thing, but I'm going with it nonetheless. This is the most mature book in the series so far. Hence the lack of fun. And I don't imagine that people seeking refuge from real world events will take any joy from this story. But it's the story this series needed.
It's Derek Künsken's Quantum Evolution so yes there's a lot of (pseudo?) science that fits perfectly within the universe he's created, which is all that should matter on that front. The ideas are big and interesting. At times it reminded me of Cixin Liu's final book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past series. But with better character writing. If you've read Death's End you'll both understand why I'll not get into any of the ideas of The Quantum Dawn and also recognise that this is a sci-fi novel that you should read. If you've not read it then I'm probably not the person to be selling this book to you.
There's not really a cliff hanger in this book, which is to it's credit. It's also not a filler novel written to satisfy a multi book publishing contract.
The series is meant to conclude with the next book, The Quantum Temple, and I really hope Künsken manages to land the ending. I also hope Jess or someone else at Solaris hooks me up with an ARC of that book cause I really don't want to have to wait three years or more to find out.
Can hardly wait to hear what the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast has to say about this.
This is such a wonderfully nerdy sci-fi novel. Definitely not for everybody. Possibly not even enjoyable for fans of the previous books in the series. This is not a fun and cool story like The Quantum Magician was. If there are jokes in this story, they don't quite land. Even my fave character, Stills, failed to get a smirk or chuckle out of me. This story is Bel-less.The puppets aren't doing their kinky religious stuff. The Sub-Saharan Union are too busy fighting for their immediate survival to be involved in this story that spans millennia. A story of Cassandra, Saint Matthew, Stills, and Rosalie unknowingly going up against an Empire that seeks to rule all of time. It's not grim, but it's never light and fun. I read it in two days but it's definitely not a book your average reader would claim is 'un-putdownable'.
Nothing I've written so far justifies a 4 star rating but I'm fairly confident that the story merits it. After the many crimes against humanity in The Quantum War, we couldn't just go back to heists and cool one liners. Monsters were made. People unable to come to terms with their grief are having to deal with the consequences of their actions and it's all very intellectually emo. Intellectually emo isn't a thing, but I'm going with it nonetheless. This is the most mature book in the series so far. Hence the lack of fun. And I don't imagine that people seeking refuge from real world events will take any joy from this story. But it's the story this series needed.
It's Derek Künsken's Quantum Evolution so yes there's a lot of (pseudo?) science that fits perfectly within the universe he's created, which is all that should matter on that front. The ideas are big and interesting. At times it reminded me of Cixin Liu's final book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past series. But with better character writing. If you've read Death's End you'll both understand why I'll not get into any of the ideas of The Quantum Dawn and also recognise that this is a sci-fi novel that you should read. If you've not read it then I'm probably not the person to be selling this book to you.
There's not really a cliff hanger in this book, which is to it's credit. It's also not a filler novel written to satisfy a multi book publishing contract.
The series is meant to conclude with the next book, The Quantum Temple, and I really hope Künsken manages to land the ending. I also hope Jess or someone else at Solaris hooks me up with an ARC of that book cause I really don't want to have to wait three years or more to find out.
Can hardly wait to hear what the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast has to say about this.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Quantum Dawn is an ambitious, wonderfully nerdy sci-fi novel filled with big ideas around quantum mechanics, causality, time, alien intelligence, and some genuinely mind-bending concepts.
The book follows Cassandra and her ragtag group, including Stills, St. Matthew, and others, as they are being chased by Congregate agents .
The opening was a bit of a struggle for me. The pacing was slow, the missions felt slightly implausible, and it took quite a while for the story to pull me in. There are also stretches where the sheer amount of science and complexity comes at the expense of the characters and story pacing. Hortus quantus was boring for me in book 2, and the entire bit on quantus and rubrum didn't excite me enough here. The book feels more interested in exploring its ideas than telling a consistently engaging story.
That said, when Künsken gets into the really weird science-fiction territory, the book is impressive. The treatment of time and cause-and-effect is fascinating, and there are several moments where you have to stop and think about what you've just read. For most of the book, I wasn't particularly convinced. But the ending is considerably stronger. It doesn't erase the slow pacing, but it definitely improved my overall impression of the book. Add to that,
A very ambitious sci-fi story with some fantastic ideas, but an uneven reading experience that ultimately gets saved by a better ending.
Thanks, Solaris and NetGalley, for an ARC.
The book follows Cassandra and her ragtag group, including Stills, St. Matthew, and others, as they are being chased by Congregate agents .
The opening was a bit of a struggle for me. The pacing was slow, the missions felt slightly implausible, and it took quite a while for the story to pull me in. There are also stretches where the sheer amount of science and complexity comes at the expense of the characters and story pacing. Hortus quantus was boring for me in book 2, and the entire bit on quantus and rubrum didn't excite me enough here. The book feels more interested in exploring its ideas than telling a consistently engaging story.
That said, when Künsken gets into the really weird science-fiction territory, the book is impressive. The treatment of time and cause-and-effect is fascinating, and there are several moments where you have to stop and think about what you've just read. For most of the book, I wasn't particularly convinced. But the ending is considerably stronger. It doesn't erase the slow pacing, but it definitely improved my overall impression of the book. Add to that,
A very ambitious sci-fi story with some fantastic ideas, but an uneven reading experience that ultimately gets saved by a better ending.
Thanks, Solaris and NetGalley, for an ARC.
October 9, 2026
An adventure through time and space, this volume is full of wormholes, quantum entanglements, and snarky AIs. The excellent narration delivered a sense of urgency as the main characters evaded, maneuvered, and bent the space-time continuum, taking wormholes millions of years into the past. I won’t pretend I have any idea if the story is scientifically sound - I just went along for the ride and found it often thrilling. If you’ve been listening to the series, know that this is not a conclusion - there’s a cliffhanger at the end that will be picked up in the next volume.
My thanks to the author, @RBMedia, @RecordedBooks, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #TheQuantumDawn for review purposes. Publication date: 22 October 2026.
My thanks to the author, @RBMedia, @RecordedBooks, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #TheQuantumDawn for review purposes. Publication date: 22 October 2026.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews