Noumenon

Noumenon #1

by Marina J. Lostetter

Noumenon is a tale of space travel, adventure, discovery, and humanity that unfolds through a series of generational vignettes.

In 2088, humankind is at last ready to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. But one uncertainty remains: Where do we go?

Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer has an idea. He’s discovered an anomalous star that appears to defy the laws of physics, and proposes the creation of a deep-space mission to find out whether the star is a weird natural phenomenon, or something manufactured.

The journey will take eons. In order to maintain the genetic talent of the original crew, humankind’s greatest ambition—to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy—is undertaken by clones. But a clone is not a perfect copy, and each new generation has its own quirks, desires, and neuroses. As the centuries fly by, the society living aboard the nine ships (designated “Convoy Seven”) changes and evolves, but their mission remains the same: to reach Reggie’s mysterious star and explore its origins—and implications.

A mosaic novel of discovery, Noumenon—in a series of vignettes—examines the dedication, adventure, growth, and fear of having your entire world consist of nine ships in the vacuum of space. The men and women, and even the AI, must learn to work and live together in harmony, as their original DNA is continuously replicated and they are born again and again into a thousand new lives. With the stars their home and the unknown their destination, they are on a voyage of many lifetimes—an odyssey to understand what lies beyond the limits of human knowledge and imagination.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Space, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult

420 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noumenon is the best Big Dumb Object novel to arrive in some time. Lostetter merges quite a few classic tropes in her debut novel, but Noumenon is much more than just a nostalgia trip for lovers of old school sci-fi. The plot concerns the discovery of a star that exhibits some very strange behavior, and a generation ship made of scientists sent to investigate it. The difference between this and other generation ships is that the successive generations are made up of exact genetic clones of the original crew; also, the FTL drive used to propel the ship has a time dilation effect that cause a few hundred years to go by on the ship, while thousands pass on earth – meaning they have no idea what will happen to Earth society and culture over the course of the journey, and when contact with Earth inexplicably ends they can only guess at what will be there, and whether they will be accepted, when they finally return.
There are nods in every direction for sci-fi lovers to enjoy – from Clarke to Haldeman to Poul Anderson and on through more recent authors like Neal Stephenson. But Noumenon is no mere pastiche: its scope is as grand as any written by those authors, but its architecture is quite unique to Lostetter’s project. Rather than follow one long plot or choose a single clone line as the book’s “protagonist”, Noumenon is structured as a series of vignettes that continually jump forward in time to different characters at different points over the course the journey – the one there and then back again – and tied together by the thoughts and experiences of the AI tasked with overseeing the mission. The mysterious star they are investigating is the macguffin, but the journey itself is the point of the novel, a sociological experiment that goes right as often as it goes wrong, in some instances terrifyingly so.
What Lostetter gets right about classically structured SF is that while it’s not SF without the science, it’s not worth reading if it’s not about the people affected by it. Lostetter got the scope of her project right, but the intimacy with which she depicts the smaller human moments amid the grander events is where it excels. The minimal amount of space she devotes to the exploration of the mysterious star is a little disappointing, but the ending appears to set up a sequel that promises greater detail about the discovery. Noumenon is an outstanding and singular achievement, and is likely to become a classic in its own right.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always nice to pick up tales about generational starships, a repeatedly cloned crew, and an AI that helps them make the journey.

Sound familiar? I mean, we've had stories like this for many generations aboard this starship and have discussed AIs for as long. We've had a long line and a recent bout of great novels touching upon all these aspects, such as KSR's Aurora and Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, not to mention Tchiachovski's Children of Time, to mention some of the very best among the latest.

Fortunately, this isn't a rehash. It's a serious thought experiment combining new thought in the fields of psychology, sociology, artificial intelligence and even DNA hard data storage techniques. :) I appreciated the subtle explorations and the different directions the author took them, showing me that she knew her SF history like an expert, never running over precisely the same ground.

But it is still all very familiar. And adding that to solid characters with their own personalities, some much more interesting than others, of course, we always have an entertaining and nicely flowing tale. Very few hiccups at all. I especially liked the exploration of Earth after their return. It could have gone so many ways and I'm very pleased with Numenon's final direction.

I can't say this is the best novel of its type but it is written in a nicely flowing modern style with a big focus on characters. It doesn't stint on the science, either, and the big, big focus on the AI is a major bonus in my book. :)

I do recommend this for you fanboys and fangirls. :)

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about a convoy of generational ships tasked with scientific investigation of a far away star. It is very much a book about the journey more so than the destination, and it focuses on the societal developments of the crew over their many years of travel.

I loved the way the chapters were divided into stories that moved smoothly from generation to generation, run through with the constant of the ships' AI, I.C.C. I wasn't completely surprised by some of the things that happened, but that didn't make it any less compelling to read. I would be very interested in reading whatever Lostetter writes next.

[Danny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible. What a coincidence that almost every positive review received the book for free.

Ignore the misleading description. There is nothing, at all, "hard scifi along the lines of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves" in this novel. The "science" included is laughably imaginary - you'd probably have to go back to 1950's scifi to find such poorly executed fantasies.

*Mild Spoilers in the first ~30 pages*

They need a crew to go investigate a mysterious star. In order to find the most compatible crew they scan the genetics of every person on earth (somehow?). And then, because it would be "difficult" to convince all these people to go on this journey, the answer is to use clones of those people. Of course! Because you're choosing people based on personalities, so use clones of those people and raise them (somehow?) in isolation with the specific purpose of interstellar travel, and **of course** they'll have the exact same personality/temperament as the people they were cloned from! DUH!

Oh, by the way. The journey will take 100 years, even using the "subdimensional" travel (this is described as "hard scifi" remember?) So by the time the crew arrives at the star, it will be their children/grand children (of the clones, remember?) who get there. Good thing you spent that time analyzing the genome of every person on earth, to then create a giant clone army to put on starships, when the (clones of) the people you needed so badly won't even be alive upon arrival!

Makes total sense, right? And, remember, this is just the terrible, woeful, awful crap in the first 30 pages of this book.

Let's also add to that - AI was created, but then abandoned, because...well there's no real explanation. Apparently humans just got "bored" of AI and stopped making AI. Neat.

To top it all off the writing style itself is laughably amateur. I had to double check that I wasn't reading a "young adult" novel. Although the writing is probably better suited to preteen, not young adult. There are (again, within the first 30 pages), so many examples of "wasted words," like the author had a ~100 page book and needed to make it ~300 pages to get published.

For one "fun" example -when the starships are leaving Earth, the character that's being followed is wearing a party dress, that they have to put a spacesuit over for take off. Remember, this is a clone, who for 25 years has had one job - prepare to travel to another star. But it's time to leave and they're still wearing a party dress. Neat. Oh, and that spacesuit they have to put on? The author even spends quite a few words describing how it's completely useless and will never be needed, it's just there "for show." The character takes the spacesuit off as soon as they reach space. Good thing they wore their *space* suit while in the atmosphere!

I regret giving money to this author. Even if I received this book for free (as all the positive reviewers did), I would regret spending the time to read it. This is a book for 12 year olds.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noumenon is an ambitious novel following the centuries-long narrative of a science mission to an anomalous star (think Tabby's Star) that may harbor an alien megastructure, and the long return back to Earth to report the findings.

We start with the astrophysicist who discovers the target star at a time when mankind is sending out many fleets of starships for this sort of goal. The story shifts forward decades at a time, following the Noumenon mission of Convoy 7 and its cloned crew as well as its supervising AI though major historical elements of the mission including the trip to the star, what the mission finds there and the return to an Earth for which thousands of years have passed.

As a series of linked short stories with a through line and some recurring characters (quite literally recurring in most cases) this mostly works. The way that the Convoy 7 society evolves is wonderfully explored, with the seeds of both disaster and triumph in later stories laid down in earlier episodes from decades earlier. I do think some of the drama is a little artificial though, particularly around some issues on the return trip which in turn descend from some fairly childish actions on the part of one of the characters from an early story. I feel that for such a society to work, especially given that it was so heavily planned from the outset, some of the things that later bedevil the Convoy should have been picked up and dealt with earlier. But still, the whole point is around the humanity of the people on the ships, and humans make stupid mistakes.

Recommended.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this read. Had very elements of Seveneves and A Long Way...however with a few differences. It has space travel and exploration, after a scientist discovers this star which excites a united earth to explore. Clones are sent on thes exploration ships as its years and years away. What we deal with is complex character study of what humans/people/AI react when in small societies. Each long chapter is a small vignette or short story, although related to the maon plot, which brims along with intelligent science fiction concepts and ideas. What is it to be human? Humans longing for a home planet( as years pass with each chapter and so we witness Clone 2 and clone 3 etc of each character)? AI and its place in society? And tonnes more. I think what I liked here was that it wasnt too heavy on the science as compared to Stephenson who sometimes tackles it too heavy handed. The character relationships are great, however ky biggest drawback is that some of the timelines could have been extended into longer vignettes and maybe into books themselves. However, I can appreciate that the author wanted to write about there human realtionships and exploring these over the jumps in time. Maybe longer sections on certain characters may have detracted from the ability to show these changes in himan behaviour from generation to generation. Would definitely make a great bookclub recommendation.

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

The age old question of nature versus nurture is at the forefront of this very intriguing scifi novel.

The narrative follows one of twelve deep space expeditions on a mission to investigate a distant star that seems to have a structure surrounding it and obstructing its light. Is this ‘natural’ or ‘made’ by another species? Due to the time involved to carry this undertaking - eons - Earth decides to man the convoys with clones specifically chosen to ensure its success, including mostly the experts that were involved in the original project. But to reduce people to just genes that conform to a specific talent is a naive move, if well-meant. Through a narration that jumps from generation to generation, we meet these clones deal with their situation, what it means to live in a small isolated community, far away from their birth planet, on a single goal.

Lostetter really focuses on the psychology and indeed sociology of such an experiment - the ships turning into a veritable petri dish. I was worried that the narration would feel disjointed, meeting each new clone batch but the author succeeds in linking them naturally, each new iteration of certain personalities bringing new aspects while keeping a certain recognisable element. This is especially true of the connecting thread that is the AI, who is on its own journey of development. A thought-provoking and entertaining read.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This was an fascinating science fiction story told on an epic, generational scale. Each chapter jumpee character perspective and time yet the narrative remained consistently compelling. The ending were fantastic, setting up the second book which I am eager to pick up.

[Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had some interesting ideas, but the writing was too on the page. I wanted to like the book but found it a rather painful read. It would have been a challenging thing to write in that it spans so many generations and the writer doesn't have the room to develop the characters. And yes, I guess one could argue that there was the opportunity to see the clones change through their iterations and for the convoy's culture to evolve, but the execution wasn't as good or interesting as it needed to be. For me anyway. If you pulled any of the the vignettes out, examined it on its own, and asked "is this a good short story?" .... the answer would have to be no. There was too much redundant writing, facile "on the nose" dialogue, and nothing left for the reader's imagination. Most of the time I was reading the book, I was clearly aware of the author's machinations, and had little sense of the character's. Not a good thing.

The story was coherent, going from A to B to C in a logical fashion. The ending made sense and had a good feel to it, setting up a sequel. I think it needed a serious review by a good editor though ... somehow who had a better sense of how to shape it, do the necessary pruning, and make suggestions on what tweaks were needed to make it more compelling.

As far as the science goes, I was able to suspend my disbelief for most of it, which is good. In fact, the technical descriptions of things were what I enjoyed most in the book. It was a bit sloppy in places though. An example that comes to mind was the argument they needed to use shorthand in order to keep the amount of text to a minimum in their transmissions .... which is nuts! ... because in the same chapter they reveal that the also send photos in those same transmissions. Text takes up so little bandwidth compared to images. And if it was necessary, it could always be compressed, which would take up less bandwidth than any shorthand could achieve. A good editor should have caught that.

It's too bad. I see this as an missed opportunity. It could have been a much better book. I hope they spend a bit more time on the sequel.

[Melanie Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine Forschungsreise in die Zukunft, die gleichzeitig ein Gesellschaftskritik ist und regelrecht auf harte Weise lernen muss, wie man jahrzehntelang ohne durchzudrehen durchs Weltall fliegen kann.

Nicht ganz so heimlicher Held ist hierbei K.I.C., die künstliche Intelligenz des Konvois, der oft als erzählende Stimme zu Wort kommt.

Es gab ein paar Kleinigkeiten, die mich (vor allem zu Beginn) gestört haben und sprachliche Differenzen (mal die korrekte weibliche Bezeichnung für den Beruf einer Figur verwenden und 150 Seiten später wieder nicht?). Vielleicht schreib ich noch eine ausführliche Rezension, aber ich will mir gerade auch nicht zu viel aufbürden.

[Beige · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really not sure how to rate this exploration of humanity as they take their first generation ship mission to the stars. Edit: I'm thinking 3.5 stars is fair

It consists of 9 well connected stories taking place over 2000 earth years. I loved the overall plot, the episodic nature and the developing A.I., all of which grabbed me and caused me to read nonstop. But ultimately, I don't think there was as enough character depth or creativity in the individual stories. At times, it read like a YA novel and at its best there were glimmers of Star Trek Voyager.

I'll probably continue the series out of sheer curiosity, especially when I fancy a lighter read.

Read for the Women of the Future group 2020 challenge

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generation ships have been done to death, but Lostetter actually gives us something new and different here. Yes, this is a saga of a generation ship (or in this case, a convoy of 9 ships), but the fairly unique narrative style and lack of any main protagonist (indeed, any leading characters outside of the vignette they appear in) makes this an space opera in the true sense of the word. In a way, this reads as a set of interconnected short stories, as each chapter focuses on one 'event' so to speak spaced widely in time. Yet, the characters are related in a way, being clones of each other, that pop up again and again.

Late in the 21st century, humanity has discovered a FTL drive and a 'contest' is held to decide on what should be explored first. In the end, 12 missions are selected and a convoy heads to each destination. We follow convoy 7, heading out to investigate a stellar anomaly that will take around 100 years subjective to reach (that would be roughly a 1000 years Earth time, or objective). The mission planners decided to use clones to staff the voyage; one clone would do the job s/he was tasked with and train a younger clone when the time came for 'retirement' (getting offed like a sick dog when their time was up). There are a total of 9 chapters, each detailing one 'phase' of the mission, with the first concerning the 'contest' and the stellar anomaly...

Of course there will be trials and tribulations on the way and Lostetter relies on some proven tropes in this regard (power plays, revolts, loosing sense of the meaning of the mission, etc.). Without going into spoiler territory much, what the convoy discovers is something like a Dyson sphere and some other alien artifacts, but no aliens. After a 20 year period of study, the convoy returns to Earth...

Noumenon is rather soft when it comes to science, discussing it only when necessary, instead focusing on various personal interrelations (hence, the opera in space opera). This is a bit tricky to do as each chapter has 'new' clones/characters so the only continuity is the mission itself and the on-board A.I. named I.C.C. ICC serves really as constant point of reference in the text, and the AI frequently examines memories of what happened in the past to give the text thematic integrity. The writing at first felt a little clunky, and some of the 'events'/chapters dragged a little, but overall, a fun, neat read. Looking for something different in generational ship sagas? Give this a go! 3.5 stars, rounding up!

[Nicky Drayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got my hands on an ARC of Marina J. Lostetter’s Noumenon recently after working on an article about Artificial Intelligence with her. I had no idea I was in for such an expansive and mesmerizing adventure. Noumenon features a super-intelligent, sentient AI charged with overseeing the many needs of an interstellar convoy traveling to an anomalous star that appears to deny the laws of physics.

The story is easily comparable to Neal Stephenson's Seveneves (which I loved, and fans of that book will love this one, too), but Noumenon felt more like Snow Crash at its heart...a more youthful, vibrant, emotionally charged story, where Hiro is a clone, and Y.T. is an A.I., and the raft is a convoy of ships in space, and the Metaverse is...well, I won't give that one away, but this novel starts strong and ends strong, and also manages to delve into some serious issues surrounding our humanity. Highly Recommended.

[Mpauli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always down for a good generation ship story and Noumenon puts an interesting twist on it.

In this first installment of Marina J. Lostetter's trilogy we're not only watching one episode on a ship already in space, we're following the crew over a vast amount of time during their journey.

But what is this journey all about? In 2088 humankind looks to stars again and decides to field 12 convoys to survey some potential phnomena in deep space.
On project is brought forward by Reggie Straifer who found a star that sends out a weird light signature, as though the star wasn't shining fully bright. The mission is to discover, if this phenomenon is natural or artficially constructed.

Now, how is an author tackling a mission that spans hundreds of years and 9 ships without having to constantly reintroduce new characters? The answer to that is cloning.
The story is told in interconnected short stories which follow the journey of the convoy. Some have smaller time gaps between them, others larger time gaps. But through the use of clones, you get a certain amount of consistency for the main cast members.
This is never done in a cheap way, so that you basically think you're reading about exactly the same characters, but it helps a lot with the consitency of the narrative.

I won't talk too much about the plot, because a lot of the fascination of the book of course comes from the uncertainty of the phenomenon.
The book includes sense of wonder elements and also some science, but the focus is clearly on how societies (there are 100,000 people on the mission) and individuals behave in an extreme situation, where you know that your whole purpose of existence is to fullfil the mission and you are aware of the fact that neither you nor the clones you raise as your children will see the end of that journey.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with the convoy, its quirky AI I.C.C. and the clone crew. After the end I'm really excited to read the remaining two books in the series.
With thism as well as Helm of Midnight, the author's first installment in her fantasy trilogy, Marina J. Lostetter has already become an auto-buy author for me.

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.7| Wow ! Was für ein wunderbarer SF-Roman, der zu meiner Schande über ein Jahr in meinem "To-Read"-Regal dahinvegetiert ist, ohne angefasst zu werden. Erst meine (wunderbare) Begegnung mit der Autorin während des SF-Worldcons in Dublin letztes Jahr hat in mir die Neugier geweckt, den Roman doch noch zu lesen; und ich war mehr als überrascht und beglückt, eine solche gute und fesselnde Geschichte zu lesen. Der Grund meiner anfänglichen Skeptik war der Text auf dem Backcover, denn eine solche Geschichte eines Generationenraumschiffes kennt man zur Genüge (Ein Astronom entdeckt ein geheimnisvolles Objekt, ein Raumschiff wird losgeschickt, das generationenlang unterwegs ist um das Geheimnis zu entschlüsseln, während der Reise kommt es zu Schwierigkeiten etc.pp.). Aber Marina J. Lostetter schafft es, in ihrem Roman-Debüt ein einzigartiges Meisterwerk zu schaffen, das sich deutlich von den bisherigen Generationen-Raumschiff-Romanen unterscheidet.
Der Ausgangspunkt ist die Entdeckung eines seltsamen Objektes durch einen Astronomen, bei dem es sich um eine Dyson-Sphäre oder ein anderes, nicht minder exotisches Objekt, handeln könnte. Eine Organisation, die die ganze Menschheit umfasst, beschließt mehrere Konvois von Generationenraumschiffen ins All zu schicken, um Forschung zu betreiben, einer der Konvois, der neun Generationenraumschiffe umfasst, soll zu LG Pixidis (das System der Dyson-Sphäre) geschickt werden. Die Besatzungen der Konvois umfassen mehrere 100000 Menschen, die meisten davon Klone von besonderen und für den Flug wichtigen Personen, nur ganz wenige Menschen sind natürlich geborene. Eine KI sorgt während des Fluges für den Zusammenhalt und für die nötige Expertise. Das Schiff ist mehr als ein Jahrhundert unterwegs zu LG Pixidis, während dieser Zeit passiert vieles an Bord der neun Schiffe, Genlinien werden eingestellt, weil einige dieser Klone Revolutionen angezettelt haben und auch sonst für viel Unruhe gesorgt haben, während auch der Kongress (die Regierung des Konvois) mehrer Umbrüche zu verzeichnen hatte. Am Ziel entdecken sie ein gigantisches Bauwerk um die Sonne, deren Zweck zwar vermutet wird, aber letztlich nicht zweifelsfrei ermittelt werden konnte. Man stellte auch fest, dass das Bauwerk immer wieder von anderen Spezies weitergebaut wurde, es ist auch noch immer nicht vollendet. Ein verlassenes Alien-Raumschiff wird gefunden und an Bord gebracht. Nach mehr als zehn Jahren der Forschung bricht der Konvoi, wie es beim Start vereinbart wurde, wieder zu Erde auf. An Bord wird weitergelebt und gemeutert, eines der Raumschiffe des Konvois wird als Strafgefangenenlager misbraucht, wo Arbeitersklaven ihr Dasein fristen. Erst als die KI mit einigen Unterstützern gegen dieses System rebellieren, kommt es zu einem Umsturz und eine friedlichere Ordnung stellt sich ein.
Nach ca. 300 Jahren Bordzeit, auf der Erde sind infolge der Zeitdilation inzwischen 4000 Jahre vergangen, kommen sie auf der Erde wieder an, eine Erde die sich grundlegend gewandelt hat.
Die Menschen kommunizieren nur noch mental mit einer Art Gedanken-Internet, die gesellschaftlichen Unterschiede zwischen den Erdmenschen und dem Konvoi sind so groß, dass sich eine Interaktion kaum einzustellen war. Nach mehreren Generationen, bei dem die Konvoi-Bewohner nicht richtig auf der Erde heimisch werden, brechen sie zu einer neuen Reise auf...

Mich hat an diesem Buch vieles sehr beeindruckt, zum einen ist es die Hard-Science, die glaubhaft beschrieben wurde, z.B. wurde sehr sehr schön gezeigt, wie viel Vorbereitungszeit man für eine solche Reise bräuchte. Namentlich: Der Astronom und Entdecker ist gerade mal Anfang 20, als er im Rahmen seiner Doktorarbeit den benannten Stern entdeckt und ist fast an seinem Lebensende angekommen, als die Mission sich endlich auf den Weg macht. Dass dabei vieles sehr, sehr spekulativ ist; geschenkt, z.B. die Idee des Sub-Raums oder der Gravitonen hätte es nicht gebraucht, eine einfache relativistische Fahrt hätte auch genügt, ohne dass die Story gelitten hätte.
Besonders eindrucksvoll waren aber die Charaktere, die das Buch von Anfang bis Ende begleiten, über Generationen hinweg konnten Genlinien beobachtet werden und wie sie sich charakterlich und emphatisch ändern; oder auch nicht ändern. Charaktere, die in einer Geschichte eine zentrale Rolle spielten, finden in einer späteren als Kinder Erwähnung, dann wieder als Nebencharaktere bis irgendeine Iteration von ihnen wieder im Mittelpunkt steht. Der gesamte Prozess des Klonens ist sehr gut ausgeklügelt, absolut nachvollziehbar und daher ein sehr spannendes Element dieses Buches. Allerdings fand ich die Idee, dass die Menschen (Klone) nach Ablauf einer bestimmten Lebensspanne "entsorgt" werden (um eine Überbevölkerung zu verhindern, wurde diese fragwürdige Art der Bevölkerungskontrolle eingeführt) verachtenswert, aber dies wurde auch im Roman als der Spalter in der Konvoi-Bevölkerung thematisiert, die Autorin macht daraus eine moralisch und ethische Diskussion, bei der sich die Konvoi-Bevölkerung während der ganzen Reise streitet.
Wir bekommen die Geschichte nicht aus einer Perspektive erzählt, sondern nur linear der Reihe nach, denn die Reise in den Weltraum dauert über mehrere Generationen.
Alle paar Jahrzehnte wird dabei die Crew geklont, doch nicht jeder Klon ist eine perfekte Kopie seines Vorgängers und jede Generation von Klonen hat ihre ganz besonderen Eigenheiten.
Ich fand es sehr spannend, dass man eben diese verschiedenen Sichtweisen präsentiert bekommt, die auch noch mit einem sehr spannenden Projekt verbunden sind, das noch nicht mal auf dem Entdecken des gesuchten Sterns basiert, sondern darauf, wie sich die Gesellschaft auf dem Schiff, trotz aller Widrigkeiten schlägt. Meiner Meinung nach ein sehr optimistisches Buch, obwohl ich nicht sagen kann, ob mir die Entwicklung der Menschheit in den beschriebenen 4000 Jahren gefällt.
Auf jeden Fall für mich einer der besten SF-Romane des Jahres und ich werde mir auf jeden Fall die Fortsetzung vornehmen, obwohl das Buch bisher nur auf Englisch vorliegt...

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, a book or song or movie will come along at just the right time and strike a resounding chord. Noumenon hit that sweet spot for me. On my blog, I’ve been thinking about generation ships. Suddenly, the stars aligned, and Harper Voyager gave me the opportunity to review Noumenon. It was SF love at first read. Seriously, halfway through chapter one, I knew this book would be at least an eight out of ten for me unless things went terribly, terribly wrong. Marina J. Lostetter, however, kept her bearings and delivered on the promises made in chapter one. Fans of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet should check out this debut.

In Noumenon, a united Earth creates seven generation ship convoys for scientific missions. This book follows the final convoy, which is tasked to investigate a variable star a long, long way from Earth. Ms. Lostetter tells the tale of that journey in an impressive debut novel. Harper Voyager provided me an ARC in exchange for an honest review, and I came out the big winner in this deal.

TL;DR: Entertaining mosaic novel filled with memorable characters will have you eagerly awaiting a sequel. Highly recommended.

Comparisons to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (LWSAP) are apt but also a bit reductive. Plot-wise, this book is relatively straight forward. A convoy of ships is built to travel to an object to investigate and learn. The plot is the journey, but it’s not the point. Exploring Big Questions about humanity confined to buildings flying through the void for centuries is the point. And if we are ever to actually attempt a generation ship project, these are questions that need to be asked. Covering subjective millennia on Earth and subjective centuries on the ship, the linear plot and mosaic structure reinforce the time span. As readers, we dip into significant moments along the way.

Unlike LWSAP, the characters in Noumenon are not constant. Sort of. Since the ships’ journey lasts much longer than a single human lifetime, the characters that start the journey will not see the end. A significant amount of passengers’ entire lifespan take place between earth and the star. Therefore, if the reader wants to see the end of the journey, the author has to make a choice to have character lifetimes extended by some means or have different characters at the end of the novel from those at the beginning. Ms. Lostetter chose to use clones that stick with the name of their original but add a version number. There are excellent in-world explanations for this, and I loved that the author thought through these details. To care this much about world-building, the author shows her love for this story but runs a risk of world-building-itis. If you’re an SFF fan, I’m sure you’ve run across the author who is so much in love with his/her own world that everything else falls to the wayside. This is not the case with Noumenon. World-building serves the story, not vice versa. While the characters are not the same chapter to chapter, they are at once familiar enough to maintain continuity of the plot but distinct enough to be their own individual. They are genetic clones but not cloned personalities.

The setting for most of the novel is interior of the ships. I didn’t get a clear view of the ships interior. Setting wasn’t a strong point for this story, but it doesn’t suffer for it. There are multiple ships in each convoy, but I couldn’t tell you the difference between them outside of their function. One of the distinct parts of the ship that I remember is that each passenger cabin has a window thanks to tubes and mirrors. This little bit of world building was a speed bump because it seems unnecessarily complicated for the ship’s engineers and builders, but also due to their mode of travel, it serves no purpose. They travel through inky blackness, no stars even. This led me to pay attention of the practicality of the ships, and they don’t seem entirely practical. Why multiple ships? It isn’t a redundancy because each ship serves a purpose. One is a storage ship; one is a medical ship; one is the biome ship; and one is where most of the living is done. I like the idea of multiple ships as a way to maintain the sanity of the crew because it gives them someplace to go. But the impracticality of unattached shuttles between the ships was a hitch. None of my concerns affect the story; nor do they stop me from enjoying it.

In a time where grimdark fantasy is popular and somehow considered realistic, this novel goes against the flow in that it is inherently optimistic. We don’t get much about Earth during the time of launch, but it’s utopian. Multiple societies come together to create an amazing project dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge. As others have said, utopian doesn’t mean without conflict. Humans are still human, and drama, conflict, and misunderstanding are part of the whole deal. There’s plenty of that here to make a compelling read.

For a novel with only one character that makes it from start to finish, the strength of Noumenon is the characters. Each part of the mosaic has to introduce, get the reader to connect to, and tell a story with new characters. Not an easy task, but add to the fact that each chapter has to add to and support the larger overall narrative. Noumenon does this. I cared about these characters, and I wanted to see them succeed on their mission. Their journey – in world – is one of advancing knowledge, but in our world, their journey is a thought experiment of a closed civilization evolving over the years. Both the best and the worst of humanity is present, which makes for great stories. I loved this book.

Highly recommended.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

How would you like to go into space to work like a slave in a cramped spaceship until you eventually die, decades before your vessel even reaches its destination?

If that sounds like your idea of fun, then Science Fiction WANTS YOU to sign up for the all-accommodation-included adventure of Generation Ships!

Noumenon is one of the many books in the genre that center on the venerable idea of ships that deal with the mind-bending distances of interstellar space by having crews that live their entire lives onboard huge ships, having children enroute that carry on the journey, who then pass the reins to their children, etc. etc.

To me, this sounds like a life sentence in Space Prison, a hare-brained Elon Musk-esque scheme that will get a whole buttload of people killed. Perhaps I simply lack the pioneer spirit however, as there is never a shortage of volunteers for GS's in SF novels.

This is an SF concept that has been around in actual science since 1918, and in novels and short stories since at least 1930. It has been explored very successfully by Brian Aldiss in Non-Stop, and numerous other authors including Kim Stanley Robinson and Richard Paul Russo.

A concept being old, however, doesn't prelude it from being done well, and Lostetter takes old rope and fashions a fresh, engaging story that had me glued to Noumenon from start to finish.

And Noumenon really does go from start to finish, beginning with a scientist presenting a plan to visit an anomaly around a distant star, decades before the generation ships of the Noumenon mission are launched on their centuries-long trip. We follow along with multiple characters as the ships are designed and built, an AI is created to guide them (its name is ICC, and it's a great character) and the (largely) cloned crew are prepared for their journey.

Lostetter does all this well, and explores some fascinating reasoning behind the use of clones, the careful science behind the size of the population of the ships, and the both intended and unintended consequences the pressures of life in a steel bubble has on the human minds and souls of the expedition. There's a whole lot of thoughtful exploration of ideas here, across philosophy, genetics, psychology and computing.

The journey is engaging and exciting, filled with drama, conflict and crisis. It's a damned entertaining read, with some very cool revelations.

Lostetter knows how to tell a story, and my only real bugbear with Noumenon is that it ends on a fairly open and inconclusive note. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but considering this is the first book in a series that's less of a problem than it would be for a stand-alone novel.

I'm looking forward to reading book two, although I still can't see myself signing up to die on a cramped mobile space prison anytime soon.


Four whinging moans of "are we there yet?" out of five.

[Samantha (AK) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, I just need a Big Dumb Object book. 'Oh look, that star is blinking weirdly. Maybe it has a crust? Let's go send 9 generation ships to go investigate.' Boom. Space, wonder, capsule society. This is the good SF comfort read, right here.

It's not that there's anything particularly new in this book. I've read Big Dumb Object books. I've read generation-ship books. I've read books where the crew was cloned. I've read capsule society books. But Noumenon has heart. It could have been a wonky patchwork homage, but it stands on its own.

Lostetter jumps forward through the convoy's life, visiting different clone lines along their society's development, showing what goes right and what goes wrong. The convoy designers had ideas about what made an ideal society, but inevitably there were complications. Meanwhile, holding it all together is I.C.C.--the convoy AI. (Side note: props to Lostetter for making I.C.C. a benign learning intelligence.) I.C.C. is a surprisingly warm narrator, for all that it doesn't always understand human responses. It learns and grows with the mission, and makes for a very good lynchpin storyteller.

So yes, there's the wonder and unknowability of space exploration, but it's also about the people. I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a fresh-but-nostalgic SF read. The ending is satisfying while leaving enough unanswered questions for the two sequels (already on request from my local library).

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those expecting this book to be Hard SF, like Rendezvous With Rama, will probably be disappointed. It's mostly Social SF, focusing on the community within the generational ships and how it changes during the two thousand year journey to the mysterious star and back home again.

The star's mystery is addressed somewhat but not completely, which left me feeling a bit frustated with the plot. The writing is a little uneven, especially in the beginning two chapters, and at times reads like YA. Characters never feel fully developed, and so I didn't have alot of empathy for them. The author instead focuses on how societies evolve, both on Earth and in the spaceships - for good and for bad. The story did hold my interest until the end, though. An interesting book, if you approach it the right way.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I loved this! This books has everything I want in a science fiction novel that involves space exploration - a deep sense of wonder. Covering both hundreds of years (on the ship convoy) and thousands of years on Earth, we explore an anomalous star with all that it might mean for the future of humanity as well as the distant future of our own planet. I enjoyed this so much I immediately bought the sequel, Noumenon Infinity. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and half stars

"Review reviewed" on the blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...

Reseña en castellano en el blog: https://girotix.blogspot.com.es/2017/...

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

The humanity is expanding. Earth is sending the firsts giant generational starships inhabited by clones to explore the galaxy. Noumenon tells about one of those travels: an expedition towards a distant star, named LQ Pyxidis, whith intriguing proprieties. The journey will last about one hundred years -one thousand from Earth's perspective-, thus the novel relates -among other speculative topics- a sort of experiment about human behavior in a closed system, and shows the crew trapped between the hope of reaching its destination but also about the (genetic determined) homesickness for the mother Earth.

Noumenon has very interesting questions and good sciencefictional ideas, but in my opinion its development needs to improve. Despite those fascinating topics I consider that some parts of the plot are a bit naive, or not entirely plausible. Perhaps the story needs more epic, or perhaps it needs less sentimentalism... I'm not sure. I think also that the story will improve if it was parted in two books, and this would allow better and more complete treatment of some topics. Those who have read the book will understand me.

However, the novel has also strong points. For instance, the story repeats the characters but they are also evolving: that is, they are clones in a generational starship. This is an approach as intelligent as brave but I think that the author must improve the narrative voice of the different characters that lead each chapter (including an artificial intelligence).

Actually the sensation is a fix-up, with various short stories chronologically ordered. I know Noumenon has an ambitious and risky approach, but I must review it as a whole: that is, as a novel. However I must remember that this is the first full length story by the author. I think Mrs. Lostetter is a talented science fiction writer and I want to encourage her to write more novels, and I will be expecting to read those.

[Scott Hitchcock · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was another clone book or I wouldn't have taken it on right after the disappointing Six Wakes. I had put it in as a library recommendation for ebook purchases a while ago and I was put at the top of the list and thus instantly checked out so I didn't have a choice or I'd go to the bottom of a lengthy waitlist.

I really wasn't feeling this one and after slogging through Six Wakes I couldn't do it a second time.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting idea to send clones out into space to explore an unusual star. And I liked each short story following a clone along another part of the journey. More to say later.

[Kaya Kobold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reiseliteratur hat eine lange Tradition.

Dieses Buch erinnert an Tchaikovsky 'Kinder der Zeit' nur nicht ganz so technisch. Es ist weit entfernt von 'Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag' und das ist gut so.

[M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, baby, you're not Seveneves. Not even a little.

"The real science of Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves" - you have no shame, -1 star for this balant lie.

[Callibso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nur ein paar kurze Gedanken, ohne jeden Versuch, das Buch zusammenzufassen:

Es hat bis zur Seite 170 gedauert bevor das Buch anfing, mich zu überzeugen, denn ich fand den Einstieg schwach: da wird ein wahrhaft gigantisches Projekt ins Leben gerufen, aber das “Warum?” bleibt vage. Dieses Projekt, das enorme Ressourcen verbraucht, wird von einer menschlichen Gesellschaft gestemmt, über die wir sehr wenig erfahren, die sich diese Verschwendung aber anscheinend leisten kann.
Weil die Menschheit plötzlich so wissenschaftsgläubig geworden ist? Weil alle irdischen Probleme gelöst sind? Nun ja, natürlich, weil die Autorin es so will.

Nachdem ich also diese Prämisse akzeptiert hatte, folgte ich der Schilderung der Reise selbst mit immer größerem Interesse. Als man endlich am Ziel der Reise ist und etwas entdeckt, dessen Beschreibung ich nicht ganz verstanden habe, gibt es plötzlich einen Zeitsprung und es geht wieder zurück, was bei mir nicht wenig Frust erzeugte.
(Randbemerkung zu S. 245: “war mit einer Höhe von einer AE annähernd so groß wie der Jupiter…”: Jupiter ist zwar groß, aber so groß doch nicht - vielleicht liegt hier ein Übersetzungsfehler oder Verständnisfehler meinerseits vor.)

Irgendwie bleibt vieles in diesem Roman im Ungefähren, fehlt, weil nur bestimmte Episoden erzählt werden. Das Thema der Klone ist spannend behandelt, wobei ich die Politik der Expedition als rassistisch bezeichnen würde, denn der Wert eines Menschen wird hier nach seinen Genen bestimmt und danach bekommt man auch seinen Job und Platz in der Gesellschaft.
Die Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Thema, die KI K.I.C. und auch die unerwartete Gesellschaft auf der Erde gehören zu den positiven, weil unerwarteten Seiten.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

In our not so far future an astronomer discovers a star that appears like it’s partially covered. It’s so entriguing that Earth decides to build and launch a multi-generational convoy to investigate. Rather than sending any existing humans, they pick many people whose genetics display the aptitude to endure a voyage of this nature and they clone them.

Told in parts from various points of view, this story spans hundreds of years. It is less about the discovery and more about the inner workings and personalities aboard the convoy...although the discovery becomes the reason for the sequel. The clones do not reproduce the natural way but instead they keep re-cloning the same original group. Even the calmest, analytical minds have their personality quirks so as the journey progresses and issues come up, they discover things that weren’t found in the original aptitude tests. It’s a sort of nature vs nurture exploration that shows nurture wins...if you can call that winning.

Recommended for science fiction lovers

[Ivo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich bekomme nicht aus dem Hinterkopf, Ähnliches schon mal gelesen zu haben, nur viel, viel besser … https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what an incredible story! Books like "Noumenon" are why I love science fiction so much, though not all of them are so well-written, intriguing, memorable, and enjoyable as "Noumenon"! Goodreads, you REALLY need to add more stars to the rating system, because 5 is simply not enough for some books!
So, gushing aside, here is a brief summary: In the year 2088, a far-away star is discovered that seems to defy the laws of physics. A convoy of scientists aboard 9 ships is sent on a deep space mission to study that star, a journey that will take those aboard the ship about 300 years, whilst 2,000 years will pass on Earth. They know not what they will find at the end of the journey, and those leaving Earth will not live to see the Star. However, each successive generation will be clones of the first, and thus they are assured that the people suited best for each position on the ship will continue.
The book is told in a series of vignettes by different characters, including the ships AI, I.C.C., jumping ahead in time with each chapter. We follow the crew on their centuries-long journey to the star, learn what they learn upon reaching it, and follow them back to an Earth that will have changed (but by how much??) in the millennia that will have passed for the humans there. Often when books are told from the vantage point of many different characters, I feel like I don't really get to know them. There is a slight sense of that with this book, but not enough that I didn't come to really care about the characters, to wish for their success, to feel frustrated when they were, to dream right along with them.
Marina Lostetter is a brilliant writer and storyteller! I am incredibly excited that Noumenon Infinity will be published in only a month. I can hardly wait to get back on that ship and find out what happens to ICC and the other crew members next! If you love science fiction, you must read this book!

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars maybe. Warning there are some light thematic spoilers ahead.

At the outset I was irritated with Noumenon. It was clearly Grand Science Fiction with an ambitious goal and far flung story. But it was also very wishy washy. Major facts and important details were glossed over, magical thinking was employed heavily to make things stick. But once the colony ship journey to another star began, the story started getting meatier and more entertaining. Ms Lostetter can weave a good yarn. And her science and physics is good enough o make it all plausible. But it kept feeling like she didn't know what story she was trying to tell, it felt like the story got lost between KSR's Aurora, while trying to be more like Becky Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few. Without ever settling into either camp.

The story changed perspective between a host of characters, as one generation is replaced by the next. But not in a satisfying way, you don't ever spend enough time with one character (except the AI ICC) to get to like them or root for their cause.

All of that being said, I finished it, and have already acquired the next book in the series. Because over the whole journey, despite all my carping, you do get attached to the journey, more so than any individual character.

Sorry for the harsh review Ms Lostetter, but you got me hooked just enough to not be able to let go, but haven't caught my attention well enough to ignore the faults.