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Heritage Universe #3
Transcendence
The search for the Builders, the legendary alien race whose unfathomable constructs continued to perplex scholars and explorers alike, had led Builder expert Darya Lang, adventurer Hans Rebka, and treasure hunters Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial to an unknown Builder artifact far outside the spiral arm. There they found the Zardalu, once the greatest menace ever known to the worlds of the spiral arm, enslaving entire races and exterminating others, guided by an unswerving belief in their own supremacy. The only chance to eliminate the Zardalu threat was to wipe them all out before they had time to breed back up to strength and once again threaten civilized beings everywhere. But as they closed in, it was becoming clear that the Zardalu and their world were closely entwined with the fate--and the plans--of the Builders themselves.
MP3 CD
First published May 1, 1992
7 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Charles Sheffield
216 books171 followersCharles A. Sheffield (June 25, 1935 – November 2, 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist and science fiction author. He had been a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronomical Society.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
November 8, 2025
Все още не е ясно, кои са Строителите и къде са се запиляли преди милиони години. Наследството им обаче си стои, все така загадъчно и неизползваемо.
Но има и по-непосредствена задача - нашите герои трябва да убедят останалите разумни раси населяващи Вселената, че опасната раса зардалу не е само мит!
Интересна трета част на поредицата и с нетърпение почвам следващата!
P.S. Преводачът е същия, но сякаш не се е потрудил да запомни, какво и как е превеждал в предните две части…
Но има и по-непосредствена задача - нашите герои трябва да убедят останалите разумни раси населяващи Вселената, че опасната раса зардалу не е само мит!
Интересна трета част на поредицата и с нетърпение почвам следващата!
P.S. Преводачът е същия, но сякаш не се е потрудил да запомни, какво и как е превеждал в предните две части…
April 24, 2024
She knew exactly where to look: east, to where Sentinel itself was rising. Two hundred million kilometers away and almost a million across, that shining and striated sphere dominated the moonless night sky.
Thus continues the Heritage saga, dealing with the mystery of the Builder artifacts. It’s a quirky little series: the assortment of alien characters that actively participate in the story would have you believe it’s a space opera, but the nature of the science involved sways it heavily into hard science fiction territory.
“Trouble?”
“I think so.”
After the events depicted in Divergence, the greatly feared, but thought to be extinct for aeons, Zardalu are released into the galaxy (again). Most of the plot of Transcendence is taken up by our recurring handful of protagonists trying to find and contain the Zardalu threat, or at least in getting the “powers that be” to take notice.
When she held it out to him he took a step backward. Irrational fear and alarm began to eat at the base of his brain. He stopped breathing.
The mind-withering science juxtaposed against the somewhat light-heartedness of the character interactions makes for an interesting read. I’m not sure whether this series would appeal to everyone, but it’s certainly been a fun enough ride so far.
“She can smell ’em, Long way off, and faint, but they’re here.”
Certain reader concessions have to be made. It’s laughable to think that this motley crew of misfits can secure the future of the galaxy by themselves, but given the nature of the Heritage universe (and the prominence of the Builder artifacts, as plot devices) anything is possible.
Big on ideas. Dr Sheffield was no slouch in the science department, being a legitimate scientist, and conjures up a number of fascinating environments.
And suddenly you want to watch the universe turn into a kaleidoscope again, out on the edge of the Torvil Anfract in far Communion territory, where space-time knots and snarls and turns around itself like an old man’s memories …
3.5 stars – next stop Convergence
Thus continues the Heritage saga, dealing with the mystery of the Builder artifacts. It’s a quirky little series: the assortment of alien characters that actively participate in the story would have you believe it’s a space opera, but the nature of the science involved sways it heavily into hard science fiction territory.
“Trouble?”
“I think so.”
After the events depicted in Divergence, the greatly feared, but thought to be extinct for aeons, Zardalu are released into the galaxy (again). Most of the plot of Transcendence is taken up by our recurring handful of protagonists trying to find and contain the Zardalu threat, or at least in getting the “powers that be” to take notice.
When she held it out to him he took a step backward. Irrational fear and alarm began to eat at the base of his brain. He stopped breathing.
The mind-withering science juxtaposed against the somewhat light-heartedness of the character interactions makes for an interesting read. I’m not sure whether this series would appeal to everyone, but it’s certainly been a fun enough ride so far.
“She can smell ’em, Long way off, and faint, but they’re here.”
Certain reader concessions have to be made. It’s laughable to think that this motley crew of misfits can secure the future of the galaxy by themselves, but given the nature of the Heritage universe (and the prominence of the Builder artifacts, as plot devices) anything is possible.
Big on ideas. Dr Sheffield was no slouch in the science department, being a legitimate scientist, and conjures up a number of fascinating environments.
And suddenly you want to watch the universe turn into a kaleidoscope again, out on the edge of the Torvil Anfract in far Communion territory, where space-time knots and snarls and turns around itself like an old man’s memories …
3.5 stars – next stop Convergence
June 9, 2021
Another good episode in the Heritage Universe series, though perhaps not as swiftly-paced as the prior volumes. Still, with mysterious, ancient alien constructs hovering over the twists and turns of scientific investigation, it's a captivating read, though I think anyone trying to jump onboard this far along would be lost. Sheffield managed to develop the characters realistically, and introduced new ones to keep the story fresh. It left me anxious for the next book.
April 7, 2015
Trancendence (1992) 293 pages by Charles Sheffield.
Well paced, lots of adventures, good interaction between the characters.
The third book of The Heritage Universe. When book two left off, Speaker-Between had kept Louis Nenda and Atvar H'Sial to duel it out to see which species would help it get ready for the return of the builders. Meanwhile Julias & Steven Graves merged into the personality Julian Graves. Rebka, Darya, E.C. Tally and all the rest are not believed when they come back and tell of the Zardalu being back.
Julian Graves is now an ex-councilor, and wants to lead a mission to find the Zardalu. Nenda and Atvar H'Sial are kicked off Serenity when they don't fight each other, and end up penniless on Miranda, where they plan to meet up with J'Merlia and Killik. Rebka goes to Sentinel Gate to recruit Darya Lang, so all of the characters from book two are reunited and headed toward the Zardalu.
When the group deduces that Genizee, the Zardalu clade world is inside the Torvil Anfract they stop off and add a pilot. Dulcimer, a Chism Polypheme, to the group.
There are adventures and danger, and more builder stuff, including another sentient construct. Then there is the interaction of our main group of characters. I had to stop thinking of Atvar H'Sial as a sentient bug, and as a character with mostly human emotions, with the constraints of her physiology. The same with the other alien characters. The builders are still an enigma, and the Zardalu are two dimensional, but that could be for later books.
Well paced, lots of adventures, good interaction between the characters.
The third book of The Heritage Universe. When book two left off, Speaker-Between had kept Louis Nenda and Atvar H'Sial to duel it out to see which species would help it get ready for the return of the builders. Meanwhile Julias & Steven Graves merged into the personality Julian Graves. Rebka, Darya, E.C. Tally and all the rest are not believed when they come back and tell of the Zardalu being back.
Julian Graves is now an ex-councilor, and wants to lead a mission to find the Zardalu. Nenda and Atvar H'Sial are kicked off Serenity when they don't fight each other, and end up penniless on Miranda, where they plan to meet up with J'Merlia and Killik. Rebka goes to Sentinel Gate to recruit Darya Lang, so all of the characters from book two are reunited and headed toward the Zardalu.
When the group deduces that Genizee, the Zardalu clade world is inside the Torvil Anfract they stop off and add a pilot. Dulcimer, a Chism Polypheme, to the group.
There are adventures and danger, and more builder stuff, including another sentient construct. Then there is the interaction of our main group of characters. I had to stop thinking of Atvar H'Sial as a sentient bug, and as a character with mostly human emotions, with the constraints of her physiology. The same with the other alien characters. The builders are still an enigma, and the Zardalu are two dimensional, but that could be for later books.
August 24, 2012
Ok, you'd think that if good reads has this as seventh in a list of books all called transcendence, I'd have a good reason for skipping all those other books. Nope, just wanted to learn what those annoyingly absent, mysterious powerful alien race is up to... Still don't know yet! Not yawning now... but wondering why I wasted my life reading the 3rd book in this series.
January 4, 2022
The plot thickens as the group makes their way to far flung builder artifacts to try and learn what and who the Builders are and what they want or what they are trying to do. Book #4 is just around the corner, and it will be interesting to see how the various personalities of the makeshift crew come together.
February 12, 2023
Lu en anglais
Quelle horreur ! Les Zardalus se sont échappés !
Les Zardalus, des céphalopodes terrestres géants (familles des pieuvres), ont dominé leur partie de la galaxie pendant longtemps, mais sont disparus depuis des millénaires, éliminés par leurs races vassales, poussées au bout par leur brutalité sans nom. Mais il s'avère que la race légendaire des Constructeurs en avaient conservé quelques-uns en stase et que ceux-ci se sont échappés. C'est une menace importante pour les autres races du bras de la galaxie, car ils sont impitoyables et se reproduisent à une vitesse folle.
Or Darya Lang et ses compagnons n'ont pas réussi à convaincre le grand conseil de leur menace à cause de l'absence de preuves, sans compter que la race est considérée comme disparue depuis longtemps. Darya et ses amis se décident d'essayer de retrouver leurs traces pour fournir une preuve que les Zardalus sont bien de retour.
On bascule un peu en mode thriller avec des indices et, bien sûr, un artefact gigantesque des Constructeurs. Sans compter que l'on parsème ici et là des notions de physique quantique et un regard sur les réalisations potentielles d'une race extrêmement avancée et quasi immortelle.
Mais où peut bien être la planète des Zardallus ?
Un roman un peu plus léger avec un peu d'humour, mais encore une fois des idées audacieuses. Donc, j'ai beaucoup aimé.
Et on bascule sur la suite.
Quelle horreur ! Les Zardalus se sont échappés !
Les Zardalus, des céphalopodes terrestres géants (familles des pieuvres), ont dominé leur partie de la galaxie pendant longtemps, mais sont disparus depuis des millénaires, éliminés par leurs races vassales, poussées au bout par leur brutalité sans nom. Mais il s'avère que la race légendaire des Constructeurs en avaient conservé quelques-uns en stase et que ceux-ci se sont échappés. C'est une menace importante pour les autres races du bras de la galaxie, car ils sont impitoyables et se reproduisent à une vitesse folle.
Or Darya Lang et ses compagnons n'ont pas réussi à convaincre le grand conseil de leur menace à cause de l'absence de preuves, sans compter que la race est considérée comme disparue depuis longtemps. Darya et ses amis se décident d'essayer de retrouver leurs traces pour fournir une preuve que les Zardalus sont bien de retour.
On bascule un peu en mode thriller avec des indices et, bien sûr, un artefact gigantesque des Constructeurs. Sans compter que l'on parsème ici et là des notions de physique quantique et un regard sur les réalisations potentielles d'une race extrêmement avancée et quasi immortelle.
Mais où peut bien être la planète des Zardallus ?
Un roman un peu plus léger avec un peu d'humour, mais encore une fois des idées audacieuses. Donc, j'ai beaucoup aimé.
Et on bascule sur la suite.
March 19, 2023
Audiobook:
The thinking man's Alien
The story drops down a gear, regroups and then moves forward again with careful precision, borrowing from sci-fi influences such as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Aliens where it needs to, to balance the action and mystery. It's all in there, and as you would expect from Charles Sheffield, the subject matter is always treated intelligently and with scientific justification along the way.
This is a comparatively short book, so the action is single layered and for this reason, easy to stay in touch with, remaining focussed on one group of characters throughout. And the ensemble cast work well together even though it is largely circumstance and not personal affinity that binds them altogether. Easy to put aliens into a story, much more difficult to make them interesting and relevant. Transcendence does that.
The novel asks, and answers, some new questions that sit neatly within the plot, although other questions you may have found yourself asking for some time begin to feel misplaced and rather more complex than you might have first thought.
It is a compact story, plays well and ends at a good point. There are more Heritage Universe novels, and Transcendence is not the last in this particular sequence either, though I will bow out at this point, but maybe will return at a later date.
Definitely above average.
The thinking man's Alien
The story drops down a gear, regroups and then moves forward again with careful precision, borrowing from sci-fi influences such as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Aliens where it needs to, to balance the action and mystery. It's all in there, and as you would expect from Charles Sheffield, the subject matter is always treated intelligently and with scientific justification along the way.
This is a comparatively short book, so the action is single layered and for this reason, easy to stay in touch with, remaining focussed on one group of characters throughout. And the ensemble cast work well together even though it is largely circumstance and not personal affinity that binds them altogether. Easy to put aliens into a story, much more difficult to make them interesting and relevant. Transcendence does that.
The novel asks, and answers, some new questions that sit neatly within the plot, although other questions you may have found yourself asking for some time begin to feel misplaced and rather more complex than you might have first thought.
It is a compact story, plays well and ends at a good point. There are more Heritage Universe novels, and Transcendence is not the last in this particular sequence either, though I will bow out at this point, but maybe will return at a later date.
Definitely above average.
September 13, 2023
No one believes the Zardalu are loose in the galaxy when the group who were sent home by the Builder's guardians try to warn authorities. Julius/Stephen Graves can't convince the Galactic Council so he resigns. Darya Lang can't convince her colleagues studying Builder artifacts, and even E.C. Tally's android video memories are dismissed as fiction. Graves, Tally and Hans Rebka recruit Kallick, J'merlia and Lang to search out and find where the Zardalu were sent. Louis Nenda and the Cecropian, Atvar H'sial have ended up Miranda, too, looking for their servants who carry cards to their money. They have to take a bus to the town where J'merlia and Kallick are, and Nenda fleeces fellow passengers with At's help during the 3 day trip. All of them accidentally meet up, figure out where to look for the Zardalu, buy a cheap old space ship, and hire a crazy 3,000 year old Chism Polypheme pilot who knows how to fly them to the only place in the galaxy the guardians would send a plague like the Zardalu. The story gets insane pretty fast. Macroscopic quantum effects. Ripping good yarn. Couldn't put it down.
July 19, 2025
While the first two books were quite nice and fun to read, the third book was a big dissapointment. Basicaly, we got no where closer to figuring out where the builders are, and we just got some running around back and forth between a couple of locations, with little to no impact on the overall story ark. I won't read the next novels in this series, because it seems the more i read, the more distant the answers about the builders get, and i guess that even in the last book, there wouldn't be any satisfying answers for my liking.
November 3, 2023
I have always loved the worlds of Charles Sheffield. He was brilliant and the planetary systems and aliens he designed were fascinating. This trilogy was fun but I found the ending a bit lacking. For an audible freebie, this was time well spent for me.
December 16, 2019
I tried and could not get into this series after three books. Just not my style i guess.
May 20, 2022
Interesting concepts, unrealistic action.
May 12, 2023
Pretty good closing to the tale.
August 25, 2024
quick finish, just zipping through the universe
September 3, 2015
The third book in Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe was a bit of a letdown, I have to say. I was very interested in how Louis Nenda and Atval H'sial would turn the situation they were left in at the end of "Divergence" to their advantage but they end up back with the rest of the group from the very beginning with very little explanation. The zardalu threat is still tangible but the secrets of the builders are no closer to being revealed. Hopefully we'll get some answers int the last two books.
January 11, 2014
Третья книга из пенталогии, которую по воле судеб я прочитала последней.
Когда вы уже решились на какой-то поступок, вы больше не оглядываетесь назад и не сомневаетесь, потому что любой поступок в нашей жизни совершается на основе дефицита информации. Вы смотрите на то, что имеете, и делаете все, что можете, дабы улучшить свое положение, но в какой-то момент вам приходится бросить кости на стол… и жить или умереть с теми очками, которые вы выбросили…
Когда вы уже решились на какой-то поступок, вы больше не оглядываетесь назад и не сомневаетесь, потому что любой поступок в нашей жизни совершается на основе дефицита информации. Вы смотрите на то, что имеете, и делаете все, что можете, дабы улучшить свое положение, но в какой-то момент вам приходится бросить кости на стол… и жить или умереть с теми очками, которые вы выбросили…
September 21, 2013
This book was the weakest of the three so far. Part of that stems from the newly introduced pilot character, one I can't easily picture in my mind. Once you have a bad supporting character, the book feels 'off', especially in any scene that character appears in.
As such the book feels 'solid' rather than 'good', and while the story is interesting, it's not the best in the series so far.
As such the book feels 'solid' rather than 'good', and while the story is interesting, it's not the best in the series so far.
January 22, 2012
All three of the Heritage Universe trilogy are amazing. These are very cerebral books, but the plot(s) are very well put together and related. Sci Fi without all the hokey crap some authors get into...
September 21, 2012
Not as strong an outing as the previous books in this series. Some interesting ideas presented but little new or interesting, though Sheffield is an engaging author in general, Summertide and Divergence are both much stronger books.
The Zardalu remain awesome.
The Zardalu remain awesome.
July 16, 2013
The big problem with this series is the overall mysteries are interesting and don't get sufficiently explored while most of the books are character development involving, largely, boring characters.
February 5, 2012
The characters and situations are getting kind of stale. I read 3 of 4 and have no desire to continue...that's a pretty damning statement.
September 3, 2019
Transcendence is the third book in a 4-volume novel of the heritage series - excellent, immersive storyline
June 21, 2009
Science Fiction
June 9, 2015
Such a good old fashion science fiction book can not wait for more
July 27, 2015
Meaty, convincing, rounded.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews