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The Quantum Evolution
Pollen From a Future Harvest
Major Chenesai Okonkwo is an Auditor for the Sub-Saharan Union. Her mission: to find out if the Sixth Expeditionary Force’s newly discovered time gate has been compromised. Is the Union’s revolutionary discovery already doomed, eleven years in the future?
But there is another, more personal mission. The possible murder of her husband remains unsolved. But are the two things connected? Can she navigate the world of aliens, spies, politics and time paradoxes to find the truth, and save her people’s future?
But there is another, more personal mission. The possible murder of her husband remains unsolved. But are the two things connected? Can she navigate the world of aliens, spies, politics and time paradoxes to find the truth, and save her people’s future?
108 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 29, 2021
3.5 stars. This is a smart, firehose of a story, crammed with so much detail I admit to feeling lost through much of it. There are elements here, in more or less equal supply, of murder mystery, political intrigue and enough time travel and resultant temporal/grandfather paradoxes to make your head ache. The hard sci-fi elements are beyond intriguing (intelligent alien plants communicating to each other through time), but ultimately the explanations were generally too rushed or cryptic for me to feel like I could grasp them, and really the same goes for the piecing together of the murder mystery and the political intrigue that lie at the heart of the story. All in all, some fantastically creative and intriguing elements, but it never jelled together for me.
November 25, 2022
72 pages* of what felt like infodumps to add detailed background to Künskens Quantum series. Not the most accessible writing you'll come across and completely lacking in the humour that was an almost ever present in The Quantum Magician despite the high stakes.
Probably only for fanatics of the series.
2.5 stars rounded down
* The remainder consists of publishing legal info and the first two chapters of The House of Styx.
Probably only for fanatics of the series.
2.5 stars rounded down
* The remainder consists of publishing legal info and the first two chapters of The House of Styx.
May 18, 2021
Pollen From A Future Harvest is a novella that takes place in Künsken's "Quantum Evolution" universe. It's a self-contained story, so reading the other novels isn't required, but for those that have at least read the second novel, The Quantum Garden, there will be a lot of details filled out here that round out the experience of reading that book.
This is a very unusual "locked room mystery" in that the detective is an auditor, and the murder takes place in a research outpost isolated from the rest of the universe and studying the effects of plant life that can send information back through time. Künsken presents his typically, delightfully dense world with a wealth of detail, gives us characters with personal and professional motivations to uncover the mystery, and expands on more fascinating ideas about the nature of quantum mechanics, time travel, and the ways human society finds ways to splinter, fragment, conquer and rebel against itself in the quest for agency and independence.
Fans of the Quantum Evolution series will love this side-story that fits in neatly with the larger narrative and expounds on the world a little more. For people coming to this world for the first time, it's dense, but inviting, and presents a fascinating mystery where physics speculation provides some surprising answers.
This is a very unusual "locked room mystery" in that the detective is an auditor, and the murder takes place in a research outpost isolated from the rest of the universe and studying the effects of plant life that can send information back through time. Künsken presents his typically, delightfully dense world with a wealth of detail, gives us characters with personal and professional motivations to uncover the mystery, and expands on more fascinating ideas about the nature of quantum mechanics, time travel, and the ways human society finds ways to splinter, fragment, conquer and rebel against itself in the quest for agency and independence.
Fans of the Quantum Evolution series will love this side-story that fits in neatly with the larger narrative and expounds on the world a little more. For people coming to this world for the first time, it's dense, but inviting, and presents a fascinating mystery where physics speculation provides some surprising answers.
June 30, 2021
If I didn't already think that Derek Kunsken was one of the best "Big Picture" Space Opera writers, this book would've done so. I cannot wait for more!!
Hoping to publish a detailed review in the not too distant future. Does that mean I've already written it, but because of time travel limitations, I have to wait until future Ollie finally sets aside some review writing time? Wait! Those time gates are around here somewhere....
Hoping to publish a detailed review in the not too distant future. Does that mean I've already written it, but because of time travel limitations, I have to wait until future Ollie finally sets aside some review writing time? Wait! Those time gates are around here somewhere....
August 3, 2021
Kunsken's "Quantum Evolution" series - the first two books ("Quantum Magician" and "Quantum Garden") are quite compelling, although some of the technical details, such as wormholes inside of wormholes are very confusing. But they are great stories and very well-developed characters. This short novel fills in part of the story that arises in the first two novels. It is not a must-read. If you do read it, I think it's best after first reading the other two. It's a good story in it's own right.
September 19, 2021
Fills in some information about the Sixth Expeditionary Force. Maybe this will become important if somebody makes the Quantum Magician books into a television series.
May 31, 2021
An interesting and gripping novella.
Rarely do I enjoy tales involving time travel. Too often used as a Deus Ex Machina. Not here. Not at all. It is treated with respect from a serious scientific, albeit fictional, perspective.
The characters feel very real and, whilst short(ish) due to the format, the plot is comprehensive enough. This story paints a distant future in colour.
Additionally, a creative slant in diverting from social norms to offer up a non-standard and unexpected potential future.
Rarely do I enjoy tales involving time travel. Too often used as a Deus Ex Machina. Not here. Not at all. It is treated with respect from a serious scientific, albeit fictional, perspective.
The characters feel very real and, whilst short(ish) due to the format, the plot is comprehensive enough. This story paints a distant future in colour.
Additionally, a creative slant in diverting from social norms to offer up a non-standard and unexpected potential future.
September 12, 2021
An interesting backstory for parts of The Quantum Garden. Feels a bit slow in parts and I had some issues maintaining suspension of disbelief but overall enjoyable with good portrayal of main & close characters.
February 3, 2022
A nice military investigation / murder mystery, involving a creepy alien species and paradox-threatening time gates. Enjoyable and the right level of twisty.
Originally published in Asimov's in 2015, so not Hugo-eligible this year. Also, only about half the book is Pollen From a Future harvest, with the rest being a teaser for some novel, so it will be over quicker than expected.
Originally published in Asimov's in 2015, so not Hugo-eligible this year. Also, only about half the book is Pollen From a Future harvest, with the rest being a teaser for some novel, so it will be over quicker than expected.
September 3, 2021
Recent Reads: Pollen From A Future Harvest. Derek Künsken's SF mystery novella is a semi-prequel to The Quantum Thief. Counter-espionage in a (literal) cold war as an auditor tracks down who killed her husband. Meanwhile a mysterious time gate stops working. Can these be linked?
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April 5, 2021Read for the Glasgow in 2024/Rebellion publishing event on 17 April 2021.
December 3, 2022
A lousy prequel about characters no one cares about that of course solved nothing about the third books ending it being a prequel. Bah.
December 28, 2022
not a whole book
It looks like this book is not a complete novel. Serious. I love kunsken, but it’s like somebody deleted part of this book at the end.
It looks like this book is not a complete novel. Serious. I love kunsken, but it’s like somebody deleted part of this book at the end.
January 23, 2023
I would have given it 5 stars, but the ending was rather abrupt and for that reason unsatisfying.
April 19, 2023
Leído en inglés.
March 3, 2024
This was a complicated little book, I definitely got lost a few times but I enjoyed reading it.
May 5, 2026
A fascinating and beautifully written novella that further enriches Künsken’s already extraordinary universe. That said… anyone who hasn’t already read the Quantum series will probably find this difficult to fully follow. The story assumes familiarity with the setting, factions, and broader context, and it doesn’t spend much time slowing down for newcomers…
For existing readers, though, that’s part of the appeal... Künsken trusts the audience and dives straight into the complexities of his world, layering science, politics, culture, and philosophy together with remarkable confidence.
Even in novella form, the depth of imagination is staggering! The setting feels alive, the ideas are sharp, and the writing remains elegant and intelligent throughout…
Dense, rewarding, and deeply immersive… another excellent addition to one of the most compelling modern science fiction universes.
For existing readers, though, that’s part of the appeal... Künsken trusts the audience and dives straight into the complexities of his world, layering science, politics, culture, and philosophy together with remarkable confidence.
Even in novella form, the depth of imagination is staggering! The setting feels alive, the ideas are sharp, and the writing remains elegant and intelligent throughout…
Dense, rewarding, and deeply immersive… another excellent addition to one of the most compelling modern science fiction universes.
September 2, 2021
Derek Künsken is an absolute master of hard sci-fi and time travel books. I did not enjoy this nearly as much as I did the Quantum Magician and the Quantum garden but its still worth five stars. The other books are worth 10. His Quantum series (this is a side story in that series) is the best science fiction I have ever read. It makes me question every other book I have ever given five stars to and has me leaving 4 on a lot of books I really enjoyed because they just do not stand up to these. If you like hard science fiction go get those books right now.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews