Space Opera Fans discussion

The September 2024 Reader Pick is Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
From bestselling author M. R. Carey comes a brilliant genre-defying story of humanity's expansion across millions of dimensions—and the AI technology that might see it all come to an end.

INFINITY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds. Except that they’re really just one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an A.I. threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they’ll eradicate it by whatever means necessary.

Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth’s environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel, a secret that could save everyone on her dying planet. It leads her into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of. And she needs to choose a side before every reality pays the price.

I'll be starting this in the next day or two - I've read three previous book by this author, and rated them all at 4 stars, so I'm looking forward to seeing if this one maintains that high standard.

I'm at page 166, so about a third of the way through this original and enjoyable book. It's fast-moving, so the 166 pages have flown past. A diverse and believable group of characters so far, with an interesting plot. I can't wait to see how this develops, both in the rest of this book and in the second and final part.

I'm now just over half-way, and it just keeps getting better.

I just read this a few weeks ago, it was a five star read for me.

Cheng wrote: "I just read this a few weeks ago, it was a five star read for me."

Its looking like that for me too, Cheng.

Finished Infinity Gate last night; I'm happy because I loved it (like Cheng, a five star rating from me), but sad because I want more.

The second and final part (Echo of Worlds) is available, but I object to paying £12.99 for the Kindle version. However, the hardback book is £17.99, the paperback (at £9.99) won't be available until late January, 2025, and there is only one library copy available throughout Glasgow and the demand is such that the libraries are no longer even accepting reservations for it.

So I'm torn between wanting to read it right now, and reluctant to be ripped-off by the publisher (Orbit).

What would/will you do?

John wrote: "Finished Infinity Gate last night; I'm happy because I loved it (like Cheng, a five star rating from me), but sad because I want more.

The second and final part ([book:Echo of Worl..."

I've just realised that another option is that there is an audio version available - it's £16.99 but my kids gave me a one-year subscription to Audible last Christmas - I could burn one of my available credits on this. Decisions, decisions.

It's at ebooksDOTcom [GR won't let me link to it] for US$9.99 - that's epub format encrypted with Adobe Digital Editions. Which likely works out to about thirteen quid; those prices are set by the publisher, not the retailer.

The sequel picks up immediately where IG leaves off.

Thanks for that info, Cheng. after a struggle, I managed to place a reservation for it in our library system. I'm fourth in the queue - if I don't reach the front of the queue by January, I'll just buy the paperback when its published.

So, as this thread draws to a close - we've had a grand total of 10 posts from two of us who have read the book - myself and Cheng. its hardly a ringing endorsement of the selection (which is a great pity, as its an excellent book - rated 5 stars by both Cheng and I).

I think its partly due to my taste obviously being out of step with most of the group, but also the result of so few books being nominated and seconded, so the winning book has typically been the choice of a very small number of people.

If a book isn't your choice and you're not going to read it - fine, but why not post your reasons for not liking it, and what you would have preferred to see instead. I've not been in this group long, but have already benefited from some great recommendations.

I think sometimes it isn’t because members don’t like the premise of a book, but because their schedule doesn’t allow for them to read it at that time. I ran into this with Infinity Gate as I had multiple library loans to get through first. I’m interested in this one though, and may not have heard of it without this nomination.

In my opinion the BOTM is valuable for highlighting books that might otherwise fly under readers’ radar, even if they can’t join in the reading for that month. The discussion threads do stay open indefinitely and readers can post their thoughts at any time.

Cheng wrote: "It's at ebooksDOTcom [GR won't let me link to it] for US$9.99 - that's epub format encrypted with Adobe Digital Editions. Which likely works out to about thirteen quid; those prices are set by the ..."

I managed to borrow a copy of Echo of Worlds from the library system in a nearby town, I'm at page 143 now and enjoying it a lot.

Caitlin wrote: "I think sometimes it isn’t because members don’t like the premise of a book, but because their schedule doesn’t allow for them to read it at that time. I ran into this with Infinity Gate as I had m..."

Yes, I get it that there are lots of reasons why we might not read the BOTM, or why we might read them but not comment in the thread. But as Teresa noted in her post in the "Humorous Aliens" thread, if there's insufficient response there is little traction for keeping a thread going. I'm sure that a lot of us in the group really enjoy the recommendations we pick up in the threads, and I guess that's the aspect I should concentrate on.

What a lot of new members do is browse the group’s bookshelves, whether they look at the discussion threads or not. I found a lot of gems there when I joined. I wasn’t even on Goodreads yet when this group was created.

I appreciate the information provided but rarely participate in group reads or challenges. I add books I'm interested in to my TBR mountain.

I pretty much burned out on doing group reads or challenges years ago.

The reason for not reading a particular book, if I don't already have the book I would be getting it from the library. Not something that can be done on schedule.

I'm currently about half-way through Echo of Worlds by M.R. Carey - the second part of the Pandominion Duology. It is excellent - almost as good as Infinity Gate.

Reading a couple of books as good as these, I can almost understand why people get hooked on a series - but it's difficult to achieve and maintain this level of quality.

I've finished Echo of Worlds now - and it was excellent - another 5 star rating. If anything it was even better than Infinity Gate. Clever and original sci-fi.

I think I've now read about four books from M.R. Carey - an author I would definitely recommend.