cover:
The price of greater life is death...

The universe of Neverness is intriguingly complex and filled with exraordinary beings. There are the Alaloi, whose genes have 'backmutated' so that they look like Neanderthals... the Order of Pilots which reworls the laws of time and physics to slingshot its members through dense regions of 'thickspace'... the Solid State Entity, a nebula-sized brain made up of moon-sized computers... and the Ieldra, a legendary race of aliens that seeded the galaxy aeons ago with its DNA and so initiated the evolutionary cycle.

Against this rich backdrop unfolds the story of Mallory Ringess, a headstrong novitiate of the Order of Pilots. Against all odds, he has penetrated the Solid State Entity - and made a stunning discovery. A discovery that could unlock the secret of immortality hidden among the Alaloi. But first he will lead a perilous quest through uncharted regions of thickspace where he will be asked to undergo the ultimate sacrifice: to discard the last vestiges of humanity in return for mankind's salvation...

on the bookshelf