This is a novella that I preordered, it arrived several months ago, and it has just been sitting on my shelf since then. I have read several books by each of these authors previously so was quite looking forward to this one. I liked it. It reminded me very much (theme, not style plot or tone) of the Asimov novel “The End of Eternity,” which deals with stagnation of societies due to the creation of the guardians of the timeline. In this novella, there at first appears to be a grand collection of worlds linked by the “Light Chaser,” a human woman who has been augmented to live a long time, and that plus the 0.97c speed she travels most of the time, is very very old. She hints that she has made multiple circuits of her 1000 year journey, so many that she can no longer remember them all. As the story goes on, there are hints of a deeper problem that I won’t spoil.
The first chapter shows the main character, Amahle, flying in her ship directly towards a giant star with a companion. She fears death, but her companion comforts her, saying that he remembers all of his deaths, and that they aren’t painful. As I thought about this book yesterday after I finished it, I wondered how the impact of the story would have been different had she not died in the first chapter. The ending is given away… sort of.
The rest of the book details Amahle on one of her last circuits, dealing with both technologically advanced (post scarcity) societies, as well as worlds trapped in medieval technology levels. As I read I found myself wondering why some of the worlds had slid backwards, given the fact that they were all seeded from Earth. I am guessing that I was supposed to have thought that, given where the book ended up going. For the most part, the technology is very realistic; there is no FTL, there is no artificial gravity. It reminds me very much of Alastair Reynolds light hugger ships.
The book ends with a coda, that takes place after the first chapter. It (sort of) wraps up the story, leaving it wide open, however. There are several possible meanings, I think, and they are hopeful and optimistic.