What do you think?
Rate this book
Noumenon #3
Noumenon Ultra
Deep in the heart of an alien mountain range, ICC. has lain dormant, its ships silent, for eons. Now, after one hundred thousand years, the AI is awakening. Someone is roaming the convoy's halls, someone that isn't human.
This planet, Noumenon, created by the megastructure known as the Web, is too young and brutal to have evolved intelligent life. Its surface is bombarded by unusual meteors. Crystal trees abruptly and violently arise from its bedrock. Its solar system is surrounded by a frightening space-time anomaly. So where did these visitors come from? What do they want? And do the people of Earth, whose ancestors launched Convoy Seven, know they are here?
ICC reaches out to the descendants of its convoy crew to help decipher this primordial riddle. Noumenon was created and seeded by ancient aliens, and clearly their plans for it are unfinished. Together, the AI, the new lifeforms who have awakened it, and the humans will embark on an epic adventure of discovery billions of years in the making.
This planet, Noumenon, created by the megastructure known as the Web, is too young and brutal to have evolved intelligent life. Its surface is bombarded by unusual meteors. Crystal trees abruptly and violently arise from its bedrock. Its solar system is surrounded by a frightening space-time anomaly. So where did these visitors come from? What do they want? And do the people of Earth, whose ancestors launched Convoy Seven, know they are here?
ICC reaches out to the descendants of its convoy crew to help decipher this primordial riddle. Noumenon was created and seeded by ancient aliens, and clearly their plans for it are unfinished. Together, the AI, the new lifeforms who have awakened it, and the humans will embark on an epic adventure of discovery billions of years in the making.
576 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2020
176 people are currently reading
554 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
August 13, 2020
From the first book in the series, we had generational starcraft in a convoy, learning to survive through tragedies and several huge discoveries.
In the second book, we get a significant upgrade and a new mission to the stars, really laying out the foundation for inclusiveness among our own branches of humanity. The feeling gets significantly epic and quite interesting and it doesn't go quite the way the traditional space-operas.
And then we're lead to this third book in the trilogy, really taking Noumenon, the convoy, to new heights... but first we must get from A to B. And this is where the novel really shines.
We cover a hundred thousand years of humanity ... and more. I'm getting this shiver and a flashback to some old-school Olaf Stapledon. So many steps are covered, including effective immortality, to let us follow our favorite characters. Including, I might add, a certain little environmental control unit.
I give this five stars for future history and the commentary on inclusiveness.
I give this three stars for a slightly faltering thread of conflict.
If this was a straight history, I probably wouldn't even think twice about it, and compared to most modern space operas, it's positively refreshing by how it doesn't rely on standard tropes. But still, I did expect something a little more.
The worldbuilding absolutely shone, however. I totally recommend this for people wanting a truly ambitious yarn.
In the second book, we get a significant upgrade and a new mission to the stars, really laying out the foundation for inclusiveness among our own branches of humanity. The feeling gets significantly epic and quite interesting and it doesn't go quite the way the traditional space-operas.
And then we're lead to this third book in the trilogy, really taking Noumenon, the convoy, to new heights... but first we must get from A to B. And this is where the novel really shines.
We cover a hundred thousand years of humanity ... and more. I'm getting this shiver and a flashback to some old-school Olaf Stapledon. So many steps are covered, including effective immortality, to let us follow our favorite characters. Including, I might add, a certain little environmental control unit.
I give this five stars for future history and the commentary on inclusiveness.
I give this three stars for a slightly faltering thread of conflict.
If this was a straight history, I probably wouldn't even think twice about it, and compared to most modern space operas, it's positively refreshing by how it doesn't rely on standard tropes. But still, I did expect something a little more.
The worldbuilding absolutely shone, however. I totally recommend this for people wanting a truly ambitious yarn.
December 30, 2023
The solid culmination of an awe inspiring epic space opera series.
Marian J. Lostetter has weaved a marvelous hard SciFi world and universe where BDOs, space travel, unfathomably advanced aliens and exotic exoplanets, social engineering and philosophy all intersect in a gripping plot.
One of my best reads of 2022, I highly recommend.
Marian J. Lostetter has weaved a marvelous hard SciFi world and universe where BDOs, space travel, unfathomably advanced aliens and exotic exoplanets, social engineering and philosophy all intersect in a gripping plot.
One of my best reads of 2022, I highly recommend.
November 5, 2020
In the first book of the trilogy we had fleets of generation ships exploring the universe and discovering alien mega-structures.
In the second book of the trilogy, the time span covered expanded by an order of magnitude, and the descendants of the Noumenon missions discover more mega-structures and the future of humanity itself.
In this book, the time span covered expands by another order of magnitude and includes viewpoints from all over the discoveries of the previous books. As the storyline skips down the millennia the narrative rests with "immortals", made so by a variety of different mechanisms and each with amazingly different abilities and outlooks.
As a construct this trilogy awes me. To carry a central theme (to know, to discover, to explore) across dozens of separate stories with characters as diverse as an eternal baby piloting a giant mecha, to an AI conceived from the very beginning of the series and a bio-mechanical agender crab with human grandparents ... it's such an enormous scope. Yes, some of the individual stories don't quite work, and there are many messy loose ends, but even so the through-line here is just so strong and compelling.
In the second book of the trilogy, the time span covered expanded by an order of magnitude, and the descendants of the Noumenon missions discover more mega-structures and the future of humanity itself.
In this book, the time span covered expands by another order of magnitude and includes viewpoints from all over the discoveries of the previous books. As the storyline skips down the millennia the narrative rests with "immortals", made so by a variety of different mechanisms and each with amazingly different abilities and outlooks.
As a construct this trilogy awes me. To carry a central theme (to know, to discover, to explore) across dozens of separate stories with characters as diverse as an eternal baby piloting a giant mecha, to an AI conceived from the very beginning of the series and a bio-mechanical agender crab with human grandparents ... it's such an enormous scope. Yes, some of the individual stories don't quite work, and there are many messy loose ends, but even so the through-line here is just so strong and compelling.
September 26, 2020
A unique and solid ending for the millennia-spanning story that began with Noumenon and continued in Noumenon Infinity. Where things start give no idea as to where they eventually end.
Like its predecessor novels, Noumenon Ultra takes us further and deeper, but steadies the reader with a continuity provided in part by "immortal" characters. The series is epic in scope, and keeps always to its central theme of exploration and the continuing struggle to know and comprehend the unknowable.
Like its predecessor novels, Noumenon Ultra takes us further and deeper, but steadies the reader with a continuity provided in part by "immortal" characters. The series is epic in scope, and keeps always to its central theme of exploration and the continuing struggle to know and comprehend the unknowable.
September 7, 2021
I don't like giving 1-star reviews. Usually, when I 1-star a book, it means I felt such intense dislike that I can't find a redeeming factor. But in this case, it's worse. In this case, Lostetter's grand ambitions for her universe grew so cosmically wide-reaching that she sacrificed the plot. And then on top of that, she took a hacksaw to language and grammar and called it art.
To the first point: I'm not a reader who requires a strong external plot if the journey can stand as its own plot. There are authors who do very well writing internal people-plots and concept-plots. The first book, Noumenon, was good. Lostetter hit exactly the right balance between external and internal plot factors, and made me care about her characters despite time skips. By contrast, Noumenon Infinity had much weaker writing, and Ultra continued the downward spiral.
Here, at the close of the trilogy, the external pressure is too big, and too existential to impact the day-to-day lives of these characters. Worse, the timescale is so far forward and skipping so rapidly that I could not connect to those characters. I can summarize what happened in each chapter or interlude, but how that relates to the MacGuffin? Nope. The stories aren't bad, but in the context we're given, they're just... there. And there's no longer enough continuity to read it as "society fic."
And then there's the smaller writing issues, like the pronouns picked by Icelandic-Plus, and the way Icelandic-Plus' translations inconsistently drop the verb "to be." Or, heck, the entire definition given for the word "im," which is then thrown nonsensically at the text. There's an entire sub-plot thread concerned with how an alien species thinks and speaks... but the author doesn't seem to understand how language works. I can respect a nuanced analysis of gender and language, but this had all the elegance and subtlety of a sledgehammer wielded against fine china.
There's more, but at the end of it all I got the impression that Lostetter was aiming for a harder-SF Becky Chambers. Unfortunately, she didn't pull it off. Disappointing.
To the first point: I'm not a reader who requires a strong external plot if the journey can stand as its own plot. There are authors who do very well writing internal people-plots and concept-plots. The first book, Noumenon, was good. Lostetter hit exactly the right balance between external and internal plot factors, and made me care about her characters despite time skips. By contrast, Noumenon Infinity had much weaker writing, and Ultra continued the downward spiral.
Here, at the close of the trilogy, the external pressure is too big, and too existential to impact the day-to-day lives of these characters. Worse, the timescale is so far forward and skipping so rapidly that I could not connect to those characters. I can summarize what happened in each chapter or interlude, but how that relates to the MacGuffin? Nope. The stories aren't bad, but in the context we're given, they're just... there. And there's no longer enough continuity to read it as "society fic."
And then there's the smaller writing issues, like the pronouns picked by Icelandic-Plus, and the way Icelandic-Plus' translations inconsistently drop the verb "to be." Or, heck, the entire definition given for the word "im," which is then thrown nonsensically at the text. There's an entire sub-plot thread concerned with how an alien species thinks and speaks... but the author doesn't seem to understand how language works. I can respect a nuanced analysis of gender and language, but this had all the elegance and subtlety of a sledgehammer wielded against fine china.
There's more, but at the end of it all I got the impression that Lostetter was aiming for a harder-SF Becky Chambers. Unfortunately, she didn't pull it off. Disappointing.
April 9, 2021
No, no and no. Critical gender theory and good literature good bedfellows do not make. And I say this as a genuine fan of the first two books:
The first one, Noumenon, was a story about a generational ship manned by clones that is sent to study a mysterious alien artifact (aka Big Dumb Object) lightyears away from Earth. Noumenon Infinity, builds further on this with revelations about the artifact and its true purpose, combined with a unique perspective of what the future evolution of mankind could look like. Both of these presented interesting science riddles and brain-racking moral dilemmas. My favourite, Noumenon Infinity, further impressed with the sheer time scale of what was happening.
Sadly, the third instalment, Noumenon Ultra, fails to impress with much. Other than, of course, the lip service it pays to critical gender theory, of which there is plenty of. But it is, after all, 2020, the Year of the Big Virtue-Signalling, where everything has to fit into the social justice mould—or else. There are, mind you, fates worse than publishing a mediocre book. Like, for example, being lynched on Twitter or denied a book deal for an accidental inappropriate remark.
Examples: We are presented with an alien species that has a revolving waterwheel in its body, eats by dissolving rock and metal in a puddle on the ground and then sucking it in through a pipe, and reproduces by budding, growing its young in a sphincter on its shoulder and communicating with them throughout the ‘gestation’ by radio waves. So what do you think this—highly unusual—alien creature does when we first learn how to communicate with it properly? Well, of course, it picks gender and pronouns, what else? She/her!!! Duh.
Wait what? So to be politically correct enough, we have to apply critical gender theory to aliens too? Anthropomorphising much? How ridiculously inane, let alone unoriginal and uncreative, is that?
Well, obviously not inane enough, because Lostetter devotes the entire next—overlongish—chapter to a description of the relationship between a modern-day human, i.e., Homo Sapiens and an advanced, heavily evolved human, Homo Draconem, who is part mechanical/bionic, and who is physically incompatible with the modern human (read: the pipes don't fit). But this does not matter, Lostetter explains—and elaborates, seemingly for pages on end—since they are both asexual (one of them being they/them). Zero relevance for the story. A drag to read. But certainly, as other reviewers frequently write: ‘An important message about diversity, inclusion, virtue signal, virtue signal, virtue signal’.
Why is this bad? One, I am personally sick of the endless politicising of the last couple of years. Two, it is BORING. If I want to read critical feminist theory or critical gender theory, I will read Judith Butler or any other original author, I will not pick up a third derivative about an alien that grows its young in a sack in a sphincter on its shoulders, yet has a gender and picks pronouns. And, right, it is her shoulders.
Why did Marina Lostetter go in this direction? Was she signalling to the public that she was ‘one of the good guys’? Or perhaps she was edging for a nice book deal from Tor, lots of promotion, a nice little Nebula or Hugo? If she was, I am afraid she is a couple of years late (and way too many shades the wrong colour). As a white—‘privileged’, as some people say—woman, she is not nearly intersectional enough to even be nominated for any award for 2020, and certainly less so for 2021. But she should chin up. If other authors—apparently anticipating the tailwind—can develop glitzy queer intersectionalities and disabilities overnight (C.L., you know we are all looking at you🤥😃), then there is always hope.
The first one, Noumenon, was a story about a generational ship manned by clones that is sent to study a mysterious alien artifact (aka Big Dumb Object) lightyears away from Earth. Noumenon Infinity, builds further on this with revelations about the artifact and its true purpose, combined with a unique perspective of what the future evolution of mankind could look like. Both of these presented interesting science riddles and brain-racking moral dilemmas. My favourite, Noumenon Infinity, further impressed with the sheer time scale of what was happening.
Sadly, the third instalment, Noumenon Ultra, fails to impress with much. Other than, of course, the lip service it pays to critical gender theory, of which there is plenty of. But it is, after all, 2020, the Year of the Big Virtue-Signalling, where everything has to fit into the social justice mould—or else. There are, mind you, fates worse than publishing a mediocre book. Like, for example, being lynched on Twitter or denied a book deal for an accidental inappropriate remark.
Examples: We are presented with an alien species that has a revolving waterwheel in its body, eats by dissolving rock and metal in a puddle on the ground and then sucking it in through a pipe, and reproduces by budding, growing its young in a sphincter on its shoulder and communicating with them throughout the ‘gestation’ by radio waves. So what do you think this—highly unusual—alien creature does when we first learn how to communicate with it properly? Well, of course, it picks gender and pronouns, what else? She/her!!! Duh.
Wait what? So to be politically correct enough, we have to apply critical gender theory to aliens too? Anthropomorphising much? How ridiculously inane, let alone unoriginal and uncreative, is that?
Well, obviously not inane enough, because Lostetter devotes the entire next—overlongish—chapter to a description of the relationship between a modern-day human, i.e., Homo Sapiens and an advanced, heavily evolved human, Homo Draconem, who is part mechanical/bionic, and who is physically incompatible with the modern human (read: the pipes don't fit). But this does not matter, Lostetter explains—and elaborates, seemingly for pages on end—since they are both asexual (one of them being they/them). Zero relevance for the story. A drag to read. But certainly, as other reviewers frequently write: ‘An important message about diversity, inclusion, virtue signal, virtue signal, virtue signal’.
Why is this bad? One, I am personally sick of the endless politicising of the last couple of years. Two, it is BORING. If I want to read critical feminist theory or critical gender theory, I will read Judith Butler or any other original author, I will not pick up a third derivative about an alien that grows its young in a sack in a sphincter on its shoulders, yet has a gender and picks pronouns. And, right, it is her shoulders.
Why did Marina Lostetter go in this direction? Was she signalling to the public that she was ‘one of the good guys’? Or perhaps she was edging for a nice book deal from Tor, lots of promotion, a nice little Nebula or Hugo? If she was, I am afraid she is a couple of years late (and way too many shades the wrong colour). As a white—‘privileged’, as some people say—woman, she is not nearly intersectional enough to even be nominated for any award for 2020, and certainly less so for 2021. But she should chin up. If other authors—apparently anticipating the tailwind—can develop glitzy queer intersectionalities and disabilities overnight (C.L., you know we are all looking at you🤥😃), then there is always hope.
August 18, 2020
If you’re looking for an epic hard sci-fi series that will make your brain hurt (in a good way), look no further.
If you haven’t read Noumenon or Noumenon Infinity, you really need to read those first. If not, spoilers ahead.
The author continues this book in the same format as the first two, interspersing POVs from both convoys 7 and 12 characters along with POVs from I.C.C. (the AI) and post-humans (technically convoy 7).
Between the hardcore science and some gender pronouns, (the alien who identified as a she becomes a she/they) my mind exploded a few times.
In this book, it felt like the author would have wild dreams and wake up and decide to use whatever she found within her dream to add another new CRAZY element into her storyline. What a wild ride Lostetter gave us.
To be honest, I did get lost a few times with the science and distinguishing betweeen some of the characters (especially the chapter where two they/them post humans were speaking to each other and no names were used). I did like how she ended this series. Now I’m curious as to what happens next to the immortals and what they find.
The time span of this book is eons and eons. 80,000 years goes by in just a few chapters. That’s just so mind boggling to me.
All in all, this series was an extremely interesting premise with exceptional world building and I honestly couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the advance copy!*
If you haven’t read Noumenon or Noumenon Infinity, you really need to read those first. If not, spoilers ahead.
The author continues this book in the same format as the first two, interspersing POVs from both convoys 7 and 12 characters along with POVs from I.C.C. (the AI) and post-humans (technically convoy 7).
Between the hardcore science and some gender pronouns, (the alien who identified as a she becomes a she/they) my mind exploded a few times.
In this book, it felt like the author would have wild dreams and wake up and decide to use whatever she found within her dream to add another new CRAZY element into her storyline. What a wild ride Lostetter gave us.
To be honest, I did get lost a few times with the science and distinguishing betweeen some of the characters (especially the chapter where two they/them post humans were speaking to each other and no names were used). I did like how she ended this series. Now I’m curious as to what happens next to the immortals and what they find.
The time span of this book is eons and eons. 80,000 years goes by in just a few chapters. That’s just so mind boggling to me.
All in all, this series was an extremely interesting premise with exceptional world building and I honestly couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the advance copy!*
September 2, 2020
You certainly can't accuse Noumenon Ultra of lacking ambition. Picking up where the last book left off, about a hundred thousand years in the future, it accelerates from there, going ever-further into an unknowably-distant future. We start with the AI, ICC, that has held the Noumenon convoy together for so long waking up from hibernation to find itself about a hundred thousand years in our future, and although its humans have long vacated its ships, there is life within it once more. It eventually learns to communicate with the sentient life of the terraformed world that now bears the name of its convoy and later regains contact with the descendants of its crew, and they all have to work together to solve a problem that could threaten the future of the entire universe.
There's a lot to enjoy in this book. We pick up characters from Convoy Twelve from the second book, as well as further clones of the crew of Convoy Seven and spend time with the post-humans that most of humanity, other than the remnants of homo sapiens from Convoy Twelve, has now evolved into. We don't spend as much time as I would have liked with the post-humans, or see more than a glimpse of the way that they interact with their ancestors, but life in the galaxy at large is only tangential to the story being told here.
I enjoyed this book, but I felt it was missing a spark that both the other two books had. While the first one jumped in time quite a lot, there was conflict and drama in each segment. The second one had the parts of the book that followed Convoy Twelve to ground it. While this book had the time jumps from the first and some of the characters from the second, there was little conflict. Everyone was working together for a larger goal, without any great deviation from that or misunderstandings or disagreements on the nature of the work.
In my review of the previous book I complained that there was no closure on the alien megastructures that the convoys had encountered. Hoo-boy is that resolved here. And in an incredibly mind-blowing payoff as well. So while it has a lot of that sensawunda that we often talk about in SF, it's lacking in the characterisation to truly make it great.
There's a lot to enjoy in this book. We pick up characters from Convoy Twelve from the second book, as well as further clones of the crew of Convoy Seven and spend time with the post-humans that most of humanity, other than the remnants of homo sapiens from Convoy Twelve, has now evolved into. We don't spend as much time as I would have liked with the post-humans, or see more than a glimpse of the way that they interact with their ancestors, but life in the galaxy at large is only tangential to the story being told here.
I enjoyed this book, but I felt it was missing a spark that both the other two books had. While the first one jumped in time quite a lot, there was conflict and drama in each segment. The second one had the parts of the book that followed Convoy Twelve to ground it. While this book had the time jumps from the first and some of the characters from the second, there was little conflict. Everyone was working together for a larger goal, without any great deviation from that or misunderstandings or disagreements on the nature of the work.
In my review of the previous book I complained that there was no closure on the alien megastructures that the convoys had encountered. Hoo-boy is that resolved here. And in an incredibly mind-blowing payoff as well. So while it has a lot of that sensawunda that we often talk about in SF, it's lacking in the characterisation to truly make it great.
July 5, 2020
Welp. This one blew my mind.
You're going to need to read the first two in this series, but that's a feature, not a bug -- there is so much in-depth science fictional work going on here that you will need the first two fresh in your brain before attempting to wrap your head around this one.
Again, some stories don't blow your mind or even attempt to perform cranial combustion to any extent, but here we are. Author Marina J. Lostetter goes for it, and you will love it.
You're going to need to read the first two in this series, but that's a feature, not a bug -- there is so much in-depth science fictional work going on here that you will need the first two fresh in your brain before attempting to wrap your head around this one.
Again, some stories don't blow your mind or even attempt to perform cranial combustion to any extent, but here we are. Author Marina J. Lostetter goes for it, and you will love it.
September 16, 2021
Some interesting ideas here, but I thought it became too esoteric.
September 6, 2020
https://openbooksociety.com/article/n...
Noumenon Ultra
Noumenon, Book #3
By Marina J. Lostetter
ISBN # 9780062895721
Author’s Website: lostetter.net
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Summary
The mind-expanding journey that began with Noumenon and Noumenon Infinity continues in this wondrous mosaic tale of deep space exploration, adventure, and humanity that blends the awe, science, and speculative imagination of Arthur C. Clarke, Neal Stephenson, and Octavia Butler.
Deep in the heart of an alien mountain range, I.C.C. has lain dormant, its ships silent, for eons. Now, after one hundred thousand years, the AI is awakening. Someone is roaming the convoy’s halls–someone that isn’t human.
This planet, Noumenon–created by the megastructure known as the Web–is too young and brutal to have evolved intelligent life. Its surface is bombarded by unusual meteors. Crystal trees abruptly and violently arise from its bedrock. Its solar system is surrounded by a frightening space-time anomaly. So where did these visitors come from? What do they want? And do the people of Earth, whose ancestors launched Convoy Seven, know they are here?
I.C.C. reaches out to the descendants of its convoy crew to help decipher this primordial riddle. Noumenon was created and seeded by ancient aliens, and clearly their plans for it are unfinished. Together, the AI, the new lifeforms who have awakened it, and the humans will embark on an epic adventure of discovery billions of years in the making.
Review
The mission that started more than a hundred thousand years ago in the first installment of the Noumenon series, comes to an end with Noumenon Ultra. After the events in Noumenon Infinity that explained the forward time travel of the Convoy Twelve and meeting the new evolved humans, a small group of humans travel to the new planet Noumenon that was created by the first Megastructure completed. There in Noumenon are the remnants of the Noumenon Convoy that helped humans complete the megastructures many years ago, and now is the home of I.C.C. the A.I. that kept all the humans safe through their travels.
During the thousands of years that passed since the first megastructure was activated and I.C.C. was set to rest on the planet Noumenon, the new humans, homo-draconem and homo-kubernetes, have activated many more of them. But during some of that time, creatures started to populate Noumenon and awoken I.C.C. again. The small convoy with Dr. Vanhi Kapoor, the Tan family, and Jamal Kaeden the Progentor and some of his followers arrive at the planet at the same time as a new Megastructure is activated and everything stops working. The universe is broken.
Now a new story awaits everyone as they try to understand what is happening in the universe. Are the megastructures evil as some predicted? Why are some planets shielded away and unable to communicate with? And who are the mysterious creatures in Noumenon interaction with I.C.C.?
I love the Noumenon series, the story and the concept were a joy to read and I liked to continue the adventures of its characters across time.
Like the previous books, not all the characters make it to the end as time passes by very fast and normal human lives are short and bright. I did like the characters. We meet Vanhi, Jamal and Hope Tan again and new evolved humans with great names. I liked how the storylines move around these characters and tie the loose ends, yet it showed us that to be an immortal it is a gift and curse at the same time.
Iron Orchid A.K.A the scent of moth orchids followed by the sensation of lightly rusted iron under calloused fingertips.
Sunlight Hammer A.K.A. the warmth of Earth sunlight on a humid day in a heavy swamp accompanied by the percussion of a hammer hitting slate.
We finally understand the meaning of the Megastructures in space and who created them. The mystery of the universe and what may be the vast corners of it, most of all, I liked that this book shows that even greater intelligence can make mistakes, big mistakes.
If you are a new reader to this series, I recommend reading the previous installments, it would make it easier to understand why things are happening. For an outsider, the story might look long and difficult to follow, but if you give it a chance it becomes a great experience that touches on points of human society and emotions. If you like this genre, I recommend you stick with it until the end. It was great.
One of the main reasons that I liked this series was that it gave me the ability to experience this possible future. To read and imagine a possible future for us humans such as to travel across the stars, see how far we can evolve and fall, and make contact with other beings in the universe. Human life is short, it might look long to us, but compared to the progress and change on a planet, it’s a blink of an eye. But at least with this story, I can experience a possibility of the future in the lifetime that I have.
I really like space opera stories, and Noumenon Ultra did not disappoint me.
If you are a fan of Marina J. Lostetter or their work, then I recommend the Noumenon series. A simple reconnaissance mission of a strange artifact in a faraway planet turns into an invitation for an adventure to understand the universe and its inhabitants that expand across the millennia.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
Noumenon Ultra
Noumenon, Book #3
By Marina J. Lostetter
ISBN # 9780062895721
Author’s Website: lostetter.net
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Summary
The mind-expanding journey that began with Noumenon and Noumenon Infinity continues in this wondrous mosaic tale of deep space exploration, adventure, and humanity that blends the awe, science, and speculative imagination of Arthur C. Clarke, Neal Stephenson, and Octavia Butler.
Deep in the heart of an alien mountain range, I.C.C. has lain dormant, its ships silent, for eons. Now, after one hundred thousand years, the AI is awakening. Someone is roaming the convoy’s halls–someone that isn’t human.
This planet, Noumenon–created by the megastructure known as the Web–is too young and brutal to have evolved intelligent life. Its surface is bombarded by unusual meteors. Crystal trees abruptly and violently arise from its bedrock. Its solar system is surrounded by a frightening space-time anomaly. So where did these visitors come from? What do they want? And do the people of Earth, whose ancestors launched Convoy Seven, know they are here?
I.C.C. reaches out to the descendants of its convoy crew to help decipher this primordial riddle. Noumenon was created and seeded by ancient aliens, and clearly their plans for it are unfinished. Together, the AI, the new lifeforms who have awakened it, and the humans will embark on an epic adventure of discovery billions of years in the making.
Review
The mission that started more than a hundred thousand years ago in the first installment of the Noumenon series, comes to an end with Noumenon Ultra. After the events in Noumenon Infinity that explained the forward time travel of the Convoy Twelve and meeting the new evolved humans, a small group of humans travel to the new planet Noumenon that was created by the first Megastructure completed. There in Noumenon are the remnants of the Noumenon Convoy that helped humans complete the megastructures many years ago, and now is the home of I.C.C. the A.I. that kept all the humans safe through their travels.
During the thousands of years that passed since the first megastructure was activated and I.C.C. was set to rest on the planet Noumenon, the new humans, homo-draconem and homo-kubernetes, have activated many more of them. But during some of that time, creatures started to populate Noumenon and awoken I.C.C. again. The small convoy with Dr. Vanhi Kapoor, the Tan family, and Jamal Kaeden the Progentor and some of his followers arrive at the planet at the same time as a new Megastructure is activated and everything stops working. The universe is broken.
Now a new story awaits everyone as they try to understand what is happening in the universe. Are the megastructures evil as some predicted? Why are some planets shielded away and unable to communicate with? And who are the mysterious creatures in Noumenon interaction with I.C.C.?
I love the Noumenon series, the story and the concept were a joy to read and I liked to continue the adventures of its characters across time.
Like the previous books, not all the characters make it to the end as time passes by very fast and normal human lives are short and bright. I did like the characters. We meet Vanhi, Jamal and Hope Tan again and new evolved humans with great names. I liked how the storylines move around these characters and tie the loose ends, yet it showed us that to be an immortal it is a gift and curse at the same time.
Iron Orchid A.K.A the scent of moth orchids followed by the sensation of lightly rusted iron under calloused fingertips.
Sunlight Hammer A.K.A. the warmth of Earth sunlight on a humid day in a heavy swamp accompanied by the percussion of a hammer hitting slate.
We finally understand the meaning of the Megastructures in space and who created them. The mystery of the universe and what may be the vast corners of it, most of all, I liked that this book shows that even greater intelligence can make mistakes, big mistakes.
If you are a new reader to this series, I recommend reading the previous installments, it would make it easier to understand why things are happening. For an outsider, the story might look long and difficult to follow, but if you give it a chance it becomes a great experience that touches on points of human society and emotions. If you like this genre, I recommend you stick with it until the end. It was great.
One of the main reasons that I liked this series was that it gave me the ability to experience this possible future. To read and imagine a possible future for us humans such as to travel across the stars, see how far we can evolve and fall, and make contact with other beings in the universe. Human life is short, it might look long to us, but compared to the progress and change on a planet, it’s a blink of an eye. But at least with this story, I can experience a possibility of the future in the lifetime that I have.
I really like space opera stories, and Noumenon Ultra did not disappoint me.
If you are a fan of Marina J. Lostetter or their work, then I recommend the Noumenon series. A simple reconnaissance mission of a strange artifact in a faraway planet turns into an invitation for an adventure to understand the universe and its inhabitants that expand across the millennia.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
August 18, 2020
Thanks to Harper Voyager and Edelweiss for the ARC.
I put this book down feeling quite moved, and certainly like it was a well-rounded, emotionally satisfying conclusion to the Noumenon trilogy. However, at times it was a bit of a struggle (on my part) to get there – this is a book which is very ambitious in scope, and really builds on all that has come before. In the case of the Noumenon series, of course, "all that has come before" covers hundreds of thousands of years. It takes until about a quarter of the way through before there’s any interaction between sentient beings – and perhaps in the current climate, that was harder to handle than usual. There's also a lot of exposition - the world building is so dense, and it's of such high quality, but I sometimes felt like I needed more of an emotional connection. That said, these issues are there for a reason – it’s because the reading process sometimes pushed me that I felt so gratified at the end. Certainly by the half-way point, I was awestruck by this book – I’m keen both to re-read the whole trilogy once I’m in a better headspace, and to see what Marina J. Lostetter creates next.
I put this book down feeling quite moved, and certainly like it was a well-rounded, emotionally satisfying conclusion to the Noumenon trilogy. However, at times it was a bit of a struggle (on my part) to get there – this is a book which is very ambitious in scope, and really builds on all that has come before. In the case of the Noumenon series, of course, "all that has come before" covers hundreds of thousands of years. It takes until about a quarter of the way through before there’s any interaction between sentient beings – and perhaps in the current climate, that was harder to handle than usual. There's also a lot of exposition - the world building is so dense, and it's of such high quality, but I sometimes felt like I needed more of an emotional connection. That said, these issues are there for a reason – it’s because the reading process sometimes pushed me that I felt so gratified at the end. Certainly by the half-way point, I was awestruck by this book – I’m keen both to re-read the whole trilogy once I’m in a better headspace, and to see what Marina J. Lostetter creates next.
October 8, 2020
Read this and other science fiction/fantasy reviews at The Quill To Live
And so here we are, at the end and the beginning of a journey started a few years ago with Noumenon. Now, I had reviewed a few books prior to reading that delightful novel, but Noumenon may have been the book that really sold me on continuing to read and review new books. It is a special book in my heart, and my affection for the series only grew with Noumenon Infinity. Marina J. Lostetter seemed to have a special touch for writing humanity into the big question of “why are we here?” While she never provides an answer, her ability to explore the question through vignettes over centuries and millennia is astounding. If you’re wondering, does the third book encapsulate the things I mentioned in my previous adulations of Lostetter’s work? Of course it does, and it does so much more, making me reflect on why they feel even more important in the world of today. Noumenon Ultra is a near perfect capstone to the trilogy, offering deeper and more personal ruminations on our place in the universe with the perfect blend of scientific anomalies and personal struggles with them.
Ultra starts where Infinity leaves off, which, as readers of the series know, means absolutely nothing. I don’t want to get into too much detail, as it would inevitably spoil the other books, but needless to say humanity in all its forms are spread across the stars in search of ancient super structures and unlocking their secrets. After the considered “success” of the original Noumenon mission, there are still questions about the nature of the machines that are being found, constructed and activated by human hands. Characters from previous novels make their return along with new ones, with ever more distinct lives and even more questions.
First off, I absolutely adored this book. Second, there is one thing readers might be turned off by, but if you’ve liked the books to this point, it will be a non-issue. This is a slow burn meditation on what it means to be sentient without purpose in the universe. Lostetter’s prose sometimes feels like it meanders, following the thought patterns of the character as they tell their story. It’s easy to get lost in, and it might be off putting to those who are looking for something a little more concise. But again, I think this is true of all her work and fits nicely with the themes she explores. It also never gets overly bogged down; the story is broken into nicely sized vignettes that can be read on their own or in succession. So now those are out of the way, I feel I can gush a little more.
One of the things I praised previously about Lostetter was her ability to write characters and imbue them with significance even though they usually only exist for a chapter. I feel she has only gotten better at this, as each character still feels distinct, with their own issues, but they all feel even more tied together. There is a prevailing sense of loneliness in each character that once you see it, it’s impossible not to notice. Every one of them has their unique problem from the child who physically ages exponentially slower than they do mentally, to the clone of a long dead man who lives life back and forth over and over again never dying, while losing his memories of previous lives. This loneliness, while all-encompassing, never felt insurmountable. This is where Lostetter succeeds in her storytelling. While the big things in the background are shifting into place, these unknown scientific marvels being pieced back together for unknown purposes, these people are living their absurd lives, finding out who they are, and coping together.
What continues to perplex me about Lostetter is while she can do the smaller stories, she is also a master of mind bending scale. The size and scope of the artifacts she writes about is nearly unfathomable. The effort that the characters put into understanding and reconstructing these ancient behemoths is ludicrous. Smartly, she doesn’t spend too much time on the details of the construction process, instead focusing on their import to the character’s lives. Lostetter also takes the chance to explore design philosophy and scientific concepts with these artifact sections, providing insights to our world while presenting problems to her characters. There might be some dissonance with some of the examples, however, as they seem a little too on the nose, but it didn’t bother me too much. There is a reasonable in-universe explanation for the seemingly anachronistic analogies. Either way, Lostetter made me think about these concepts in new ways in and outside the book.
On its own, Noumenon Ultra stands tall, but it does require the shoulders of its predecessors. If you haven’t picked up Noumenon and you’re looking for a fresh and exciting dive into time- and universe-spanning science fiction, I highly recommend this series. Noumenon Ultra serves as a fantastic finish, pushing the boundaries of the previous novels, while adding new insight without overshadowing them. Lostetter shows a lot of growth book to book, digging deeper and finding more empathetic and meaningful ways to engage with science than previously explored. Lostetter feels more determined than ever to explore the connections between humanity and science, exploring the benefits as well as the consequences. There is so much more I could say about this series, especially Ultra. However, if there is one word that sums up this series, it’s human. Lostetter wonderfully captures the human experience in all its absurdities, trivialities, and grandiosity, never forgetting the importance of an individual’s ability to affect the universe at large.
Rating: Noumenon Ultra – 9.0/10
-Alex
And so here we are, at the end and the beginning of a journey started a few years ago with Noumenon. Now, I had reviewed a few books prior to reading that delightful novel, but Noumenon may have been the book that really sold me on continuing to read and review new books. It is a special book in my heart, and my affection for the series only grew with Noumenon Infinity. Marina J. Lostetter seemed to have a special touch for writing humanity into the big question of “why are we here?” While she never provides an answer, her ability to explore the question through vignettes over centuries and millennia is astounding. If you’re wondering, does the third book encapsulate the things I mentioned in my previous adulations of Lostetter’s work? Of course it does, and it does so much more, making me reflect on why they feel even more important in the world of today. Noumenon Ultra is a near perfect capstone to the trilogy, offering deeper and more personal ruminations on our place in the universe with the perfect blend of scientific anomalies and personal struggles with them.
Ultra starts where Infinity leaves off, which, as readers of the series know, means absolutely nothing. I don’t want to get into too much detail, as it would inevitably spoil the other books, but needless to say humanity in all its forms are spread across the stars in search of ancient super structures and unlocking their secrets. After the considered “success” of the original Noumenon mission, there are still questions about the nature of the machines that are being found, constructed and activated by human hands. Characters from previous novels make their return along with new ones, with ever more distinct lives and even more questions.
First off, I absolutely adored this book. Second, there is one thing readers might be turned off by, but if you’ve liked the books to this point, it will be a non-issue. This is a slow burn meditation on what it means to be sentient without purpose in the universe. Lostetter’s prose sometimes feels like it meanders, following the thought patterns of the character as they tell their story. It’s easy to get lost in, and it might be off putting to those who are looking for something a little more concise. But again, I think this is true of all her work and fits nicely with the themes she explores. It also never gets overly bogged down; the story is broken into nicely sized vignettes that can be read on their own or in succession. So now those are out of the way, I feel I can gush a little more.
One of the things I praised previously about Lostetter was her ability to write characters and imbue them with significance even though they usually only exist for a chapter. I feel she has only gotten better at this, as each character still feels distinct, with their own issues, but they all feel even more tied together. There is a prevailing sense of loneliness in each character that once you see it, it’s impossible not to notice. Every one of them has their unique problem from the child who physically ages exponentially slower than they do mentally, to the clone of a long dead man who lives life back and forth over and over again never dying, while losing his memories of previous lives. This loneliness, while all-encompassing, never felt insurmountable. This is where Lostetter succeeds in her storytelling. While the big things in the background are shifting into place, these unknown scientific marvels being pieced back together for unknown purposes, these people are living their absurd lives, finding out who they are, and coping together.
What continues to perplex me about Lostetter is while she can do the smaller stories, she is also a master of mind bending scale. The size and scope of the artifacts she writes about is nearly unfathomable. The effort that the characters put into understanding and reconstructing these ancient behemoths is ludicrous. Smartly, she doesn’t spend too much time on the details of the construction process, instead focusing on their import to the character’s lives. Lostetter also takes the chance to explore design philosophy and scientific concepts with these artifact sections, providing insights to our world while presenting problems to her characters. There might be some dissonance with some of the examples, however, as they seem a little too on the nose, but it didn’t bother me too much. There is a reasonable in-universe explanation for the seemingly anachronistic analogies. Either way, Lostetter made me think about these concepts in new ways in and outside the book.
On its own, Noumenon Ultra stands tall, but it does require the shoulders of its predecessors. If you haven’t picked up Noumenon and you’re looking for a fresh and exciting dive into time- and universe-spanning science fiction, I highly recommend this series. Noumenon Ultra serves as a fantastic finish, pushing the boundaries of the previous novels, while adding new insight without overshadowing them. Lostetter shows a lot of growth book to book, digging deeper and finding more empathetic and meaningful ways to engage with science than previously explored. Lostetter feels more determined than ever to explore the connections between humanity and science, exploring the benefits as well as the consequences. There is so much more I could say about this series, especially Ultra. However, if there is one word that sums up this series, it’s human. Lostetter wonderfully captures the human experience in all its absurdities, trivialities, and grandiosity, never forgetting the importance of an individual’s ability to affect the universe at large.
Rating: Noumenon Ultra – 9.0/10
-Alex
October 27, 2022
I really enjoyed the first and the second one in the trilogy, so I am a little disappointed in this one. Though the ending itself is quite spectacular, the rest of the book which leads up to it feels so long, dragged-out, and uninspiring. You don’t really care about what happens to all the new characters, and some of their love quarrel subplots disappear behind the scope of a trilogy literally spanning both millennia and at least three different iteration of post-humans. I kinda wish it would have just been a short story epilogue.
December 19, 2021
Slightly slower paced than the previous two entries, Ultra is more about the connections the characters have, and what it means to them and the story.
Although this wasn’t the best in the series I still give it 5 stars this trilogy is an absolute home run.
Although this wasn’t the best in the series I still give it 5 stars this trilogy is an absolute home run.
December 3, 2022
After 1,000 pages for the first 2 books in this trilogy, I guess my interest and enthusiasm had waned, which is why I don't usually commit to long series, especially in sci fi. Tbh I skimmed some passages in Ultra to try to get through this book a bit faster and because it was much more philosophical and poetical than the first two books: my old brain needs action. My overall impression of this third book was it contained too much sentimentalism for my taste. My interest in and enthusiasm for the main AI character never waned, so there was that to keep me going until the end.
March 11, 2022
If you haven't read books one and two I strongly advise you to ignore this review. You have been warned. At this point in the story I was hoping that we wouldn't get a new thread with another of the original convoys. It's not that there aren't many more wonderful possibilities to explore but by now the relationship between Earth, Convoy Seven (C7) and Convoy Twelve (C12) is complex enough that I sincerely needed to focus on those details in isolation. I'm grateful that is exactly what this story did.
And to sweeten the deal, the story spends a lot more time with I.C.C., Book two finished with I.C.C. waking up after a long slumber and that's where we pick up the story in book three.
The book starts with a recap of events, here's my version:
- C12 had an SD drive failure which tossed them 100,000 years into the future. At this location they meet the Lùhng who it turns out are actually a later evolution of humans, (which for some impolite reason we have dubbed Homo draconis).
- The Lùhng are descendants of C7.
- SD drive failure has caused two or three side effects to the C12 crew members. A large portion of the crew are now infertile and a baby was born in a strange suspended state of development which may also be linked (but may be not) to a vanishing act that happens whenever Vanhi experiences more than a threshold of anticipation.
- The Lùhng call in their big guns, a Progentor and his disciples, (the Revealers). This Progentor is actually a semi-eternal iteration of Jamal (yup, the whiney kid from book one) and he thinks he might be able to help by taking C12 to the enshrined remains of C7
- C12 and the Lùhng were split into two groups. One group was set to return to Earth, to see what they might see. The other group were off to the C7 shrine to see if they can cure the SD drive maladies.
- Wayyy before they catch up to C12, as the post-humans they become, the regularly human crew of C7 clones ended their mad dash to stop the Star-Killer when they suddenly realised they had mistaken its purpose. The Web structure once powered up (from eating enough stars) was actually a God device, designed to seed a brand new system with all of the ingredients for life to form.
- There were many other Web structures plotted on a map which are presumably similar God devices but they were in need of completion in order to function.
- Did I miss anything? Any questions?
As it turns out humans, or rather post-humans will always seem to return to a misguided sense of self importance. There's a bit of future religion and more first contacts and there's a study of gender identity and of individuality vs community. There's questioning sentience and exploring the limits of consciousness, there's discussion on the affects of aging. I think a lot more of the topics in this book are personal than the topics in previous books were, but it's still a good mix and there are still many social aspects of the story.
Annnnnd that's absolutely everything that I want to say about this book. There's loads to explore and if that onslaught of threads left over from book two isn't enough to whet your appetite then there's not much more that I could say, (Which is really just my way of saying that a lot of crazy shit happened in this story and I didn't grasp any of it well enough to summarise it for you).
There's absolutely no need to drop your magic mushies today 'cause this trip is automatically induced. Happy Reading Folks.
And to sweeten the deal, the story spends a lot more time with I.C.C., Book two finished with I.C.C. waking up after a long slumber and that's where we pick up the story in book three.
The book starts with a recap of events, here's my version:
- C12 had an SD drive failure which tossed them 100,000 years into the future. At this location they meet the Lùhng who it turns out are actually a later evolution of humans, (which for some impolite reason we have dubbed Homo draconis).
- The Lùhng are descendants of C7.
- SD drive failure has caused two or three side effects to the C12 crew members. A large portion of the crew are now infertile and a baby was born in a strange suspended state of development which may also be linked (but may be not) to a vanishing act that happens whenever Vanhi experiences more than a threshold of anticipation.
- The Lùhng call in their big guns, a Progentor and his disciples, (the Revealers). This Progentor is actually a semi-eternal iteration of Jamal (yup, the whiney kid from book one) and he thinks he might be able to help by taking C12 to the enshrined remains of C7
- C12 and the Lùhng were split into two groups. One group was set to return to Earth, to see what they might see. The other group were off to the C7 shrine to see if they can cure the SD drive maladies.
- Wayyy before they catch up to C12, as the post-humans they become, the regularly human crew of C7 clones ended their mad dash to stop the Star-Killer when they suddenly realised they had mistaken its purpose. The Web structure once powered up (from eating enough stars) was actually a God device, designed to seed a brand new system with all of the ingredients for life to form.
- There were many other Web structures plotted on a map which are presumably similar God devices but they were in need of completion in order to function.
- Did I miss anything? Any questions?
As it turns out humans, or rather post-humans will always seem to return to a misguided sense of self importance. There's a bit of future religion and more first contacts and there's a study of gender identity and of individuality vs community. There's questioning sentience and exploring the limits of consciousness, there's discussion on the affects of aging. I think a lot more of the topics in this book are personal than the topics in previous books were, but it's still a good mix and there are still many social aspects of the story.
Annnnnd that's absolutely everything that I want to say about this book. There's loads to explore and if that onslaught of threads left over from book two isn't enough to whet your appetite then there's not much more that I could say, (Which is really just my way of saying that a lot of crazy shit happened in this story and I didn't grasp any of it well enough to summarise it for you).
There's absolutely no need to drop your magic mushies today 'cause this trip is automatically induced. Happy Reading Folks.
December 11, 2022
After thousands of years resting on an artificial planet, the ICC, an artificial intelligence that used to run a human exploration colony, wakes up when unusual alien beings start to explore its structures. As it attempts to learn about them, elsewhere in the galaxy those who evolved from humanity are still trying to complete the alien megastructures, some of which might have unexpected consequences, and the immortal leader of their primary religious movements seeks an escape.
I have to admit, I was a little on the edge of not continuing to this third book at all. Not that I disliked the second, as a whole (although there were certainly elements of it I wasn't as into), but I was comfortable leaving it there. I think I may have already purchased the third by the time I finished the second, so that obviously tipped the scales, but also I really liked the base concept I read about the AI waking among aliens it doesn't understand.
Unfortunately, although that element is there, it's only a relatively small part of the story and the aliens, though interesting enough in design, had too much lore behind them connected to the epic grander scale story that it was harder to hold onto the threads of interest I was otherwise starting to develop... there was a sense of 'oh it's all connected to this stuff again.' On it's own, that wouldn't have been a huge problem, but the main part of the book dredges back other plotlines and characters from the previous book. Two groups of them... one of them I was okay revisiting another dredged along the whole 'future religion' plotline that I just did not connect with at all. And again, here it took up too much of the book for my tastes and I found myself mostly just drifting towards the end, bored. It gets a bit more interesting towards the end, but I feel like the ambition to tell a story with an epic scale that dwarfed most other science fiction tales fell a little short of its goal (or rather, the goal of doing that and also making me feel interested and satisfied).
This sounds relatively harsh for a review, so to be clear, I don't dislike this book either. It just... wasn't what I was hoping for and didn't reach the highs of the other two, although a few of the threads I enjoyed almost as much, my attitude on the whole was 'that was okay I guess.' While there theoretically COULD be another sequel, pulling the scale out even more, I've already decided that I'm more than comfortable stopping here. But I'm interested enough to check out what SF the author writes in the future.
I have to admit, I was a little on the edge of not continuing to this third book at all. Not that I disliked the second, as a whole (although there were certainly elements of it I wasn't as into), but I was comfortable leaving it there. I think I may have already purchased the third by the time I finished the second, so that obviously tipped the scales, but also I really liked the base concept I read about the AI waking among aliens it doesn't understand.
Unfortunately, although that element is there, it's only a relatively small part of the story and the aliens, though interesting enough in design, had too much lore behind them connected to the epic grander scale story that it was harder to hold onto the threads of interest I was otherwise starting to develop... there was a sense of 'oh it's all connected to this stuff again.' On it's own, that wouldn't have been a huge problem, but the main part of the book dredges back other plotlines and characters from the previous book. Two groups of them... one of them I was okay revisiting another dredged along the whole 'future religion' plotline that I just did not connect with at all. And again, here it took up too much of the book for my tastes and I found myself mostly just drifting towards the end, bored. It gets a bit more interesting towards the end, but I feel like the ambition to tell a story with an epic scale that dwarfed most other science fiction tales fell a little short of its goal (or rather, the goal of doing that and also making me feel interested and satisfied).
This sounds relatively harsh for a review, so to be clear, I don't dislike this book either. It just... wasn't what I was hoping for and didn't reach the highs of the other two, although a few of the threads I enjoyed almost as much, my attitude on the whole was 'that was okay I guess.' While there theoretically COULD be another sequel, pulling the scale out even more, I've already decided that I'm more than comfortable stopping here. But I'm interested enough to check out what SF the author writes in the future.
July 3, 2025
I was disappointed in this, the final book in the Noumenon trilogy. Science Fiction is always imaginative; however, I thought the author tried to cram too much into the story, to the point it became confusing. There were several variations of humans, several variations of aliens (some from the beginning of the universe). New religions were formed around a clone descendant of a character from the original book who aged and then reverted to a younger state. A baby that hardly aged physically had to wear a mech suit to interact with her peers. A scientist who, through an accident covered in the second book, would disappear for ever-increasing periods into a subdimension was considered an immortal, along with the two mentioned above. Trying to keep straight who was who due to the sheer number of characters was a daunting task, and using pronouns like he/them, she/they (because of gender diversity), I always find very annoying. The timeline of the story takes place over millennia, dipping in and then jumping ahead hundreds or thousands of years to pick up the story thread, hence why there was always a new crop of characters. I find it impossible to give a synopsis of this over-the-top tale, so I'll just say a lot of extraneous material could have been left out, and it probably would have been a more satisfying read.
March 17, 2021
My experience reading this was two stars, even though the book has it's positive points too.
This is effectively a codex. The lore of space faring humanity. Nearly six hundred pages of world building with little to no plot. It is great world building, so I recommend this to anyone who's into that. However, if you're like me and require at least a rudimentary plot to truly enjoy a book, then maybe leave the series alone after book two.
(I don't think I've been this disappointed since Only Human ruined my experience of The Themis Files trilogy.)
This is effectively a codex. The lore of space faring humanity. Nearly six hundred pages of world building with little to no plot. It is great world building, so I recommend this to anyone who's into that. However, if you're like me and require at least a rudimentary plot to truly enjoy a book, then maybe leave the series alone after book two.
(I don't think I've been this disappointed since Only Human ruined my experience of The Themis Files trilogy.)
March 16, 2021
The third and last (I presume) book in Lostetter’s Noumenon series, Noumenon Ultra takes place mostly on the planet Noumenon, created by the megastructure whose construction was blindly completed in the previous volume. Life has evolved on the planet and the dormant ICC, abandoned along with the ships of the Noumenon fleet, is waking up from a very long sleep. And we finally get to meet the original builders of the megastructures.
Noumenon Ultra provides a generally satisfying conclusion to this series and, as it is the last book, I will be mostly addressing the whole trilogy rather than just this one volume. Noumenon is a remarkably ambitious debut series which, for the most part, is successful in those ambitions. The story covers time periods on a cosmic scale; its genesis began long before the emergence of Humanity on Earth and ends in the far future after humanity has become increasingly unrecognisable. Each volume typically encompasses many generations of characters which, for some, presents what is possibly the trilogy’s biggest flaw with insufficient time for the books to develop much depth to many of the characters. If the reader’s preference is for character driven stories this is probably not going to be totally satisfying. There some exceptions including ICC, the Inter Convoy Computer who is the only ‘character’ to span all three books; rather dry and sterile at first but, by the last book, it has acquired its own individuality and emotions. But the reader is probably best not getting too invested in individual characters as they are unlikely, with the exception of one thread in the second book, to be around for very long!
Looking at the big picture (and it is big) of the whole series this is very solid story and an exceptional debut. The science is largely plausible, in as much as any science covering such a large timespan can be so, and the concepts are both interesting and thought provoking. Looked at a little more closely, focusing on the detail, it does get a little more flaky and I felt that Lostetter sometimes committed to flights of fancy that might have been better set aside. I will just look at few, non-spoiler, examples. I struggle to believe that any human society would accept Logan’s Run style obligatory euthanasia on achieving a predetermined age. I see the logic of having such a system on a generation ship but I just can’t see human nature accepting it. In the second book one of the communities adopts sign rather than spoken language as the preferred method of communication. Whilst such inclusiveness is all very laudable it strikes me as too inefficient to be chosen in preference to spoken within an environment where people spend much time engaged in work that requires the use of hands and in space where much communication is done by radio. Again, within the context in which Lostetter first introduces it, I can see some logic, but it still felt too unlikely to me to be plausible. Lastly, in this third book, where we finally get to meet true aliens, I struggle to accept the idea of advanced intelligent life whose biology must be powered by wind or water spinning a wheel on their backs. I’m sorry but… just no! There were a good number of other details that I struggled with and, for the most part, they were not particularly important to the overall story.
So, there were many ideas where I felt Lostetter had let her enthusiasm for the ‘different’ get a little carried away and, by the very nature of the story, it has almost inevitably ended up being science and plot driven rather than character driven. This last was not a particular problem for me as I enjoy both styles and, overall, whilst the trilogy’s failings pulled it back top end four stars, it was still worthy of better than three. It’s a good solid debut and shows great promise for future offerings.
Noumenon Ultra provides a generally satisfying conclusion to this series and, as it is the last book, I will be mostly addressing the whole trilogy rather than just this one volume. Noumenon is a remarkably ambitious debut series which, for the most part, is successful in those ambitions. The story covers time periods on a cosmic scale; its genesis began long before the emergence of Humanity on Earth and ends in the far future after humanity has become increasingly unrecognisable. Each volume typically encompasses many generations of characters which, for some, presents what is possibly the trilogy’s biggest flaw with insufficient time for the books to develop much depth to many of the characters. If the reader’s preference is for character driven stories this is probably not going to be totally satisfying. There some exceptions including ICC, the Inter Convoy Computer who is the only ‘character’ to span all three books; rather dry and sterile at first but, by the last book, it has acquired its own individuality and emotions. But the reader is probably best not getting too invested in individual characters as they are unlikely, with the exception of one thread in the second book, to be around for very long!
Looking at the big picture (and it is big) of the whole series this is very solid story and an exceptional debut. The science is largely plausible, in as much as any science covering such a large timespan can be so, and the concepts are both interesting and thought provoking. Looked at a little more closely, focusing on the detail, it does get a little more flaky and I felt that Lostetter sometimes committed to flights of fancy that might have been better set aside. I will just look at few, non-spoiler, examples. I struggle to believe that any human society would accept Logan’s Run style obligatory euthanasia on achieving a predetermined age. I see the logic of having such a system on a generation ship but I just can’t see human nature accepting it. In the second book one of the communities adopts sign rather than spoken language as the preferred method of communication. Whilst such inclusiveness is all very laudable it strikes me as too inefficient to be chosen in preference to spoken within an environment where people spend much time engaged in work that requires the use of hands and in space where much communication is done by radio. Again, within the context in which Lostetter first introduces it, I can see some logic, but it still felt too unlikely to me to be plausible. Lastly, in this third book, where we finally get to meet true aliens, I struggle to accept the idea of advanced intelligent life whose biology must be powered by wind or water spinning a wheel on their backs. I’m sorry but… just no! There were a good number of other details that I struggled with and, for the most part, they were not particularly important to the overall story.
So, there were many ideas where I felt Lostetter had let her enthusiasm for the ‘different’ get a little carried away and, by the very nature of the story, it has almost inevitably ended up being science and plot driven rather than character driven. This last was not a particular problem for me as I enjoy both styles and, overall, whilst the trilogy’s failings pulled it back top end four stars, it was still worthy of better than three. It’s a good solid debut and shows great promise for future offerings.
February 17, 2021
In my review of the second book in this trilogy Noumenon Infinity I referenced a blog I wrote for the Barnes &Noble SFF Blog. about how authors might deal with character over the long time spans of some space operas. (Excuse the shameless self promotion while I add the link again. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s..., The B&N SFF blog is beyond promotion, having been killed by corporate maneuvers.) In this third book Lostetter threw in addition ways to maintain some character continuity of long time/space spans. The clones and AI are still going strong. But she now has five different ways to give characters long lives. She refers to five different "immortals" with five different ways to get there. (spoilers alert). 1) The AI, ICC, had shut down for extended period but woke up when some aliens showed up on the planet Noumenon. 2) another character has a normal life span but her time in the story is extended because she keeps jumping out of the normal space/time flow for extended periods. 3) another human character has a very slow physical maturation; her mental development, initially non existent, eventually leaves her an adult in a toddler's body. 4) one human clone has added genes from jelly fish that is able to live forever by regressing to earlier development stage then maturing to adulthood; so he swings between old age and youth over thousand of years, 5) native life form on the planet Noumenon are able to periodically go into a cocoon like state and emerged transformed. And at some point in the story, the consciousness of a billion year old race, sent forward in time is merged with some of the Noumenonian when they go through that transformation.
If the above description of the immortal is hard to follow, that's the problem with this book. If this had been a stand along book I would have quit about a third through. I stuck it out because I like the other two books and wanted to see how the author wrapped up the story. But the end was not that satisfying. And the using multiple POV characters and jumping back and forth in time... I understand what the author was trying to do. But it didn't quite work, at least for me.
If the above description of the immortal is hard to follow, that's the problem with this book. If this had been a stand along book I would have quit about a third through. I stuck it out because I like the other two books and wanted to see how the author wrapped up the story. But the end was not that satisfying. And the using multiple POV characters and jumping back and forth in time... I understand what the author was trying to do. But it didn't quite work, at least for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2021
This was a really good book, though I feel like it dragged at times. It really hit on a lot of interesting topics surrounding interactions between species/intelligences. Through all three of the books in this trilogy, I have loved how she talks for ICC. It is super interesting the way a being that has seen so many lives and so much time looks at the world around them and perceives time. I love the way that ICC thinks and perceives while first meeting the Neumenonians.
Speaking of the Neumenonians, their method of evolution and just lives in general are so fascinating to me. It feels very genuine and real at times. Like I could see how a race that forms super early in the universe but is super social could see the best solution to be to create a megastructure that creates a perfect system for them to evolve on. The coming of the Sora Gohan is also a really cool idea to me. I think the way they get dissolved down is the way the sora Gohan harvests all of the minerals the Neumenonians eat from the cliffs. These minerals are then used to create the stellar engine.
Now while I love the concept of a planet being a spaceship and traveling outside of our universe, it does kind of feel like an easy out. But that being said, this series thrives on crazy ideas and making them work so I will let this one slide. For all we know, all the science in this book could be perfectly correct.
Moving on from the Neumenonians, I absolutely love the way this book approaches immortality. My favorite one though, is The Progentor. His life cycle is such a new look at immortality that I have never before thought of. All the thoughts of "this time I'll do better" etc are crazy. Every 70-80 years having your memory almost completely wiped is so interesting and horrifying all at the same time. This immortality feels like such a horrible curse. That being said the revealers in general are a wonderful religion I think. Based on art and science and discovery, it is really interesting to think about. But how quickly it can splinter with the progenitor gone is also crazy. All the scenes in the splintered group near the anomaly are wild. The people meditating in statues of previous revealers for inspiration for decades is just amazing. Lots of parallels to draw with the absolution gap in their devotion.
Review: 4.1
Speaking of the Neumenonians, their method of evolution and just lives in general are so fascinating to me. It feels very genuine and real at times. Like I could see how a race that forms super early in the universe but is super social could see the best solution to be to create a megastructure that creates a perfect system for them to evolve on. The coming of the Sora Gohan is also a really cool idea to me. I think the way they get dissolved down is the way the sora Gohan harvests all of the minerals the Neumenonians eat from the cliffs. These minerals are then used to create the stellar engine.
Now while I love the concept of a planet being a spaceship and traveling outside of our universe, it does kind of feel like an easy out. But that being said, this series thrives on crazy ideas and making them work so I will let this one slide. For all we know, all the science in this book could be perfectly correct.
Moving on from the Neumenonians, I absolutely love the way this book approaches immortality. My favorite one though, is The Progentor. His life cycle is such a new look at immortality that I have never before thought of. All the thoughts of "this time I'll do better" etc are crazy. Every 70-80 years having your memory almost completely wiped is so interesting and horrifying all at the same time. This immortality feels like such a horrible curse. That being said the revealers in general are a wonderful religion I think. Based on art and science and discovery, it is really interesting to think about. But how quickly it can splinter with the progenitor gone is also crazy. All the scenes in the splintered group near the anomaly are wild. The people meditating in statues of previous revealers for inspiration for decades is just amazing. Lots of parallels to draw with the absolution gap in their devotion.
Review: 4.1
September 12, 2024
[Note: minor what some people might consider spoilers but I do not believe they truly are.] Noumenon was a fascinating and fabuluus read. Noumenon Infinity was equally fascinating and fabulous. Noumenon Ultra was, ultimately, also fascinating and a great read, but not quite so fabulous and easy a read. It bogged down at numerous points, though ultimately each time it redemed itself with new vigor. That being said, Lostetter has done an amazing job of, well, you can't say "world-building" or even, at this point, "universe-building," because she ultimately takes the reader beyond even that. Though Lostetter strives to write prose that hies well to known and postulated science, she's gone out on quite a limb here and at times that just didn't work that well for me. Nevertheless I give Lostetter full credit for the effort, and for attempting a reasonably plausible (and if not plausible, at least intriguing) explication of how this universe (and beyond/outside of it) might work. The characters in this trilogy struggle with the very same things the reader is made to struggle with, and the result is some of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking prose I've read of late. Did a lot of highlighting, which is not something I often do, as it's rare I come across things so profound or intriguing I feel the need to highlight them so I won't forget them. All three books touch on scinece, ehtics, morality, behavior, philosophy, and so much more in ways that can only serve to expand and challenge the reader's mind. Lostetter has peened some very true-to-life humans, and some very believable post human and alien characters. Lostetter is still human-centric enough that in the end humans (well, a human) are/is able to figure out what aliens have been withholding and why, and on to a brave, bold, and unknown future we go. I first thought the novel went beyond a logical ending point more than once, but eventually, when I got to the final end, I was pleased with iwhat she had written and with how the trilogy ends. For once, it's nice to be (almost 100%) certain that this trilogy will never be extended, simply because without becoming the characters in the novel ourselves, we will never be able to comprehend what could possibly come next. Hats off to Lostetter for a truly engaging ride.
October 20, 2021
After expanding the scope in book 2 of this series, Lostetter switches gears and narrows focus down to mostly one planet, though there are some narrative side trips out to the wider universe (often to fill in backstory for one character or another who has arrived or will arrive on said planet). Lostetter switches gears in other ways, too -- gone, for the most part, are the plot threads about interstellar convoys and alien megastructures, replaced with renewed focus on extraterrestrial evolution, first contact, and the metaphysics of subdimensions and the universe as a whole.
To some extent, it suffers from the same problems that hit a series like Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past -- the ambitions are so vast, and the setting grows so far afield (in both time and space) that one starts to lose the plot a little bit. But Lostetter handles it pretty well. In particular I must yet again praise her innovative ways of handling narration over such huge timeframes; among the points of view in this book are 1) an immortal-ish AI; 2) a character who inadvertently vanishes into a subdimension and reappears after ever-increasing intervals (a conceit introduced in Noumenon Infinity); 3) another character who, due to the accident in subdimensional travel that caused Character 2 to pop in and out of reality, physically ages unbelievably slowly and is now physically still a baby but mentally an adult, piloting a tailor-made mechsuit; and 4) a character who has been genetically modified so that at the end of his life his body switches around and ages backward until he is a child, then switches back and ages forward again, indefinitely, losing some-but-not-all of his memory of the liminal age periods (and whose struggles with the disorientation of these switchovers is a fascinating subplot of some chapters). Really innovative stuff, even if you kind of have to wave your hands and go "yeah sure, why not" about the explanations for some of them.
To some extent, it suffers from the same problems that hit a series like Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past -- the ambitions are so vast, and the setting grows so far afield (in both time and space) that one starts to lose the plot a little bit. But Lostetter handles it pretty well. In particular I must yet again praise her innovative ways of handling narration over such huge timeframes; among the points of view in this book are 1) an immortal-ish AI; 2) a character who inadvertently vanishes into a subdimension and reappears after ever-increasing intervals (a conceit introduced in Noumenon Infinity); 3) another character who, due to the accident in subdimensional travel that caused Character 2 to pop in and out of reality, physically ages unbelievably slowly and is now physically still a baby but mentally an adult, piloting a tailor-made mechsuit; and 4) a character who has been genetically modified so that at the end of his life his body switches around and ages backward until he is a child, then switches back and ages forward again, indefinitely, losing some-but-not-all of his memory of the liminal age periods (and whose struggles with the disorientation of these switchovers is a fascinating subplot of some chapters). Really innovative stuff, even if you kind of have to wave your hands and go "yeah sure, why not" about the explanations for some of them.
August 31, 2020
Tremendous. Every time Lostetter has put out a Noumenon sequel, I wonder how she can follow the last. Somehow, the last in the trilogy is as mind-warping as the first two books (if not more so), and keeps the deep-time storytelling going without feeling like a repeat.
I admire Lostetter’s craft so much. She juggles a huge cast, over a vast period of time, with many scientific concepts and story details all entangled. Her judgment about what to include and what to omit and leave to the imagination, and how to step from one chapter to the next, is extraordinary. I never felt lost. When scientific terms went over my head, the intent and implications were always clear. It’s so good.
With the first book, I was skeptical about moving to a new point of view with each chapter. This time I trusted Lostetter to do her thing. Introducing a character, giving them a compelling story, and providing some sort of resolution within one chapter probably shouldn’t work, but it does in this series. Each chapter has heart, shrewd insight into human nature, and at least one bananas idea that both surprises and makes you eager for what’s coming next. And it all fits together into a whole.
In the hands of a less capable writer, Ultra’s story could have easily been a 1,500-page brick. Instead it feels huge in scope, but also tight and controlled. It’s full of small, intimate, human moments while the overall plot races forward. And it always feels like the focus is exactly where it needs to be, moment to moment.
Sometimes a series loses its footing and I quit before the end. I think anyone who came back for Infinity and had a good time will find this conclusion rewarding.
I admire Lostetter’s craft so much. She juggles a huge cast, over a vast period of time, with many scientific concepts and story details all entangled. Her judgment about what to include and what to omit and leave to the imagination, and how to step from one chapter to the next, is extraordinary. I never felt lost. When scientific terms went over my head, the intent and implications were always clear. It’s so good.
With the first book, I was skeptical about moving to a new point of view with each chapter. This time I trusted Lostetter to do her thing. Introducing a character, giving them a compelling story, and providing some sort of resolution within one chapter probably shouldn’t work, but it does in this series. Each chapter has heart, shrewd insight into human nature, and at least one bananas idea that both surprises and makes you eager for what’s coming next. And it all fits together into a whole.
In the hands of a less capable writer, Ultra’s story could have easily been a 1,500-page brick. Instead it feels huge in scope, but also tight and controlled. It’s full of small, intimate, human moments while the overall plot races forward. And it always feels like the focus is exactly where it needs to be, moment to moment.
Sometimes a series loses its footing and I quit before the end. I think anyone who came back for Infinity and had a good time will find this conclusion rewarding.
August 31, 2020
I have been there since day one when the first Noumenon book was announced on Goodreads. I remember reading the summary and seeing reviews linking it to Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and I was immediately sold. Noumenon sucked me into an exciting adventure and I found myself treasuring it and shoving it into everyone’s face and screaming “READ THIS NOW”.
Looking back, I cant believe all the events that have unfolded since the infamous “big dumb object” was first discussed and the life changing mission planned. When I.C.C was first put into the ship system. When the first “original” batch of clones boarded and started the journey. All the modifications and lives gone by in just one trilogy. All the different species and friendships. A wacky space religion. New discoveries and all the feels. So so many feels.
Its really hard to come to terms with Ultra being the last in this AMAZING series and I am kind of depressed but at the same time, also appreciative that I got to enjoy such amazing writing. Marina Lostetter is an author that I will now anticipate new works from and immediately read no matter what the subject is. *hopefully space sharks or ocean vampires*. No, wait…..Anne Rice tackled ocean vampires. LOL
Read this series immediately if you haven’t already. Generational space ships manned by clones and artificial intelligence. How humans make themselves into jelly monsters to better live in space. What it’s like to live as an original human among all the modified humans with cool abilities. Immortals with existence issues. I could go on but long reviews are boring and rarely read.
Thank you Edelweiss for the early review copy.
Looking back, I cant believe all the events that have unfolded since the infamous “big dumb object” was first discussed and the life changing mission planned. When I.C.C was first put into the ship system. When the first “original” batch of clones boarded and started the journey. All the modifications and lives gone by in just one trilogy. All the different species and friendships. A wacky space religion. New discoveries and all the feels. So so many feels.
Its really hard to come to terms with Ultra being the last in this AMAZING series and I am kind of depressed but at the same time, also appreciative that I got to enjoy such amazing writing. Marina Lostetter is an author that I will now anticipate new works from and immediately read no matter what the subject is. *hopefully space sharks or ocean vampires*. No, wait…..Anne Rice tackled ocean vampires. LOL
Read this series immediately if you haven’t already. Generational space ships manned by clones and artificial intelligence. How humans make themselves into jelly monsters to better live in space. What it’s like to live as an original human among all the modified humans with cool abilities. Immortals with existence issues. I could go on but long reviews are boring and rarely read.
Thank you Edelweiss for the early review copy.
August 28, 2021
I'm currently finishing the 3rd volume of this trilogy. The whole idea is great! But the development of the story has some serious drawbacks. The characters are really hazy from millennium to millennium due to continual cloning, so much so that in the end you don't know if you are dealing with the same character or not. The trilogy has had various ups and down. However, I have trudged through it just to find out what the writing is driving at. As of the middle of the 3rd volume the story has turned really really incomprehensible! As with the past volumes the reader does not have a clear idea of what the post humans, and their evolutions look like. Another thing is that the writer imagines that the reader is able to retain minutest details from the previous reading or the previous volumes. Some developments, like the appearance of the "Revealers", are not clear how they have come about. All in all, I have really ploughed along determined to get to the end, otherwise the previous reading would go to waste, if I don't finally know what the culmination of the trilogy will be like. I hope there will be some final reward for such exhausting reading efforts.
August 1, 2020
ICC, a lone AI originally constructed by Earth humans, awakens after eons to find beings wandering its halls. As ICC slowly comes back to full power it tries to figure out where the beings came from. The world it sits on is still too young to have intelligent life of it's own. Which leaves the questions of who these creatures are and how did they get there. And do the humans know they are there?
While this is the third book of this series, and I hadn't read the first two, I was still able to follow the story. And what a story it is! If you enjoy science fiction and elaborate world building this book is for you. I do suggest reading the first two books. While I wasn't completely lost there were a few gaps. I was so impressed by the way this book is written and was so into the story that I didn't care. I will be hunting down the first two books so I can get the full experience!
While this is the third book of this series, and I hadn't read the first two, I was still able to follow the story. And what a story it is! If you enjoy science fiction and elaborate world building this book is for you. I do suggest reading the first two books. While I wasn't completely lost there were a few gaps. I was so impressed by the way this book is written and was so into the story that I didn't care. I will be hunting down the first two books so I can get the full experience!
October 28, 2020
I really did enjoy this final installment of the Noumenon trilogy very much, even though it took me forever to get through it. Lostetter really delves into her characters and their motivations, and there are often long sections that don't push the story forward so much as help you to understand them more deeply. I appreciate that in an author, but like I said, it slowed me down.
As for the story itself, I loved how she chose to tell it by jumping among different point of view characters, over a VERY long period of time. The conclusion of the story and the solution to the mystery were satisfying, but, like always, I wish the main characters had solved that problem earlier so there would have been more room to see what they jumped into next.
As for the story itself, I loved how she chose to tell it by jumping among different point of view characters, over a VERY long period of time. The conclusion of the story and the solution to the mystery were satisfying, but, like always, I wish the main characters had solved that problem earlier so there would have been more room to see what they jumped into next.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews