Madoc Tamlin is a man with an unusual problem. He wakes to find himself a thousand years in the future, in a space station on the far side of the sun. Or so he is told by the mysterious, sexless human who greets him. Madoc assures himself that he's still in his own time, trapped in advanced virtual reality by one of his foes, because if he isn't, he has no idea why he was cryogenically frozen--which would mean that he was a dangerous criminal. And he doesn't remember that either! Plus, the notorious serial killer Christine Caine has been defrosted to join him, and they, along with their strange rescuer, have just been captured in an impossible space battle by an unknown enemy.

The Omega Expedition is the sixth and concluding volume of Brian Stableford's grand future history, which explores the possibilities and perils of emortality (near-immortality). This is one of the most thoughtful, complex, and ambitious series ever produced in science fiction, and its final novel, a standalone work, masterfully orchestrates the numerous characters, themes, plot lines, and ideas to a bold conclusion. But newcomers to the series really shouldn't start with The Omega Expedition. Read the novels of this future history in the author's intended order, detailed in his informative introduction to The Omega Expedition. Start with The Cassandra Complex. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
In this cerebral novel, the capstone to British author Stableford's (Inherit the Earth, etc.) much praised six-volume future history concerning the search for "emortality" (technologically assisted near-immortality), Madoc Tamlin, a 22nd-century shyster with a heart of gold, is defrosted after more than 1,000 years in suspended animation, only to discover that his awakening has been nothing more than a trial run for a more important revival. The posthuman emortals of the 35th century are preparing to bring back Adam Zimmerman, aka the Man Who Stole the World. Zimmerman, whose takeover of Earth actually saved the planet from environmental collapse in the 21st century, is the near-mythic founder of the movement that led to the emortal, posthuman culture that now inhabits our solar system. As Tamlin learns more about the society into which he has newly awakened, he discovers that it contains a number of rival factions, each of which espouses a different sort of emortality. Stableford does a fine job of pulling together an enormous number of loose threads. If his characters are sometimes flat, his presentation of the possible marvels of posthumanity is quite compelling, as is his thoughtful examination of the potential involved in near immortality. Readers who stick with this complex, intellectually challenging series to the end will find their tenacity well rewarded.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Some time after 3200 A.D., the inventor of emortality (or "freezing down"), Adam Zimmerman, is about to be awakened. Converging for the event are historian of death Mortimer Gray, the protagonist of Stableford's Fountains of Youth (2000), and a race of cyborgs evolved in interstellar space. Also interested are Christine Caine and Madoc Tamlin, who carry in their memories and bodies a deadly weapon developed centuries ago by an elite cabal on Earth. Zimmerman is the key to which of the contending factions will control human evolution and expansion throughout space, and a decision is reached after a good deal of literate talk and well-handled action. A writer whose books tend to be overwhelmingly cerebral, Stableford is also overwhelmingly optimistic about long-term human survival: it will happen as long as we are prepared to not recognize our descendants. The sixth volume of Stableford's grand saga projecting human evolution into the future isn't the place to begin reading it. For those who take the long way to it, however, it is a satisfying conclusion. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Brian Stableford has triumphantly created his own niche of hard biological SF, containing the genre's most intelligently imagined marvels and nightmares."-David Langford

"A series which contains some of the most compelling and richly philosophical speculation about the coming centuries, and about the role of death in human affairs." -Locus

"This is the soul of scrupulous speculation at its finest."-Science Fiction Weekly on The Omega Expedition



Book Description
The sixth volume of Brian Stableford's future history concludes the series and also refers back to its beginnings. Through five earlier volumes, Inherit the Earth, Architects of Emortality, The Fountains of Youth, The Cassandra Complex, and Dark Ararat, Stableford has mapped out for us in engaging stories the wonderful and sometimes disturbing world of the next thousand years, on Earth, throughout the solar system, and to worlds beyond, with emphasis on huge sociological changes and extraordinary alterations in the biological life of humans. It is one of the most detailed and plausible and fascinating projections in all of science fiction. Now, in The Omega Expedition, it takes us into another millennium, and is complete.

The Omega Expedition is a philosophical novel, a sequel to The Fountains of Youth. It is the extraordinary life history of Adam Zimmerman, developer of the technology of emortality. The main part of the narrative describes his long-delayed awakening into the 35th century, a time of true immortals. His exotic hosts--inhabitants of a microworld in the outer solar system--have recruited various interested parties to help with the resurrection project, one of whom (inevitably) is the famous historian of death, the immortal Mortimer Gray, who is exceedingly anxious to gain what insight he can into the vagaries of the mortal mind.

The Omega Expedition is a richly textured, serious SF novel that will resound like a huge bell, ringing down the halls of science fiction for years to come.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Omega Expedition is a philosophical novel, a sequel to The Fountains of Youth. It is the extraordinary life history of Adam Zimmerman, developer of the technology of emortality. The main part of the narrative describes his long-delayed awakening into the 35th century, a time of true immortals. His exotic hosts - inhabitants of a microworld in the outer solar system - have recruited various interested parties to help with the resurrection project, one of whom (inevitably) is the famous historian of death, the immortal Mortimer Gray, who is exceedingly anxious to gain what insight he can into the vagaries of the mortal mind.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this cerebral novel, the capstone to British author Stableford's (Inherit the Earth, etc.) much praised six-volume future history concerning the search for "emortality" (technologically assisted near-immortality), Madoc Tamlin, a 22nd-century shyster with a heart of gold, is defrosted after more than 1,000 years in suspended animation, only to discover that his awakening has been nothing more than a trial run for a more important revival. The posthuman emortals of the 35th century are preparing to bring back Adam Zimmerman, aka the Man Who Stole the World. Zimmerman, whose takeover of Earth actually saved the planet from environmental collapse in the 21st century, is the near-mythic founder of the movement that led to the emortal, posthuman culture that now inhabits our solar system. As Tamlin learns more about the society into which he has newly awakened, he discovers that it contains a number of rival factions, each of which espouses a different sort of emortality. Stableford does a fine job of pulling together an enormous number of loose threads. If his characters are sometimes flat, his presentation of the possible marvels of posthumanity is quite compelling, as is his thoughtful examination of the potential involved in near immortality. Readers who stick with this complex, intellectually challenging series to the end will find their tenacity well rewarded. (Dec. 19) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews