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
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 Back Cover
The Omega Expedition
"Brian Stableford has triumphantly created his own niche of hard biological SF, containing the genre's most intelligently imagined marvels and nightmares."—David Langford
The Omega Expedition is a philosophical novel, an independent work, but also a sequel to both Inherit the Earth and The Fountains of Youth. It begins with 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 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.
“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
About the Author
Brian Stableford lives in Reading, England.
The Omega Expedition 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.
KLIATT - Ginger Armstrong
In this conclusion to the Emortality series and following Dark Ararat, this futuristic story focuses on two characters who have been cryogenically preserved. One is Adam Zimmerman, a powerful man who set out to defeat death by becoming immortal, and the other is Madoc Tamlin, a criminal awakened before Adam in order to test the awakening procedures. Tamlin finds himself in a world of rival factions, each with their own ideas as to the true nature of emortality, while Adam Zimmerman, the founder of emortality, seems almost a god to these futuristic beings. The story takes second place to philosophy in this thought-provoking novel, which provides many ideas to ponder relating to identity, obsession, and death. Adam Zimmerman's mortal situation and its change from beginning to end is quite ironic as he examines death from varying perspectives. The book reads more like a philosophical treatise at times than a novel. Stableford masterfully intertwines the Tam Lin fairy tale into his technological world as Madoc discusses philosophical issues with the "Fairy Queen." An impressive series conclusion providing many seeds for discussion, this novel is recommended for readers preferring complex plot twists and intellectually challenging science fiction. To help new readers, Stableford introduces the novel with a summary of events from the preceding novels in the series. As a result, the book can stand alone, although readers of the series will be most rewarded by the culmination of events. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Tor, 544p., Ages 15 to adult.
Kirkus Reviews
Fifth and last in the series about the quest for human immortality-or, as Stableford pedantically insists, "emortality." In the 21st century, Adam Zimmerman, determined to cheat death, organized the financial coup that turned ownership of planet Earth over to the Secret Masters of the World. He used his profited billions to set up a foundation for emortality research-and then had himself cryogenically preserved before death. Madoc Tamlin, a 22nd-century fixer for a wannabe Secret Master, wakes in the 33rd century. Never sure that what he perceives is real and not some sophisticated VR, Tamlin asks his awakener, an asexual juvenile-appearing female posthuman named Davida Berenike Columella, why he was frozen and forgotten for a millennium. Equally puzzling, Davida has also awoken Christine Caine, a mass murderer from Tamlin's era condemned to cryogenic suspension. Davida maintains that both were woken as test cases prior to the revivification of Adam Zimmerman himself. Tamlin rejects this explanation and wonders what's really going on. It seems that war threatens to engulf the solar system, involving not only the various and extremely diverse posthuman factions but the self-aware ultrasmart machines as well. But what reason can machines have for fighting, and what do they want with Zimmerman and emortal historian Mortimer Gray? What of the Afterlife, voracious virus-like entities that threaten machines and posthumans alike? Fascinating ideas and developments, though Stableford's heavy-handed, exposition-clogged approach often slows the narrative to a crawl: not the best of the series (that was Dark Ararat, p. 80), but a worthwhile wrap nonetheless.
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