Infinity Gate

Infinity Gate, M.R. Carey

In an Earth a little ways in the future from ours, or perhaps in a slightly parallel Earth to ours, physicist Hadiz Tambuwal is in a massive, well-funded campus in Lagos with other scientists trying to figure out how to keep the civilization going. Over the first few chapters of the book it becomes clear that this project isn’t going nearly quickly enough, as the air in Lagos becomes practically unbearable and environmental catastrophes beget political catastrophes and things crumble around them. As the civic infrastructure slowly breaks down, Tambuwal moves in to the facility to continue her work and soon becomes isolated there as well with only a very advanced – and yet purposely limited – AI to keep her company and help with her work.

Tambuwal’s work has been on dark energy and dark matter –what are they and why do they exist? And is there any way answering those questions can help with the energy needs on Earth?* Along the way she accidentally discovers the creation of a quantum field that can transport objects to a different universe. You see, the multiverse that has been theorized to occur with every time a quantum particle decides where to end up is true. And there are infinite parallel universes, with more being created every nanosecond.

However, she is not the first person to have discovered the multiverse. There are several other universes who have, and who have come together in the Pandominium. The Pandominium has nearly infinite universes that are part of it, with Earths where intelligent species evolved from several different animal lineages—ape, bear, otter, rabbit, cats, dogs, and almost everything else. It also has decided to track jumps between universes very carefully, and protect this confederacy of universes with the Cielo and a very involved bureaucracy.

These two paragraphs are a quick overview that don’t even begin to do justice to the world building that has gone in to this novel. The world of the campus that slowly empties out as Tambuwal works on her discovery; a parallel Lagos and the desperate con man she finds there; a world of rabbits; the absolutely infinite complexity of the infinite multiverse – all of these are so richly realized, and could make stand alone stories on their own. The creativity in this book is truly inspiring.

As is the discussion of what sentience and intelligence really means. See, the Pandominium – used to more or less ruling the multiverse – finds a similar confederacy, this one made entirely of machine intelligences. The Pandominium ends up stumbling in to war with an enemy vastly superior to it, an enemy that is almost indifferent to it. However, the war leads to a fear of the AIs that have become absolutely essential to life in advanced society and questions of how to exist without them. There is an incredibly interesting discussion in one section of what actually creates sentience, with the machine intelligence presenting the argument that they couldn’t actually determine if a biological entity could have sentience, and how one really proves existence and consiousness other than just looking at outputs and whether something acts alive.

These different threads of ideas, and the different storylines, start to come together at the end. However, this is where my one complaint about the book comes in. While each of the storylines could almost exist as a story on its own, the book itself does not have a finishing point. It has a stopping point. And yes, there is another book on the horizon. But not only is there no resolution to any of the stories once they intersect; not only does it end on a total cliffhanger; but it ends in an unsatisfying cliffhanger. You see, from the beginning the book has been written from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, who says that the individuals we follow in this book were crucial to its creation. It also says at the very beginning of the book it was the destroyer of the Pandominium and that we will hear its story. And yet, at the end of the book, we are not any closer to learning this story – what we have been told is the actual story we’re reading—then we were at the beginning.

I can understand wanting to leave audiences wanting more. And yes, it is clear throughout that this is meant to be part of a longer series. But I also feel strongly that even in a tied together trilogy or series each installment should exist as a standalone piece on its own. Which meant I was incredibly frustrated and disappointed by the ending.

However, I have to admit that I will still 100% read the next book, even though it will probably also stop without actually ending. And I will also recommend it even though I do not like books that do not have any sort of resolution. Because like I said, the world building and the creativity in this story is amazing. The writing is enthralling, and I kept reading obsessively. Part of the reason I’m irritated about the resolution is because I also wanted to keep reading the story. So your mileage on endings may vary, but this book is worth it for the journey and the creativity, even if you don’t get to know the whole plot.

*Just a note that this is not a need that we have to address the climate crisis. We actually have the technology to generate all of the renewable energy we need. The technological questions are entirely about storage and transmission; the bigger questions are political will and making people accept some bumps in the road as we transition.^

^If you want to know the technological fixes we need: energy storage and transmission; long-distance transportation (related to that first one); decarbonizing cement and steel production.