“Neverness” Still A Great Read

Slel: To take DNA from someone against his will, to create avatars of him, or perhaps children

Slel is the term employed by writer David Zindell (“Shanidar”) for his space opera novel “Neverness”.

Published almost 20 years ago, it still holds up to the test of time. The story centers on space pilot Mallory Ringess, who works for the Pilots branch of the Order of Mystic Mathematicians. He explores a new kind of space in this adventure — the innerspace of a great mind known only as the Solid State Entity. Mallory’s survival will not only depend on his piloting skills, but the keeness of his intellect as he comes into contact with an array of beings living throughout this dangerous mental intersellar region of the universe. When the “goddess” of this region imparts a special secret to him, the results could alter the fabric of all space.

Here are what some others have had to say about “Neverness” —

“Excellent hard science fiction … Ideas splash out of Zindell’s mind and flow across the pages of this book.”

“Not just a brilliant novel, but a strong and serious view of human potential … as I read it I heard Zindell say things I had tried to say in many of my own works, but never did, not this clearly, not this fully. … I have read Zindell’s book, and I want to know what he knew that allowed him to tell this tale.”

~ Orson Scott Card

Reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s ‘New Sun’ novels … really comes to life among the intrigues of Neverness.

~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch

One of the finest talents to appear since Kim Stanley Robinson and William Gibson – perhaps the finest.

~ Gene Wolfe

Some of Zindell’s other literary works include: “The War In Heaven” “The Lightstone” and “Lord of Lies.”