An immense achievement, an impeccably crafted book without a single word out of place, which manages to make several well-worn science-fictional concepts...feel fresh and tender and unprecedented. Incredibly, it somehow also begins a series ... The narrator pulls back, gently and compassionately detailing their lives, their interactions and the vast reach of the changes they catalyze. The book’s vaulting scope feels both exponential and inevitable, as if you’ve taken a few steps up a mountain and ended up in outer space ... Most dazzling to me is how hospitable the narration is.
The three connected tales that weave through Infinity Gate explore the concept of self in intriguingly different ways ... Sometimes the author veers into strange, seemingly Covid-inspired diatribes ... The writing is vivid, the pace is fast-moving in all storylines. My one real quibble is a nagging feeling that these three plotlines are actually three completely separate book ideas that the author might be trying to wedge together into one cohesive storyline, which will have to be fleshed out in sequels to come.
Infinity Gate, with its in-depth science and rich characterization, is a must-read for sf fans, as Carey’s story crosses the militarism of an anthropomorphic Starship Troopers with Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s Long Earth series while waging a war against Stargate’s replicators.
The plot doesn’t map onto a traditional hero’s journey arc and feels all the fresher for it. Short, action-packed chapters keep the pace brisk, and each character we meet, however briefly, is vividly and empathetically drawn.
Carey skillfully explores the moral complications of machine personhood ... The stark choices of war or peace and environmental health or disaster are unsettlingly close to current-day issues, making this cosmos-spanning work a timely plea for planetary sanity.
