This is an interesting take on the killer AI trope that interrogates whether AI constructs could really become murderous on their own, or because we would make them so. The coalition of variant Earths in this book known as the Pandominion (coincidentally or not not far off from sounding like “pandemonium”) essentially makes its own self-fulfilling prophecy in this regard, battling pointlessly against beings who do not fit neatly into the mold of what constitutes people in the Pandominion’s eyes.

The definition of personhood (or what makes a “self”) is greatly interrogated. Does one actually need a body to be a person? Who gets to make the rules on personhood? Consequently, whose voices matter and whose actually are heard? These questions are examined through the lenses of war; superiority and dehumanization shown to societies like the AI constructs’, as well as societies very much like our own in climate change, environmental disasters, and war; and racism, classism, and dehumanization to even those who technically fit the Pandominion’s definition of “self,” but became “traitorous” in any number of ways.

These issues are also examined through the eyes of a wide variety of characters, born both inside and outside the Pandominion, no one being spared the effects of governments’ and societies’ divisions on those all-important questions. Ultimately, all of this is fed through the perspective of an at least semi-omniscient narrator who is looking back on these events from some indeterminate time later where things have possibly changed for the better, and telling a historical narrative. But of course the narrative isn’t perfect; it will ultimately have some biases. And this once again begs the question of whose voices matter and whose voices are heard?

I appreciated the book touching on all of this, so my criticisms are relatively minor. One is the inconsistency of some details, which I am not sure are due to the fact that I got an advance galley instead of a finished copy, or are meant to convey that the narrator is unreliable in some way. It would definitely be intriguing if it were the latter. My only other complaint is that I felt like there could have been more detail on the history of the Pandominion, from the finer details of how it was first set up to how it became the warmongering bureaucracy seen in the time of the story.

All in all, this story definitely makes for intriguing and thoughtful sci-fi, and I am curious to see where it heads next.

Final Rating: Between 3.5 and 4 stars.

I liked this one, but did struggle at times. Set in a multi-verse, where there are an infinite number of Earths that have converged- some close to our own, while others have the dominant sentient being evolved from rabbits. There are a few different types of worlds, sinkholes that have never invented Step technology, worlds that are part of Pandominion, a massive trade consortium across worlds, machine worlds,and then Scour worlds that have no life. We follow Hadiz who is a physicist on a world that is getting close to extinction. She figures out Step technology (the way to cross into other worlds). With a bit of help from an advanced AI, Rupshe she is able to move to a different world before hers dies. What follows is a twisted story that all comes back to Hadiz and Rupshe. There are several other POVs, and that is where I struggled. Essien’s story is important, but I did not enjoy his early chapters and I found myself putting the book down more often than not. Paz, though, I loved her part. If you enjoy multi-verse sci-finstories with some great characters, I would recommend this one. Just know that the narrative can be a bit of a slog at times, but it improves. I do wish there was a little bit more of a conclusion at the end though. It feels more like a pause in the story compared to a closing of a door.

While trying to save her own Earth, Hadiz Tambuwal accidentally discovers inter-dimensional travel and comes to the attention of the Pandominion, an alliance that ruthlessly eliminates any perceived threat to its own political and trading interests. After barely escaping with her life, she begins a quest to save the multiverse.

I quite liked this book. The world itself and themes contained within the story are definitely (and eerily) relatable to this day and age. I thought there was a good mix of hard and soft science fiction within the novel. I quickly engaged with the story and became very invested in the welfare of the characters to the point where it was difficult to put the book down at times. I’m also in awe of the storytelling in this novel and how the complex plot threads were intricately woven together. I was a little disappointed with the ending but only because I will have to wait for subsequent novels for the entire story arc to play out.

A reader who enjoys books about multiverses, artificial intelligence, sentience and the importance of diversity will likely enjoy this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an e-copy of this novel.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey in exchange for an honest review. I really love Carey's books and the creativity of his stories. Whether he is writing about the multiverse, fungus created zombies or post apocalyptic civilizations, Carey's worlds are believable and his characters relatable. This was another great book by M. R. Carey.

I’m a big fan of Carey’s books. I like that each happens in its own fully realized world and this book does not disappoint. I can’t wait for the next book!

If you’re willing to slog through the first half of this doorstop to get to the proper story of it, you’re in for a sci-fi treat. Infinity Gate is rich with characters and packs a punch. One of the main issues it raises is the personhood of AI, which many SciFi stories have endeavored to depict but few have done so well as Carey’s latest (the best I’ve seen is Data from Star Trek: The First Generation). Carey uses much of the first half of the book to introduce readers to a massive swath of characters and the impressively large universe of the Pandominion, complete with all of its alternate versions of Earth. Once the uphill info dump and build up completes, the story rapidly accelerates and everything literally goes downhill from there.

I’ve never read any Carey before. Not The Girl with All the Gifts, not The Book of Koli, nothing. For my first foray into an author’s work, which I’ve heard nothing but great things about, I’ll have to say this one was hard for me to get through. I absolutely had the hardest time picking this book up and reading it for longer than a few pages without falling asleep. It wasn’t until roughly 50% of the way through the book before all the foundation was laid and the story interconnecting the myriad of characters together started moving forward. On the other hand, once the story did start moving along, it was compelling.

Each “earth” in the countless versions of itself across the multi-dimensional conglomeration holds a wild card for how things may have progressed in a Darwinian-based evolution of life. Some earths have rabbits, some bears, some apes, some cats, and so on that have evolved into different versions of bipedal, sentient beings. One of these evolved humans is forced to discover the ability to “step” between dimensions in a too-late effort to save the humans on a dying earth. Eventually, she sets up on another earth and meets another of the characters, and the plot slowly starts to interconnect and sets us in the midst of the military force that polices the Pandominion, the Cielo. From there, a domino effect brings us to the real threat—and it’s not the Cielo.

By the time I reached the end of this one, I felt well and truly mentally exhausted. It was a punishingly boring first half, and at over 500 pages long, the pace should not have lagged for that much of the book. Granted, after the setup finished, the book was amazing and I couldn’t put it down. I just feel readers should not have to suffer through a bunch of mental tranquilization to get to the action. For this alone I have given it 3.5 stars. If the pace had picked up much sooner, say at an appropriate 20% or thereabouts, I would have rated it higher.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for something SciFi to read with a bit of meat to it that will make you think, I recommend you pick Carey’s latest up. It’s brimming with every emotion in the gamut and offers quite a bit more stimulation than the average, run of the mill SciFi. While the blurb recommends it for those who liked The Space Between Worlds, I think the reader will find more complexity here. I’ve read both, and I like certain aspects of both. Depending on how quickly paced your preference for a book is at any given moment, this one will definitely not be a one-sitting read.

My thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

Infinity Gate turned out to be a surprisingly good time. While I have always enjoyed sci-fi, I haven’t delved deep into the genre like I have with fantasy. The concept of a multiverse is always intriguing though and I was excited to start this.

The writing and pacing of this did take me a bit to get into. It was not a writing style that I am use to but I did really enjoy my time reading this. The characters were unique and interesting and I really enjoyed the direction that this story took. The first two thirds of this novel were a bit slow for me but the ending really took off.

The world building is amazing and by the end I really did enjoy the voice that this is written in.

I am very excited to continue with this series! That ending left me wanting more and I can’t wait to see where this story goes.

Thank you to Orbit and netgalley for the arc!

Books by M.R. Carey are almost guaranteed to be good but weird. I was really excited to see exactly what kind of fun spin he was going to put on the multiverse and I wasn’t disappointed.

The story starts off with Dr. Hadiz Tambuwal, who has been working on a project that somewhat inadvertently leads to the discovery of the multiverse. Unfortunately, by the time she discovers what can be done using this technology, it’s too late for Dr. Tambuwal’s Earth. Rather than hopelessly trying to save a world that’s already crumbled, she just steps into the next one that’s most similar to hers where her city of Lagos, Nigeria still stands. While her Earth has been degraded by pollution, war, and societal collapse the one she moves to is not quite so far along on that downward spiral. 

Here is where we are introduced to Essien Nkanika, a man who has escaped slavery only to alternate between working at a landfill sorting trash and sex work. Here is where he encounters Hadiz Tambuwal and where his life will be forever changed.

And then, most fascinating of all, is Watchmaster Vemmet. The Watchmaster lives in the Pandominion - a consortium of worlds who share trade, resources, and a military across the multiverse. Vemmet massively errs when he fails to report the detection of Hadiz’s steps between worlds and is sent with a pair of Cielo soldiers to deal with the task. This event leads to a great deal of changes for both Vemmet, the soldier Moon Sostenti, Essien, and Hadiz Tambuwal. 

And lest I leave out my favorite POV character, we also have Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills who goes by Paz. She’s a rabbit humanoid who lives in the city of Canoplex, which is in the same location that Lagos is on Hadiz and Essien’s worlds. She’s very young (school age) and I found her POV chapters to be the ones I was most fond of because hers is really a coming of age story at its heart. She wants friends and when Dulcie, a new student, arrives they quickly become BFFs. Dulice, however, has a secret and Paz finds her life quickly spiraling out of control as well.

In many ways, this book reminds me of The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, which I remember fondly from years ago. The concept of ‘stepping’ into the next world over is not a new one, but M.R. Carey takes it to the next level. I like the exploration of a multiverse spanning consortium and the vast mechanisms required to make it function. The different evolutionary histories on the various worlds that led to humanoids descended from canids, lagomorphs, felines, etc. were also delightful and made me think “Redwall, but make it Warhammer 40K”. I admit, I loved the parts with Essien as he was transformed into a Cielo because I am 100% a sucker for all things supersoldier. Especially if they get cool augments and it has serious “War is Hell” energy, which this has in spades. 

Infinity Gate is an ambitious and strange beginning to a series that I will be curiously following. I didn’t totally fall in love with this book, but it intrigued me and I’m planning to add the second book to my TBR when it’s released. I honestly would have preferred more of the Pandominion than what I got from this book, but there was a lot of build up to something even bigger. Can’t wait to see where this story takes us next!

The nitty-gritty: Epic in scope but intimate in characterization, Infinity Gate introduces a fascinating multiverse with a high stakes plot, plenty of twists and relentless pacing.

M.R. Carey won my heart years ago when I read The Girl With All the Gifts, and since then his stories have never failed to impress me. And Infinity Gate, the first in his Pandominion series, is no exception. This is a big, sprawling sci-fi adventure where there are many, many versions of Earth—in fact, there are infinite Earths, as suggested by the title. But as large and vast as the world is, this is also a character focused story. Bottom line: I was extremely impressed with everything about this novel.

The story revolves around three main characters (and a host of other side characters as well), all who live on different iterations of Earth, specifically in Lagos, Nigeria. Hadiz Tambuwal is a scientist whose city is crumbling. Her Lagos is besieged by city wide blackouts, earthquakes and food shortages. People are leaving in droves, but Hadiz decides to stay, holing up in the lab where she works. One day while performing an experiment using quantum physics, she inadvertently discovers the multiverse. With the help of an AI called Rupshe, Hadiz eventually gathers more information about these other worlds by using drones. And when conditions in the city worsen, she realizes her discovery can help her escape to a better world.

At the same time, we learn about a group of worlds called the Pandominion, a collective who have been using Step technology—the process of moving between universes—for a long time. Supported by a military faction called the Cielo and an AI called the Registry, the Pandominion monitors and controls all Step activity. One day, the Registry picks up some strange anomalies which turn out to be unauthorized Stepping and a possible enemy infiltration. Watchmaster Vemmet is tasked with finding and stopping the threat, but during the course of his assignment, he discovers something even bigger, a coalition of machine worlds called the Ansurrection who seem focused on wiping out the Pandominion.

Next we meet Essien Nkanika, who lives in yet another version of Lagos, a downtrodden man who grew up in poverty and slavery and hasn’t been able to escape his fate. That is until he meets an enigmatic woman in a bar who shows him something amazing and changes his life forever.

Finally, on a Pandominion world called Ut (yes, another Lagos!) we’re introduced to a race of sentient rabbits, a peaceful world where the average life expectancy is one hundred fifty years old and adulthood doesn’t start until you turn thirty. Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills is a nineteen-year-old schoolgirl who has just made a new friend, a transfer student named Dulcimer Coronal. Paz and Dulcie are inseparable, that is until the war against the Ansurrection suddenly lands on their doorstep.

All these characters converge in the most unexpected ways, as Carey’s story builds to a frenzied climax.

As you can tell, the story is rather complex and has lots of moving parts. In a less capable author’s hands, it probably wouldn't have worked, but Carey knows exactly what’s he’s doing and never loses control of his plot. In some ways it reminded me of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where you have many different worlds, all at various stages of development. Some worlds are unaware that there’s a whole multiverse out there, only a “step” away from their own world, while others closely guard and control this technology. When you add in the terrifying idea of a group of machine worlds with the ability to decimate their enemies, you have the age old science fiction conflict between man and machine, but this one feels unique because of the characters and their relationships to each other.

Speaking of which, the characters are all interesting and wonderfully fleshed out. Carey takes his time introducing each one, giving each one plenty of space so the reader becomes invested on an emotional level. Hadiz fascinated me, with her combination of intelligence and wry humor. She thinks her discovery can help save the world, so rather than be motivated by greed, she truly wants to make life better for her people.

My heart went out to Essien, whose tragic backstory is described in unflinching detail. Even Vemmet, who finds himself in trouble when the importance of Hadiz’s experiments escape his notice, manages to figure out how to survive when he’s transferred to an unforgiving world as punishment.

But my favorite character was Paz, the rabbit girl with heart who is unwittingly thrust into the middle of a war. Paz just wants to go to school and hang out with her new friend Dulcie, but unfortunately circumstances won’t allow that to happen. I loved that Carey included some wonderful AI side characters, like Paz’s anima Tricity (sort of like our cell phones except anima are shaped like various animals and have the ability to communicate with their owners) and Rupshe, Hadiz’s AI friend who is mostly behind the scenes in this story but ultimately plays a big role in its outcome. If you’ve read The Book of Koli, you’ll know who Monono Aware is, and I couldn’t help but see some similarities between Monono and one AI in particular (which I can’t really tell you about because of spoilers).

I also loved the way some of the worlds are slightly “off” from ours (for example in one world, George Lucas’s popular series is called Space Empire instead of Star Wars). I was horrified by the descriptions of how citizens become soldiers in the Cielo, with painful body modifications to make them stronger and more resistant to enemy attacks.

And of course there are plenty of surprises in store. Carey throws in some shocking twists, and there’s also the mystery of the Ansurrection. No one really understands them or their motivations, or even who built them. No doubt these questions will be answered at some point in the series, and I cannot wait to see how Carey pulls everything together.

The last hundred pages are full of tense action, chase scenes, dangerous escapes and more as the characters come together for a final confrontation. The entire story is framed by short chapters from a mystery narrator, and I’m still not sure who it is (although I have my suspicions). The ending leaves the reader hanging only in the sense that there are still many unanswered questions. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

First off I would like to thank Orbit Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.

I found this book while browsing NetGalley and wanting something that would tickle the Sci-Fi itch that I had been having for quite a while, and boy did this book. This books starts as a scientist accidentally stumbles upon the ability to skip between universes as her own world is coming to an end because of humans being humans. While she has potentially found a solution to all the problems that humanity faces, it is too little too late and everything she has to offer falls on deaf ears. But, the scientist that discovers this technology will soon start a journey of her own that will make you really think about what it means for something to be sentient and stumble upon a war that is taking place between two civilizations, both of which are spanning across many universes over this very subject.

Throughout the book we get transported to “our” world, but in different universes and seeing the road that evolution could’ve taken if we had be just shoved in one direction or the other along the way. We find out how society could have evolved to “perfectly” work with all of its different parts and “manage” resources properly. We also find out the “limits” of what human greed will cause someone to do and the way that we really can have no idea the true consequences of our actions Carey sets up an absolutely amazing universe in Infinity Gate and the journey you get taken on will truly be one you couldn’t imagine. Every time you think you have a grasp on the direction things are going, a new surprise will come and lead the story in another direction. I cannot wait for the sequel of this book to be released and find out what happens next

Review has been posted to both goodreads and storygraph

Mike Carey is not as well known even among SF fans as he deserves to be, having really come to wide notice only with his excellent novel "The Girl with All the Gifts." He has a couple dozen books to his credit now, and this is the opening volume of his second series. So, it’s a couple generations in the future and the world is on the verge of complete environmental collapse. The actual end of the world is coming, and soon. A Nigerian physicist named Hadiz Tambuwal is trying to ignore events while attempting to pursue her own research in a closed lab, and maybe find a way to turn things around, when she happens upon evidence that points to the actual existence of other Earths -- other universes -- parallel to ours, previously only an abstract theory. Then she finds a way to cross into them -- and with access to literally unlimited resources, maybe our own world doesn’t need to crash and burn after all.

What she doesn’t know, of course, is that none of this is news to the million alternate worlds that make up the Pandominion, a very strictly managed sort-of empire/federation that has been around for a long time. But Hadiz’s unthinking incursion into that society will have extreme ramifications, which the reader will discover through the eyes of several other major characters, including a low-level government monitor in the Pandominion who ignored the alarm bells, and an impoverished young man in Abuja who climbs the ladder to a better life via prostitution.

This is what’s called “hard” science fiction, and what hooked me from almost the first page is the highly detailed and thoroughly convincing science, both real and pseudo. The background on the multiverse follows the latest real-world theories and the fiction, picking up where the facts leave off, is entirely plausible. Great stuff. It appears there will be four books all told, and I’ll be first in line for Volume 2.

I had devoured M. R. Carey's <i>Rampart Trilogy</i>, so when I saw "Infinity Gate" offered on NetGalley, I immediately requested it.

"Infinity Gate" is the first book in the Pandominion series. The Pandominion is a federation of worlds, but rather than spanning multiple planets in space (see <i>Star Trek</i>), it consists of a staggering number of alternate versions of Earth, multiverse-style. Some are only a little bit dissimilar from the Earth we know, others are so wildly different as to be completely unrecognizable.

Additionally, unlike <i>Star Trek</i>’s Federation, the Pandominion is not a bunch that is friendly to outsiders – the versions of Earth that do not belong to their collective. People who populate these outside worlds are referred to as "sinkholders" and considered "no ones," who live "nowhere," and as such don't really exist and can be killed without any consideration (or guilt). Additionally, the Pandominion, while accepting of any and all iterations of citizen Selves (whether humans descended from apes, or Uts descended from rabbits, etc.), does not give any credence to artificial intelligence, and only considers <u>sentient</u> Selves as truly alive, any constructs/robots are not given that consideration. And so, when the Pandominion stumbles upon another federation of alternate Earths, this one populated by self-aware machines (aka the Ansurrection), conflict erupts, and complete and utter destruction looms.

We learn all this not through inconvenient info dumps, but through the eyes of three POV characters.

At the very beginning of the book, an unnamed omniscient narrator introduces itself and tells us about these three protagonists: a genius scientist named Hadiz Tambuwal (human from a doomed Earth), a out-of-luck rogue named Essien (human from an Earth similar to ours), and a young female Uti (rabbit) named Paz.

In an interesting twist, we get to know these characters and their stories not by jumping back and forth between their POVs, but rather in a chronological order. First, Hadiz Tambuwal invents the technology that allows her to transport herself from one Earth to another, right at the time when our own Earth meets its apocalyptic end. Hadiz transports herself to another version of Earth, where she meets Essien Nkanika, whose story picks up the narration of the overall plot. Paz, of the intelligent rabbits’' Earth, is the closing POV. Each story comprises roughly one-third of the entire book, and as such allows us to get to know each characters in depth, and experience the world-building of the Pandemonium through them.

The end of the novel is a definite cliffhanger, but that was to be expected as part one of a series... Our characters are now united, with a goal (or two) in mind, and it's anyone's guess how they will achieve it - I strongly suspect, though, that the end result will be the "creation" of an entity/self who is none other than the mysterious omniscient narrator, recalling the story for us. Certain elements are already clearly in place, and having read the "Rampart Trilogy" I have some strong suspicions...

I only have on criticism, really: I thought the world of Ut, populated by intelligent rabbits, was still too close to our human one to be entirely believable (their society structure is virtually the same). For that - and because I <i>still</i> think <i>The Rampart Trilogy</i> was a better story - I am deducting one star. Absolutely reaching for the next in the series when it comes out, though. This is good stuff.

Every book I read, so far, from M.R. Carey proved to be an intriguing, engrossing journey, so when I saw Infinity Gate showcased on the monthly Orbit newsletter I requested it without even taking a look at the synopsis. Once again I found myself totally immersed in a story whose only downside was that it ended too soon.

Infinity Gate starts from the premise of the existence of an uncounted number of Earths, a multiverse where each iteration can be either quite close to the reality we’re familiar with, or so wildly different as to be unrecognizable. Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal lives in what we might consider as our primary Earth, but one where resources are almost depleted and wars are being fought for whatever’s left. Finding herself practically alone in the university complex near Lagos, in Nigeria, she spends her time perfecting her studies and one day stumbles on an amazing discovery: the possibility to jump from one reality to another - and therefore a chance for a better life, even for a way to save her own dying planet.

With the help of Rupshe, a self-aware A.I. residing on the university grounds, Hadiz starts exploring the almost infinite versions of Earth, but in so doing she catches the attention of the Pandominion, a coalition of Earth-like worlds linked by the discovery of the Step plates, the means of jumping from one reality to another. The Pandominion is at war with another aggregation of worlds, the Ansurrection: these are planets ruled by machine intelligence and so far the war has claimed many victims and many worlds; fearing that Hadiz’s jumps might be related to the Ansurrection’s encroaching, the Pandominion sets its armed force, called the Cielo, on her tracks.

Hadiz’s storyline runs parallel to that of Essien Nkanika, living in a world not much different from hers, and the meeting between them will change Essien’s life - one that has already seen much suffering and deprivation - in a very dramatic way. The third main character in the novel is that of Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills, a young girl living on Ut, an Earth-like planet where the dominant life form descends from rabbits: Topaz - or Paz as she likes to be called - will see her life upturned by a devastating event and will have to make some hard choices she was not prepared for.

Curiously enough, for a story told through multiple POVs, Infinity Gate chooses the unusual way of following these three characters in a linear way instead of alternating chapters between them: at first this choice felt weird, because each time the reader must start anew with a different perspective that seems to have no connection with the previous one, but in the end it was revealed as a very clever way of making the reader invested in each character’s journey and at the same time of exploring the Pandominion in its many facets without need for long and distracting info-dumps.

The Pandominion looks, on the surface, as a conglomeration of advanced worlds graced by an utopian life-style, but as soon as the focus moves on its inner workings it’s easy to see that it’s not like Star Trek’s Federation at all: some of the people at the top are quite ruthless and the existence of the Cielo, the inter-planetary army whose armor-clad soldiers elicit apprehension with their sole presence, points toward a rule that’s quite far from benevolent. The Ansurrection, on the other hand, seems driven by an apparently unthinking drive to replicate its machines and the discovery of several worlds where any form of life has been obliterated does not bode well for their intentions.

The characters who move on this intriguing - if slightly unsettling - background are wonderfully depicted and fully fleshed: Hadiz Tambuwal looks like a single-focus-driven scientist who is more at ease among the instruments of her laboratory than among people, and yet there is a poignant streak of vulnerability in her that comes across in the course of her meeting with Essien Nkanika, a young man who has learned to stop at nothing to ensure his own survival, like accepting to join the Cielo where his humanity risks to be taken away from him piece by piece. My favorite character, however, remains Paz, a young girl (rabbit-shaped, granted, but still a girl) who finds herself dealing with exceptional events she was not prepared for: the way she finds a well of courage and resiliency she did not know she possesses, while still remaining true to herself, gives way to a character journey I found both compelling and heart-wrenching.

It’s not going to be a spoiler when I say that these three are destined to meet: the greater attraction in this novel stands in the expectation of that encounter and in the different, often difficult paths they travel before that can happen. This first book in the series merely lays the ground for what will develop into the main story, and yet it does not feel like a simple setting of the playing field because you can almost hear the various pieces clicking into place, each new addition boosting the tension level to new heights, particularly where Paz’s experiences are concerned: there is a long, tense segment dealing with them, toward the final part of the novel, where I was literally unable to put the book down because the various moving parts were in such a state of flux that anything could happen and failure seemed like a chilling possibility. It’s difficult to describe this book without giving away precious - and spoilery! - details, but trust me when I tell you that reading it without any prior knowledge is indeed the best way to go.

Infinity Gate closes with the equivalent of a “…to be continued” but at the same time it ends this part of the story neatly: previous experience with M.R. Carey’s other series tells me that the next books will come along with infallible cadence, and I already look forward to seeing where the story will take us next.

Hadiz Tambuwal, a scientist, is searching for a solution to Earth's demise when, with the help of an AI, she stumbles upon the ability to travel to another dimension...technically an alternate reality in which an infinite number of Earth's exist. Little does she know that “stepping" has already been discovered by other "Earth's" and is governed by a collective political alliance known as The Pandominion. Her travel is identified as a potential threat and sets off a series of events spanning across multiple universes during a potential war between Artificial and Natural Intelligence.

I'm a big fan of M.R. Carey's work so I was very excited to get my hands on this new series called Infinity Gate. I loved so many of the characters in this novel and the world building was very intriguing. The novel takes place amongst several versions of Earth some of which evolved much differently than what we have come to identify as "normal" or "intelligent". The novel does a good job of providing insight into what determines a "self" between natural and artificial life. I really enjoyed this novel and cannot wait for the next book in the series. This novel is a bit technical on the science jargon so just be warned that if you don't geek out over science this may be a bit over the top for some readers. Fantastic...a must read for 2023!

To start things out: the Pandominion is a Federation-esque multiverse-spanning body consisting of a million-ish alternate versions of Earth. The obvious advantage of being able to hop at will around an infinite number of alternate Earths is a complete lack of scarcity; there’s always a nice, uninhabited version of Earth ready to supply whatever resources you need. The Pandominion has recently encountered the Machine Hegemony, an organization of similar scale comprising a single, distributed artificial intelligence. As the Pandominion is in general rather paranoid about AIs (though they rely on them heavily) conflict was pretty much inevitable.

The book is divided into roughly three sections. The first is centered on a physicist from our Earth, who discovers the technology to jump between multiverses too late to prevent humanity from tearing itself apart in resource wars. The second is centered on a guy who grew up in the slums of a parallel Lagos, one very similar to our own. The third is centered on a girl from the Pandominion who gets caught up (for, to be fair, very good reasons even if not her fault) in the fear and paranoia of the war with the machines.

The big theme of the books seems to be centered on who gets to be considered a person. The Pandominion is very clear in their opinion. They’re very accepting of different sapient species. (The guy from Lagos, Essien, his first encounter with a citizen of the Pandominion, who happens to have evolved from a cat-like species, is revealing. He blurts out “What are you?” to which the response is “Well, that’s fucking rude. A self is what I am, the same as you, but with better manners.”) AIs, though, aren’t people, and can’t really think anyway: they can just mimic it. They can even be made to *think* that they think, but they’re still just machines.

The first section, as the physicist (Hadiz) realizes what she’s discovered, is good if rather bleak. The second section, Essien’s, I honestly felt dragged. Essien has been dealt a pretty shitty hand at life, growing up as he does in the slums of Lagos, but he responds to the injustices he experiences by being, bluntly, a selfish prick. I kept thinking that Carey’s editor dropped the ball here, and should have pushed to cut a few chapters that just felt unnecessary. The third section, featuring Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills (generally known as Paz, who happens to be descended from a rabbit-like species) is our chief “insider’s” view of the Pandominion, and I was enjoying it quite a lot. Then shit hits the fan, and Paz finds herself on the run in yet another alternate version of Lagos, and I again found myself thinking this sequence wasn’t necessary and should have been cut.

Credit where credit is due, though: I was wrong. Carey knew where he was going with this, and everything came full circle for the climax. So if anyone else shares my feeling that things are starting slow, please accept my assurance that it’s going somewhere worthwhile.

There’s also a low-key mystery spread throughout the books: we don’t know who exactly is telling the story. It’s clear that whoever the narrator is, they’re an AI, but other than that, I have no idea. It reminds me of Jemisin’s Broken Earth in this regard.

I’ve been a Mike Carey fanboy for a good long time now, and I’m happy to say that this book hasn’t changed that in the slightest.

4.5 stars, rounded up. Carey has been hit-or-miss for me previously, so I am thrilled to say that I love his latest epic science fiction novel, the first in a planned trilogy. This is the story of a scientist, desperately working to save her dying Earth, who discovers the multiverse. Worlds that have already learned to "Step" - travel between - are part of the Pandominon, a vast ruling body, but there are also countless worlds without the technology. This book follows several characters who eventually come together, and the story is very plot and character driven. There is less world-building than I expected in a book of this length and scope, but Carey gives the reader enough information to contextualize this world without drowning them in detail. There is a massive war brewing as the Pandominion discovers the existence of another set of worlds ruled by remarkable machine intelligence. I loved the exploration of AI and sentience and can't wait for book two! Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for a digital review copy.

M.R. Carey launches a new, mind-bending series with this stellar opener about an empire spanning countless parallel universes. The characters, regardless of their species, are all strongly realized and the world-building is outstanding with explosive action scenes. The logistics of how a civilization stretched across thousands of different multiuniverses would operate are well-thought out and present a fascinating alternative to the traditional planet-hopping space opera.

Themes of empathy and compassion for others, even for those very different from ourselves, run through the heart of the novel and imbue it with an air of timeliness.

Absolutely fantastic work.

<b><i>**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review**</i></b>

I’ll start this review with a disclaimer: I’m not a die-hard sci-fi reader. As such, I probably missed a ton of classic sci-fi references and inspiration while reading this book. The ideas and science explained in <i>Infinity Gate</i> may be well-worn sci-fi groves, but most were completely novel and innovative to me.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The beginning was a bit exposition-heavy to my tastes, and Hadiz, the character whose POV we’re in at the beginning, wasn’t exciting or sympathetic enough to make up for that (here, the comparison with the MC in <i>The Martian</i> comes to mind: another exposition-heavy start, but with a strong, likable voice that instantly makes you want to know more about that MC). I think it’s an important “warning” to have in mind when you start this book, because sticking around is WORTH IT. The introduction of Rupshe (Hadiz’s AI assistant and later friend) and then the switching to Essien’s POV in a different dimension were what kick-started the book for me.

(Also, can I just say how refreshing it is to read a SFF novel that <i>isn’t</i> set in a big Western city like London or NYC? I really loved that, loved the acknowledgement of the historical sense it made for a big city to develop in that region of the world, and appreciated the author’s involving a thorough sensitivity reader to make sure his depiction of Lagos was as organic and realistic as possible. I wish more authors did that instead of assuming they know what a place or culture feels like just because they spend a short holiday there)

I’m giving this novel a high rating because, once the introduction was behind me, I couldn’t. Put. It. Down. The book breezed by despite its length. I found myself grabbing the book to read a few pages whenever I had a free minute in the day. Though it’s a hard sci-fi novel with a relatively straightforward plot, the characters were extremely engaging (special fondness for some of the side characters, like Dulcie the AI construct and Moon the Cielo soldier: they were both very cool and well-developed in their own way). Carey’s writing worked very well for me, alternating sharp observations on human nature and evolutionary development, funny insights, and a solid ability to put himself in his characters’ shoes. The seamless inclusiveness of the novel (two of the MCs are Black and Nigerian, two are queer, many main characters are female, and beyond that the book depicts a wide range of human experiences and situations in a realistic way) was something I particularly appreciated, it was great to see it organically incorporated into the story and characters’ background and thoughts.

To me, the novel reads as a very good fantasy adventure/quest. The pacing kept me turning the pages, eager to find out what happened next. The writing was smooth and engaging. Some reviewers mentioned the ending, which doesn’t so much close the loop as it opens the next book. It wasn’t a big issue for me as I was planning to read the next book anyway. I understand that reading a ‘set-up’ book in a series can be annoying to some, but the book was entertaining enough to make up for it.

Great read for fans of multi-verse novels, readers sensitive to inclusive writing, and fantasy adventure readers who’d like to try a sci-fi read. I had a great time reading it and can’t wait to see what comes next!

Infinity Gate (The Pandominion, 1)
by M. R. Carey
Orbit (Mar/28/2023)
When is a post-apocalyptic novel not a post-apocalyptic novel? When there’s a multiverse to escape to, which is the case in Infinity Gate, the first volume of what’s sure to be a trilogy. It’s one of the best things I’ve read so far this year. Granted, the year’s young, but I read a lot.

This is a multiverse novel with AI rights issues set on a number of different Earths where a lone scientist, Hadiz Tambual, manages to survive the collapse of everything from climate to civilization while holed up in a lab trying to find a silver bullet for mankind’s problems. What she does discover, too late for our world, is a way to travel between worlds in the multiverse, infinite worlds and many unspoiled by humans, or whatever dominant species rose to claim the title.

Unfortunately, she catches the attention of the Pandemonium, a vast civilization spanning thousands of Earths in the multiverse, already at war with a similarly vast machine civilization. This first novel sets the stage with a great cast of characters, including a Pandamonium soldier from an evolutionary niche where cats ruled the world (I know, I know), and a precocious young engineering student who would fit, somewhat awkwardly, among the rabbits of Watership Down. Highly Recommended for fans of serious multiverse space opera (can we say that’s a thing?) and civilization-spanning sagas of all types.

I’ve read a fair few multiverse stories lately, but well…I have a soft spot for multiverses, and M.R. Carey is an author who has been recommended to me many times over the last few years—apparently, The Nothing Within, which I loved, has some similarities to his Rampart Trilogy. So when I had the opportunity to get an ARC of Infinity Gate, I jumped at the chance.

Infinity Gate is told by a mostly-anonymous figure born during a multiversal war between organic peoples and AIs, describing three pivotal figures who changed the course of worlds. There are two humans—a scientist out to save her dying world, and a rogue out to grab a better life than the poverty of his youth—and an adolescent leporine, all of whose stories are inextricably entwined with the biggest conflict in known history.

Infinity Gate, despite being science fiction rather than my usual fantasy, has the unmistakable feel of an epic’s opening act. There’s enough character development and intermediate action to justify its existence as its own book, but make no mistake, there are no wars ended here. Infinity Gate is all about introducing the characters and the world, setting up the conflict, and pushing the pieces into place for the broader series arc.

And as an epic opener, it’s pretty successful. Job #1 is making the overarching story compelling enough for a reader to commit for the long haul, and Infinity Gate has absolutely no trouble with its first task. The cast is small enough that a single book can deliver a fairly intimate portrait of every main character, and each is intriguing enough to carry their own weight. There are certainly moments where I’d have liked to hear updates on how the others were doing—especially when each main character gets a stretch of around 100 pages of mostly-uninterrupted spotlight—but there was no moment where I felt one character was dragging and the others were carrying the story.

Whenever I see a blurb with a multiverse, I expect a lot of time spent exploring how differently the world could have gone. And while Infinity Gate doesn’t entirely shirk this task—there are many worlds dominated by people who didn’t descend from primates, and relatively few where the peoples of the Global North colonized those of the South—it’s eminently clear that the multiverse is more backdrop than star. There are few Tchaikovsky-style explorations of how the world would be organized under different dominant species, with much of the multiverse instead homogenized by the worlds-spanning empire of the Pandominion. It is this empire, its clash with a second multiversal empire made entirely of machines, and its encounters with the three lead characters that drive the story’s plot.

And it’s a plot that I found pretty hard to put down. The diverse main cast gives us glimpses into the wonder of scientific research, the horror of the Pandominion’s military, and the difficulty of a society wrestling with its own machine dependence in the light of the existential threat posed by a newly discovered mechanical race. Each element has plenty of time to breathe, but none feels extraneous—it’s all driving toward the conflict at the heart of the overarching trilogy. And even if Infinity Gate leaves most of the big questions unanswered, there’s still enough emotional payoff to justify the investment. It’s not one to stop in what feels like the middle of a chapter.

I’m not sure there’s a single element here that makes Infinity Gate a must-read, but with so many ingredients combined so skillfully, I wouldn’t miss it for fans of SFF epics. I haven’t had this much fun with an opening act since Senlin Ascends.

Recommended if you like: epic sci-fi/fantasy.

Overall rating: 18 of Tar Vol’s 20. Five stars on Goodreads.