meeplemaiden

A convoy of ships is sent out to investigate a star with unusual properties. To ensure the success of the mission the crew is selected very carefully for positive character traits, then cloned. The clones are sent out on a journey that for them will last around 200 years but due to the peculiarities of sub dimensional space travel about 2000 years pass on Earth. Obviously things don't go as predicted.

The story is less about what the crew find when they reach the star as about societal interaction on the outward and return journeys and the way the crew rearranges itself every time things don't go as planned. As far as that goes it was quite interesting. I personally would have liked to have spent more time at the LQPix, the star of their destination. Also, the ending didn't gel for me. It was obviously done to introduce a sequel but seemed a little forced. On the plus side, I liked what they found when they returned to Earth, that was quite unusual. I'm hovering between 3 and 4 stars: most of the concepts are not new and have been done better at one time or another and the author couldn't make the science seem credible for me but as the science was only a small part of the whole that wasn't too much of an issue. The package as a whole however was entertaining and I would definitely buy a sequel.