Events swiftly take off in this latest book within the Inverted Frontier series, Needle, after the amazing final battle for Verilotus, at the end of book II, Silver; between Urban, the crew of the starship Dragon, and the newly awakened god, Lezuri, ending in a satisfying climax. A Dull Intelligence, obeying a scheduled command, roused Clemantine from cold sleep. Her rekindled consciousness checked first on the status of the ship, confirming the only significant change to be Dragon’s position as the courser continued to slowly decelerate, drawing ever closer to Tanjiri.
She dressed in a sleeveless lavender tunic and knee-length olive tights, then left the warren, transiting to the gee deck. There, she strolled the empty path that wound among the little parks and the cottages, listening to birdsong while longing for the sound of human voices.
The personnel map reported only Pasha, Vytet, and Urban present, though they were nowhere about.
Nearly all of the ship’s company had chosen to spend the last decades of the passage to Tanjiri in cold sleep. Yet despite their prolonged absence, the gee deck showed no sign of neglect. Every cottage and every garden appeared pristine, kept that way by automated maintenance systems.
Bees hummed, leaves rustled faintly at the touch of a gentle breeze, a hummingbird’s wings buzzed unseen somewhere near by—and Clemantine found herself wondering if it wouldn’t have been wiser to eschew perfection and allow the gardens to overgrow and the cottages to become stained with moss and time . . . to acknowledge the absence of those who ought to live there. As it was, despite the passage of years, the perfection of the deck suggested a recent abandonment, as if everyone had only just been spirited away—and wasn’t that an unsettling thought, one that cast doubt on the reliability of memory. In this book, in which events take place at the Tanjiri solar system and the remnants of shattered Dyson swarms, a living world, an accompanying terraformed moon and a mysteriously tantalizing hint of a celestial city that seems alive (and might have a god even mightier in wisdom and knowledge than Lezuri), Nagata takes her characters and their respective depths to hitherto unseen expanses and the unique and anthropomorphic tint she gave to her artificial intelligence avatar was thoughtful and optimistic. In the same way, she perceived the three entities sharing the chamber with her. The scope of her embedded knowledge allowed her to recognize each one of them. There was the Bio-mechanic, an artificial being herself. Pasha Andern, an exobiologist and engineer who had helped to design her newly aware mind. And Vytet Vahn-Renzani.
Curiosity sparked as the Cryptologist studied Vytet. “I was once you,” she realized. “But no longer.”

Awareness winked on. A disorienting plunge into existence. And a new mind asked its first question: What is this?
The answer came easily: Paradise.
A sense of wonder filled this newborn mind as it perceived the concept of the Universe and its own deep knowledge of the processes that had allowed the astounding creation of which it was a part.
But a question remained, a question that nagged and stung and insisted on solution. A question embodied in the memory of a gleaming incorruptible needle: How can such an impossible thing be possible?
To solve that puzzle was the very reason for existence.
For my existence. I was made for this . . .
She recognized herself then as a discrete being, a virtual entity, an electronic ghost endowed with knowledge but devoid of a past. Nothing more, really, than an intellectual system designed for the singular purpose of discovering and decrypting the hidden mechanism that would allow her to understand and open the needle.
“I am the Cryptologist,” she whispered.
Her simulated eyes opened. Her gaze lifted. She perceived her surroundings with dual senses: visually, as the simulation of a little enclosed chamber, and on a deeper level, as the electronic information structure that defined that chamber. They [A.I. avatars] appear much more introspective and fleshed out, more real people at some long-to-come future and the troubles (both ethical, philosophical and living) they encounter on their ever curious homo sapiens instinct to discover, learn and evolve just as it has been for time immemorial.

Linda Nagata is gifted with the ability in providing a thought provoking narrative and combining awe-inducing scientific speculations couched in a poignant and philosophical nature to tell us unique stories from the same well of the collective unconscious. I highly recommend.favorites-sci-fi reviewed-reads35 s Peter Tillman3,752 416

The third book in her current Inverted Frontier series, and a direct sequel to SILVER, which I d. NEEDLE also has an open ending, with plenty of room for future episodes in this long-running series. I enjoyed reading this episode, and took some notes. And I had a vivid dream about the book, a couple nights after finishing it. All gone now, most dreams, and you may be guessing that I’m struggling to write this review. I usually to write up a book right after finishing it, since my increasingly-erratic memory isn’t getting better, sigh.

I loved the thrillingly strange moments. Characters, the Cryptologist, can be spun off from crew members, then made corporeal. Corporeal characters can themselves spin off "ghosts" and interact with them, and other characters, in the Ship’s Library. ...

If you are new to Nagata, or this series, here is my review of EDGES, the first of the current series: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I d it a lot. Main characters Urban and Clemantine are carried over to this episode, as is the general setting. As always, best to start with the author and publisher’s intro, top of the page. You may want to start with that book, and then perhaps skip over #2 to this one. NEEDLE could also be read as a stand-alone, but you may feel a bit lost until you get up to speed.

So. I d NEEDLE, enjoyed reading it, but was a bit disappointed with the lack of closure. Rating: 3.5 stars, rounded down for that. But still a first-class deep-space adventure!

My thanks to the author for the advanced e-ARC. As always, this doesn’t affect my review. In fact, I was hoping to be able to give her book a higher rating! One reason for putting off writing it. …new-tbp science-fiction11 s John Folk-WilliamsAuthor 5 books15

Needle is the third book in Linda Nagata’s compelling Inverted Frontier series that began with Edges and continued with Silver. This is an epic story of the search for remnants of human civilizations reaching back from the farthest reach of settlement toward the origin of it all. Urban and the crew of the Dragon encounter god- beings and surviving islands of humanity along the way. In Needle, they are entering the Tanjiri system where they find the scattered remnants of a vast structure that once surrounded the star and was destroyed in some great cataclysm.

The god- figure of Lezuri, who had been at the center of action in Silver, has given Urban a needle- rod 12 centimeters in length and containing all his power. But how to open that object and reveal what it contains? And why did Lezuri warn them from even attempting to confront the vast powers within the Tanjiri system? Those are questions that dominate this story. It’s another exciting and absorbing chapter in this deeply involving saga.

I suppose Needle could be read on its own, but it gains considerable power in the context of the greater story arc. And Nagata’s approach to the action is different from typical stories based on battles and martial arts. In these stories, the action is more about the mastery of mind and spirit to control forces greater than any that humans have before survived.

If the setting is new to you, however, the author brilliantly fills in background through essential dramatic action. Urban and Clemantine are leading their crew on the great warship Dragon and its companion Griffin. These ships are living entities, or biomechanical weapons, dominated by partially sentient cells of Chenzeme origin, an alien species intent on destroying every other life form they encounter. Only through vast mental efforts have these single-minded cells been brought under human control, and it takes constant vigilance by Urban, on the bridge of Dragon, and Clemantine on the Griffin to shape the consensus of the cells to follow human directives.

......
Nagata is at her best in sustaining and deepening these complex threats that can endanger the survival of the scattered remnants of human life. Needle brings us one more chapter in the long search for human survivors and clues to understand what led to the great catastrophe that destroyed most human worlds. I hope there will be many more to come. The Inverted Frontier series has a unique power to combine the adventure of galactic-scale exploration and adventure with the intensity of the inner battles of mind to master levels of reality no humans have encountered before.

Read the complete review at SciFi Mind.6 s Julie262 7

A voyage of exploration! This is the 3rd book in the Inverted Frontier series and I think you really need to read the previous books otherwise you would be lost about the history of the characters and events that are referred to. Also: SPOILER ALERT!!! I will probably be referring to things that happened in the previous books.

When Urban and friends encountered Lezuri he warned them that they were not ready to face the Hallowed Vasties, those systems that millennia ago were colonized by humans but then something happened and the suns slowly darkened as giant structures were placed in an orbit surrounding the system, cutting off the light of the sun. Many years later (hundreds, maybe thousands?) there has been a reversal of that previous process and the lights of the stars are shining out again into the void. Urban and friends want to go there, an area they call the "Hallowed Vasties" (why, I don't know, it's such a strange title) and see what's there and if they can find an explanation of what happened. The crew were sidetracked in the last book by a trip to Verilotus but now they are on their way to the Tanjiri system.

There they discover that the system is not totally dead, that there are people still living there. However the "law of unintended consequences" comes back to bite them in the butt later.

Before they arrive at the system Vytet, who had been given the task of trying to unlock the secrets of Lezuri's needle that was given to Urban, decides to make her own Apparatchik similar to Urban's ones and program her's to try to unlock the needle and think outside the box. Here again is an example of something that has good intentions but that pesky "law of unintended consequences" rears it's ugly head again. Vytet's Apparatchik calls herself the Cryptologist and becomes a main character.

Per usual the book is well written, well plotted, no dead spots. The characters are interesting, the situations are intriguing and at the end of course there is an action scene. But beyond that there is what I love about science fiction: the book is more than just a tale it also makes one think about what it means to exist and who we are. And about history and the old adage that "history is written by the victors". There's more things that made me think than I have time to explain but I just want to say that a 5 star book, in my opinion, is the perfect storm of good writing, good plot. good characters, and some idea or ideas that make me think and ponder. This is such a book.5 s James36

Linda Nagata's Inverted Frontier is a stand-out space opera series, and Needle is the best yet. Advanced humans--whose lives are an examination of what it is to be human in a high-tech world--explore the ruins of a star system that was remade and destroyed by god- technology in the far past. Engaging characters. Copious sense of wonder. Very difficult to put down.
hard-sf novel4 s KarlAuthor 21 books5

I have been following Linda Nagata's nanotech stories for years now, and the current series (Inverted Frontier) proves that her style and characterization have lost none of their strength. In fact, this is some of the best work she's released.

While I have a pretty serious Mount TBR, I will always make space for new fiction from Ms. Nagata.2 s Ian Hayhurst12

At 40% I wished it would get going at 95% I was sad it would soon be over. A cracking good read that smelled and tasted the others in this series. Just a little show to get into it's stride IMHO.2 s Anna809 21 Read

Another weird and interesting volume in Nagata’s Nanotech Succession/ Inverted Frontier universe.f-sf2 s Carl16 4

Slick, human and exciting 2 s Charles545 100

The post-humans of the Deception Well Expedition to the “Hallowed Vasties” enter the Tanjiri system, a core system of the ancient human galactic heartland. There they find the remnants of the Technological Singularity that collapsed human civilization. Third book in the Inverted Frontiers series. Story sets up for an additional story arc.

My audiobook version was 11-hours long. It had a US 2023 copyright. A dead tree copy would be 356-pages. Original US copyright was 2022.

Linda Nagata is an American author of science fiction, fantasy novels, and short stories. She has written more than twenty novels in several series. This was the third book in her Inverted Frontier series, which is set in her The Nanotech Succession series universe. I have read several of the author’s books. The last book I read by her was Silver (Inverted Frontier, #2) (my review).

Nicole Poole was the book’s narrator. She’s been the narrator for the series. She did an OK job. Although, her range of character voices was limited. In particular, she had a limited number of male voices. However, in this book of the series, with female characters playing the largest part, this was less noticeable than in previous books.

It is strongly recommended to have read the previous books of the series: Edges (Inverted Frontier, #1), and Silver before attempting this book. Otherwise a lot of context would be lost. For additional context, readers may want to read Vast (The Nanotech Succession #3) before beginning the series. Although, it’s not essential for beginning this series.

I thought the Inverted Frontier concept of this space opera to be brilliant. That’s where the light-speed constricted, far distant, inhabited worlds of the human frontier lose touch with the human, galactic, heartland. In the 3-books of this series, The Deception Well expedition journeys inward from the human frontier for hundreds of years in real-time to investigate the absence of the human civilization. Adventures ensue. This book fully explains that absence. While I d the Space Opera aspect of this series, this book has exposed the series as the beginning of a Never Ending Quest. The Deception Well expedition is ly going to skip from system to system; book-by-book-by-book. That bit of serial fiction is frankly very boring to this reader.

Nagata is a skilled author. This book was well written. Although, I did notice a fair amount of repetition. For example, a main male character (Urban), too frequently wore “his pirate smile”. I was also uncertain what a "piratical smile" might look ? Yet, her descriptive and action sequences were very good.

Plotting was an issue. I had the expectation that the series would end with this book. However, it was really, the end of a story arc. As such, it spent a peculiarly long amount of time jetting about in the Tanjiri system, before getting to the conclusion. When the end arrived, it amounted to, “We’re done here. We’re now going to journey on to another star system.” To say the ending was anticlimactic, would be an understatement.

What I d about this series was it was hard-ish science fiction. It eschews the TV-grade Standard Science Fiction Setting trope, with its: Warp Drives, Artificial Gravity Generators, and Pew, Pew, Pew of lazer blasters. There were also no snarky robots or androids. That is, the laws of physics applied. Both realistic space science and a sophisticated model of: computer-based systems, AI, Brain Uploading and nanotech were used. Although, with the nanotech, a Any technology significantly advanced is indistinguishable from magic infiltrated a fantasy genre element into the story. I wish Nagata could have resisted this Slipstream genre temptation?

However, this series was never more than serial fiction. Its greatest weakness was its dependence on the re-cycling of characters and world building from both the parent Nanotech Succession series’ and other books. Occasional, new characters were gen’d-up, but those were primarily for the stops along the quest.

With this story, the main Quest Character, The Cryptologist, was more interesting than previous ones. She was a synthetic female personality, based on a brilliant, physical gender-bending (they had the tech too quickly and easily change gender), scientist. She was a focused personality, tasked to investigate an artifact of the singularity that defied the post-human’s abilities. She reminded me of a high-functioning person with Autistic Syndrome Disorder (ASD). I thought her, gradual humanization, and eventual fate to be mostly well done.

A problem that persisted with me, was that the post-human, uploadable, personalities from Deception Well were hundreds of years old, if not Millennia years old in real-time. This was despite being 'turned-off' for long periods. They could easily have manipulated and augmented their minds to the best of future millennia-old psychology and psychiatry. I would assume they would all be, brilliant, Old Souls by now? (They weren't.) They were as flawed as normal, non-Post-humans. Which is to say that Nagata had a failure of imagination. Her post-humans were not Post Human enough.

I d Needle because it wrapped-up the mystery of “the missing human civilization”. I also d the inherited Nanotech Succession series’ books scientific world building. I would have much preferred an original series, with new characters, and the same exceptionally good level of worldbuilding. The 3-books of this series were an extension to the author's previous work. This was just a story arc, appended to the author’s Nanotech Succession series, and setting-up for an additional story arc to follow Inverted Frontiers. It extends it to a 10+ book work serial fiction—a never ending story. There are just not enough things I d about this series for me to become invested in more of the same.

Readers interested in stories similar to this, would enjoy reading, Charles Stross’, Eschaton Series, starting with Singularity Sky .5 s Ry HermanAuthor 4 books39

This is perhaps the best book so far in the Inverted Frontier series, which was already brimming with interesting concepts. The addition of the Cryptologist as a character adds a lot to the book, both to the narrative and to the thematic thrust. I also d seeing characters we know well behaving not at their best; Urban's tendencies towards selfishness, secrecy, and paranoia in particular are highlighted here. It's a thought-provoking read, and I'm looking forward to the next one.science-fiction space-opera1 Steve GarriottAuthor 1 book13

The incredible world-building and technological marvels in this space opera continue to be awe-inspiring! The adventures of Urban and the crews of the Dragon and Griffin build to an exciting finish in yet another wonderful novel by Nagata. She never disappoints.1 Mikael20

I love this series. Nagata has created such a unique setting. I really hope there will be more books to come.science-fiction1 MJ Paxton13

Following the events of Edges and Silver, the starship Dragon‘s fleet (powered by an uncomfortable mix of alien and human technology) continues to search for other survivors of the galaxy-wide extinction event. The Tanjiri system is promising – ruins of orbital megastructures, an Earth- world, and a living moon offer hope to the crew of the Dragon. But will they find new allies and the answers they seek, or will caution and mutual distrust set them on the path to destruction?

I love the world (universe?) of Inverted Frontier; from the idea of being able to share memories between a virtual ghost & physical avatar to the effect of incredibly large times and distances on human dramas to nanotechnology as space magic, it’s my favorite transhumanist space opera. Nagata does a wonderful job of setting human dramas against the challenges and opportunities emerging from intragalactic exploration. Communication delays and transit times shift from logistical details to key elements in a thriller, and the characters struggling to make the best decision based on limited information makes the climax both gripping and relatable.

One theme of Needle that I found very interesting was the trend of consensus-based anarchical small societies drifting towards hierarchy or oligarchy (despite telling themselves otherwise). At first I thought this might be a function of storytelling – it’s much easier to tell the stories of a half-dozen people and make them feel equally significant than to do so for fifty or a hundred. As the book goes on, though, some of the groups call out their plot-movers for making unilateral decisions, making me think that Nagata is exploring the theme deliberately. It’s interesting to think about these problems in the context of the 21st century: if just one person in a town believes QAnon conspiracy theories and has access to firearms, they have power to make a choice that affects everyone else in the community. If a social media site is flawed but working in a way that most people are ok with, nothing stops a whimsical billionaire from gutting its infrastructure and empowering bigots. With technology making us all so powerful as individuals (in some ways), is there a society small enough that you could trust all the other members?

I’ve already mentioned loving Inverted Frontier’s mix of space opera, transhumanism, and physics. Needle adds the difficulties of human dynamics to this, and makes for a great sci-fi thriller. You may benefit from reading the first two books in the series before jumping in, but if any of this sounds up your alley then it’s well worth your time.sci-fi transhumanism Cary179 7

Quite unexpectedly -- in that the notification of it came relatively shortly before its publication compared to most other books -- the third book in decidedly-un-Asian-looking Linda Nagata's Inverted Frontier series came out in June of this year. I really d the first two installments: far future, crazy physics, a rich setting.

Book three lives up to my experience of one and two. It adds a lot of exploration of personal identity and what constitutes human in a world were virtual subselves, called ghosts in the books, can be instantiated at will, but with altered personalities, and whose experiences will be integrated back into the 'real' (whatever that means!) you.

Most importantly for fans of the series, it advances the story in some interesting ways as well as develops the main characters further. Nagata also introduced a new character through which the some of those identity and humanity questions are explored, and who I think was my favorite of the book.

The prose was a bit rough in places. One notable bit of ugliness that stuck in my head as it was near the end: A shiver radiated across the still-expanding expanse of her mind. Expanding expanse? Really? Urgh. I mean, just off the top of my head, without looking at a thesaurus: “expanding vista” or “blossoming expanse.” I'm surprised none of the several reviewers and proofreaders mentioned in the acknowledgements said anything about this.

But, hey, not everyone can be a master prose stylist, of course, and it's equally obvious that being one isn't necessary to tell a good story. And the Inverted Frontier series is a good story.

The icing on the cake, though, is in Nagata's afterword. She's planning to write two more book in the series to wrap it up. Color me pleased as punch.
far-future fiction science-fiction Rachel1,652 33

It's so great to get back to this series! Urban, Clemantine, Vytet, Pasha, and the others are in fine form as they get to the place where they hope to find out what happened. Jolly from the silver planet has joined them, and there are also several young shipborn people. Vytet spins off an Apparatchik designed to do whatever it needs to find the needle's secret, including change its nature. The Apparatchik names itself The Cryptologist, grows itself a body, and, as designed, is obsessed with finding the needle's secret.

They make it to the ruins and wonders of Tanjiri, where they find settlements of more-or-less shipwrecked humans and some clues that higher intelligences are present. Jolly and Urban have the silver in them, and the Cryptologist wants it too, in the service of figuring out the needle.

So, they have adventures and learn some things. But...not much, given the scope of the unknown. I didn't totally understand what eventually happened with the needle, and whatever happened was a bit anticlimactic. Otherwise, I'd have given the book five stars; I love this series and almost anything Nagata writes. Maybe she's saving the bigger reveals for later books in the series. I hope so.sf-fantasy Reader074852

I found this book weaker than the two previous ones. There is an interesting new character, the Cryptologist, that is part an artificial intelligence and part a mix of two human passengers. I how this new character gives us some insight on how humanity struggled to define "human" in the past when their technology advanced to AI. This conflict is never directly mentioned in the books so far, but is hidden in the context and how characters interact and react to the Cryptologist.

Next to this, the plot has much more action that the previous books. There is a longer action part with fighting and nearly dying for the good cause, but I did not enjoy that part much. I am more interested in exploring the effects of technology on society than on firing lasers. Especially as the writing of those parts is not as good as many other authors that focus on this. Clyde867 52

Another good book in the series. Linda Nagata has an awesome imagination. (This is one of her far-future books. She also does fantasy and near-future techno-thrillers equally as well.)
Our intrepid crew continue their dangerous exploration of what was previously human space with surprising results.
This is not a stand-alone story. One needs to start with Edges. (Or, you could push it even farther back. Vast is also a very good book and it tells the earlier adventures of a couple of the main characters in the Inverted Frontier series.)
Good SF. Solid 4 stars.action post-human-entities science-fiction Stefan83

Normally I'd review a series this by rating all the books the same since I sort of see them as one continuous story. But in this case they all feel a bit different.

Edges (book 1): Fascinating, interesting premise, well executed. The molecular tech and the exploration of ghosts and cloning is fantastic.
Silver (book 2): Great continuation, high stakes, lots of new stuff, exciting.
Needle (book 3): Disappointing, the story felt... smaller. Not as much happened, this was a little more boring. And the needle itself was so unsatisfying I felt ripped off.

I'll still read book 4 when it's released, though. But I hope it's better than book 3. Mark137 20

Picking this up now as book 4 is out. I'm glad to be able to move straight onto that as this feels a middle-installment.
Nagata is a badly-underrated writer, and this series really deserves more attention. It's really imaginative post-human space opera, with an emphasis on these post-human's attempts to stay in touch with their humanity. There's a fascinating thread in here about the morality and effects of being able to copy and alter yourself that I'd have d to see more direct examination of. Onto book 4 and (I hope) some more explanation of the mysteries of the setting! Randy French47 6

I loved it. I've read most of her books and Vast is one of my favorites of all time, a periodic re-read. I waited for a sequel to it for a long time all the while doubtful it could be as good. While these may not be as good, I really don't care. The continued story is entertaining and I loved the sequels!! I wanted to give it something between 4 & 5 LOL. I suppose I just wish it could have been longer - which is what I always want :) .
I hope the sequels are a 1000 pages long... Randy French1 review

Can't wait for the next 2

I loved it. I've written most of her books and Vast is one of my favorites of all time, a periodic reread. I waited for a sequel to it for a long time all the while doubtful it could be as good. While these may not be as good, I really don't care. The continued story is entertaining and i loved the sequels!! Doug Paterson8 1 follower

Great read with good action

Very much enjoyed this latest book in the inverted frontier series. Urban and the gang are still busy being explorers on their captured ship Dragon. It’s all under control until it isn’t. Exciting Sci-fi with thoughtfulness. John May165 1 follower

This is probably the best of a the Inverted Frontier books so far. The transhuman crew of the Dragon finally make it into the remains of one of the "hallowed vasties" to explore the remains of the dyson sphere that was in that system. Lots of great tension and mystery.epic kindle multi-pov ...more Chris66

Excellent, well written. I very much enjoyed reading this new adventure in the Inverted Frontier. Love the characters. Fast moving, very engaging. This universe is very detailed. What humans have evolved into is amazing. The universe they explore is described in details that enhance the story. High tech but a human story. Looking forward to more in this series. Nicolae Dulcan176

Needle!
This story is amazing! The drama, the technology and the characters just feel right.
It is a blend between human politics, alien technology and very advanced human technology.
Similar with the previous books in this series the ending promises new adventures which is awesome! Bob169 2

I d it as a continuation of a good series but this particular book I found to have large portions of which the story was predictable which for me lessened the experience somewhat. But overall it was still a very good experience Todd Morris70 9 Read

DID NOT read the Kindle edition, but the ebook. I would add that, but Amazon no longer allows users to do so. :/ Linz14 3

I'm just speechless. Burns Cheadle127 2

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