M. R. Carey got his start as a successful creator of comics, most notably in Marvel’s X-Men series. He has since written more than a dozen novels, including The Girl with All the Gifts (2014). In Infinity Gate, Carey creates a near-future multiverse that demonstrates that dystopias come in several flavors.
We begin in a dystopian Lagos, Nigeria, its university depopulated as gang violence threatens the campus. A physicist, Hadiz Tambuwal, works alone with only the newly emerged AI to help her. When her work on quantum mechanics reveals an undeveloped alternate Earth, she hopes its resources can be used to solve her own world’s problems. But the multiverse has already developed several uber-states of its own. When a large multi-world bureaucracy called the Pandominion spots her, she becomes the lynchpin in a multi-world, multi-species power struggle.
I highly recommend Paul Di Filippo’s review in Locus (https://locusmag.com/2023/04/paul-di-filippo-reviews-infinity-gate-by-m-r-carey/) in which he rightly compares Infinity Gate to such diverse works as Keith Laumer’s Worlds of the Imperium, William Gibson’s Peripheral, Ian McDonald’s Everness, and even Richard Adams Watership Down.
The second volume in the series is due out later this spring. ( )

While I've been aware of Mike Carey for awhile, certainly since "The Girl with all the Gifts," I also admit that none of his work was all that appealing to me from a thematic basis; then this novel came out. On the whole I was quite impressed, though it does take a bit of time for the story to ramp up, particularly until one gets through the inevitably dreary opening portion dealing with planetary environmental collapse on an Earth that may or may not be our own. Whatever else you want to say about Carey, with a dozen or so novels under his belt, he is nothing if not polished. Apart from dealing with the multiverse theme, and the lies imperialists tell themselves, there is an aspect of this book that makes me think of "The Forever War," though this story stands on a generation of modern, wide-screen, science fiction. I'm looking forward to the follow-up book. ( )

2023 book #40. 2023. An Earth woman discovers how to travel to alternate earths and finds a vast multiverse empire in the early stages of a war with another multiverse empire run by machines. Good story, good characters. First of a series. ( )

Damned good read. Eager for the sequels! ( )

This reads as it is, the first book in a trilogy. I enjoyed it immensely, but have given it only 4 of 5 stars due to its incompleteness. Some opening volumes for trilogies end on a more definite point, the immediate threat ended, or the main isue resolved, with hints of trouble ahead. This ends more like a first chapter in a very long novel, its main function being to gather together the main characters for the story to come.

The premise is deceptively simple. Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal, in trying to find a way to save her dying Earth from out-of-control climate change, stumbles upon the discovery of the multiverse, and the Step technology that can take her to and from any of the millions of alternate Earths. Unbeknownst to her as she explores multiple Earths, seeking a solution for her Earth's dilemma, she comes to the attention of the Pandominion, a political and trade alliance of multiple Earths that maintains order through its military force: the Cielo.

The prose is very accessible, except for some early techno talk, and there is a fascinating variety in the multiverse, with many, many Earths where simians were not the species that evolved to become the dominant lifeform. There is also a nice variety of AIs to deal with. The characters all seem real, and my favorite is Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills, an adolescent rabbit who I hope plays an even larger role in book 2, due to be published in 2024. I am eagerly looking forward to reading how the rest of the story plays out. ( )