In a society that can practically live forever, a reclusive genius is called to the inner solar system to save humanity as a ring of black holes threatens to fall into the sun.

The entire book centers on the technological innovations of rejuvenation, duplication, and the ability to create mini black holes that can transport people faster than light. Once that novelty wears off, though, the characters themselves are not so interesting, and the author spends way too much time articulating tiny details and every feeling possible. Despite the cool solar system they live in, the story is dull. However, the author had many interesting and relevant observations about humanity, which he successfully worked into the text at times. Marching up a mountain on a Terraforming Venus doesn’t make for great dramatic effect, and neither does combing through the house of a murdered friend, even if his multiple copies are being targeted. I can only recall one scene that was truly interesting and engaging, and that was the rescue of Deliah on the grapple station. The climactic finale isn’t so climactic, and I found Bruno’s opposite copy to be more annoying than interesting. There are definitely pieces left for future books to clean up, but I won’t be joining them on that journey.

The first few pages paint an interesting picture, as Bruno can walk the circumference of his planet in the outer solar system in a couple of hours. It’s an interesting effect that allows people to seem short just due to the curvature of the planet, differences in gravity, and so on. Bruno’s house also talks to him, and he has serving robots. But what he really wants is to be left alone, and take care of his experiments in quantum physics. A long time ago, he invented collapsium, a super-heavy material that is in effect made up of black holes. The invention is central to the story, hence the title, but the physics don’t really matter. There might be some real-world elements to this, as the author provides references, but I didn’t follow it up. I was along for the ride, and the collapsium provided interesting elements. A network of collapsium grids can provide transportation.

Marlon Sykes used these nodes to allow people correct their bodily problems every time they go through these gateways. It allows rejuvenation, repairs tissue to the last known state, and can even make copies so people can be more efficient.

The book is very long, for it’s about the character of Bruno, his relationship with the solar system, especially since he used to be consort to the Queen. I liked Tamra and the way she could handle Bruno. The power structure of the solar system was very interesting, and allowed the author to make generalized observations of humanity. Tamra is Queen, but she has no power. Bruno observes how people really just needed a leader to praise during good times and to blame in bad times. She can vouch for projects, but can’t authorize anything, nor can she access the money or go to war. There’s a long history of how this came to be, how she met Bruno, and how Bruno was traumatized by an earthquake that killed his parents when he was young.

The author also gets to be whimsical, and I managed to laugh a few times, like when he said Tamra was proclaimed the Virgin Queen of the Solar System, but nobody asked her how she liked the virgin part, especially given that people can essentially live forever, thanks to Marlon’s invention.

The book takes place in three parts, each longer than the other. It also provides several appendices, one with a description of unusual terms (some feel like material cut from the main text), some about the physics of collapsium (I can’t tell if it’s really based on reality or not), and other stuff.

In part one, Bruno is called back to the solar system from his homemade planet in the outer reaches to solve a problem with the Collapsiter Ring that Marlon has been building, which would allow instant transportation and communication anywhere in the solar system. The Ring is falling, and through interactions with the infinitesimally small black holes, quantum physics dictates that even atoms will be swallowed randomly every so often, causing the black holes to grow, and it would eventually swallow up the sun.

While Bruno is thinking about the problem, and the failed solutions they’ve already tried, he’s invited to supper on Venus, which is being terraformed. He makes a fool of himself, being 80 years out of date with society, but manages to meet some respectable people, most of whom will remain nameless, as they didn’t make an impression on me. Marlon, however, is jealous of the attention Bruno is getting, even though his invention is as widely known as Bruno’s. Deciding to take a look at the collapsiter ring from the planet, he takes a silly parade up the tallest mountain on Venus, where they can breathe thanks to the terraforming. He sees the sails Marlon and the Queen put up to slow the fall, and designs a modification on the spot that will stabilize the ring.

The second part of the story sees Bruno called back to the inner solar system, but not before Tamra seduces him on his own planet, reminding of how things used to be. The collapsiter has been sabotaged, and Daliah wants Bruno’s help as the only one she can trust. So Bruno goes back, putting his experiments on hold. While he’s there, he meets copies of Marlon and a technician named Deliah. Both of these copies are murdered, and it looks like somebody plans to murder all of Marlon’s copies, which frightens him a lot. A small ship is blasting away at parts of the collapsiter ring, and then Marlon’s space station home.

We are introduced to Vivian, a brilliant teenaged girl whose much older older body was accidentally destroyed, and this is the only saved copy they could find in the Royal library. Her mind is as sharp as anything, but people have trouble taking her seriously. We also meet Constable Cheng, who helps in the investigation. The murder turns out to be an insane copy of Marlon himself. With him now dead, they manage to stabilize the ring again, and the attacks seem to stop.

At the end of part 1, the fax machine (transporter) created an unknown duplicate of Bruno, which was a very strange way to leave off, especially since it doesn’t come into the second part at all. The clone turns up in the third part, as Bruno decides he’s been missing out on society, and that his life’s work might not be worth it after all. He’d planned to have a thousand year experiment to use collapsium and wellstone (a silicone-based material that can mimic anything) to see the end of time. A strange notion, but why not, when people can essentially live forever. He’s created a sun and covered it with collapsium, so his planet is dying.

But when his copy shows up with news that Marlon Sykes is bent on jealous revenge, and has turned his copy against him, he opens his network to news from the inner solar system, only to find that the collapsiter grid has been destroyed, that grapple stations are being flung out of the system, and that the mini black holes are strewn around, ready to fall into the sun, destroying everything.

Even the clone’s appearance has been timed to provide Bruno with the need to get into the solar system and rescue Tamra, who is stuck on a grapple station. The clone is so pathetic, so tortured, that he calls himself Muddy, and is annoyingly groveling for this entire section of the book. However, he’s still Bruno, which means he can design a spaceship by himself, and do complex calculations that provide them the means to rendezvous with Deliah, being flung away, then head back toward Mercury.

I liked the way they created an “ertial” drive, being the opposite of inertial. It allowed them to negate gravity and travel at intense speeds, as long as they were strapped to their couches and didn’t try to move. They use this drive in what was probably the most exciting part of the book, Deliah’s rescue. Once she is on board their ship, they race to the inner system, easily tracking Tamra’s location. Unfortunately, Tamra sacrificed herself to save others, and since the solar system is in chaos, the Royal library doesn’t have a copy of her, either.

So Muddy and Bruno pick up the survivors, which includes Vivian (ten years older now) and Cheng. They are chased by Marlon’s beam-ship, from which he tells them he’s figured out Bruno’s experiment –he can destroy the sun to show them the end of time! Bruno finds a way to defeat the beam-ship, and traces it back to Mercury, where he has to jump through deadly games to get to Marlon. He, Muddy and Cheng succeed, of course, and Bruno ends up killing Marlon’s last copy, then zaps all of the mini black holes. The last one enters the sun, so Muddy redeems himself by following it into the sun to destroy it.

Being the hero, Bruno is elected King of the solar system, something that will take time away from his experiments, and something he’s bound to hate. But then they find a lost copy of Tamra, who will not take up the Queenship again, but I think she’ll be his consort.

It’s too bad the book took so long to get anywhere, and I’m not sure it even did that much. The science was heavy, but I’m okay with that. The characters were so introspectful that it was hard to read at times. Just characters alone makes for a dull story, even in such an interesting setting. Unfortunately, the author’s tone did nothing to enamor me to this world, so I will be leaving it behind.