Death by Paradox

After A Planet Called Happiness, Robinson's multi-millennia trilogy about Earth's galactic explorers concludes by following the far-flung family of one of Earth's original 22nd-century pioneers. Readers will also be pleased to finally encounter the aliens who seeded worlds with the planet-spanning vine that created the mysterious Tattoo People. Daughter Elsenia resumes her explorer tradition, parents Druix and Ilsa meet an unusual foe back on far-future Earth, and twins Vega and Deneb are taken on a stranger path. Meanwhile, luckless explorers Max and Sadie, long lost thanks to a run-in with pirates, meet the aggressive aliens who created the vine and want to claim the galaxy for themselves. Robinson's final volume still covers thousands of years of travelers being "frozen" in magnetic fields but narrows the focus from exploration and settlement to the gathering fight for the worlds populated by humans and Tattoo People. While this novel feels more episodic, with much of the epic nature missing this time around, the worldbuilding (including Earth itself) and science remain solid, suitably for a book included in the Science Fiction by Scientists series, and the conclusion will satisfy series fans. (Oct.)