Poseidon's Wake

Poseidon's Wake is a science fiction novel by the Welsh writer Alastair Reynolds, published by Gollancz in April 2015 as the conclusion of his Poseidon's Children sequence.

The trilogy follows humanity and its descendants over several centuries as they expand into the galaxy, and this volume is a loose sequel to On the Steel Breeze rather than a direct continuation, with a number of recurring characters and a story that can be read on its own. Reynolds submitted the manuscript in late 2014, finished his revisions the following month and had the cover art and the release date announced at the start of 2015, which is a faster schedule than his earlier books had. The novel's interest is in the consequences of a discovery that is older than the human species and indifferent to it, and in the institutions and ships that a civilisation sends when it decides to go and look. His earlier work established him as one of the leading writers of hard science fiction in Britain, and this trilogy takes the same care over the physics while moving the scale of the story up to the history of the galaxy.