"The last message of a dying alien world. A new technology offering unlimited possibilities with catastrophic consequences. A 22-nd Century collision between an ecological revolution and the fading remnants of corporate power. Exiled CEO, Scientist, Warrior, Monk, and Corporate Clone: thrown together on an odyssey circling the Ten Directions of the solar system and of the human spirit. Can they find redemption for mistakes made lifetimes ago in a galaxy far away?"--Back cover. "An alien transmission grants a maverick tycoon the knowledge to create wormhole technology that could revitalize a dysfunctional Earth. After a disastrous global financial collapse, visionary entrepreneur August Bridges (of a company called Mirtopik) partially revived the world economy with a cryptocurrency called the "eco," based on offsetting greenhouse gases and global warming. But his other pet project--which isn't embraced by his treacherous Russian partners--is to elevate mankind by establishing radiotelescope contact with advanced aliens and asking for the secret to faster-than-light travel. His dream seemingly comes true when a faraway aquatic civilization transmits blueprints of instantaneous travel via space-time wormholes. But soon afterward, those same aliens are engulfed by a black hole when their method fails. They manage to transmit a final, dire warning to Earth, but that message is suppressed by shadowy forces on Earth. Winburn's plot follows the vainglorious Bridges and several other key players--a Tibetan monk orbiting Neptune, a driven exobiologist on Mars trying to save the only native ecosystem, a young woman rising in the ranks in Mirtopik security--who are all conflicted about or acting as pawns in the deployment of Bridges' hazardous scheme. Another key player is a jazz-loving clone whose barely legal status as a human entity seems to drive him to play an extreme game of manipulation and deceit. Debut author Winburn consistently impresses with a thoughtful 22nd-century saga that draws on such common sci-fi tropes as interplanetary corporate skullduggery, first contact with aliens, and the unintended effects of groundbreaking tech--all done before by others, but here quilted together into a transfixing narrative. Some may find the sequel-hook open ending to be a letdown after such an inspired launch; others may wonder if it fulfills the occasional Buddhist precepts in the story's multicultural mosaic, which deny neat, simple wrap-ups. In an introduction, the author explains how his own Buddhism flavored the novel; the resulting novel isn't a heavy religious tract, but the density of its ideas and themes could fill many a meditation."--Kirkus Review.