Linda Nagata's novel VAST concerns a small group of Humans who having escaped the Chenzeme warships which scour the galaxy destroying planets and civilizations infected with the Cult virus. It is a quest on the Null Boundary to find the possibly long extinct Chenzeme's homeworld. Space travel in this novel is not faster than light and subsequently the few remaining crew spend time either in deep coldsleep or ghosting. Lot, Urban, Clemantine and Deneb are the only four people in corporeal form onboard but the fifth character Letto is the Null Boundary's virtual personality. This virtual in order to keep sane in the long absence of company wipes its mind every ninety seconds. Even with a Chenzeme warship chasing them down for the previous one hundred fifty years and gaining incrementally their is no feel of panic from the crew. Space travel will be slow, long, boring and arduous and this is deliberately represented. The interaction between the crew members is partially reflected in this but this novel which is set in a series does not really inspire me to go out and buy any of them. To a very large extent the pace of the novel is slow punctuated by brief moments of terror. It's never going to be a classic.

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