In “Beyond the Aquila Rift”, Alastair Reynolds takes the reader to the outermost limits of human understanding. When a routine faster-than-light jump goes awry, a deep-space transport crew awakens in an unfamiliar part of the galaxy, centuries from home. Awaiting them is a reunion both comforting and impossible, and a truth that lies beyond the limits of perception.

Reynolds is known for his far-future visions and hard science fiction. Here, he threads that scientific realism through a story tinged with psychological unease and cosmic horror, as the crew confronts the shifting boundary between reality and illusion.