The actual star : a novel / Monica Byrne.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler's Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) crafts an unforgettable piece of speculative fiction about where humanity came from, where we are now, and where we're going--and how, in every age, the same forces that drive us apart also bind us together.

"A stone-cold masterpiece."--New Scientist

The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents--telling three powerful tales a thousand years apart, all of them converging in the same cave in the Belizean jungle.

Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne of a Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion, racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate--until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Byrne's latest (after The Girl in the Road, 2014) is a fascinating and intricately woven piece of speculative fiction. The story jumps between the years 1012, 2012, and 3012, showcasing characters whose lives and destinies are connected each time. Year 1012 features the last twin rulers of a kingdom in present-day Belize in extensively researched sections, while the far-future depicts a world that has survived catastrophe and developed a radically different society. As in Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series, a default she/her set of pronouns is used in the future but here also has deep religious meaning. The 3012 setting also features a world using marvelous though invasive technology, widespread genetic manipulation, and near-utopian communalism to sustain a nomadic lifestyle for the remaining eight million inhabitants of the planet. Byrne's work delves into themes about entropy, destiny, how place affects us as we change the world, and the search for meaning. But it is also a thoroughly human work where ambition, loneliness, love, and the need to belong resonate, no matter the year. Complex and captivating.