Neverness

{{Short description|1988 novel by David Zindell}}

{{italic title}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox book

| isbn = 0-917657-97-7

| pub_date = March 1988

| isbn_note = (limited ed.){{Break}}{{ISBNT|0-246-13435-6}} (hardcover)

| publisher = {{Ubl

|Donald I. Fine (limited ed.)

|Grafton (hardcover)

}}

| author = David Zindell

| congress = PS3576.I5183N4 1988

| dewey = 813/.54

| followed_by = The Broken God

}}

Neverness is a science fiction novel by American writer David Zindell, published in 1988. The related novelette "Shanidar" won the Writers of the Future contest in 1985.

Neverness concerns a far-future world where interstellar travel is controlled by a group of mathematicians called pilots, because of their abilities to do the calculations needed for space travel, and posthuman or AI computer brains called "gods" rule much of the galaxy. It follows the deeds of Mallory Ringess, a young pilot, as he travels through the universe and discovers secrets and strangeness. He encounters a god, lives as a Neanderthal caveman, and eventually discovers that the lord of the pilots' order is thousands of years old and immortal, and that enlightened aliens have hidden profound secrets in humanity's genes. Zindell has said that it was partly based on Le Morte d'Arthur, with the pilots as "knights zipping around the universe in search of the Holy Grail".{{cite web |title=Storms of Numbers, Chalices of Light: an interview with David Zindell |url=http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intdz.htm |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=infinityplus.co.uk}}

Mark Spencer praised the book for its unusual approach to showing an unfamiliar world, and the complexity of its story.{{cite web |author=Mark Spencer |title=Neverness by David Zindell (book review) |url=http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/nevern.htm |publisher=Infinity Plus}}

The novel won the Gigamesh Award for best novel in 1991,{{cite web |title=Premios Gigamesh |url=http://www.gigamesh.com/historicopremios.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101221243/http://www.gigamesh.com/historicopremios.html |archivedate=January 1, 2013 |accessdate=March 15, 2013 |publisher=Ediciones Gigamesh |language=Spanish}} and Zindell was nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 1986. Gene Wolfe described Zindell as "one of the finest talents to appear since Kim Stanley Robinson and William Gibson—perhaps the finest",{{cite web |title=Neverness |url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/z/david-zindell/neverness.htm |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=Fantastic Fiction}} and David Barrett described its style as "poetic prose that is a joy to read".{{cite web |title=Review: Space opera for the 1990s |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13618425-300-review-space-opera-for-the-1990s/ |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=newscientist.com}}