I think D. Taylor has a knack for writing Average Joe stories where they get wrapped up in some fantastic voyage. This was an enjoyable read and true to form, however I think I was enjoying it far more before they found the artefact.

I would have actually loved to hear a space miner story. This is the near future day to day that authors should begin to explore.

I guess what happened afterwards was not so much the story telling that got me down - that, like all of Taylor's works is light hearted and fun, sprinkled with a sense of 'oh, shit!'. But, the endgame and ultimate fate of the universe just doesn't make sense.

If you're going to speak about the drake equation and the Fermi paradox, then solve that by using 3 great filters - fine. I follow you there. But you can't just say "this is why we don't see biological life" and call it a day. None of thses things are speaking about biological life specifically, they are investigating intelligence. When you have a galactic war between immortal machines capable of solar system wide terraforming and AI who definitely use physical resources: then you will certainly have signs of intelligences.

That simple fact undermines the premise of the story, and I can't shake it. Thus, a 3 star review for a very enjoyable read.