Scifi novel with super-intelligent humans, interdimensional travel and a school for potential enhancees

Question

I read a sci-fi novel whilst on a teaching assignment in Guernsey in 2014.

I regret only skimming the book because I was so busy and would like to read it fully now that I am retired. Here's what I remember.

It starts in the present, pretty much. The Moon and Mars have been terra-formed and settled. Some humans choose to have genetically enhanced brains which makes them super intelligent and they eventually master inter-dimensional travel and plan to set up home in some other dimension having become disillusioned with our world. For some reason this threatens our existence (can't remember why). There are no aliens as such, just branches of humanity that have been adapted to living on other planets, thus some have become virtual aliens.

I recall a lot of reference to the Einstein-Rosen bridge. The heroine of the story lives many lifetimes, taking up to 30 year time-outs to marry and live normal lives with normal humans with normal life spans. (I think she is a mathematician) the medics also conquer, more or less, old age. Near the beginning of the story she sets up some kind of school for potential enhancement candidates.

If anybody can give me this title I will be so grateful as I want to read this properly and enjoy every line.

The cover was predominently red and it was a thick book -- I would guess 500 pages or more. My best guess is that it was written post 2000. It may have the word "millennium" or "500" in the title but that could just be my brain playing tricks.

The author, whoever he/she may be, was IMHO a gifted story teller and not a newcomer to the genre.

Answer 1

Could it be Judas Unchained, 2nd book in the Commonwealth Saga by British Sci-Fi writer Peter F. Hamilton? It follows the first book called Pandora's Star.

The Saga begins in 2380, the human race has had wormhole technology for over 300 years thanks to the work of Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaacs, and has colonised several hundred planets across hundreds of light years. On a distant planet, Astronomer Dudley Bose performs the first detailed observations of an astronomical event known as the Dyson Pair Enclosure. Two stars, located roughly 1,000 light years from Earth (750 light years from the edge of Commonwealth space), seemingly disappeared some time earlier. The theory is that they have been enclosed inside Dyson spheres.

....

Primes had colonised Dyson Beta using slower-than-light starships and enslaved its native inhabitants in the process. Disconnected from their originating immotile groupings, Beta's Primes started to routinely alter themselves through genetic manipulation and mechanical augmentation and therefore were referred to as alienPrimes by the Alpha Primes. As they were no longer under the control of Alpha's Primes, a war began between the two systems. The war appears to have continued until the barrier was erected around the stars by forces unknown.

One item which does not match is there being no aliens.

Non-human sentient civilisations have been encountered by the Commonwealth in its expansion through the Galaxy. The most prominent of these are the elf-like Silfen, who appear to eschew most forms of technology, as well as any participation in the politics or events of the Galaxy. The Silfen choose instead to wander across uncharted alien worlds on Paths, the Silfen equivalent of wormholes. The High Angel is an enormous sentient starship of unknown origin, acting as home for several colonies of alien species, most of which keep themselves away from humans. The Raiel are the exception to this – a race of large, somewhat self-satisfied creatures, capable of immensely complex computational calculations. All of the species encountered up to the start of the novel are peaceful, though few impart useful information to the Commonwealth.

I Googled "Einstein-Rosen mentioned in Science Fiction novels" and found this possible match in the list. I know how frustrating it can be to try to refind a book you once read. Good luck on your quest and happy reading!