Great Theorem - Help name the Sci-fi book read long ago

Question

I'm trying to find a book I read long back. This book may have won a Hugo/Nebula (Trust me I've googled to death this one!).

Don't remember much of the story (that's why I want to re-read it). What I remember is that some of the powers in the book are called "Gods". And they have brains the size of the planets (or planets being their brains).

The protagonist in the climax, solves a theorem (The Great Theorem, perhaps) by remembering one of the obscure theorems (Jacuzi (?)) and incorporating it. This [Great] theorem helps spaceships helps find the shortest route from point A to B. He surprises the antagonist by reaching the vantage point quickly with the help of his new knowledge, and blasts his enemy's spaceship.

The ending of the book - as I remember it is - that the protagonist wants to become a God himself.

Please let me know the title & author of this book if you've read it.

PS #1: BTW, It's not Asimov's The Gods Themselves :) PS #2: It's published at the least before 1998

Answer 1

Great theorem… wouldn't it be Neverness by David Zindell by any chance? Helps spaceships find the shortest route… Discovered while in hot pursuit… Yes, that's definitely Neverness. The gods with brains the size of a planet are I think a jumbled recollection, but I don't remember enough details to describe it. Published in 1998, hasn't won any award that I or Wikidia knows of, but it is based on a novelette, Shanidar, that earned Zindell a nomination for a Hugo for best new writer in 1986.