A review by thekingbee
The Eternal Flame by Greg Egan

5.0

I like generation following books. In this sequel to the clockwork rocket, we look in detail into the lives of people of the third generation of travelers. Overpopulation leads to single gender famine and infanticide. They make great technological advances in this book, some of which could destroy or save their society. Their women die in childbirth, more specifically they become their children, 4 of them. Their population threatens to exceed their carrying capacity, so the women starve themselves in hopes of only having two children. A biologist discovers a way for women to shed children and survive.