Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton

Pandora's Star is the first part of Hamilton's epic Commonwealth Saga duology - a fantastic galaxy-spanning novel from the master of space opera.At the edge of the galaxy something awakens - and it's coming for usEarth AD 2329: Humanity has colonized over four hundred planets, all interlinked by wormholes. For the first time in mankind's history there is peace. Then a star over a thousand light years away suddenly vanishes, imprisoned inside a force field of immense size. Yet who - or what - has that sort of technology? And what could this mean for us? Only a faster-than-light starship, captained by ex-NASA astronaut Wilson Kime, can reach that distance to investigate.However, what if there was a very good reason to seal off an entire star system? Also, getting in could prove easier than the worst possible outcome - stopping something else from getting out.The Commonwealth Saga duology concludes with Judas Unchained.