The crew of the spaceship ’Earthling’ is tasked with the design and implementation of an A.I. computer control system. But first, to avert certain disaster, they must figure out how to integrate consciousness and morality into their fledgling prototype, otherwise their 400 year interstellar mission is destined for disaster.

Here, Frank Herbert writes like both a biomechanical engineer and a Freudian philosopher. This is a technologically detailed sci-fi thriller that will either captivate you or frustrate you, depending on your proclivity for minutia. Consequently (and unlike Herbert’s Dune) this is not a book seething with mass appeal. Frank Herbert’s Destination Void is a study in the specifics and, more importantly, the ethics of artificial intelligence. I found it unsettling but unsettling for all the right reasons.