The year is 2235 and wormhole technology has brought interstellar travel, allowing humankind to establish colonies on a number of planets. Separatist movements are fighting against Earth's hegemony; a top secret expedition is sent to explore a newly-discovered network of alien wormholes and, back on Earth, the sinister Array Security and Immigration service will do anything to remain in control. As well as enabling travel through space, the wormholes also allow travel through time, and when one such journey, a mere 10 years into the future, reveals an Earth destroyed by massive alien growths, the story shifts from power-struggle thriller to apocalyptic hard science fiction that follows an array of compelling characters through to the planet's final days. Occasionally workmanlike prose and the frequent switches between various plots and settings are off-putting at times, but Final Days is an impressive achievement. The reader is required to pay close attention, but the convoluted plot fits together like a jigsaw. A masterclass in genre fiction.