A Requiem for Homo Sapiens Series by David Zindell

The universe of Neverness is and filled with extraordinary beings, such as the neanderthal-like Alaloi and the Order of Pilots. Against this backdrop stands Mallory Ringer, who penetrates the Solid State Entity. There he makes a discovery. One that could unlock the secret of immortality.

Into the icy maze of the city of Neverness, a wild boy stumbles, spear in hand, starving, frostbitten and grieving. Danlo the Wild, raised by far-off Alaloi neanderthal cave-dwellers, survived a plague that took all of his tribe. Now he must find who engineered the disease and how he can cure it. And what kind of man he will grow up into, as he enters the Order of Mystic Mathematicians and Other Seekers of the Ineffable Flame.His journey has only begun.

Danlo the Wild, the extraordinary son of Mallory Ringess, pursues the apocalyptic Architects of the Universal Cybernetic Church into the Vild. Far from Neverness where Danlo trained as a pilot, they kill stars, use humans to reshape matter and energy. In the Vild, Danlo meets the insane god who wants to destroy everything.

Danlo returns to the city of Neverness where a cult plans to take over the galaxy, and worships Danlo's long-lost father as a god. He fights to survive: the warrior-poet sworn to kill him, the madman with a star-killing weapon and a grim ultimatum, the charismatic leader friend-turned-foe, and his unbreakable vow never to harm a living thing.