Four Hundred Billion Stars Series by Paul J. McAuley, Paul McAuley

Dorothy Yoshida is a telepath, and a really rather good one at that. She's also a scientist, and when a small planet begins to manifest some unusual signs she is sent to investigate. The planet is more than it seems, and on further investigation the scientists begin to suspect it has been artificially altered. But despite their suspicions the only life they can detect is on the surface, none of which has advanced far above the level of animals... moreDorothy Yoshida is a telepath, and a really rather good one at that. She's also a scientist, and when a small planet begins to manifest some unusual signs she is sent to investigate. The planet is more than it seems, and on further investigation the scientists begin to suspect it has been artificially altered. But despite their suspicions the only life they can detect is on the surface, none of which has advanced far above the level of animals. And despite the hopes of mankind to find something which will help them in a burgeoning war against other species, there seems to be nothing there to aid them. With Dorothy's arrival, however, they are in for some surprising discoveries. less

The planet Elysium is long settled, but troubles lay underneath the seeming paradise. Citizens of the Port of Plenty have benefited from new technology, but settlers across the planet are left to fend for themselves.

For Dorthy Yoshida - abused earthborn Talent and prime player in the secret history of the galaxy - the seeds of destiny were sown a million years in the past...when a giant sun exploded and vast civilizations died in the subsequent blood feuding of ten thousand alien family nations... moreFor Dorthy Yoshida - abused earthborn Talent and prime player in the secret history of the galaxy - the seeds of destiny were sown a million years in the past...when a giant sun exploded and vast civilizations died in the subsequent blood feuding of ten thousand alien family nations. Or perhaps it all began a dozen years before her birth - when a Greater Brazilian flyby drone was destroyed above a red dwarf star, drawing an uncomprehending human race into a thousand-millennia-old genocidal conflict that was not their own. And now Dorthy's extraordinary mental ability to touch the past and the future has made her the pawn of a wealthy immortal's vengeance - rocketing her to the black hole at the core of the galaxy, and into the perilous heart of a fanatical religious sect's relentless search for hidden gods. For it is here that the final battle must ultimately be fought against a fearsome, invisible Enemy who has harnessed the powers of creation to obliterate a universe. And it is Dorthy Yoshida who stands at the frontlines of the war for tomorrow - unknowingly possessing the answers to the mysteries of eternity...and the key to preventing the apocalyptic unraveling of space and time. less