Eternity's End by Jeffrey A. Carver
Eternity's End is about... Perhaps the most pervasive element is the use of and issues with "the flux" - a hyperspace-ish medium employed for faster than light interstellar travel. The presentation of this is interesting, although far from plausible (see notes at bottom if interested.)
To one degree or another, the book is about separate groups of people (countries, ethnic groups, etc.), the dynamics of conflicts between them, and the latter difficulty in resolving those divisions and conflicts. In the book, the major groups are traditional humans, computer augmented humans and members of an extraterrestrial species. Each of these groups has a role in the book influenced by the effects of a war primarily between the traditional and augmented humans that took place over 100 years earlier.
On the surface, the book is more about intrigue, people not always being what they seem and shadowy operations with various players. And as they say "politics makes strange bed-fellows". Within that framework, there is also an investigation of a lost spaceship that is sometimes seen as a "ghost ship" in the flux.
And on a more personal level, one might find something about the complexity of a love-life and a man's struggle to redeem himself.
Perhaps, this seems like quite a bit to fill a book. Keep in mind this is a 650-page book. One may find it a long, winding book - with interesting scenery along the way. Certainly if you're philosophy is that the journey is more important than the destination, this shouldn't be an issue. Certainly some people found it good enough for it to be nominated for a Nebula Award.
The story in the book is sort of analogous to a human life. Somebody who is there the entire time from infancy to old age has seen how one period of the life lead to another. But somebody who only saw the baby at age 1, the teenager at age 15, the adult at 40 and the frail elderly man of 90 may be puzzled by how one has much to do with the other. The book is not so much a few independent short stories stitched together into a "novel" for publication as it is a twisty tale with a series of phases that are rather stretched out if one's philosophy is the destination is more important. Like the journey from infant to elderly, the phases of the book are connected but diverse.
It doesn’t seem I can say that much about the plot in various phases of the book without giving away the twists and suspense elements that shift from one section of the book to the next. So I will leave you just with these generalities.
By the end of the book, we have arrived at a sort of destination, but not really a final destination. Perhaps the final destination is down the road with only a few bumps ahead. But there are still a number of players in the game, major issues not yet resolved and a story that has previously shown us that looks can be deceiving. At least so far, there is no sequel to deal with these matters.
Notes (includes spoilers to some degree):
There are ways in which "the flux" is more developed than some authors' versions of "hyperspace" or such. But not in the sense we have much of a scientific concept. We're given a vision of an area that is best navigated by people who interact with it through an analogy of imagery - depending on what is convenient pretending they are in a submarine in water, or a jet in the sky or some other substitute. One of the improbable aspects is the idea that this strata of space-time has currents that spaceships utilize in a way comparable to how sailing ships used winds to move the ship from place to place. As the story progresses, we also learn "the flux" has layers in which things behave differently. If there's one thing less clear than what hyperspace-like realms are and how one gets in or out of it, it would be what layers within it would be.
I also found that the way the people "sailing" the ship via the currents of "the flux" suggestive of psychic powers. There is nothing specific I recall saying anything "paranormal" was involved and there seems to be some ill-defined equipment the people are linked to. But there isn't much to suggest a "normal" means for it to operate. It has something-or-other to do with their minds, using those analogy images of their environment and it has to do with an inherent ability in some people. It left me with more of a feel of “mysterious powers” than future technology.