Adam Roberts 
Gradisil 

Gradisil is a multi-generational story of murder, betrayal and revenge. It is told through the eyes of three characters and against a background where mankinds rush into space has faded away leaving individual pioneers to force their way independently into space after the collapse of the big government space agencies.They ride up into space on the lines of electromagnetic force that flower into space from earth like the mighty Yggradisil — the earth tree of Norse myth. Leaving their weight behind they still carry a cargo of enmities and hatreds.Roberts has a unique approach to SF and is one of the genre’s premier stylists. This is one of his most original novels yet.