Shout-out for "Ra" by the same author.
https://a.co/d/2Q85QGDThe best novel I've read in the past decade.
I actually think the ending of it really prevented it from being that (at least for me). It started good, then the second act was like "Whoah, this is the most amazing sci-fi I've ever read", then the third act was just all over the place and completely lost me. And that's the revised ending, I didn't read the original one.