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Liked It2 of 2 members found this review helpful “This book came highly recommended to me by a friend of good taste, and so I gave it a fair chance. Admittedly it left me a little cold for the first hundred pages or so. The plot seemed complex while lacking the complex setting or whiz bang pace of typical genre writing, and I think that's what...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A fine slice of hard SF, noirish and existentialist. Three quantumly entangled narratives whose deeply, I mean deeply, flawed characters, grapple with the unknowable depths and revelations of the Kefahuchi Tract. Baffling but "I don't want you to undertstand it, Ed. I want you to surf it." Slightly thrown by the remarkable similarity between it's horrifying central figure and a certain Harry Hill character (spoilers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e46oyEZlM...). But then, thinking about it, this wouldn't be out of place itself in this trippy ride.(less)
Steve Clarke wrote this review Thursday, July 21, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“Beautifully written, conceptually challenging. Only downside was that one of the characters didn't seem well motivated, and was completely unsympathetic.”
Kevin M wrote this review Tuesday, November 23, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Masterful. I had to create new frames of reference to ground myself in this work. It was well worth the effort. ”
Reinaldo F wrote this review Saturday, August 21, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“ I n c o n t e m p o r a r y L o n d o n , M i c h a e l K e a r n e y i s a s e r i a l k i l l e r o n t h e r u n f r o m t h e e n t i t y t h a t d r i v e s h i m t o k i l l . H e i s s e e k i n g e s c a p e i n a f u t u r e t h a t d o e s n t y e t e x i s t - a q u a n t u m w o r l d t h a t h e a n d h i s p h y s i c i s t p a r t n e r h o p e t o a c c e s s t h r o u g h a b r e a c h o f t i m e a n d s p a c e i t s e l f . I n t h i s f u t u r e , S e r i a M a u G e n l i c h e r h a s a l r e a d y s a c r i f i c e d h e r b o d y t o m e r g e i n t o t h e s y s t e m s o f h e r s t a r s h i p , t h e W h i t e C a t . B u t t h e i n h u m a n K - s h i p c a p t a i n h a s g o n e r o g u e , p i r a t i n g t h e g a l a x y w h i l e p l a y i n g c a t a n d m o u s e w i t h t h e a u t h o r i t i e s w h o m a d e h e r w h a t s h e i s . I n t h i s f u t u r e , E d C h i a n e s e , a d r i f t e r a n d a d v e n t u r e r , h a s r i d d e n d y n a f l o w s h i p s , r u n o l d a l i e n m a z e s , s u r f e d s t e l l a r e n v e l o p e s . H e w e n t d e e p - a n d l i v e d t o t e l l a b o u t i t . O n c e c r a z y f o r l i f e h e s n o w j u s t a t w i n k o n N e w V e n u s p o r t , a d d i c t e d t o t h e b i z a r r e a l t e r n a t e r e a l i t i e s f o u n d i n t h e t a n k s - a n d i n d e b t t o a l l t h e w r o n g p e o p l e .
Wendy wrote this review Saturday, August 14, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
H a u n t i n g t h e m a l l t h r o u g h t h i s m a z e o f m e n a c e a n d m y s t e r y i s t h e s h a d o w y p r e s e n c e o f t h e S h r a n d e r - a n d t h r e e e n i g m a t i c c l u e s l e f t o n t h e b a r r e n s u r f a c e o f a n a s t e r o i d u n d e r a n o c e a n o f l i g h t k n o w a s t h e K e f a h u c h i T r a c t ; a d e s e r t e d s p a c e s h i p , a p a i r o f b o n e d i c e a n d a h u m a n s k e l e t o n .
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1 of 1 members found this review helpful“This is a difficult novel. Harrison's prose is meaty, but that is not where the difficulty lies; his characters are unlikeable, and while that is a challenge, it is not insurmountable. The main difficulty lies in the novel's structure -- much of it is an elaborate smoke screen, ultimately having little to no effect on the resolution. This also makes the novel particularly difficult to review, as its true nature doesn't become evident until the last four chapters, but any mention of what is in those chapters (and what is in those chapters will make or break the novel for most readers) constitutes a giant spoiler.
PhoenixFalls wrote this review Wednesday, July 7, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Alas, I am committed to writing reviews that are as spoiler-free as possible, so I will focus on what the novel focuses on, which is that smoke screen.
The novel consists of alternating chapters from three perspectives, two sociopaths and one junkie. All three are running from something, and most of the novel is spent figuring out what they are running from and what turned them into sociopaths/junkies. In this sense the novel is akin to a character study, and I suspect it will work best for those people who generally like character studies. (I am one of those people, but I will admit it didn't work particularly well for me in this aspect because I'm not a big fan of sociopaths and junkies.) One perspective is set in contemporary England & America, with just enough detail to be immediately recognizable, and the other two are set in 2400 A.D., which is a future with plenty of SF world-building that Harrison spends very little time describing -- the world is catch-as-you-can, and readers who aren't used to hard SF will likely be hopelessly confused at points while readers who are used to these sort of milieus will be able to fill in the blanks fairly easily. There is some action, but most of the novel is spent getting into these peoples' heads.
But at its heart, and despite the first 350 pages, Light isn't a character study. It's a Big Idea story, and its Big Idea is what constitutes the spoiler, so I have to talk around it. The jacket description actually does as much as it can to help readers to that Big Idea -- it doesn't describe the set-up and first act like most jacket descriptions, but instead provides clues to the elements astute readers need to keep track of in order to decipher the resolution. That resolution will determine whether the novel succeeds or fails for most readers, so anyone who attempts this novel needs to be prepared to read it to the end to give it a fair shot, and unfortunately even reading to the end will not guarantee that you will like it. Ultimately, I decided I did not like the resolution Harrison provides, but I get it, and I can see why other people love it, and I will defend his pure craft that went into making this book. This is the rare novel I will recommend despite not having enjoyed it.”
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Fair warning – in order to write a sensible review, I had to start at the end of “Light” and work my way backwards. Since the final words of the novel are “The Beginning,” this seems like a legitimate approach. However, the intent of the novel does not appear to be plot conclusion so much as character discovery, so the items in this review should not spoil the experience for you.
Brian O wrote this review Tuesday, December 1, 2009. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Many millions of years ago, an advanced race sought to understand an anomaly of physics known as the Kefahuchi Tract (“a singularity without an event horizon”). Despite their advanced technology, they could not overcome the forces necessary to investigate further, so they built humans “from the proteins up” to pilot exploratory ships for them. Unfortunately, they did not survive the millions of years necessary for humans to evolve to the point necessary to understand and pilot these vessels. An entity known as “the Shrander” is the last of this race, and the remainder of the novel concerns the Shrander’s manipulation of three humans to reach the point of ultimate discovery.
In a ‘found technology’ motif similar to Harrison’s “Viriconium” novels, the human race is drawn to the Tract where it discovers the Shrander’s abandoned technology. The first primary character, Michael Kearney, is a physicist whose mathematical discoveries enable humans to make technological leaps necessary to travel to and discover the Tract. The second primary character, Seria Mau Genlicher, has allowed the new “K-tech” to make her one with her ship hundreds of years after Kearney’s discoveries. The third primary character, Ed Chianese, has devoted his life in a self-destructive quest to “go deep” in search of adventure around the Tract. The storyline is divided amongst these three strands, and the Shrander appears in all three as the protagonists eventually discover their true purpose. The price of that discovery is high and all three lose a part of their humanity as they make their way toward the Shrander’s final goal.
If you have read anything by M. John Harrison, you know what to expect – stylist prose which is far beyond the capabilities of most modern writers, vivid and mood-setting scenes, and blended physical realities which prove ultimately destructive and liberating at the same time. The three plots are well-written and compelling, but they are secondary to an underlying theme of grand discovery at great cost. If only all Sci-Fi were this well-conceived and written. Highly recommended.
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“Brilliant - best SF book I've read for ages”
booktoad wrote this review Friday, November 20, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a fascinating book. Harrison delivers an exciting sci-fi yarn that is full of interesting characters and locations.
Joel Carlson wrote this review Sunday, November 8, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I can understand where some may not be crazy about the book; the writing style is very unique, and the reader is often presented with new technology or story elements long before they are explained. This is also a huge part of the appeal of the novel however, as we're encouraged to continue on reading to find out what the heck is going on.
I hesitate to call it 'artistic', but it seems to fit Light's overall feel and tone. While there is action and a good story to be had here, it is often shrouded in very heady language and scenes that can be interpreted in a number of ways.
I'd strongly reccomend this book to readers who enjoy a good mystery, and who can handle mature subject matter. I'm looking forward to reading additional books in this series.
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0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Confusing, incoherent. The occasional nice turn of phrase (“the willed fractality of things”), but I had to force myself to finish it. Perhaps if I knew something about physics it might have made better sense, but the plot is totally fragmented, the different lines never came together. My favorite quote from the book: “’We move forward…by the deeply undercutting action of desire. As The Fool steps continually off his cliff and into space, so we are presences trying to fill the absence that has brought us forth.’””
muque and shylock tomes wrote this review Saturday, August 29, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Tedious, unappealing, incoherent.
JavaBird wrote this review Thursday, August 20, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Light has as its protagonists two reprehensible, unconcionable, immoral individuals who are clearly psychopaths. The third is just a pointless wanderer. The stories are a morass of incoherent pseudo-science, disconnected details, and mater of fact violence.
When other readers remarked that it takes time to for the story to gel, they are understating it. 140 pages into it and there is nothing holding the pieces together -- not even empathy and interest in the characters. The world makes no sense and the science isn't well woven.
The bulk of the story is a shallow psychological thriller about a serial killer, with sci-fi window dressing hung on it. The climax tries to put an sci-fi & alien power spin on the paranoid vision that he sees and which he believes wants him to murder women. The thread of the abused child turned amoral entity solidifies faster but is even less satisfying.
I picked up this book because of the glowing reviews and awards and in fact bought Nova Swing at the same time. After finally having finished this, I doubt I will bother to crack the cover on Nova Swing or any other M. John Harrison novel.”
