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Lightless
Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship’s electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.
While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities’ most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.
As the ship’s systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner’s layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan’s mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn’t kill her first.
While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities’ most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.
As the ship’s systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner’s layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan’s mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn’t kill her first.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2015
212 people are currently reading
6049 people want to read
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C.A. Higgins
11 books184 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 520 reviews
October 26, 2015
I picked this up because the I saw that the main character shares my name. ;-)
And because I love sci-fi. So, I was predisposed to love the book. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to.
The premise: Three crewmembers are aboard an experimental spacecraft, on a top-secret mission, about which even they do not know all the details. The action begins when they discover and capture two men who have illicitly boarded their craft. Are the men simple burglars or space pirates? Or are they affiliated with an infamous terrorist group which intends to bring down the entire interstellar empire known as The System?
The System sends a senior investigator, Ida Stays, to interrogate the prisoners. Before she gets there, one of them escapes. He's presumed dead - but the investigator is none too pleased. However, at least she's still got one captive to question.
And then... well, the bulk of the book is the inquisitor (a completely two-dimensional character) questioning the guy, and what he tells her. He's mystifyingly forthcoming, sitting down and blabbing his life story, even though Ida's much-vaunted interrogation techniques don't seem to consist of much more than: "Talk to me. And if I think you're lying, I'll give you a truth serum."
Meanwhile, there seems to be a ghost in the machine - that machine being the ship's AI. Althea, the engineer/computer tech, bumbles around trying to fix things, getting emotional about the situation, and trying to cover up how very confused she is about the malfunctions.
Well... that's about it. I felt like I kept waiting for the story to get started but it never did. The style of the writing felt like it ought to be a not-too-deep but entertaining & exciting space opera... but we just all sat there on a malfunctioning ship, with some people talking.
It's been mentioned in multiple other reviews, but I'm also compelled to chime in that the publisher's blurb comparing this to 'Alien' and 'Gravity' is wholly baseless. All three stories do take place in space, and feature astronauts. That's where the similarities end.
Many thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
And because I love sci-fi. So, I was predisposed to love the book. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to.
The premise: Three crewmembers are aboard an experimental spacecraft, on a top-secret mission, about which even they do not know all the details. The action begins when they discover and capture two men who have illicitly boarded their craft. Are the men simple burglars or space pirates? Or are they affiliated with an infamous terrorist group which intends to bring down the entire interstellar empire known as The System?
The System sends a senior investigator, Ida Stays, to interrogate the prisoners. Before she gets there, one of them escapes. He's presumed dead - but the investigator is none too pleased. However, at least she's still got one captive to question.
And then... well, the bulk of the book is the inquisitor (a completely two-dimensional character) questioning the guy, and what he tells her. He's mystifyingly forthcoming, sitting down and blabbing his life story, even though Ida's much-vaunted interrogation techniques don't seem to consist of much more than: "Talk to me. And if I think you're lying, I'll give you a truth serum."
Meanwhile, there seems to be a ghost in the machine - that machine being the ship's AI. Althea, the engineer/computer tech, bumbles around trying to fix things, getting emotional about the situation, and trying to cover up how very confused she is about the malfunctions.
Well... that's about it. I felt like I kept waiting for the story to get started but it never did. The style of the writing felt like it ought to be a not-too-deep but entertaining & exciting space opera... but we just all sat there on a malfunctioning ship, with some people talking.
It's been mentioned in multiple other reviews, but I'm also compelled to chime in that the publisher's blurb comparing this to 'Alien' and 'Gravity' is wholly baseless. All three stories do take place in space, and feature astronauts. That's where the similarities end.
Many thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
September 29, 2015
After great deliberation, I nudged this one up to three stars, but if it wasn't for the end, I would have left it well in the comfortable two.
I was annoyed for the majority of the novel, knowing that the stilted characters could have had more life, that there could have been more hints as to who, exactly, was supposed to be the hero of the tale, or, indeed, if there was one at all that I could sit back and watch, going, "Oh, well I don't like that person too much, but at least they're painted prettily."
Indeed, the best I could say about the first 2/3rds was that it started out with action, continued faithfully with action, and kept us In Medias Res until we were bogged down in constant interrogation-speak reminiscent of a million and a half cop shows.
I was struck mostly by the incompetence of everyone. I mean, Everyone. At a certain point while reading, I kept trying to think about ways the book could have been made Better, and an idea came to me, fully-fleshed and all excited with a desire to live: This Could Have Been Made As A Comedy.
Just a few tweaks here and there would have turned Ivan into the spunky Stainless Steel Rat, loveable and absolutely capable of getting out of as many messes as he gets himself into. Ida the Interrogator, the bumbling but sociopathic inspector. The captain and the scientist were throwaway shadows with no more life than puppets, and the engineer, who arguably gets almost the most stage-time, spent most of the book being hopelessly outclassed and stumped by THE COMPUTER. It was almost a satire. Terry Pratchett could almost be heard in the other room, shouting hints to the story.
*sigh*
The whole thing smacked of a second-rate C.J. Cherryh lesser SF novel, or perhaps a 60's pulp. I know this sounds rather cruel, but unfortunately, the only thing about either the writing or the ideas behind it that I really got into, from the very start, was the fact that they were on a spaceship that had housed a small black hole in its innards. Everything else just had me asking unfortunate questions, like: If this is such a heavily-funded project needing the best and the brightest, shouldn't they have gotten more than just three crew? And shouldn't they have been a LOT better at their jobs? Seriously. It wasn't a comedy, no matter how much I thought it could have swung, successfully, in that direction. Hell, I know that Connie Willis could have made this novel comedic GENIUS.
Okay. Now on to the better parts. It took a long time to get there, and the reveals weren't that surprising, but fortunately, there WAS a LOT of them. The twist was the return of really old SF ideas, but because they were here at all, it forced me to bump this book up into a higher rating bracket. And the characters become a bit more likeable.
It was a serviceable novel. It mostly kept my attention.
It just didn't stand out very much.
I was annoyed for the majority of the novel, knowing that the stilted characters could have had more life, that there could have been more hints as to who, exactly, was supposed to be the hero of the tale, or, indeed, if there was one at all that I could sit back and watch, going, "Oh, well I don't like that person too much, but at least they're painted prettily."
Indeed, the best I could say about the first 2/3rds was that it started out with action, continued faithfully with action, and kept us In Medias Res until we were bogged down in constant interrogation-speak reminiscent of a million and a half cop shows.
I was struck mostly by the incompetence of everyone. I mean, Everyone. At a certain point while reading, I kept trying to think about ways the book could have been made Better, and an idea came to me, fully-fleshed and all excited with a desire to live: This Could Have Been Made As A Comedy.
Just a few tweaks here and there would have turned Ivan into the spunky Stainless Steel Rat, loveable and absolutely capable of getting out of as many messes as he gets himself into. Ida the Interrogator, the bumbling but sociopathic inspector. The captain and the scientist were throwaway shadows with no more life than puppets, and the engineer, who arguably gets almost the most stage-time, spent most of the book being hopelessly outclassed and stumped by THE COMPUTER. It was almost a satire. Terry Pratchett could almost be heard in the other room, shouting hints to the story.
*sigh*
The whole thing smacked of a second-rate C.J. Cherryh lesser SF novel, or perhaps a 60's pulp. I know this sounds rather cruel, but unfortunately, the only thing about either the writing or the ideas behind it that I really got into, from the very start, was the fact that they were on a spaceship that had housed a small black hole in its innards. Everything else just had me asking unfortunate questions, like: If this is such a heavily-funded project needing the best and the brightest, shouldn't they have gotten more than just three crew? And shouldn't they have been a LOT better at their jobs? Seriously. It wasn't a comedy, no matter how much I thought it could have swung, successfully, in that direction. Hell, I know that Connie Willis could have made this novel comedic GENIUS.
Okay. Now on to the better parts. It took a long time to get there, and the reveals weren't that surprising, but fortunately, there WAS a LOT of them. The twist was the return of really old SF ideas, but because they were here at all, it forced me to bump this book up into a higher rating bracket. And the characters become a bit more likeable.
It was a serviceable novel. It mostly kept my attention.
It just didn't stand out very much.
February 10, 2017
I mean, I guess I can understand why so many people have given this book only 1 or 2 stars. A lot of it is one woman trying to fix her ships computer, and huge swathes of text are devoted to another woman interrogating a prisoner, and so it seems that not much is happening a lot of the time. But, on the other hand, it's like, did you people even read the same book as me? Because this book is fantastic. It's amazing. It's the best book I've read all year, and I know it's only February but I know with certainty I'll still be saying it come December.
I loved this book. I loved that it was mixed character study with hard sci-fi concepts, because all too often if you want hard sci fi you have to settle for flat characters, and if you want rich, real, flawed and fascinating characters you have to look to space opera. The blurb reads like this book is going to be held up by a romance, but there's actually almost none at all, the bones of this book are friendship. The kind of Locke/Jean, Royce/Hadrien bromance that's just a joy to read.
I love that I can't tell you who the bad guys are in this book. Because I don't know who the bad guys are. I know who I liked the most, I know who I wanted to win, but I don't think that made them good guys. Compelling arguments could be made for every character in this book being the villain, even Althea, the closest thing we get to a protagonist, who mostly just cares about her ship's computer. And the characters I wanted to win, when they did "win," well suddenly I wasn't so sure that it was a good thing. Their victory upset me, and the when the character I liked least lost, I felt uneasy about it.
Compelling characters? Check. Delicious moral quandaries that I know my brain is going to mull over for a long time? Check. And the plot, which builds so slowly sometimes it seems to barely move, like one little pebble picking up another and another and another until, whoops, now the whole mountainside is coming right at you, brace yourself.
The biggest complaint I see aimed at this book is that so much of the plot happens "off page." It's backstory, a lot of it, revealed piece by piece over the course of one character interrogating the other. But it's so fascinating! It's the unreliable narrator trope turned up to eleven. Is he lying? Did that really happen? Is that how it happened? He might tell the same story to three different people, and what changes and what doesn't speaks to the truth but still what is the truth really?
I could just gush and gush. I loved this book wholeheartedly. Stumbling upon books like this is the whole reason I love to read, because sure most books are fine and some are really good but that moment when your spine tingles and you know you've found something special... Yeah, that's my drug. That's what I'm here for. That's what this book gave me.
I loved this book. I loved that it was mixed character study with hard sci-fi concepts, because all too often if you want hard sci fi you have to settle for flat characters, and if you want rich, real, flawed and fascinating characters you have to look to space opera. The blurb reads like this book is going to be held up by a romance, but there's actually almost none at all, the bones of this book are friendship. The kind of Locke/Jean, Royce/Hadrien bromance that's just a joy to read.
I love that I can't tell you who the bad guys are in this book. Because I don't know who the bad guys are. I know who I liked the most, I know who I wanted to win, but I don't think that made them good guys. Compelling arguments could be made for every character in this book being the villain, even Althea, the closest thing we get to a protagonist, who mostly just cares about her ship's computer. And the characters I wanted to win, when they did "win," well suddenly I wasn't so sure that it was a good thing. Their victory upset me, and the when the character I liked least lost, I felt uneasy about it.
Compelling characters? Check. Delicious moral quandaries that I know my brain is going to mull over for a long time? Check. And the plot, which builds so slowly sometimes it seems to barely move, like one little pebble picking up another and another and another until, whoops, now the whole mountainside is coming right at you, brace yourself.
The biggest complaint I see aimed at this book is that so much of the plot happens "off page." It's backstory, a lot of it, revealed piece by piece over the course of one character interrogating the other. But it's so fascinating! It's the unreliable narrator trope turned up to eleven. Is he lying? Did that really happen? Is that how it happened? He might tell the same story to three different people, and what changes and what doesn't speaks to the truth but still what is the truth really?
I could just gush and gush. I loved this book wholeheartedly. Stumbling upon books like this is the whole reason I love to read, because sure most books are fine and some are really good but that moment when your spine tingles and you know you've found something special... Yeah, that's my drug. That's what I'm here for. That's what this book gave me.
December 28, 2015
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I do not think the blurb is correct in stating this has any semblance what-so-ever to do with "Gravity" or "Aliens" and I'm not sure why it was described this way.
I thought the book was great in the beginning. You have the 3-person crew which consists of the Captain Domitian, the scientific officer Gagnon, and the system mechanic Althea. They are aboard the ship Ananke which is just one ship in the System Intelligence Agency. I liked the fact that they were on their way to Pluto! They traveled around to the different planets in our galaxy.
They had intruders board the ship that were affiliated with a terrorist agency. Their names were Ivanov and Gale, using just last names here. Domitian and Althea caught them and put them in separate holding chambers. Gale ends up getting away, downloads a virus to their ship and takes off in the escape pod.
I thought all of this was very exciting and I loved Althea trying to figure out what Gale had done to her computer, it was causing a lot of trouble with the ship in different ways.
The boring part (to me) comes when Ida Stays from System Intelligence comes to interrogate the prisoners. She is very upset they let Gale get away, but it is what it is. A whole drawn out section of the book is about this interrogation with Ivanov about things that happened in the past and with the terrorist group. It's just a never-ending conversation. I'm sure it will be fine for some people, this is just my opinion, but I found after so long it was just boring and tedious.
However, all of the things going on with Althea and the ship is really interesting. She finds out more and more disturbing things that have been done to the the ship and how it is changing. I can't really say what happens as that will give away the ending. I can say the ending is good and I wonder what is going to happen in the future!
**I would like to thank NETGALLEY and RANDOMHOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest review.**
I do not think the blurb is correct in stating this has any semblance what-so-ever to do with "Gravity" or "Aliens" and I'm not sure why it was described this way.
I thought the book was great in the beginning. You have the 3-person crew which consists of the Captain Domitian, the scientific officer Gagnon, and the system mechanic Althea. They are aboard the ship Ananke which is just one ship in the System Intelligence Agency. I liked the fact that they were on their way to Pluto! They traveled around to the different planets in our galaxy.
They had intruders board the ship that were affiliated with a terrorist agency. Their names were Ivanov and Gale, using just last names here. Domitian and Althea caught them and put them in separate holding chambers. Gale ends up getting away, downloads a virus to their ship and takes off in the escape pod.
I thought all of this was very exciting and I loved Althea trying to figure out what Gale had done to her computer, it was causing a lot of trouble with the ship in different ways.
The boring part (to me) comes when Ida Stays from System Intelligence comes to interrogate the prisoners. She is very upset they let Gale get away, but it is what it is. A whole drawn out section of the book is about this interrogation with Ivanov about things that happened in the past and with the terrorist group. It's just a never-ending conversation. I'm sure it will be fine for some people, this is just my opinion, but I found after so long it was just boring and tedious.
However, all of the things going on with Althea and the ship is really interesting. She finds out more and more disturbing things that have been done to the the ship and how it is changing. I can't really say what happens as that will give away the ending. I can say the ending is good and I wonder what is going to happen in the future!
**I would like to thank NETGALLEY and RANDOMHOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest review.**
July 14, 2016
While reading Lightless, I couldn't help but think of another novel I read earlier this year - Admiral, by another first time author, Sean Danker. Both novels are futuristic, space-based thrillers that limited the scope of the action to a relatively confined space, while gradually revealing bits and pieces of a larger framework. Admiral is a superior book for any number of reasons, but the key difference is that at the end of Admiral, I really couldn't wait to see what Danker had in store for us next. I wanted more, and it couldn't come soon enough. With Lightless, I am utterly ambivalent about what comes next.
Some of this ambivalence has to do with the humdrum world-building and pedestrian plotting, but mostly I think it is the uninspiring, one dimensional characters, making obvious choices with transparent motivations. I don't care what happens to them, so I don't care what happens after the last page sets up the sequel.
The highest praise I can offer this novel is that it is not boring or offensively stupid.
Some of this ambivalence has to do with the humdrum world-building and pedestrian plotting, but mostly I think it is the uninspiring, one dimensional characters, making obvious choices with transparent motivations. I don't care what happens to them, so I don't care what happens after the last page sets up the sequel.
The highest praise I can offer this novel is that it is not boring or offensively stupid.
November 10, 2017
So. That was weird.
This book is oddly boring and somehow also won't let you go. I don't know why. Nothing is happening for 75% of the pages your read. Yet I found it hard to put down. Not because I particularly even cared for the characters. If I had to take a wild guess I'd say it was because I just wanted to know how it ended. The ending I'll admit, was pretty good.
(Possible minor spoilers ahead if you haven't read the blurb.) The first chapter, although absurdly long, was great. Althea's ship the Ananke, with it's three person crew, is boarded by subjects unknown for unknown reasons. They are tracked down and caught. But these are not your run of the mill space pirates, they are practiced con artists and thieves. So one of them breaks out, and conveniently, infects the ship with a virus that reeks all sorts of chaos onboard.
This begins 8 chapters of interrogations and Althea losing her mind over her infected ship. Cue sad song on the world's tiniest violin.
It just wasn't that interesting. Reading about how Althea can't find the virus or the virus is mutating or about how much she wishes Ida Stays would get off her ship just wasn't something I could bring myself to care about. The interrogations of the thief that was left behind weren't too bad, if only because Ivan is my kind of character. Liar. Thief. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
About 60% of the way through I started to realize
So it was a definite slow burn. This is probably one of the only books I've ever read that nearly bored me to death and made me want to read the sequel.
I have some fundamental disagreements with some of the conclusions that were drawn here. Major spoilers ahead:
That being said- I think I saw that one of my GR buddies read both and said the sequel seemed like an improvement. So I actually might check it out in the future. This book gives you a lot to think about and I would recommend it to readers who don't mind a slow burn type of novel.
This book is oddly boring and somehow also won't let you go. I don't know why. Nothing is happening for 75% of the pages your read. Yet I found it hard to put down. Not because I particularly even cared for the characters. If I had to take a wild guess I'd say it was because I just wanted to know how it ended. The ending I'll admit, was pretty good.
(Possible minor spoilers ahead if you haven't read the blurb.) The first chapter, although absurdly long, was great. Althea's ship the Ananke, with it's three person crew, is boarded by subjects unknown for unknown reasons. They are tracked down and caught. But these are not your run of the mill space pirates, they are practiced con artists and thieves. So one of them breaks out, and conveniently, infects the ship with a virus that reeks all sorts of chaos onboard.
This begins 8 chapters of interrogations and Althea losing her mind over her infected ship. Cue sad song on the world's tiniest violin.
It just wasn't that interesting. Reading about how Althea can't find the virus or the virus is mutating or about how much she wishes Ida Stays would get off her ship just wasn't something I could bring myself to care about. The interrogations of the thief that was left behind weren't too bad, if only because Ivan is my kind of character. Liar. Thief. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
About 60% of the way through I started to realize
So it was a definite slow burn. This is probably one of the only books I've ever read that nearly bored me to death and made me want to read the sequel.
I have some fundamental disagreements with some of the conclusions that were drawn here. Major spoilers ahead:
That being said- I think I saw that one of my GR buddies read both and said the sequel seemed like an improvement. So I actually might check it out in the future. This book gives you a lot to think about and I would recommend it to readers who don't mind a slow burn type of novel.
May 18, 2017
This book starts off as a full 5-star winner and then drives off a cliff down into the broken 1-star rocks at the bottom. So I'm settling on 2 stars. No. You know what? One star. And here's why:
In space, no one can hear you yawn.
Yes, as numerous others have said, the marketing copy of "Gravity meets Aliens" is bullshit. A good book can compensate for bad blurbs; this one can't. You can also read a plot summary in a dozen other reviews, so I won't go there.
What I will say that hasn't been said before is that this is a short story, not a novel. At best it's a novella. There's just not enough content to sustain 300 pages. Maybe 20. As I said, it starts off great, but then we get 200 pages of a cardboard character interrogating a prisoner, and nothing either of them says is at all interesting.
The characters don't have interesting backgrounds, the world-building is partially-formed, and the dialogue is jejune. This seems to be some sort of half-baked version of Orwell's 1984... in spaaace.
The thing that kept striking me as bizarre was that the book reads like it was written in 1959. There are computers, but terminals are scattered throughout the ship. I don't think anyone even has a smartphone or tablet. It feels like a convoluted way to get Althea to try and correct a computer virus across from the cell holding the prisoner, but the cell has a food slot or something in it so the two can talk. I kept trying to picture it and just kept coming back to 1950s sci-fi flicks. It's not even as sophisticated as the silliness in Lost in Space or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
There isn't even a reason for the bad guys to be on the ship. They find it by accident and decide to rob it, as if it's a gas station. Yet this is a super-secret experimental spaceship with a super-smart computer running it and it's powered by a black hole. And why are there only three people on board? It's clearly cavernous and needs lots of upkeep -- witness Althea literally running hither and yon from remote station to remote station -- yet it doesn't have even a skeleton crew. It barely even has maintenance robots, just arms on wheels, like Dummy from the first Iron Man movie.
Once the bad guys install a virus on the ship, the only recourse is to cut off the computer's control by throwing a dead man switch... which is placed inside a giant chamber holding the black hole! Was this stupid thing designed by an especially incompetent Evil Overlord? It's as if Higgins said, "In bad SF they don't have handrails; screw that, I'm putting the switch next to the most powerful force in the universe! And the only thing keeping people out will be a hatch held on by two wingnuts!" Talk about a killswitch! (Yeah, the guy who designed the ship gets spaghettified by the black hole.)
Besides falsely insisting on the Gravity/Aliens comparison, the cover also says the author has a degree in physics. I kind of doubt that. If true, this book is so relentlessly dumb that I have to assume said degree comes from Trump University. (It says Cornell, but it can't be *the* Cornell, can it? More like The Rocco Cornell University of Typewriter Repair.)
At the end of the story Althea tells the computer that they can't stay in the solar system because the ship will perturb the orbits of the various planets. Which would make sense if there were a loose black hole sailing through the system, but how the hell is the thing under control? A black hole that can disrupt the planets would be too big to contain. The one here has to be microscopic or it would have long ago devoured the ship, not just the clumsy guy who fell into it. Which means it only masses that of a small moon, not something the size of a star.
Even I know that, without a degree in physics from Rocco's joint.
The characters are also ridiculously dumb. When you have a crew of only three people -- the captain of the ship, the designer of the ship and the designer of the computer that runs the ship -- you kind of expect them to be the best and the brightest. If this trio is the best the Orwellian System has to offer, it's a good thing the terrorists blew up the Earth. Yeah, that happens. I just saved you time.
Seems to me that if you have a super-hacker who can infiltrate a beyond-secret experimental spaceship with a bespoke computer ON THE FLY and then escape said ship with no one being the wiser, only to then hack every single nuclear power plant on Earth in the moments after the terrorists have set off seven world-ending nuclear bombs, then the easiest thing to do is hack the System and bring freedom to the oppressed masses by turning off the constant surveillance.
Seriously, if someone can hack ALL of the nuclear plants at once after the massive EMPs of nuclear weapons big enough to crack the crust, not to mention the sheer destruction those bombs would wreak, then that hacker could have just turned the plants off. I'm sure the System also uses solar, wind and water, but he could turn off those things, too. He's a superhacker who can get into anything in seconds. Who needs bombs when you can do that?
As I write this, the world is experiencing the WannaCry ransom hack, which has locked down businesses across the planet in a lame attempt to extort money. The hackers are asking for $300 in Bitcoin from each affected place. They've even compromised hospitals, to the point where the British health service is telling folks to stay away from them unless they're actively dying. For three hundred bucks.
They aren't even using their original tools, merely exploits that were published online after someone hacked the NSA, which is an Orwellian organization all on its own. The WannaCry hack is a classic example of irony and hilarious hubris -- the super-secret spy agency got hacked, ha ha -- but it's also yet another example of how fragile and open all of our computer systems are. Real hackers with serious intent to bring down a system don't need to set off nukes to bring a society to its knees.
It's thrown parts of the world into chaos for almost no gain. Now imagine the entire solar system is under the thumb of a ruthless dictatorial yet anonymous group of people who run every planet and moon like North Korea. There would be hacks everywhere, constantly, and murdering billions of people isn't the way to win anyone to your cause.
Like I said, dumb.
This was published by Random House, FFS. It was given a starred review by Kirkus! No one in either place caught how ridiculous this is? I feel like I've taken crazy pills. And they're advertising a sequel! It's called "Supernova", so I assume next she's going to blow up the sun. Because why not?
In space, no one can hear you yawn.
Yes, as numerous others have said, the marketing copy of "Gravity meets Aliens" is bullshit. A good book can compensate for bad blurbs; this one can't. You can also read a plot summary in a dozen other reviews, so I won't go there.
What I will say that hasn't been said before is that this is a short story, not a novel. At best it's a novella. There's just not enough content to sustain 300 pages. Maybe 20. As I said, it starts off great, but then we get 200 pages of a cardboard character interrogating a prisoner, and nothing either of them says is at all interesting.
The characters don't have interesting backgrounds, the world-building is partially-formed, and the dialogue is jejune. This seems to be some sort of half-baked version of Orwell's 1984... in spaaace.
The thing that kept striking me as bizarre was that the book reads like it was written in 1959. There are computers, but terminals are scattered throughout the ship. I don't think anyone even has a smartphone or tablet. It feels like a convoluted way to get Althea to try and correct a computer virus across from the cell holding the prisoner, but the cell has a food slot or something in it so the two can talk. I kept trying to picture it and just kept coming back to 1950s sci-fi flicks. It's not even as sophisticated as the silliness in Lost in Space or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
There isn't even a reason for the bad guys to be on the ship. They find it by accident and decide to rob it, as if it's a gas station. Yet this is a super-secret experimental spaceship with a super-smart computer running it and it's powered by a black hole. And why are there only three people on board? It's clearly cavernous and needs lots of upkeep -- witness Althea literally running hither and yon from remote station to remote station -- yet it doesn't have even a skeleton crew. It barely even has maintenance robots, just arms on wheels, like Dummy from the first Iron Man movie.
Once the bad guys install a virus on the ship, the only recourse is to cut off the computer's control by throwing a dead man switch... which is placed inside a giant chamber holding the black hole! Was this stupid thing designed by an especially incompetent Evil Overlord? It's as if Higgins said, "In bad SF they don't have handrails; screw that, I'm putting the switch next to the most powerful force in the universe! And the only thing keeping people out will be a hatch held on by two wingnuts!" Talk about a killswitch! (Yeah, the guy who designed the ship gets spaghettified by the black hole.)
Besides falsely insisting on the Gravity/Aliens comparison, the cover also says the author has a degree in physics. I kind of doubt that. If true, this book is so relentlessly dumb that I have to assume said degree comes from Trump University. (It says Cornell, but it can't be *the* Cornell, can it? More like The Rocco Cornell University of Typewriter Repair.)
At the end of the story Althea tells the computer that they can't stay in the solar system because the ship will perturb the orbits of the various planets. Which would make sense if there were a loose black hole sailing through the system, but how the hell is the thing under control? A black hole that can disrupt the planets would be too big to contain. The one here has to be microscopic or it would have long ago devoured the ship, not just the clumsy guy who fell into it. Which means it only masses that of a small moon, not something the size of a star.
Even I know that, without a degree in physics from Rocco's joint.
The characters are also ridiculously dumb. When you have a crew of only three people -- the captain of the ship, the designer of the ship and the designer of the computer that runs the ship -- you kind of expect them to be the best and the brightest. If this trio is the best the Orwellian System has to offer, it's a good thing the terrorists blew up the Earth. Yeah, that happens. I just saved you time.
Seems to me that if you have a super-hacker who can infiltrate a beyond-secret experimental spaceship with a bespoke computer ON THE FLY and then escape said ship with no one being the wiser, only to then hack every single nuclear power plant on Earth in the moments after the terrorists have set off seven world-ending nuclear bombs, then the easiest thing to do is hack the System and bring freedom to the oppressed masses by turning off the constant surveillance.
Seriously, if someone can hack ALL of the nuclear plants at once after the massive EMPs of nuclear weapons big enough to crack the crust, not to mention the sheer destruction those bombs would wreak, then that hacker could have just turned the plants off. I'm sure the System also uses solar, wind and water, but he could turn off those things, too. He's a superhacker who can get into anything in seconds. Who needs bombs when you can do that?
As I write this, the world is experiencing the WannaCry ransom hack, which has locked down businesses across the planet in a lame attempt to extort money. The hackers are asking for $300 in Bitcoin from each affected place. They've even compromised hospitals, to the point where the British health service is telling folks to stay away from them unless they're actively dying. For three hundred bucks.
They aren't even using their original tools, merely exploits that were published online after someone hacked the NSA, which is an Orwellian organization all on its own. The WannaCry hack is a classic example of irony and hilarious hubris -- the super-secret spy agency got hacked, ha ha -- but it's also yet another example of how fragile and open all of our computer systems are. Real hackers with serious intent to bring down a system don't need to set off nukes to bring a society to its knees.
It's thrown parts of the world into chaos for almost no gain. Now imagine the entire solar system is under the thumb of a ruthless dictatorial yet anonymous group of people who run every planet and moon like North Korea. There would be hacks everywhere, constantly, and murdering billions of people isn't the way to win anyone to your cause.
Like I said, dumb.
This was published by Random House, FFS. It was given a starred review by Kirkus! No one in either place caught how ridiculous this is? I feel like I've taken crazy pills. And they're advertising a sequel! It's called "Supernova", so I assume next she's going to blow up the sun. Because why not?
July 29, 2017
Some very cool ideas - an experimental spaceship with a black hole at its core, the birth of an AI, rebellion against a tyrannical surveillance state. However, the main thread of the plot is an interrogation which just goes on and on and on in frankly boring tedium. The dialogue wasn't clever and snappy enough, the twists weren't sharp enough, to carry those scenes. The ending was pretty great though, and I intend to continue the series.
March 22, 2017
This book had a solid list of things I enjoy: a restricted setting, a strange, looming spaceship, a female mechanic more comfortable with machines than people, a gruff, military father figure. Beyond those, it also worked as both a hard sci-fi story and a thriller, with memorable characters and a gripping, unpredictable finale. The writing emphasized the physicality and proximity of the characters without ever feeling sophomoric or voyeuristic. The unpredictability of the ending could be down to the fact that this is the first in a series, which is almost disappointing - I wanted such a tight-knit story to be, itself, contained.
Ida and Ivan steal the show with their interrogation. Neither are particularly good people, and the book deals with its issues of governments and revolutionaries/terrorists so gently that it's especially difficult to tell which, if any of them, to root for. Their charisma keeps the scenes fascinating, and I would say that for the book as a whole as well - when it lags, it still has anywhere between a glimmer and a bucketfull of charisma.
I'm not usually one to mind when characters do foolish things, but with or without the context of the constant surveillance around her, I found myself mentally telling Althea to just stop at several points. She is trusting to a fault at times, toward both the smooth criminal Ivan and the System government that is happy to kill entire planetary colonies for the transgressions of a few individuals.
In brief, I highly enjoyed this, but am not raring for a sequel - it was so perfect on its own, and I like to imagine the ending as the final, chaotic end.
Ida and Ivan steal the show with their interrogation. Neither are particularly good people, and the book deals with its issues of governments and revolutionaries/terrorists so gently that it's especially difficult to tell which, if any of them, to root for. Their charisma keeps the scenes fascinating, and I would say that for the book as a whole as well - when it lags, it still has anywhere between a glimmer and a bucketfull of charisma.
I'm not usually one to mind when characters do foolish things, but with or without the context of the constant surveillance around her, I found myself mentally telling Althea to just stop at several points. She is trusting to a fault at times, toward both the smooth criminal Ivan and the System government that is happy to kill entire planetary colonies for the transgressions of a few individuals.
In brief, I highly enjoyed this, but am not raring for a sequel - it was so perfect on its own, and I like to imagine the ending as the final, chaotic end.
August 2, 2015
When I saw this book compared to Gravity and Alien, I had to check it out. I seem to be the minority when it comes to this book and not liking it. I am a fan of sci-fi stories so I was very bummed that this book was such a downer for me. There was nothing entertaining about the story, the characters, or even the location. I got to almost part 2 of this book and put it down. I actually had to force myself to pick this book up again. This is because I still at this point had high hopes that the book would pick up for me and the second time around would produce better results. Nope. No such results. I read a few more chapters and then found myself skipping parts to make it go faster. I finally skimming the last few chapters to see how the book ended but with no real interest.
May 31, 2016
An absolutely brilliant SF thriller - I read the last 200 pages in one breathless chunk because I COULD NOT STOP reading! Smart, intense, and full of fascinating and complex characters, including MANY strong women on various sides of big, morally ambiguous issues. I loved it, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series!
February 23, 2016
Not too bad as a debut.
Some ideas are really good, however the execution is a bit rough on the edges, with dull periods interspersed with brilliant moments.
I can see good potential with this author.
Some ideas are really good, however the execution is a bit rough on the edges, with dull periods interspersed with brilliant moments.
I can see good potential with this author.
November 30, 2017
Read this review and more at Book Geeks Uncompromised!
This was one of the very few purchases of mine that I just picked up at the bookstore without having heard anything about it. I had never seen any reviews on it, no blogs talking about it. It interested me just by the back cover blurb and because of my lack of previous info on it, I went into it with zero expectations either way. And I am really happy about that and I think that I read it at the perfect time.
After just finishing the behemoth that is Oathbringer and gone through all of the heavy emotions that it thrust upon me, I needed something light, quick, and entertaining. A palate cleanser. Lightless worked pretty much perfectly for that.
Althea is one of three crew members aboard the Ananke, a military science vessel on a top secret mission. Two criminals, Leontios Ivanov and Matthew Gale, sneak aboard the ship and are quickly captured but Gale manages to sneak a virus into the ship's computer. Althea attempts to repair the damage done to her ship as a government operative interrogates Ivanov as a potential link to a terrorist organization.
I found the story to be really entertaining. I think that if I had been looking for something more space opera-y (that's a word now), I would have been disappointed. That's just not what this is.
It is a rather narrow scope on a wider story. The terrorist organization mentioned is making moves all over the solar system as the story goes on but this book is about the characters on board. It is a little odd to know that all these big things are going on in the background but not really being a part of them and I think that could easily turn some readers off but I found it made for a fast paced and entertaining read.
The characterizations were, at best, okay. Althea was probably the best of the characters but I admit to being a little bit mesmerized by Ivanov's story.
The one thing that really did bother me was the lack of information on the ship's mission and the science part of the science fiction was pretty "hand-wavy".
There are definitions at the beginning of each "part" of the book for the different laws of thermodynamics and entropy but they only tied into the story really briefly. I was expecting a great big reveal for how the Ananke's mission specifically tied into everything but it really didn't. I believe the second book focuses more on the terrorists so I am kind of wondering if the Ananke will ever play a bigger role in the story. If not, I would be very disappointed.
The only other science that is brought up is the black hole drive in the bottom of the ship. Maybe I missed something but it sure sounded like the ship had harnessed the power of a black hole and had it sitting inside the ship. Now, I'm not an astrophysicist by any means (I mean, I did read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by NdT so I basically know everything there is to know on the topic, right?) but I don't think a black hole could fit inside a spaceship. At least not without that spaceship being so damn big it isn't really a spaceship anymore.
So this novel wasn't great. It had some pretty glaring flaws and the characterizations were just okay. But it was exactly what I needed right now and it was entertaining enough that I will go on and read Supernova.
This was one of the very few purchases of mine that I just picked up at the bookstore without having heard anything about it. I had never seen any reviews on it, no blogs talking about it. It interested me just by the back cover blurb and because of my lack of previous info on it, I went into it with zero expectations either way. And I am really happy about that and I think that I read it at the perfect time.
After just finishing the behemoth that is Oathbringer and gone through all of the heavy emotions that it thrust upon me, I needed something light, quick, and entertaining. A palate cleanser. Lightless worked pretty much perfectly for that.
Althea is one of three crew members aboard the Ananke, a military science vessel on a top secret mission. Two criminals, Leontios Ivanov and Matthew Gale, sneak aboard the ship and are quickly captured but Gale manages to sneak a virus into the ship's computer. Althea attempts to repair the damage done to her ship as a government operative interrogates Ivanov as a potential link to a terrorist organization.
I found the story to be really entertaining. I think that if I had been looking for something more space opera-y (that's a word now), I would have been disappointed. That's just not what this is.
It is a rather narrow scope on a wider story. The terrorist organization mentioned is making moves all over the solar system as the story goes on but this book is about the characters on board. It is a little odd to know that all these big things are going on in the background but not really being a part of them and I think that could easily turn some readers off but I found it made for a fast paced and entertaining read.
The characterizations were, at best, okay. Althea was probably the best of the characters but I admit to being a little bit mesmerized by Ivanov's story.
The one thing that really did bother me was the lack of information on the ship's mission and the science part of the science fiction was pretty "hand-wavy".
There are definitions at the beginning of each "part" of the book for the different laws of thermodynamics and entropy but they only tied into the story really briefly. I was expecting a great big reveal for how the Ananke's mission specifically tied into everything but it really didn't. I believe the second book focuses more on the terrorists so I am kind of wondering if the Ananke will ever play a bigger role in the story. If not, I would be very disappointed.
The only other science that is brought up is the black hole drive in the bottom of the ship. Maybe I missed something but it sure sounded like the ship had harnessed the power of a black hole and had it sitting inside the ship. Now, I'm not an astrophysicist by any means (I mean, I did read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by NdT so I basically know everything there is to know on the topic, right?) but I don't think a black hole could fit inside a spaceship. At least not without that spaceship being so damn big it isn't really a spaceship anymore.
So this novel wasn't great. It had some pretty glaring flaws and the characterizations were just okay. But it was exactly what I needed right now and it was entertaining enough that I will go on and read Supernova.
October 12, 2015
I give this book two and a half stars but I am rounding it up to three. Fans of the “science” part of the sci-fi genre should enjoy this book. There’s cool stuff like black holes, asteroids getting farmed with a man made atmosphere, people growing up on the dark side of the moon, and lots of “rules of physics”. Crime fans or professionals in the fields of investigations, the military, and well anything to do with running a criminal interview or interrogation DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I also have to believe anyone who’s studied human interpersonal behavior, or those who can’t tolerate complete lunatic decisions made by “best in their field” characters, will be dissatisfied with this book.
What I liked about the book:
1) The author has used her intense love and study of science to ground the futuristic ideas in real scientific theory. I had a love hate relationship with everything science all through school, so I don’t know/don’t care if the authors science is nonsense or real. It is one of the laurels marketing this book, and I did enjoy the science bits. It was cool to learn what the Anake’s super secret mission was, and I liked the idea of a black hole being inside the ship.
2) There are quite a few messages worked into this bit of fiction. The discussions about God and socialism were well presented. One of my favorite scenes is the back and forth between Althea and the Anake about God.
What I didn’t like about this book:
1) The author failed to do research about the less scientific things taking up at least fifty percent of the book. The interrogation of Ivan, and the military culture on board the Anake were poorly done. This book is a great example as to why writers need beta readers who are subject matter experts. It’s so sad to see a writer succeed at writing what she knows, but then fall flat on her face for not doing simple research into the occupations she’s not intimately familiar with. The interrogations were bad. Really-really bad. The awkward cobbled together military culture was even worse. As someone who has worked in both fields, it was insulting.
2) The plot is predictable. I think the biggest factor playing into this downfall is the number of one-dimensional characters. The only thing I didn’t correctly guess as each plot question presented, was the Anake’s super secret mission. Most of the plot can be determined by the books thirty five percent mark.
3) Call me a stickler for setting details, but there were several moments where I had a hard time believing this was set in the future. I was pulled out of the story every time a character shut off a manual alarm clock, or banged on a door. There is technology to house a black hole inside a spaceship, to run an entire craft on a crew of three, but bedside alarm clocks are still being used? Remote arms have replaced normal human functions, but characters are manually opening doors? My local Target store has auto doors, but the spaceship with a black hole in it doesn’t? That makes no sense to me.
What I liked about the book:
1) The author has used her intense love and study of science to ground the futuristic ideas in real scientific theory. I had a love hate relationship with everything science all through school, so I don’t know/don’t care if the authors science is nonsense or real. It is one of the laurels marketing this book, and I did enjoy the science bits. It was cool to learn what the Anake’s super secret mission was, and I liked the idea of a black hole being inside the ship.
2) There are quite a few messages worked into this bit of fiction. The discussions about God and socialism were well presented. One of my favorite scenes is the back and forth between Althea and the Anake about God.
What I didn’t like about this book:
1) The author failed to do research about the less scientific things taking up at least fifty percent of the book. The interrogation of Ivan, and the military culture on board the Anake were poorly done. This book is a great example as to why writers need beta readers who are subject matter experts. It’s so sad to see a writer succeed at writing what she knows, but then fall flat on her face for not doing simple research into the occupations she’s not intimately familiar with. The interrogations were bad. Really-really bad. The awkward cobbled together military culture was even worse. As someone who has worked in both fields, it was insulting.
2) The plot is predictable. I think the biggest factor playing into this downfall is the number of one-dimensional characters. The only thing I didn’t correctly guess as each plot question presented, was the Anake’s super secret mission. Most of the plot can be determined by the books thirty five percent mark.
3) Call me a stickler for setting details, but there were several moments where I had a hard time believing this was set in the future. I was pulled out of the story every time a character shut off a manual alarm clock, or banged on a door. There is technology to house a black hole inside a spaceship, to run an entire craft on a crew of three, but bedside alarm clocks are still being used? Remote arms have replaced normal human functions, but characters are manually opening doors? My local Target store has auto doors, but the spaceship with a black hole in it doesn’t? That makes no sense to me.
September 1, 2015
Lightless is a unique, thought-provoking piece of speculative fiction. While it won't be everyone's cup of tea, Lightless is certain to garner its share of fans.
There are several story layers. First there is the outer layer, what is happening aboard the experimental ship Ananke. After an incursion by a pair of thieves, Ananke's shipboard computer is left dangerously in flux. The ship's technician, Althea struggles to fix her beloved ship. The second layer is the interrogation of Ivan, the terrorist suspect captured on board. The intelligence agent assigned to the case believes he knows who is at the head of the Anti-System rebellion, so she questions him relentlessly. The third layer is what is occurring in the System itself. Everyone is under surveillance and all rebellion in ruthlessly quashed. Anti-System sentiments are high in the outer worlds. What is happening on board the Ananke will have lasting repercussions for everyone on board and within the System,
The novel is psychologically charged. The characters are driven by more than their pasts. There is no straightforward good or bad characters. While some actions are reprehensible the motives fall in shades of grey. Neither side can be said to be heroic. The only innocents are Althea and the Ananke. It is fitting that in Greek mythology Ananke was the personification of destiny.
Lightless is perfect for anyone who enjoys speculative science fiction.
5/5
Lightless is available for preorder and will be released September 29, 2015.
I received a copy of Lightless from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Lightless is a shining example of speculative scifi
http://muttcafe.com/2015/09/lightless
There are several story layers. First there is the outer layer, what is happening aboard the experimental ship Ananke. After an incursion by a pair of thieves, Ananke's shipboard computer is left dangerously in flux. The ship's technician, Althea struggles to fix her beloved ship. The second layer is the interrogation of Ivan, the terrorist suspect captured on board. The intelligence agent assigned to the case believes he knows who is at the head of the Anti-System rebellion, so she questions him relentlessly. The third layer is what is occurring in the System itself. Everyone is under surveillance and all rebellion in ruthlessly quashed. Anti-System sentiments are high in the outer worlds. What is happening on board the Ananke will have lasting repercussions for everyone on board and within the System,
The novel is psychologically charged. The characters are driven by more than their pasts. There is no straightforward good or bad characters. While some actions are reprehensible the motives fall in shades of grey. Neither side can be said to be heroic. The only innocents are Althea and the Ananke. It is fitting that in Greek mythology Ananke was the personification of destiny.
Lightless is perfect for anyone who enjoys speculative science fiction.
5/5
Lightless is available for preorder and will be released September 29, 2015.
I received a copy of Lightless from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Lightless is a shining example of speculative scifi
http://muttcafe.com/2015/09/lightless
September 2, 2015
Review also posted on Legendarium Media: http://www.legendariummedia.com/2015/...
I'm the first to admit I'm not much of a sci-fi reader. I love sci-fi shows and movies (Killjoys, Gravity, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc), but reading the genre usually seems like more of a chore than a pleasure; I feel my eyes glazing over when scientific and mathematical concepts start getting “explained” with no visual representation for my brain to make sense of it. Thankfully, Lightless was rather mild on that front, but that was only one of the very few good things about the book.
I'll be blunt: the first page alone was enough to turn me off from wanting to read more. That first paragraph echoed the entire novel in terms of repetition and taking too long to get to the point. From the very beginning the lead character, Althea, had the personality of a paperclip compared to her counterparts, neither of which turned out to be all that great by the end either. That in itself was a shame because Althea, a woman of color filling a typically masculine role, had so much potential that was either wasted or ignored. Another shame was that one of her crewmates strongly reminded me of Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim, one of my favorite characters ever. Too bad he turned out to lose any likability by the end of the story along with everyone else.
Nearly every single character was entirely unlikable and just plain irritating with barely any growth or development, unless degenerating into an even bigger mess counts as development. One minor character was far more interesting than any of the others and she had the least pagetime of all. By the end of the book the only character I'd come to like and be interested in turned out to be just as a big a disappointment as the lead.
Lightless took forever to get to anything remotely interesting (it wasn't until chapter seven, three-quarters of the way through, that it got good...then it devolved from chapter nine to the very end). When it's not lengthy conversations that go nowhere and do nothing but illustrate how awful these people really are, the biggest problem was how utterly confusing the entire thing is.
The basic plot of an oppressed people rising up against their oppressors, in this case an interplanetary governing system with the disarming name The System, is one that's been told countless times before, but is still fascinating to see unfold. Unfortunately, not in this book. Everything being told secondhand rather than “experienced” by the reader created a vacuum of empathy and concern, making the so-called heroes little more than cardboard cutouts of what a revolutionary is supposed to be.
The lack of characterization for the main players save one, a sadistic interrogator who at least exhibited some kind of personality as terrible as it was, made everyone seem like mouthpieces rather than actual people with layers and depth. Everything was so far removed from the focus of the story that hardly any of it evoked any kind of sympathetic or emotional reaction, and because of this, the “big reveal” of the identity of the terrorist mastermind had next to zero impact. The characters served as a framing device for a much bigger story, but since the story was so hinged on them rather than the overarching plot anything of significance got lost in the mix.
There were so many other points where the story suffered I'll spare you my bullet list of problems and suffice to say that Lightless not only missed the mark on so many things, but did so so spectacularly that chapter four alone not only did nothing positive for me, but actually pissed me off in about four different ways – the heavy-handed and rather unnecessary description of Althea's physical appearance, the sloppy commentary on the foster system (possibly on today's modern institution), still taking too long to get to any kind of point with the interrogation, and the apparently insane amount of bigotry and prejudice still in place amongst humans despite having the societal and scientific advancement to colonize the entire solar system. It's one thing to leave some things to the imagination of the reader, but another when only the skeletal outline is there and everything is expected to just be accepted.
Gravity and Alien are both masterpieces of the sci-fi genre, so why Lightless is being compared to either of them when the only things they have in common are space and something banging around inside a spaceship's walls is beyond me. This book is much more of a confusing mess than anything truly enjoyable. Light on the science side of sci-fi except in two or three instances, one of which being a lengthy proclamation of divinity and superiority BECAUSE MATH that came out of nowhere, and sorely lacking on everything else, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere for something compelling and intriguing.
Thank you to Del Rey for providing a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I'm the first to admit I'm not much of a sci-fi reader. I love sci-fi shows and movies (Killjoys, Gravity, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc), but reading the genre usually seems like more of a chore than a pleasure; I feel my eyes glazing over when scientific and mathematical concepts start getting “explained” with no visual representation for my brain to make sense of it. Thankfully, Lightless was rather mild on that front, but that was only one of the very few good things about the book.
I'll be blunt: the first page alone was enough to turn me off from wanting to read more. That first paragraph echoed the entire novel in terms of repetition and taking too long to get to the point. From the very beginning the lead character, Althea, had the personality of a paperclip compared to her counterparts, neither of which turned out to be all that great by the end either. That in itself was a shame because Althea, a woman of color filling a typically masculine role, had so much potential that was either wasted or ignored. Another shame was that one of her crewmates strongly reminded me of Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim, one of my favorite characters ever. Too bad he turned out to lose any likability by the end of the story along with everyone else.
Nearly every single character was entirely unlikable and just plain irritating with barely any growth or development, unless degenerating into an even bigger mess counts as development. One minor character was far more interesting than any of the others and she had the least pagetime of all. By the end of the book the only character I'd come to like and be interested in turned out to be just as a big a disappointment as the lead.
Lightless took forever to get to anything remotely interesting (it wasn't until chapter seven, three-quarters of the way through, that it got good...then it devolved from chapter nine to the very end). When it's not lengthy conversations that go nowhere and do nothing but illustrate how awful these people really are, the biggest problem was how utterly confusing the entire thing is.
The basic plot of an oppressed people rising up against their oppressors, in this case an interplanetary governing system with the disarming name The System, is one that's been told countless times before, but is still fascinating to see unfold. Unfortunately, not in this book. Everything being told secondhand rather than “experienced” by the reader created a vacuum of empathy and concern, making the so-called heroes little more than cardboard cutouts of what a revolutionary is supposed to be.
The lack of characterization for the main players save one, a sadistic interrogator who at least exhibited some kind of personality as terrible as it was, made everyone seem like mouthpieces rather than actual people with layers and depth. Everything was so far removed from the focus of the story that hardly any of it evoked any kind of sympathetic or emotional reaction, and because of this, the “big reveal” of the identity of the terrorist mastermind had next to zero impact. The characters served as a framing device for a much bigger story, but since the story was so hinged on them rather than the overarching plot anything of significance got lost in the mix.
There were so many other points where the story suffered I'll spare you my bullet list of problems and suffice to say that Lightless not only missed the mark on so many things, but did so so spectacularly that chapter four alone not only did nothing positive for me, but actually pissed me off in about four different ways – the heavy-handed and rather unnecessary description of Althea's physical appearance, the sloppy commentary on the foster system (possibly on today's modern institution), still taking too long to get to any kind of point with the interrogation, and the apparently insane amount of bigotry and prejudice still in place amongst humans despite having the societal and scientific advancement to colonize the entire solar system. It's one thing to leave some things to the imagination of the reader, but another when only the skeletal outline is there and everything is expected to just be accepted.
Gravity and Alien are both masterpieces of the sci-fi genre, so why Lightless is being compared to either of them when the only things they have in common are space and something banging around inside a spaceship's walls is beyond me. This book is much more of a confusing mess than anything truly enjoyable. Light on the science side of sci-fi except in two or three instances, one of which being a lengthy proclamation of divinity and superiority BECAUSE MATH that came out of nowhere, and sorely lacking on everything else, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere for something compelling and intriguing.
Thank you to Del Rey for providing a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
June 6, 2015
The publisher describes this book as "The deeply moving human drama of Gravity meets the nail-biting suspense of Alien in this riveting science fiction debut." There should be more attention paid to truth in advertising, because this book is absolutely nothing like either of those movies. It is more like a non-suspenseful mashup of a potential terrorist plot and artificial intelligence gone awry.
In this book the spaceship the Ananke, designed for secret scientific research, has a three person crew consisting of Domitian, the captain, Gagnon, the supervising scientist, and Althea, the engineer. The Ananke is invaded by intruders who arrive via the spaceship Annwn. (As an aside, we also have a truth serum called Aletheia. It would have been helpful if some of these names started with a different letter.) Ivan, one of the intruders, is captured and Ida, an intelligence officer who is convinced that Ivan is part of a terrorist plot and not just a thief, arrives to interrogate him.
The story is primarily told from Althea's point of view and takes place in some unspecified future date when the universe is under the control of a vaguely described System. There is zero world building in this book. It's good to know, though, that even in the future female intelligence agents are still wearing bright red lipstick and tottering around in high heels and that female engineering officers are still the weak emotional members of the team. Such a disappointment from a female author. To be fair, the men in this book aren't breaking any new ground either.
The book felt like a padded short story. The pacing was very slow for the first two thirds of the book. There was no action or suspense nor were there any interesting personalities or ideas to keep me motivated. All Althea did was try to fix a computer malfunction caused by the intruders and the other two crewmen did even less. There were endless interrogation scenes in which nothing was revealed. I'm surprised that I kept reading, but there was enough of a glimmer of an interesting story to make me want to find out how it turned out. The pace did pick up considerably and the book became exciting and suspenseful in the last third of the book. That should have been the short story.
In addition to the pacing there were two other problems for me with this book. First, I don't have much patience with stories about anthropomorphized computers unless they are written better than was the case here. Second, Althea made a very weak protagonist. She was on the verge of tears or angry (or both) at all times. She was gullible, easily manipulated and none too bright. How did she get her job?
The book wasn't terrible but I don't think I will seek out this author again.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
In this book the spaceship the Ananke, designed for secret scientific research, has a three person crew consisting of Domitian, the captain, Gagnon, the supervising scientist, and Althea, the engineer. The Ananke is invaded by intruders who arrive via the spaceship Annwn. (As an aside, we also have a truth serum called Aletheia. It would have been helpful if some of these names started with a different letter.) Ivan, one of the intruders, is captured and Ida, an intelligence officer who is convinced that Ivan is part of a terrorist plot and not just a thief, arrives to interrogate him.
The story is primarily told from Althea's point of view and takes place in some unspecified future date when the universe is under the control of a vaguely described System. There is zero world building in this book. It's good to know, though, that even in the future female intelligence agents are still wearing bright red lipstick and tottering around in high heels and that female engineering officers are still the weak emotional members of the team. Such a disappointment from a female author. To be fair, the men in this book aren't breaking any new ground either.
The book felt like a padded short story. The pacing was very slow for the first two thirds of the book. There was no action or suspense nor were there any interesting personalities or ideas to keep me motivated. All Althea did was try to fix a computer malfunction caused by the intruders and the other two crewmen did even less. There were endless interrogation scenes in which nothing was revealed. I'm surprised that I kept reading, but there was enough of a glimmer of an interesting story to make me want to find out how it turned out. The pace did pick up considerably and the book became exciting and suspenseful in the last third of the book. That should have been the short story.
In addition to the pacing there were two other problems for me with this book. First, I don't have much patience with stories about anthropomorphized computers unless they are written better than was the case here. Second, Althea made a very weak protagonist. She was on the verge of tears or angry (or both) at all times. She was gullible, easily manipulated and none too bright. How did she get her job?
The book wasn't terrible but I don't think I will seek out this author again.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
February 10, 2016
1.5 stars. A debut sci-fi novel which sounded like something I’d enjoy, but I was disappointed. For one thing the blurb is terribly misleading - this story bears no resemblance to Aliens or Gravity or to a “locked-spaceship” mystery.
It does take place entirely on a spaceship, but most of the story consists of a long interrogation carried out by a government agent who’s trying to get a prisoner to admit a connection to a terrorist organization. This agent is a shallow, unbelievable character, as well as the most incompetent interrogator in the galaxy. She’s supposed to be a sociopath (they are popular character types right now) with a fierce reputation, but the most elementary subterfuges slip past her.
The prisoner is fairly interesting. The interrogator is only allowed to use a truth serum if she catches him in a lie, so he freely confesses to lots of things she already knows about. He talks for days and days, and it’s a huge exposition dump, but his narrative actually works pretty well to provide a glimpse of this dystopian future. Unfortunately the POV is mostly that of the ridiculous interrogator.
Meanwhile the ship’s engineer is trying to debug mysterious computer problems, and everything to do with this plot and the ship and its implausibly tiny crew is terrible and nonsensical.
I love stories set on spaceships, and I should especially love one with a computer which , but this is just not well written.
It does take place entirely on a spaceship, but most of the story consists of a long interrogation carried out by a government agent who’s trying to get a prisoner to admit a connection to a terrorist organization. This agent is a shallow, unbelievable character, as well as the most incompetent interrogator in the galaxy. She’s supposed to be a sociopath (they are popular character types right now) with a fierce reputation, but the most elementary subterfuges slip past her.
The prisoner is fairly interesting. The interrogator is only allowed to use a truth serum if she catches him in a lie, so he freely confesses to lots of things she already knows about. He talks for days and days, and it’s a huge exposition dump, but his narrative actually works pretty well to provide a glimpse of this dystopian future. Unfortunately the POV is mostly that of the ridiculous interrogator.
Meanwhile the ship’s engineer is trying to debug mysterious computer problems, and everything to do with this plot and the ship and its implausibly tiny crew is terrible and nonsensical.
I love stories set on spaceships, and I should especially love one with a computer which , but this is just not well written.
April 26, 2016
I got about ten pages into this book before I had to stop. Basically, the writing wasn't great, the story didn't make any sense, and it was peppered with random Twilightisms.
I mean, look. I guess we're in the far future on a highly advanced spaceship. The very first thing we are told is that the main character knows her ship so well that she's subconsciously sensed some slight nuance with the ship that means something's wrong. We're told this twice! But then it turns out that she was actually clued in by the ship upping the terror threat level. Well, no kidding!
Then, it turns out that two thieves get on board by somehow reprogramming the ship from the outside, then jimmying a lock with a couple of bent pieces of metal, allowing them to land their ship inside their evidently big empty hangar. What? How are their locks that bad?
Then her captain tells her to grab some guns and meet him at the hangar, but instead she went to the main computer room because 'that would be their main target, the brains of the ship," or whatever, and found a bad guy there. Why would he need to be there if he was able to reprogram the ship from the outside?
Finally, when she sees the thief, she's overcome with distraction because his eyes are like, so totally blue, guys, like, whoa. Seriously?
Maybe the book gets better later, but it isn't for me.
I mean, look. I guess we're in the far future on a highly advanced spaceship. The very first thing we are told is that the main character knows her ship so well that she's subconsciously sensed some slight nuance with the ship that means something's wrong. We're told this twice! But then it turns out that she was actually clued in by the ship upping the terror threat level. Well, no kidding!
Then, it turns out that two thieves get on board by somehow reprogramming the ship from the outside, then jimmying a lock with a couple of bent pieces of metal, allowing them to land their ship inside their evidently big empty hangar. What? How are their locks that bad?
Then her captain tells her to grab some guns and meet him at the hangar, but instead she went to the main computer room because 'that would be their main target, the brains of the ship," or whatever, and found a bad guy there. Why would he need to be there if he was able to reprogram the ship from the outside?
Finally, when she sees the thief, she's overcome with distraction because his eyes are like, so totally blue, guys, like, whoa. Seriously?
Maybe the book gets better later, but it isn't for me.
September 29, 2015
REVIEW: LIGHTLESS by C. A. Higgins
I love many genres and subgenres, but when I'm engrossed in the midst of British crime fiction, something special is required to jolt my attention. LIGHTLESS did it. This outstanding science fiction debut left me breathless--and yearning impatiently for more. There's a kickin'9 female protagonist with a steel-trap mind akin to the illustrious Stephen Hawking, a spaceship she knows like she knows her own mind, a three-person crew, a System which makes Orwell' s 1984 resemble a child's sandbox, two very efficient terrorist-thieves-saboteurs--oh, it's just glorious. A must-read on so many counts!
I love many genres and subgenres, but when I'm engrossed in the midst of British crime fiction, something special is required to jolt my attention. LIGHTLESS did it. This outstanding science fiction debut left me breathless--and yearning impatiently for more. There's a kickin'9 female protagonist with a steel-trap mind akin to the illustrious Stephen Hawking, a spaceship she knows like she knows her own mind, a three-person crew, a System which makes Orwell' s 1984 resemble a child's sandbox, two very efficient terrorist-thieves-saboteurs--oh, it's just glorious. A must-read on so many counts!
January 29, 2016
Awful writing, embarrassing to read. I should have known when I read this bit so early on "The man completed the turn, and Althea was briefly struck silent. The most brilliant blue Althea had ever seen had been in the sky of the equatorial region on Earth, where she had gone for a brief vacation from her studies. That did not compare to the brilliant colour of the man's eyes. His appearance in the Ananke's data banks was as unsettling as if the one who had been the most beautiful of God's angels had stepped out of the ether onto the Ananke and started to fiddle with the computer."
Oh. Dear.
Oh. Dear.
March 15, 2017
3.5 Stars
Lightless by C.A. Higgins is a really fun science fiction mystery. I wanted to read this book because of it's tight story and small cast of characters, something very rare in the sci-fi and fantasy genres today. I love all things space opera and am a fan boy of the hard boiled mystery. Lightless infuses enough science fiction into this mystery to make it a really fun ride. I devoured this book and my enjoyment level was full marks. My only real issue is that it will be forgettable. Oh well, thankfully there are more books in the series that I will surely read.
Good stuff!
Lightless by C.A. Higgins is a really fun science fiction mystery. I wanted to read this book because of it's tight story and small cast of characters, something very rare in the sci-fi and fantasy genres today. I love all things space opera and am a fan boy of the hard boiled mystery. Lightless infuses enough science fiction into this mystery to make it a really fun ride. I devoured this book and my enjoyment level was full marks. My only real issue is that it will be forgettable. Oh well, thankfully there are more books in the series that I will surely read.
Good stuff!
November 14, 2015
2.5 Stars
This book was compelling. I was anxious to get back to reading it when I had to put it down and the storyline was intriguing. I felt, however, quite underwhelmed once I got to the end.
This book was compelling. I was anxious to get back to reading it when I had to put it down and the storyline was intriguing. I felt, however, quite underwhelmed once I got to the end.
January 31, 2016
I resent every minute I spent reading this stupid, poorly written, pointless book.
April 3, 2020
VOTO PERSONALE: 3,6
Romanzo d'esordio per la giovane scrittrice C.A. Higgins, Lightless rappresenta il primo capitolo di una trilogia di space-opera che, se non imperdibile, promette comunque molto bene.
La commistione tra sci-fi e thriller psicologico rappresenta uno degli sviluppi più o meno moderni a cui la fantascienza classica è andata incontro, con risultati alterni, godendo attualmente di un discreto successo.
La Higgins sembra attingere a piene mani da questo filone narrativo, basando la propria opera su pochissimi personaggi e ambientandola pressoché per l'intero suo svolgimento a bordo dell'astronave Ananke, e il cui perno è senza dubbio rappresentato dalle interazioni che sussistono tra i vari personaggi e dagli sviluppi psicologici che si dipanano tra gli stessi: alcuni sono senz'altro più interessanti di altri, i quali risultano piuttosto stereotipati ma, al contempo, anche funzionali ai fini del romanzo stesso.
La scrittura è nel complesso solida, fluida, sebbene traspare qualche fisima sul colore degli occhi dei protagonisti e su qualche altro dettaglio irrilevante, ma che nel complesso non guasta affatto il ritmo della narrazione.
Insomma, buon esordio da parte di questa giovane autrice, nella speranza che mantenga questi livelli, o meglio ancora li superi, nei prossimi capitoli
Romanzo d'esordio per la giovane scrittrice C.A. Higgins, Lightless rappresenta il primo capitolo di una trilogia di space-opera che, se non imperdibile, promette comunque molto bene.
La commistione tra sci-fi e thriller psicologico rappresenta uno degli sviluppi più o meno moderni a cui la fantascienza classica è andata incontro, con risultati alterni, godendo attualmente di un discreto successo.
La Higgins sembra attingere a piene mani da questo filone narrativo, basando la propria opera su pochissimi personaggi e ambientandola pressoché per l'intero suo svolgimento a bordo dell'astronave Ananke, e il cui perno è senza dubbio rappresentato dalle interazioni che sussistono tra i vari personaggi e dagli sviluppi psicologici che si dipanano tra gli stessi: alcuni sono senz'altro più interessanti di altri, i quali risultano piuttosto stereotipati ma, al contempo, anche funzionali ai fini del romanzo stesso.
La scrittura è nel complesso solida, fluida, sebbene traspare qualche fisima sul colore degli occhi dei protagonisti e su qualche altro dettaglio irrilevante, ma che nel complesso non guasta affatto il ritmo della narrazione.
Insomma, buon esordio da parte di questa giovane autrice, nella speranza che mantenga questi livelli, o meglio ancora li superi, nei prossimi capitoli
September 11, 2018
Interessante commistione di thriller psicologico e space opera, una storia in camera chiusa su un’astronave. Forse un pelo troppo lungo per reggere il suo impianto, ma comunque valido. Mi ha fatto venire voglia di proseguire con la trilogia. Bel gruppo di personaggi in cui ciascuno ha le proprie motivazioni ed esercita le sue violenze, senza un chiaro confine tra buoni e cattivi. Penso che ne verrebbe fuori un ottimo film, o anche una serie.
January 23, 2016
I read this book because it was recommended to me. The phrase "hard-sci fi" was mentioned. So was the word "thriller." The book was never the former, and only partly the latter.
First, about that "hard-sci fi" designation: it isn't a knock against a book that it doesn't fit the strict, highly technical mold of the type that books by people like Greg Egan or Kim Stanley Robinson do. All types of sci fi can feature enjoyable narratives and characters--- some just happen to focus more on the tech and the physics of it all, and that's fine. I certainly don't think scientific rigor of the kind provided by authors with advanced physics degrees somehow raises the pedigree of a science fiction novel. Story, for me, comes first. Followed closely by characters. That's just how I read. A solid grounding in science really helps, but it's not necessary that I come away with a more nuanced understanding of quantum mechanics after reading a novel, and if that's all I come away with, a text book on the subject would have done just as well. I make this point because it seems to me that this book was categorized as "hard-sci fi" because more than a few people felt it was somehow important to give this book some extra prestige, and the operating assumption was that claiming the story was informed by well-researched science, and thus "hard-sci fi," would provide that prestige.
It should be evident to anyone reading the book that this is not hard science fiction. It can't be. To call it such would be to make any delineation between hard and soft meaningless. I don't think that was the point the people behind the recommendation, the ones who labeled the book hard, were trying to make. So why label it as such? I don't know for sure. I can guess, but it doesn't really matter. This is soft science fiction (and there's nothing wrong with that), and it's just okay.
I enjoyed the book quite a lot at first. I thought the initial mystery was engaging, even if it seemed entirely obvious to me, a reader with little more information than the characters in the story, Matthew Gale was still aboard the ship. I mean, the guy is seen uploading a virus into the computer, then vanishes into the maintenance shafts, only for an escape pod to launch moments later with a "life sign" aboard. Despite being fully cognizant of the fact that their computer is compromised, the crew continue to have full faith in every bit of information the computer provides them--- unless it isn't convenient to the plot for them to do so. It's also strange that, for such an advanced ship, business seems to be conducted in such a prosaic way. Someone somewhere compared this book to Alien. It's an apt comparison, but it shouldn't be. The Nostromo was just an elaborate big rig in space. The Ananke is supposed to be top of the line experimental tech. Why is there only one mechanic in overalls, running around messing with wires? Why doesn't anything seem to be wireless? You can almost imagine a wrench in her hand. It's very strange.
There's a sense of isolation early in the book that creates an effectively ominous mood. It shatters when Ida Stays arrives, then dissolves entirely once she starts bringing aboard witnesses to interrogate the remaining prisoner. With some minor reworking, this book could have worked much better without Stays, Milla, or Constance being involved at all. A few more crew members, instead, would have done more to maintain the book's early sense of foreboding, especially when the computer starts going on the fritz.
Everything that happens after the witnesses arrive is decidedly less interesting than what happened before. Characters don't seem to learn from their mistakes. They die because of it. The very end seems to set up a sequel, but I don't know why.
First, about that "hard-sci fi" designation: it isn't a knock against a book that it doesn't fit the strict, highly technical mold of the type that books by people like Greg Egan or Kim Stanley Robinson do. All types of sci fi can feature enjoyable narratives and characters--- some just happen to focus more on the tech and the physics of it all, and that's fine. I certainly don't think scientific rigor of the kind provided by authors with advanced physics degrees somehow raises the pedigree of a science fiction novel. Story, for me, comes first. Followed closely by characters. That's just how I read. A solid grounding in science really helps, but it's not necessary that I come away with a more nuanced understanding of quantum mechanics after reading a novel, and if that's all I come away with, a text book on the subject would have done just as well. I make this point because it seems to me that this book was categorized as "hard-sci fi" because more than a few people felt it was somehow important to give this book some extra prestige, and the operating assumption was that claiming the story was informed by well-researched science, and thus "hard-sci fi," would provide that prestige.
It should be evident to anyone reading the book that this is not hard science fiction. It can't be. To call it such would be to make any delineation between hard and soft meaningless. I don't think that was the point the people behind the recommendation, the ones who labeled the book hard, were trying to make. So why label it as such? I don't know for sure. I can guess, but it doesn't really matter. This is soft science fiction (and there's nothing wrong with that), and it's just okay.
I enjoyed the book quite a lot at first. I thought the initial mystery was engaging, even if it seemed entirely obvious to me, a reader with little more information than the characters in the story, Matthew Gale was still aboard the ship. I mean, the guy is seen uploading a virus into the computer, then vanishes into the maintenance shafts, only for an escape pod to launch moments later with a "life sign" aboard. Despite being fully cognizant of the fact that their computer is compromised, the crew continue to have full faith in every bit of information the computer provides them--- unless it isn't convenient to the plot for them to do so. It's also strange that, for such an advanced ship, business seems to be conducted in such a prosaic way. Someone somewhere compared this book to Alien. It's an apt comparison, but it shouldn't be. The Nostromo was just an elaborate big rig in space. The Ananke is supposed to be top of the line experimental tech. Why is there only one mechanic in overalls, running around messing with wires? Why doesn't anything seem to be wireless? You can almost imagine a wrench in her hand. It's very strange.
There's a sense of isolation early in the book that creates an effectively ominous mood. It shatters when Ida Stays arrives, then dissolves entirely once she starts bringing aboard witnesses to interrogate the remaining prisoner. With some minor reworking, this book could have worked much better without Stays, Milla, or Constance being involved at all. A few more crew members, instead, would have done more to maintain the book's early sense of foreboding, especially when the computer starts going on the fritz.
Everything that happens after the witnesses arrive is decidedly less interesting than what happened before. Characters don't seem to learn from their mistakes. They die because of it. The very end seems to set up a sequel, but I don't know why.
January 16, 2016
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The problem with this book is that almost everything in it has already happened, and the one important thing that does happen takes place offstage where we can't see it. What do I mean?
The premise: there are two invaders that are discovered on a research ship roaming the stars. They are captured, but one escapes. BTW, the author loves her mythology and her symbolism. The remaining captured thief is called "Scheherazade" by his fleeing companion, and that really tells you all you need to know.
The scientists staffing the vessel call in an investigator to take custody of this wanted man. We are told how good she is, but I certainly didn't see it. Most of the book is her "interrogation", really his story-telling. He talks about his family, his past escapades, his friends... and eventually both his mother and his female friend (also very symbolically named) are brought on board briefly to get him to spill the beans. What does our interrogator want to know? The true identity of a terrorist with yet another mythic name. If you know much about Celtic fairy tales, you'll figure out what's up pretty quickly. And his backstory is essentially the book. There's some interesting stuff going on in the ship's computer, too, but no one really seems to understand what that is or be able to deal with it.
A rule that I'm developing for reading is that if half the book is flashback ( or exposition about the past) the author has started in the wrong place. Why tell us about what happened when you could actually show it happening? It's different than standard, yes, but different in this case didn't mean better. At this point I won't even mention the event that takes place elsewhere while the characters are spinning their wheels, since that would really give the game away, but believe me when I say that again, seeing more about that would be a better story.
So, I don't think the author is as smart (at least about writing) as she thinks. She might think that her references to mythology are subtle, but to me it was about a subtle as being hit over the head with a hammer. The actual characters don't DO much of anything until the very end of the book, the main character is especially clueless with a wandering situational morality that made me feel like I was watching a bad horror movie. And the end of the book felt kind of like a bad horror movie that leaves you hanging.
Well, maybe now that she's got all the past backstory out of the way with this book, something will actually happen in front of the reader in her next one.
The problem with this book is that almost everything in it has already happened, and the one important thing that does happen takes place offstage where we can't see it. What do I mean?
The premise: there are two invaders that are discovered on a research ship roaming the stars. They are captured, but one escapes. BTW, the author loves her mythology and her symbolism. The remaining captured thief is called "Scheherazade" by his fleeing companion, and that really tells you all you need to know.
The scientists staffing the vessel call in an investigator to take custody of this wanted man. We are told how good she is, but I certainly didn't see it. Most of the book is her "interrogation", really his story-telling. He talks about his family, his past escapades, his friends... and eventually both his mother and his female friend (also very symbolically named) are brought on board briefly to get him to spill the beans. What does our interrogator want to know? The true identity of a terrorist with yet another mythic name. If you know much about Celtic fairy tales, you'll figure out what's up pretty quickly. And his backstory is essentially the book. There's some interesting stuff going on in the ship's computer, too, but no one really seems to understand what that is or be able to deal with it.
A rule that I'm developing for reading is that if half the book is flashback ( or exposition about the past) the author has started in the wrong place. Why tell us about what happened when you could actually show it happening? It's different than standard, yes, but different in this case didn't mean better. At this point I won't even mention the event that takes place elsewhere while the characters are spinning their wheels, since that would really give the game away, but believe me when I say that again, seeing more about that would be a better story.
So, I don't think the author is as smart (at least about writing) as she thinks. She might think that her references to mythology are subtle, but to me it was about a subtle as being hit over the head with a hammer. The actual characters don't DO much of anything until the very end of the book, the main character is especially clueless with a wandering situational morality that made me feel like I was watching a bad horror movie. And the end of the book felt kind of like a bad horror movie that leaves you hanging.
Well, maybe now that she's got all the past backstory out of the way with this book, something will actually happen in front of the reader in her next one.
March 4, 2016
Okay, so right up front: this book is not perfect. But it is tense (oh god so tense; I had to take breaks to get through this) and suspenseful and good, and if this is truly a first novel, someday Higgins is going to write something great. I will watch her career with interest, is what I'm saying.
In any list of the things I liked about this, the characters have to be the first entry. And that's interesting, because the male characters in this book are pretty flat, kind of dull, sort of ciphers; it's like Higgins had only so much rendering energy and she burned it all on the female characters. I'm for this. The dudes can fade unimportantly into the background while the ladies are fascinating. That works for me, especially when so many of them are my favorite kinds of characters. (Key among them: the woman who loves machines and would much rather not deal with feelings. Spacetoasters, you remain true perfection in fictional form. Never leave me.) This did have the kind of weird side effect of making me side with a terrible person for about half the book, just because she was so much realer and her opponent was so chintzy (and also he was manipulating my spacetoaster, which is Not Okay). But, hey, these things happen. I got it sorted out eventually.
I loved the convolutions of the plot -- to be honest, they're somewhat predictable, especially if you're genre aware, but it doesn't matter if you've seen the roller coaster's curves before you ride it. The ride is the point, and this ride is fun. Higgins didn't quite stick the landing, but it's the first book in a series, apparently, so I'll wait and see how that plays out before I judge it.
And Higgins knows how to make suspense work. I was struck, reading this, about how sparse it is, how little she needs to drive the tension engine. I kept mentally comparing it to Illuminae, a genuinely bad book that attempted to accomplish roughly the same thing as Lightless. Illuminae's authors threw everything they could think of at the book to ratchet up the tension and only managed to be irritating. Higgins succeeds using only computer malfunctions and a creeping sense of dread.
If you like spaceships and intrigue and suspense and robots and thieves and plots and lots of fascinating women, this is the book for you. And I love all those things, so this was most definitely a book for me.
Warning: animal harm offscreen.
In any list of the things I liked about this, the characters have to be the first entry. And that's interesting, because the male characters in this book are pretty flat, kind of dull, sort of ciphers; it's like Higgins had only so much rendering energy and she burned it all on the female characters. I'm for this. The dudes can fade unimportantly into the background while the ladies are fascinating. That works for me, especially when so many of them are my favorite kinds of characters. (Key among them: the woman who loves machines and would much rather not deal with feelings. Spacetoasters, you remain true perfection in fictional form. Never leave me.) This did have the kind of weird side effect of making me side with a terrible person for about half the book, just because she was so much realer and her opponent was so chintzy (and also he was manipulating my spacetoaster, which is Not Okay). But, hey, these things happen. I got it sorted out eventually.
I loved the convolutions of the plot -- to be honest, they're somewhat predictable, especially if you're genre aware, but it doesn't matter if you've seen the roller coaster's curves before you ride it. The ride is the point, and this ride is fun. Higgins didn't quite stick the landing, but it's the first book in a series, apparently, so I'll wait and see how that plays out before I judge it.
And Higgins knows how to make suspense work. I was struck, reading this, about how sparse it is, how little she needs to drive the tension engine. I kept mentally comparing it to Illuminae, a genuinely bad book that attempted to accomplish roughly the same thing as Lightless. Illuminae's authors threw everything they could think of at the book to ratchet up the tension and only managed to be irritating. Higgins succeeds using only computer malfunctions and a creeping sense of dread.
If you like spaceships and intrigue and suspense and robots and thieves and plots and lots of fascinating women, this is the book for you. And I love all those things, so this was most definitely a book for me.
Warning: animal harm offscreen.
August 15, 2016
I know you’ve heard this before and as trite as it is I can’t think of a better way to say it. Lightless was a novel I wanted to like a lot; a whole lot. And like it I did, just not as much as I wanted to. There, I’ve said it. I’m hoping I’m not punishing author C.A. Higgins for my expectations but I believe I’m being fair.
Lightless is the story of the good ship Ananke and those who serve on her as well as those who visit her. The entire story takes place on the Ananke and half of that story takes place in a single room; the interrogation room. Higgins presents a tapestry. She weaves that tapestry, not with a loom but with a needle and thread. Details come to light as threads drawn through the narrative begin, change direction, end, restart and sometimes connect. She brings enough of the threads together along the way to hold your interest and give you a peek at another part of the whole. The novel works, just not as well as I expected.
I read this as an audiobook. The narrator, Fiona Hardingham, was very good.
Lightless is the story of the good ship Ananke and those who serve on her as well as those who visit her. The entire story takes place on the Ananke and half of that story takes place in a single room; the interrogation room. Higgins presents a tapestry. She weaves that tapestry, not with a loom but with a needle and thread. Details come to light as threads drawn through the narrative begin, change direction, end, restart and sometimes connect. She brings enough of the threads together along the way to hold your interest and give you a peek at another part of the whole. The novel works, just not as well as I expected.
I read this as an audiobook. The narrator, Fiona Hardingham, was very good.
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