Far from the Light of Heaven
Ratings28
Average rating3.4
“Simultaneously brutally grounded and wildly imaginative.” —Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke Award winner A tense and thrilling vision of humanity’s future in the chilling emptiness of space from rising giant in science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Tade Thompson The colony ship Ragtime docks in the Lagos system, having traveled light-years to bring one thousand sleeping souls to a new home among the stars. But when first mate Michelle Campion rouses, she discovers some of the sleepers will never wake. Answering Campion’s distress call, investigator Rasheed Fin is tasked with finding out who is responsible for these deaths. Soon a sinister mystery unfolds aboard the gigantic vessel, one that will have repercussions for the entire system—from the scheming politicians of Lagos station, to the colony planet Bloodroot, to other far-flung systems, and indeed to Earth itself. Praise for Far from the Light of Heaven "Gripping and skillfully told, with an economy and freshness of approach that is all Tade Thompson''s own. The setting is interstellar, but it feels as real, immediate, and lethal as today's headlines." —Alastair Reynolds "[I]nventive, exciting and compulsively readable...This book is like the Tardis, larger inside than out, with a range of ideas, characters, and fascinating future settings making it probably the best science fiction novel of the year." —The Guardian For more from Tade Thompson, check out: The Wormwood Trilogy Rosewater Rosewater: Insurrection Rosewater: Redemption
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This is the best “not good” book that I actually wanted to finish. It's weird, it has all the ingredients of an awesome sci-fi story but it just kind of misses the mark.
The action sequences were not super well described, the sci-fi concepts were neat at a surface level but not well explored, and the murder mystery angle kind of just meanders along without a compelling conclusion. It felt like ideas, characters and plotlines were casually introduced and discarded and then the book ends.
It might click with other people, but if you're not super into it by the first chunk it doesn't really get better.
Pros: interesting characters, great world-building, unique
Cons:
AIs fly ships, and AIs have never failed in flight.
When first mate Michelle ‘Shell' Campion is woken after the last bridge-jump to the Bloodroot colony, 10 years into her mission, she finds the starship Ragtime's AI reduced to its basic operating system and 31 colonists missing from their sleeping pods. This is not the way the now acting captain foresaw her first mission going.
Bloodroot sends an investigator in answer to Shell's distress call to find out what's happening on the quarantined ship, but murder is just the start of the mysteries he uncovers there.
The world-building is great. While most of the action takes place on Ragtime, I loved Lagos station and learning about the Lambers. I also appreciated that the human characters were considerate towards the AI, even asking what pronouns they prefer.
The plot begins with the mystery of how the colonists died, but that's quickly overshadowed by the weirdest series of events as things on Ragtime quickly spiral out of control. You're not going to figure out ‘who dunnit', or foresee any of the other twists that come completely out of left field, but the ending explains why everything happened, which I greatly appreciated.
The pacing can be on the slow side at times, reflecting the actualities of space travel and communication. Having said that, the characters never have enough time to solve a problem before the next one comes up, making the story feel claustrophobic, rushed, and tense.
The characters are intriguing and unusual. Shell is calm and collected even under the worst pressure. Fin hates space though he's excited to be practicing his trade again after screwing up his last assignment. Joké is... unique and kind of fun.
This is a different kind of science fiction novel, something the author mentions in an afterword at the end of the book. So if you want something outside the norm give this a try.
