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erosionyeah's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
viragohaus's review against another edition
4.0
I confess that there were whole passages in Empty Space where I had no clue just what was going on.
Part –but only part- of my confusion was down to the fact that this is the concluding volume in a trilogy of books Harrison commenced in 2002 with ‘Light’ and continued with 2006’s ‘Nova Swing’, neither of which I have read.
But there’s also a graceful inexplicableness at the core of Harrison’s syntax and story, something Gary K. Wolfe calls an “elegant precision about indeterminacy”.
It is at times is solid, vividly corporeal but then slips between the electrons at the edge of physics into something beyond. This discomforting experience never suggests sloppiness as Harrison has a firm hand on this expansive material at all times. The subtitle here ‘A Haunting’ is not just a feint at ghost stories and uncaused causation; it is also circles down to a perplexing and satisfying conclusion: we haunt ourselves in the traces.
Part –but only part- of my confusion was down to the fact that this is the concluding volume in a trilogy of books Harrison commenced in 2002 with ‘Light’ and continued with 2006’s ‘Nova Swing’, neither of which I have read.
But there’s also a graceful inexplicableness at the core of Harrison’s syntax and story, something Gary K. Wolfe calls an “elegant precision about indeterminacy”.
It is at times is solid, vividly corporeal but then slips between the electrons at the edge of physics into something beyond. This discomforting experience never suggests sloppiness as Harrison has a firm hand on this expansive material at all times. The subtitle here ‘A Haunting’ is not just a feint at ghost stories and uncaused causation; it is also circles down to a perplexing and satisfying conclusion: we haunt ourselves in the traces.
eugen_wzrd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
parade's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
gerhard's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favourite SF books ever is Nova by Samuel R. Delany, and Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy reminds me so much of Delany. The sense of a wild frontier, crazy characters caught up in a maelstrom of events in a dark and unredictable universe, where nothing is as it seems and everyone is damaged in one way or another.
A lot of modern SF seems sanitised and focused on technology; Harrison's 'singularity without an event horizon' is dirty, smelly, sexy, and filled with danger and dangerous / weird people, creatures and ... things. And if you think I am describing the Culture by Iain Banks, definitely not. Kefahuchi is the red light district, ground zero, three-ring circus and exclusion zone that the Culure never had. It is the true frontier.
I really loved Empty Space. It is a truly crazy read that puts its plot in a blender and then gets impatient if the reader fails to pay attention. It is best to just immerse yourself in this and go with the flow; you will soon hit the rapids.
Much of the intellectual, moral and philosophical rigour of SF is now concentrated in the sub-genre of space opera, with writers like Iain Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Paul McAuley, John C. Wright and, of course, M. John Harrison (Peter Hamilton is a self-conscious throwback to the Golden Age of SF space opera).
Harrison is the most poetic and eccentric of this disparate collection of writers, but I hasten to add it depends on personal choice, and whether or not you prefer the experimental side of SF or the more conventional genre-grounded output.
Anyone who writes about quantum cats so convincingly is pretty special.
A lot of modern SF seems sanitised and focused on technology; Harrison's 'singularity without an event horizon' is dirty, smelly, sexy, and filled with danger and dangerous / weird people, creatures and ... things. And if you think I am describing the Culture by Iain Banks, definitely not. Kefahuchi is the red light district, ground zero, three-ring circus and exclusion zone that the Culure never had. It is the true frontier.
I really loved Empty Space. It is a truly crazy read that puts its plot in a blender and then gets impatient if the reader fails to pay attention. It is best to just immerse yourself in this and go with the flow; you will soon hit the rapids.
Much of the intellectual, moral and philosophical rigour of SF is now concentrated in the sub-genre of space opera, with writers like Iain Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Paul McAuley, John C. Wright and, of course, M. John Harrison (Peter Hamilton is a self-conscious throwback to the Golden Age of SF space opera).
Harrison is the most poetic and eccentric of this disparate collection of writers, but I hasten to add it depends on personal choice, and whether or not you prefer the experimental side of SF or the more conventional genre-grounded output.
Anyone who writes about quantum cats so convincingly is pretty special.
porsane's review against another edition
4.0
This a very sad book filled with sour resentment and unfulfilled dreams, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Avoid it if you like pat resolutions or happy endings. I feel foolish for not realising it was part of a trilogy, but it certainly stands alone.
myxomycetes's review against another edition
5.0
An SF novel certainly not to everyone's taste, but if you enjoy prose's more mind-altering capabilities and enjoy your genre aesthetics too, then you're probably already familiar with Harrison's work and don't need some website yahoo telling you to read this book.
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