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emnii's review against another edition
5.0
Novellas aren't really my thing. Not that I've got anything against them, it's just that the bulk of my reading is the standard 300 something page novel, sometimes venturing into those 1,000 page fantasy tomes (hello Malazan series). Novellas have to work hard; they've got a short amount of time to build a world, flesh out characters, and tell a story. But the synopsis of The Burning Light sounded like something I'd enjoy, and I'm really glad I went outside my comfort zone on it. The Burning Light delivers.
Colonel Chu is on a mission. The Light is spreading like an epidemic. It's destroyed her life and it's burning out people who come in contact with it. She's going to snuff it out. Zola used to be a pilot for a corporate collective, but the Light changed all that. She has a special connection to the Light, but Chu is closing in on her.
Being a novella, The Burning Light has to be efficient and it absolutely is. It moves fast to establish its setting and characters. It's aided by a lot of cyberpunk shorthand. Gov soldiers are black-clad and sleek, junkies are strapped for cash and burnt out, and the world is flooded and filthy. It's not that it's cliche or stereotype, but taking some smart shortcuts to get to the meat of what the story is about, which is Chu and Zola and the Light. It didn't take more than 10 pages for me "get it".
Then it gets to the characters, and their motivations. This is where no shortcut will really suffice, and Beaulieu and Ziegler handle it well. Both of the main characters have complex histories, supporting characters exist with enough to have voices of their own, and The Light is more than a MacGuffin.
I don't really have much negative to say. It does everything well and I didn't get tired of it. With only 100 pages, it would be easy to this go wrong, either leaving too little story or crafting characters out of cardboard. It's clear that The Burning Light was written with skilled hands. It packs a lot into a novella and left me wanting more.
Colonel Chu is on a mission. The Light is spreading like an epidemic. It's destroyed her life and it's burning out people who come in contact with it. She's going to snuff it out. Zola used to be a pilot for a corporate collective, but the Light changed all that. She has a special connection to the Light, but Chu is closing in on her.
Being a novella, The Burning Light has to be efficient and it absolutely is. It moves fast to establish its setting and characters. It's aided by a lot of cyberpunk shorthand. Gov soldiers are black-clad and sleek, junkies are strapped for cash and burnt out, and the world is flooded and filthy. It's not that it's cliche or stereotype, but taking some smart shortcuts to get to the meat of what the story is about, which is Chu and Zola and the Light. It didn't take more than 10 pages for me "get it".
Then it gets to the characters, and their motivations. This is where no shortcut will really suffice, and Beaulieu and Ziegler handle it well. Both of the main characters have complex histories, supporting characters exist with enough to have voices of their own, and The Light is more than a MacGuffin.
I don't really have much negative to say. It does everything well and I didn't get tired of it. With only 100 pages, it would be easy to this go wrong, either leaving too little story or crafting characters out of cardboard. It's clear that The Burning Light was written with skilled hands. It packs a lot into a novella and left me wanting more.
elfington's review against another edition
4.0
Short, novella length but compelling for its setting. Cool world building. There's a light that has some cult-like or religious meaning, transportation and battle via boat, and a very different dystopian New York from the one you might normally encounter, but the characters aren't particularly fleshed out and the novella format allows it to duck any true insight or resolution.
astrangerhere's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty cool, super quick. Left me with more questions than answers; but, I suppose, that is the purpose of good sci-fi.
suncani's review against another edition
4.0
This worked really well as a novella. Long enough to broadly sketch out the main characters, and the concept of light, but not too long. For me, I most enjoyed how the book examined Light and what effect it had and ultimately what it was trying to do. It almost became another character. Chu and Zola act as two sides of the same coin, something that becomes apparent as the story goes on. The world outside that they exist in is never directly described, you only get brief glimpses here and there without any great info dumps but enough to support the story.
All in all, a book I really enjoyed, one to read and maybe think about afterwards.
All in all, a book I really enjoyed, one to read and maybe think about afterwards.
misterwisp's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There is a lot here! Without going into spoilers, the ending made me stop and think for awhile. I can't decide whether it's hopeful or sinister, which is something I'm surprised to find I'm appreciating. It was satisfying regardless. It's a fast paced little book. There is a lot of action. The characters are well established and well written. Ideas about humanity and where we're going are woven into it in a compelling and interesting way. I liked it a lot! I recommend it for a thoughtful fast paced action sci-fi. It makes me want to check out the authors' other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Confinement
Moderate: Death and Gun violence
Minor: Animal death and Blood
tpanik's review against another edition
5.0
I want more of this world! This perfectly crated novella has strong female characters, a universal enemy (The Light), and complicated relationships within both sides of the war.
lizshayne's review
3.0
I'm enjoying Tor.com's ongoing work to make novellas a viable genre. They're good at recognizing stories where the scope is not the right size for a novel, but the world is too interesting for a short story. This is one of those. It's one of those books that people who like this sort of thing will like. I'm not sure if I'm a person who likes such things, but I can tell that it was well done.
intotheheartwyld's review
2.0
This book left me confused. If your interested in following a story that is basically about a bunch of junkies addicted to something called The Light and an exiled government worker he’ll bent on revenge, then this is for you. If not, I would pass it up.
The thing that bothered me most about this book was that I have honest to god no idea what the hell The Light is, aside from it leaving people strung out and addicted to it. The Light is never really fully explained, it’s all so vague and it just leaves an empty feeling when the story is over.
None of the characters were that interesting and frankly I’m confused as to what happened to two of them at the end. Like are they are dead? Or they just like Zola now? Did they vanish? What the hell happened to them? They just disappeared after the final events of the story and I don’t like that. Their role was considered pivotal to the plot and yet there is no closure as to what happened, why??
It felt slow and dragged on a times and other times it felt like descriptions were being dragged out, to the point of feeling like I wasn’t sure what was trying to be told to me. You don’t always need a huge paragraph to describe something. Also felt like some paragraphs were just written as an excuse to throw in a long string of complicated sounding words.
I’m not even sure I would say this is an interesting plot, the execution leaves much to be desired with the lack of real explanation, I just felt like I knew nothing when it was over.
I’ll be honest the gorgeous cover art by my favorite artist is what I liked most about this book.
The thing that bothered me most about this book was that I have honest to god no idea what the hell The Light is, aside from it leaving people strung out and addicted to it. The Light is never really fully explained, it’s all so vague and it just leaves an empty feeling when the story is over.
None of the characters were that interesting and frankly I’m confused as to what happened to two of them at the end. Like are they are dead? Or they just like Zola now? Did they vanish? What the hell happened to them? They just disappeared after the final events of the story and I don’t like that. Their role was considered pivotal to the plot and yet there is no closure as to what happened, why??
It felt slow and dragged on a times and other times it felt like descriptions were being dragged out, to the point of feeling like I wasn’t sure what was trying to be told to me. You don’t always need a huge paragraph to describe something. Also felt like some paragraphs were just written as an excuse to throw in a long string of complicated sounding words.
I’m not even sure I would say this is an interesting plot, the execution leaves much to be desired with the lack of real explanation, I just felt like I knew nothing when it was over.
I’ll be honest the gorgeous cover art by my favorite artist is what I liked most about this book.
jameseckman's review
2.0
Who do I root for? Murderous police or druggies who will destroy the human race? Interesting concept but maybe too dark for me.
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