Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
The Burning Light has a fair amount of stuff working in its favor, but also one element - the nature of the Light itself - that never quite gelled for me.
Authors Bradley P. Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler give us a wonderfully dystopic (one might even say apocalyptic) setting in the flooded, sweltering ruins of future New York. I really liked the diversity and culture baked into the altered landscape, and the way the authors presented humanity's adaptation to the new normal brought about by the disastrous effects of climate change, even if much of it is downright criminal. The waterways are patrolled by pirates and slavers, and a rag-tag team of military soldiers hunting down mediums for the Light and the junkies obsessed with it.
So, what is the Light? Frankly, I have no idea. It's analogous to a drug, given that those who interface with it are referred to as junkies. It's dangerous and can kill entire swaths of a population. Beyond that, the authors refuse to elaborate on the nature of their MacGuffin, despite it being very, very important to the characters themselves. Personally, being stuck in the dark as to the Light's nature made it difficult for me to care about it as a plot device. It was a little to fantastical and metaphysical for me to appreciate.
The characters, though, at least have reason to care, even if I ultimately didn't. Chu, our military squad leader tearing through New York to kill Light junkies at every turn, has a slick motivation and a wonderful, edgy darkness about her given her own personal history with the Light. She's on the warpath, hunting for Zola, a medium for the Light. Zola's connection to the Light, though, ain't what it used to be. Their history and cat-and-mouse conflict gives the story plenty of meat, but the resolution to their story wasn't as satisfying as it should have been, and much of that is due to the ambiguous nature of the Light.
The Burning Light has some terrific Big Ideas, but they could have used more time and room for development. It's a smart piece of work in need of deeper elaboration, at least for me. If you don't mind unexplained, inexplicable irregularities like the Light, and can just go with the flow, you may have an easier time of things.
Authors Bradley P. Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler give us a wonderfully dystopic (one might even say apocalyptic) setting in the flooded, sweltering ruins of future New York. I really liked the diversity and culture baked into the altered landscape, and the way the authors presented humanity's adaptation to the new normal brought about by the disastrous effects of climate change, even if much of it is downright criminal. The waterways are patrolled by pirates and slavers, and a rag-tag team of military soldiers hunting down mediums for the Light and the junkies obsessed with it.
So, what is the Light? Frankly, I have no idea. It's analogous to a drug, given that those who interface with it are referred to as junkies. It's dangerous and can kill entire swaths of a population. Beyond that, the authors refuse to elaborate on the nature of their MacGuffin, despite it being very, very important to the characters themselves. Personally, being stuck in the dark as to the Light's nature made it difficult for me to care about it as a plot device. It was a little to fantastical and metaphysical for me to appreciate.
The characters, though, at least have reason to care, even if I ultimately didn't. Chu, our military squad leader tearing through New York to kill Light junkies at every turn, has a slick motivation and a wonderful, edgy darkness about her given her own personal history with the Light. She's on the warpath, hunting for Zola, a medium for the Light. Zola's connection to the Light, though, ain't what it used to be. Their history and cat-and-mouse conflict gives the story plenty of meat, but the resolution to their story wasn't as satisfying as it should have been, and much of that is due to the ambiguous nature of the Light.
The Burning Light has some terrific Big Ideas, but they could have used more time and room for development. It's a smart piece of work in need of deeper elaboration, at least for me. If you don't mind unexplained, inexplicable irregularities like the Light, and can just go with the flow, you may have an easier time of things.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
eh
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.
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.
Pretty cool, super quick. Left me with more questions than answers; but, I suppose, that is the purpose of good sci-fi.
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.
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
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, Confinement
Moderate: Death, Gun violence
Minor: Animal death, Blood
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.
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.