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tricksyliesmith 's review for:
Far from the Light of Heaven
by Tade Thompson
Really impressed with this, but expect no less from Tade Thompson. This is speculative fiction at it's best, a murder mystery in space, with some unsettling AI and robot tech, and the kind of gruesome detail that is signature Thompson.
This is science fiction where the story comes first, it isn't bogged down by too much factual accuracy which often weights sci-fi down. It also feels a little space-opera yet isn't - it's a murder mystery in an enclosed space, and where more enclosed and dangerous a space than, well, Space.
It's Shell Champion's first mission, so nerves and pressure reign, especially when she wakes from the ten year sleep necessary to fly the journey to find that somehow thirty plus of her sleeping passengers have been murdered.
Fin is sent from nearby mining colony Bloodroot to investigate the gruesome affair, along with synthetic partner Salvo, and the trio make some terrifying discoveries.
Add to that an unauthorised rescue mission by Shell's 'Uncle' Lawrence Biz and his daughter Joké, and the sighting of a wolf on board with no knowledge of how it got there, plus the murder of this universe's very own 'Jeff bezos' space tech entrepreneur, the story unfolds with plenty of twists and turns and inevitable dangers of being trapped in a space ship nearing destruction.
The kind of book you stay up all night trying to finish!
Also included is an afterword by Thompson; he says that he feels it the afterword is required then it means the book has failed but I disagree, I like to read a little extra context - particularly hearing where he drew his inspiration from and some of the extra facts about space travel and the pressure it puts on human beings, and the psychological issues that arise really added to the experience of reading this book.
This is science fiction where the story comes first, it isn't bogged down by too much factual accuracy which often weights sci-fi down. It also feels a little space-opera yet isn't - it's a murder mystery in an enclosed space, and where more enclosed and dangerous a space than, well, Space.
It's Shell Champion's first mission, so nerves and pressure reign, especially when she wakes from the ten year sleep necessary to fly the journey to find that somehow thirty plus of her sleeping passengers have been murdered.
Fin is sent from nearby mining colony Bloodroot to investigate the gruesome affair, along with synthetic partner Salvo, and the trio make some terrifying discoveries.
Add to that an unauthorised rescue mission by Shell's 'Uncle' Lawrence Biz and his daughter Joké, and the sighting of a wolf on board with no knowledge of how it got there, plus the murder of this universe's very own 'Jeff bezos' space tech entrepreneur, the story unfolds with plenty of twists and turns and inevitable dangers of being trapped in a space ship nearing destruction.
The kind of book you stay up all night trying to finish!
Also included is an afterword by Thompson; he says that he feels it the afterword is required then it means the book has failed but I disagree, I like to read a little extra context - particularly hearing where he drew his inspiration from and some of the extra facts about space travel and the pressure it puts on human beings, and the psychological issues that arise really added to the experience of reading this book.