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A review by mikewhiteman
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
4.0
This is the second instalment in the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy, though only thematically and tangentially related to Light and with a fresh set of characters who were briefly mentioned at most. The focus here is much tighter, centring on a few people in a noirish city around the site (or zone, or area), where part of the Tract has fallen to the ground on an anonymous planet.
Once again the plot can be summed up in short order (Vic Serotonin is a travel agent, taking tourists into the zone and sometimes artefacts out to sell to shady figures, one artefact gets him into trouble with both the buyer and the police, his mentor is dying, lots of drinking and dames) but the real joy is the writing, full of atmosphere and ideas, constantly swirling the strange and new around Vic and the other central characters.
Although venturing into an unexplainable phenomenon hunting for physics-defying objects sounds like an adventure, very little of the book takes place in the site; it is more about the lives people create around and in view of it. Even the tourist wanting Vic to take her back in eventually feels it is enough just to have seen it from nearby - "It was just a choice that made life more interesting".
Everyone is weighed down by their past, and only a few will escape to something more hopeful. Things are much more mired in the repetition of the day to day than in the first book, where excitement and success were a possibility even amongst the horrors.
The narrower scope means it doesn't quite hit the highest highs that Light did but I love Harrison's writing and would happily read this over and over.
Once again the plot can be summed up in short order (Vic Serotonin is a travel agent, taking tourists into the zone and sometimes artefacts out to sell to shady figures, one artefact gets him into trouble with both the buyer and the police, his mentor is dying, lots of drinking and dames) but the real joy is the writing, full of atmosphere and ideas, constantly swirling the strange and new around Vic and the other central characters.
Although venturing into an unexplainable phenomenon hunting for physics-defying objects sounds like an adventure, very little of the book takes place in the site; it is more about the lives people create around and in view of it. Even the tourist wanting Vic to take her back in eventually feels it is enough just to have seen it from nearby - "It was just a choice that made life more interesting".
Everyone is weighed down by their past, and only a few will escape to something more hopeful. Things are much more mired in the repetition of the day to day than in the first book, where excitement and success were a possibility even amongst the horrors.
The narrower scope means it doesn't quite hit the highest highs that Light did but I love Harrison's writing and would happily read this over and over.