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The Hungering Light
The world of Therma is an ancient sort of planet, held within a cosmos of eldritch things and kept in check by gods of sentient darkness. Positively mired in the cryptic, the supernatural, and most curiously, the assorted fragments of those dead races who came before, Therma is also rife with those who would seek to learn more about how their current world came to be. While clues are occasionally uncovered by archaeologists and adventurers both, scholars have readily accepted that much has been lost, including many things that were beautiful in their own way.
Not all that was lost was good, though. And what should have never been forgotten, a sentient form of nihilism that calls itself Ni’jhan’ulu, is now in the realm of myth even for those who still remember the time before the stars.
This is the one who would see all the dark cleansed away in a scourging burst of radiance. Ni’jhan’ulu, or "He Who Hungers" in the tongue of the vanished societies who came before, is a consuming god of both light and nothingness that desires an end to everything real and imagined.
While Ni’jhan’ulu’s stasis-locked mind dreams his existentialist dreams, a small group comprising members of a few separate races, predominantly Human, sets out on an objective. They are little more than an easygoing association of friends, as those who end up doing the most important sort of tasks often are. They think they are being sent to classify a new species of Undead, but what they find turns out to be more apocalyptic than the hallucinations of any madman. In due course, the paths of these unfortunates and Ni’jhan’ulu himself will become linked.
In this war of dark and light, darkness is night's comfort, and light does little but sear the soul. And should the hungering light called Ni’jhan’ulu succeed in devouring the entire spectrum of existence, its final act will be to cannibalize itself. Nothing will be left, not even the echoes of an existence that has been unmade.
Not all that was lost was good, though. And what should have never been forgotten, a sentient form of nihilism that calls itself Ni’jhan’ulu, is now in the realm of myth even for those who still remember the time before the stars.
This is the one who would see all the dark cleansed away in a scourging burst of radiance. Ni’jhan’ulu, or "He Who Hungers" in the tongue of the vanished societies who came before, is a consuming god of both light and nothingness that desires an end to everything real and imagined.
While Ni’jhan’ulu’s stasis-locked mind dreams his existentialist dreams, a small group comprising members of a few separate races, predominantly Human, sets out on an objective. They are little more than an easygoing association of friends, as those who end up doing the most important sort of tasks often are. They think they are being sent to classify a new species of Undead, but what they find turns out to be more apocalyptic than the hallucinations of any madman. In due course, the paths of these unfortunates and Ni’jhan’ulu himself will become linked.
In this war of dark and light, darkness is night's comfort, and light does little but sear the soul. And should the hungering light called Ni’jhan’ulu succeed in devouring the entire spectrum of existence, its final act will be to cannibalize itself. Nothing will be left, not even the echoes of an existence that has been unmade.
232 pages, Paperback
First published July 16, 2015
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August 15, 2015
The Hungering Light was a fun and enjoyable read. Boyd's writing style creates vivid and colorful imagery, I felt like I was in a scifi movie reading this book. The characters are hilarious and are illustrated beautifully with Boyd's writing style. The many gay jokes can (and may cause) a bit of eye rolling- they're not homophobic in the least bit, rest assured. It's definitely a story worth reading!
Displaying 1 of 1 review