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The Glittering Edge #1
Edge of Dark
What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip only dregs of light and struggle for the barest living. And yet, that life thrived? It grew and learned and became far more than you ever expected, and it wanted to return to the sun. What if it didn’t share your moral compass in any way?
The Glittering Edge duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh and blood life meets the near-AI’s that it banished long ago. This is a story of love for the wild and natural life on a colony planet, complex adventure set in powerful space stations, and the desire to live completely whether you are made of flesh and bone or silicon and carbon fiber.
In Edge of Dark, meet ranger Charlie Windar and his adopted wild predator, and explore their home on a planet that has been raped and restored more than once. Meet Nona Hall, child of power and privilege from the greatest station in the system, the Diamond Deep. Meet Nona’s best friend, a young woman named Chrystal who awakens in a robotic body….
From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Glittering Edge duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh and blood life meets the near-AI’s that it banished long ago. This is a story of love for the wild and natural life on a colony planet, complex adventure set in powerful space stations, and the desire to live completely whether you are made of flesh and bone or silicon and carbon fiber.
In Edge of Dark, meet ranger Charlie Windar and his adopted wild predator, and explore their home on a planet that has been raped and restored more than once. Meet Nona Hall, child of power and privilege from the greatest station in the system, the Diamond Deep. Meet Nona’s best friend, a young woman named Chrystal who awakens in a robotic body….
From the Trade Paperback edition.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2015
81 people are currently reading
1738 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Cooper
124 books146 followersBrenda Cooper writes science fiction,fantasy, and poetry.
Brenda's most recent novels are EDGE of DARK and SPEAR OF LIGHT from Pyr and POST from ESpec Books. Edge of Dark won the 2016 Endeavour Award for a notable science fiction or fantasy novel by a Northwest author.
Other recent novels include the duology THE CREATIVE FIRE and THE DIAMOND DEEP, also from Pyr.
Brenda released two collections in 2015. Her all science fiction CRACKING THE SKY came out from Fairwood Press and her all-fantasy ebook collection BEYOND THE WATERFALL DOOR was created through a six-author Kickstarter project.
Brenda is the author of the Endeavor award winner for 2008: THE SILVER SHIP AND THE SEA, and of two sequels, READING THE WIND and WINGS OF CREATION. She has written a novel with Larry Niven, called BUILDING HARLEQUIN's MOON, and a solo stand-alone novel, MAYAN DECEMBER. She has numerous stories that have published in a variety of magazines, from Nature to Asimov's. Many of her stories have been selected for Year's Best anthologies.
By day, Brenda is the City of Kirkland’s CIO, and at night and in early morning hours, she’s a futurist and writer. She lives in the pacific northwest o the United States of America.
Brenda's most recent novels are EDGE of DARK and SPEAR OF LIGHT from Pyr and POST from ESpec Books. Edge of Dark won the 2016 Endeavour Award for a notable science fiction or fantasy novel by a Northwest author.
Other recent novels include the duology THE CREATIVE FIRE and THE DIAMOND DEEP, also from Pyr.
Brenda released two collections in 2015. Her all science fiction CRACKING THE SKY came out from Fairwood Press and her all-fantasy ebook collection BEYOND THE WATERFALL DOOR was created through a six-author Kickstarter project.
Brenda is the author of the Endeavor award winner for 2008: THE SILVER SHIP AND THE SEA, and of two sequels, READING THE WIND and WINGS OF CREATION. She has written a novel with Larry Niven, called BUILDING HARLEQUIN's MOON, and a solo stand-alone novel, MAYAN DECEMBER. She has numerous stories that have published in a variety of magazines, from Nature to Asimov's. Many of her stories have been selected for Year's Best anthologies.
By day, Brenda is the City of Kirkland’s CIO, and at night and in early morning hours, she’s a futurist and writer. She lives in the pacific northwest o the United States of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
January 20, 2024
After realizing I posted my review for the second installment in the space for book one, I've tried to give a general overview of both books here to serve as a 'duology-cal' review.
A touching and thought provoking tale about disparate and yet united factions of humanity (transposed in an earlier unremembered and forgotten age) in an extrasolar colony after tens of thousands of years.
It tells of their trials, tribulations and retribution after a long ago (and almost forgotten) war, thousands of years past, with their cousin posthumans and their current struggle with the posthumans they share the star system with after a not so welcome return from exile in deep space where the posthumans were banished ages ago.
Edge of Dark concludes the spectacular duology of Glittering; a tale of Futurism, Transhumanism, Ecological Preservation in the style of John C. Wright, Richard Morgan, Ray Kurzweil, and so much more in a truly gripping sequel. I'll highly recommend this for fans of Hard Sci-Fi space opera with a dash of Transhumanism.
2022 Read
A touching and thought provoking tale about disparate and yet united factions of humanity (transposed in an earlier unremembered and forgotten age) in an extrasolar colony after tens of thousands of years.
It tells of their trials, tribulations and retribution after a long ago (and almost forgotten) war, thousands of years past, with their cousin posthumans and their current struggle with the posthumans they share the star system with after a not so welcome return from exile in deep space where the posthumans were banished ages ago.
Edge of Dark concludes the spectacular duology of Glittering; a tale of Futurism, Transhumanism, Ecological Preservation in the style of John C. Wright, Richard Morgan, Ray Kurzweil, and so much more in a truly gripping sequel. I'll highly recommend this for fans of Hard Sci-Fi space opera with a dash of Transhumanism.
2022 Read
August 12, 2017
3/8 - I've only read 40 pages, but I'm really enjoying this so far. I was a little scared and disturbed by the low average rating on GR and was worried I was going to be disappointed, but all of 40 pages in this is great. None of what is described in the summary has happened yet, the 'worst nightmare banished to the far edge of the solar system' hasn't made an appearance yet. I'm looking forward to when they do. To be continued...
4/8 - So annoyed right now (I've calmed down since last night, last night I wanted to scream and throw the book at a wall)!!
A little background to explain why the current situation has made me so angry: a few weeks ago I came across The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton. It looked very interesting to me, I don't read a lot of sci-fi and I've never read a space opera, but after reading the summary I thought I would love it. I checked the book thoroughly and had the librarian check the database to make sure it was the first book in the series. It was indeed the first book in the Void series. Within a few pages I knew that something wasn't right, that I was missing some vital world building information. I headed straight for GR to check the series page. That's where I learned the full truth. Unfortunately, nowhere in the description of the book is it noted that while it was the first book in the series, the series is also a spinoff series of his series The Commonwealth Saga. The new series is set in the same world as The Commonwealth Saga with a 1200 year gap, but things are not explained as fully as I'm sure they would have been if the Void series hadn't had a connection to The Commonwealth Saga. There's no need to go into the details of how everyone got where they are if it's all already been explained in a previous book, which the author is assuming you've read. So after realising that I wasn't going to be able to continue reading The Dreaming Void I did everything I could to get my hands on the first two books in The Commonwealth Saga. My library didn't have either, the first book was going to cost at least $11 to buy the paperback edition so I surrendered to the Amazon monster and bought the Kindle edition for $8. The second book in the series was a bit more accessible, I got it from www.bookdepository.com for $5.34. I will get to them when I can.
So now you can understand why I got so angry when I came to the realisation during last night's reading session that this book, Edge of Dark has put me in exactly the same situation as Peter F. Hamilton's books did. I did the same due diligence when it came to checking that Edge of Dark was definitely the first book in the series (although I borrowed this the same day that I borrowed Hamilton's The Dreaming Void, so I didn't have the past experience with spinoff series to guide me), which it clearly is, it even says so on the front cover. Once again, the one thing it doesn't say anywhere (on the book, the library database, the summary on GR) is that this is a spinoff series from her series Ruby's Song. Similarly to Hamilton's series Edge of Dark is set in the same world as Ruby's Song, with a multiple year gap (not clear exactly how many) between the two series.
So that's why I'm so annoyed. I don't know whether to go on reading this (it's mostly making sense, I just wish they'd stop referencing events from Ruby's Song so often, I'm worried I'm being given spoilers without even realising it) or return it for The Creative Fire, the first in the Ruby's Song series. To be continued...(maybe)
5/8 - Okay, so I've kept going with this despite my aforementioned problems because I had an emergency reading situation and this was the book that was nearest to hand. Immediately after reaching for this out of desperation I came across a pair of glaring, and damning, editing errors - not a good restart - and since then I've noticed quite a lot of missing words, extra words, and jumbled sentences. I'm not going to mention all the instances of editing mistakes because it would mean practically rereading the last 130 pages as I didn't tag them as I was reading last night and this morning. I will give the details of the first two that I noticed after getting back into the book last night because I know what page they're on - 102.
Top of the page
Nona feel faint as she shifted her glance...
bottom of the same page
Who they were afraid would hear them?
and those weren't the worst examples that I noticed. There were whole sentences that were unreadable they were so jumbled. I could work out what Cooper was trying to say, but that was just thanks to the context. If I had read some of the sentences by themselves I would not have known what was happening.
Despite that, despite editing mistakes of all kinds being at the top of my 'things to do if you want me to hate your book' list I'm thoroughly enjoying the story. I almost feel like I'm somehow being tricked into liking it, like the book is emitting 'like me' pheromones, because I shouldn't like this as much as I do. First, I haven't read the previous books in the series, and now I find some dreadful editing, so why do I still want to give this a four when, after looking back over what I've just written it seems clear that it doesn't deserve more than a three? I don't know, my brain doesn't make any sense to me either. Back to the book ASAP, maybe make it an early night for reading. To be continued...
6/8 - Goodness me! Now she's mixed a pair of characters up. On page 287 Chrystal is sitting in a chair waiting for her companions to wake up, contemplating what she wants to say to them when they do.
Another thing to ask about when Charlie and Nona woke up.
The only problem with that sentence is that Charlie is on a ship millions of kilometres away, what that sentence should say is Satyana and Nona because they are the only two characters on the space station Chrystal has had any meaningful contact with, the only two characters it would make sense for Chrystal to be waiting for. That's a big oopsie in my opinion, worse than multiple missing words because you can miss the fact that a 'the' or an 'and' is missing within a sentence, but not noticing that you're talking about the wrong character is a much bigger mistake. The editing in this book really needs some work. To be continued...
7/8 - Finished. I've just started to watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica while I write my review (I like to multitask computer use with tv watching, otherwise I feel like I'm not being productive enough) and watching the opening sequence made me realise how similar Edge of Dark is to Battlestar Galactica. The opening sequence of the show tells us
The Cylons were created by man...
They rebelled...
They evolved...
There are many copies...
And they have a plan
Very similar backstory to The Next. The Next were created by man, they were banished (I assume, it's not completely explained, for the same reasons as on BG, that man began to fear its own creation), they evolved, they decided to fight back. There are also many copies of the same 'consciousness' I suppose you could call it, for e.g. Jhailing Jim. In both stories the humans originally came from Earth, but it was so long ago it feels more like an urban legend than real history. Some humans are working with the robots, some are actively working against them. Both sets of robots want peace with the humans, but the humans find it difficult to bend to the will of an artificial intelligence that they created and then attempted to destroy. Interesting coincidences.
In spite of all its problems I really enjoyed this book, I think the plot was enough to cancel out any editing errors, which definitely continued on through the last hundred pages, which I read last night. This could almost have been a five if I had read the two previous books, which I hope make more of an effort to explain questions a reader might have. Like, where did the humans in this galaxy come from and how long ago? Or, a better explanation of The Deep and The Glittering Edge. I've made 'suggestions for purchase' to my library, but my requests are still pending. I'll be more than a little pissed if they deny my requests.
4/8 - So annoyed right now (I've calmed down since last night, last night I wanted to scream and throw the book at a wall)!!
A little background to explain why the current situation has made me so angry: a few weeks ago I came across The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton. It looked very interesting to me, I don't read a lot of sci-fi and I've never read a space opera, but after reading the summary I thought I would love it. I checked the book thoroughly and had the librarian check the database to make sure it was the first book in the series. It was indeed the first book in the Void series. Within a few pages I knew that something wasn't right, that I was missing some vital world building information. I headed straight for GR to check the series page. That's where I learned the full truth. Unfortunately, nowhere in the description of the book is it noted that while it was the first book in the series, the series is also a spinoff series of his series The Commonwealth Saga. The new series is set in the same world as The Commonwealth Saga with a 1200 year gap, but things are not explained as fully as I'm sure they would have been if the Void series hadn't had a connection to The Commonwealth Saga. There's no need to go into the details of how everyone got where they are if it's all already been explained in a previous book, which the author is assuming you've read. So after realising that I wasn't going to be able to continue reading The Dreaming Void I did everything I could to get my hands on the first two books in The Commonwealth Saga. My library didn't have either, the first book was going to cost at least $11 to buy the paperback edition so I surrendered to the Amazon monster and bought the Kindle edition for $8. The second book in the series was a bit more accessible, I got it from www.bookdepository.com for $5.34. I will get to them when I can.
So now you can understand why I got so angry when I came to the realisation during last night's reading session that this book, Edge of Dark has put me in exactly the same situation as Peter F. Hamilton's books did. I did the same due diligence when it came to checking that Edge of Dark was definitely the first book in the series (although I borrowed this the same day that I borrowed Hamilton's The Dreaming Void, so I didn't have the past experience with spinoff series to guide me), which it clearly is, it even says so on the front cover. Once again, the one thing it doesn't say anywhere (on the book, the library database, the summary on GR) is that this is a spinoff series from her series Ruby's Song. Similarly to Hamilton's series Edge of Dark is set in the same world as Ruby's Song, with a multiple year gap (not clear exactly how many) between the two series.
So that's why I'm so annoyed. I don't know whether to go on reading this (it's mostly making sense, I just wish they'd stop referencing events from Ruby's Song so often, I'm worried I'm being given spoilers without even realising it) or return it for The Creative Fire, the first in the Ruby's Song series. To be continued...(maybe)
5/8 - Okay, so I've kept going with this despite my aforementioned problems because I had an emergency reading situation and this was the book that was nearest to hand. Immediately after reaching for this out of desperation I came across a pair of glaring, and damning, editing errors - not a good restart - and since then I've noticed quite a lot of missing words, extra words, and jumbled sentences. I'm not going to mention all the instances of editing mistakes because it would mean practically rereading the last 130 pages as I didn't tag them as I was reading last night and this morning. I will give the details of the first two that I noticed after getting back into the book last night because I know what page they're on - 102.
Top of the page
Nona feel faint as she shifted her glance...
bottom of the same page
Who they were afraid would hear them?
and those weren't the worst examples that I noticed. There were whole sentences that were unreadable they were so jumbled. I could work out what Cooper was trying to say, but that was just thanks to the context. If I had read some of the sentences by themselves I would not have known what was happening.
Despite that, despite editing mistakes of all kinds being at the top of my 'things to do if you want me to hate your book' list I'm thoroughly enjoying the story. I almost feel like I'm somehow being tricked into liking it, like the book is emitting 'like me' pheromones, because I shouldn't like this as much as I do. First, I haven't read the previous books in the series, and now I find some dreadful editing, so why do I still want to give this a four when, after looking back over what I've just written it seems clear that it doesn't deserve more than a three? I don't know, my brain doesn't make any sense to me either. Back to the book ASAP, maybe make it an early night for reading. To be continued...
6/8 - Goodness me! Now she's mixed a pair of characters up. On page 287 Chrystal is sitting in a chair waiting for her companions to wake up, contemplating what she wants to say to them when they do.
Another thing to ask about when Charlie and Nona woke up.
The only problem with that sentence is that Charlie is on a ship millions of kilometres away, what that sentence should say is Satyana and Nona because they are the only two characters on the space station Chrystal has had any meaningful contact with, the only two characters it would make sense for Chrystal to be waiting for. That's a big oopsie in my opinion, worse than multiple missing words because you can miss the fact that a 'the' or an 'and' is missing within a sentence, but not noticing that you're talking about the wrong character is a much bigger mistake. The editing in this book really needs some work. To be continued...
7/8 - Finished. I've just started to watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica while I write my review (I like to multitask computer use with tv watching, otherwise I feel like I'm not being productive enough) and watching the opening sequence made me realise how similar Edge of Dark is to Battlestar Galactica. The opening sequence of the show tells us
The Cylons were created by man...
They rebelled...
They evolved...
There are many copies...
And they have a plan
Very similar backstory to The Next. The Next were created by man, they were banished (I assume, it's not completely explained, for the same reasons as on BG, that man began to fear its own creation), they evolved, they decided to fight back. There are also many copies of the same 'consciousness' I suppose you could call it, for e.g. Jhailing Jim. In both stories the humans originally came from Earth, but it was so long ago it feels more like an urban legend than real history. Some humans are working with the robots, some are actively working against them. Both sets of robots want peace with the humans, but the humans find it difficult to bend to the will of an artificial intelligence that they created and then attempted to destroy. Interesting coincidences.
In spite of all its problems I really enjoyed this book, I think the plot was enough to cancel out any editing errors, which definitely continued on through the last hundred pages, which I read last night. This could almost have been a five if I had read the two previous books, which I hope make more of an effort to explain questions a reader might have. Like, where did the humans in this galaxy come from and how long ago? Or, a better explanation of The Deep and The Glittering Edge. I've made 'suggestions for purchase' to my library, but my requests are still pending. I'll be more than a little pissed if they deny my requests.
March 8, 2017
4.5 stars rounded up just for the amount of enjoyment I got from reading this.
I really loved this book. It does a great job of exploring fear of the other, and turning the reader's thoughts around on what the "right" response to a difficult situation might be.
The writing is easy to read and the characters very engaging. I'm not only eager to read the second book in The Glittering Edge Duology, I also plan to read the predecessor duology, Ruby's Song, that takes place in the same fictional world.
I really loved this book. It does a great job of exploring fear of the other, and turning the reader's thoughts around on what the "right" response to a difficult situation might be.
The writing is easy to read and the characters very engaging. I'm not only eager to read the second book in The Glittering Edge Duology, I also plan to read the predecessor duology, Ruby's Song, that takes place in the same fictional world.
April 16, 2015
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/04/16/b...
This book was an awesome read. I first went into it believing it was a brand new series set in a new universe, but it turns out I was only half right. Edge of Dark is indeed the first book of a planned duology, but then I discovered within the first few pages that it also takes place in the future of the same timeline as Brenda Cooper’s Ruby’s Song series. This actually made me very happy – I loved The Diamond Deep when I read it a couple years ago. We’re introduced to new characters here in The Glittering Edge series, but Ruby’s legacy lives on, and the best part is, the new reader can jump on board with no problems.
Here’s what to know: long ago, society exiled a small subset of the population who wanted to start a machine revolution. Seen as abominations, these people who essentially wanted to meld their minds into robot bodies were summarily banished to the far edges of the solar system to waste away and perish without the access to sunlight and resources. But instead of dying out like they were expected to, these exiles flourished, growing into a formidable force of near-AI entities who call themselves the Next. Now they’re more powerful than ever before, and they’re coming back.
When that happens, the characters in this book all have a lot to lose. Charlie is a ranger who has spent his whole life trying to restore the ecosystem and natural wonders of Lym, a planet which will be one of the first casualties if humanity goes to war with the Next. The Next have already claimed a research station called the High Sweet Home, killing all its inhabitants and turning many into robots with sentient minds like themselves. Nona Hall is from the space station Diamond Deep, which would suffer similar consequences if the Next attack, but she has other worries to deal with. For you see, Nona’s best friend Chrystal was on the High Sweet Home, and the scientist’s fate still remains a mystery.
Edge of Dark was a delightful surprise which completely took over my life for two days, and I don’t regret a second of it. The book features a rich story that held me captive from the get-go, introducing deep characters in a well-established universe with a long and interesting history. Charlie and Nona are two disparate souls who nonetheless find comfort and solace in each other. One was born and raised on a wild and savage planet, while the other has lived on a space station her whole life, never having seen the sky. When Nona arrives on Lym to live out a lifelong dream, Charlie expected to hate her. However, she turns out to be very different from the rest of the high-and-mighty Diamond Deep elite, and the two quickly strike up a quiet friendship. Edge of Dark is not a romance by any means, but it does have a thread of a love story woven through the plot, and I just happened to be in the mood for it.
The beginning of the book was also my favorite part, because having grown up in cities my whole life, I was able to relate to Nona and understand her reaction to the natural beauty of Lym. Also kudos to Charlie and the rangers for the work that they do. I can appreciate the environmental message there, but more importantly, it was not in-your-face about it.
Then comes the Next. I was unsure about them at first, these Borg-like machines who take over human beings with ruthless abandon, downloading a person’s consciousness into a carbon fiber body and incorporating them into a greater network, all without the victim’s consent. The result is something that almost looks and acts like a human, but they are not alive in the strictest sense. They don’t need air, food, or sleep. Their artificial bodies are stronger and more powerful. However, every Next’s mind once belonged to a living, breathing person. And like all living things, they have the drive to propagate and survive. So where does this put them?
What felt like an urgent escalation towards a tense space adventure began easing off instead, becoming something more understated. I think those anticipating a bigger payoff might come away disappointed, but I found myself drawn to the rest of the story. These kinds of books that feature themes of transhumanism or explore what it means to be human always seem to get me for some reason. Add Brenda Cooper’s unique portrayal of artificial intelligence to that, and I had a very good time with this novel.
Edge of Dark won’t be for everyone, but it worked for me. I certainly didn’t expect to like it so much, and was surprised at how addictive most of the story was, especially in the beginning. One of the more enjoyable sci-fi reads of the year for me so far.
This book was an awesome read. I first went into it believing it was a brand new series set in a new universe, but it turns out I was only half right. Edge of Dark is indeed the first book of a planned duology, but then I discovered within the first few pages that it also takes place in the future of the same timeline as Brenda Cooper’s Ruby’s Song series. This actually made me very happy – I loved The Diamond Deep when I read it a couple years ago. We’re introduced to new characters here in The Glittering Edge series, but Ruby’s legacy lives on, and the best part is, the new reader can jump on board with no problems.
Here’s what to know: long ago, society exiled a small subset of the population who wanted to start a machine revolution. Seen as abominations, these people who essentially wanted to meld their minds into robot bodies were summarily banished to the far edges of the solar system to waste away and perish without the access to sunlight and resources. But instead of dying out like they were expected to, these exiles flourished, growing into a formidable force of near-AI entities who call themselves the Next. Now they’re more powerful than ever before, and they’re coming back.
When that happens, the characters in this book all have a lot to lose. Charlie is a ranger who has spent his whole life trying to restore the ecosystem and natural wonders of Lym, a planet which will be one of the first casualties if humanity goes to war with the Next. The Next have already claimed a research station called the High Sweet Home, killing all its inhabitants and turning many into robots with sentient minds like themselves. Nona Hall is from the space station Diamond Deep, which would suffer similar consequences if the Next attack, but she has other worries to deal with. For you see, Nona’s best friend Chrystal was on the High Sweet Home, and the scientist’s fate still remains a mystery.
Edge of Dark was a delightful surprise which completely took over my life for two days, and I don’t regret a second of it. The book features a rich story that held me captive from the get-go, introducing deep characters in a well-established universe with a long and interesting history. Charlie and Nona are two disparate souls who nonetheless find comfort and solace in each other. One was born and raised on a wild and savage planet, while the other has lived on a space station her whole life, never having seen the sky. When Nona arrives on Lym to live out a lifelong dream, Charlie expected to hate her. However, she turns out to be very different from the rest of the high-and-mighty Diamond Deep elite, and the two quickly strike up a quiet friendship. Edge of Dark is not a romance by any means, but it does have a thread of a love story woven through the plot, and I just happened to be in the mood for it.
The beginning of the book was also my favorite part, because having grown up in cities my whole life, I was able to relate to Nona and understand her reaction to the natural beauty of Lym. Also kudos to Charlie and the rangers for the work that they do. I can appreciate the environmental message there, but more importantly, it was not in-your-face about it.
Then comes the Next. I was unsure about them at first, these Borg-like machines who take over human beings with ruthless abandon, downloading a person’s consciousness into a carbon fiber body and incorporating them into a greater network, all without the victim’s consent. The result is something that almost looks and acts like a human, but they are not alive in the strictest sense. They don’t need air, food, or sleep. Their artificial bodies are stronger and more powerful. However, every Next’s mind once belonged to a living, breathing person. And like all living things, they have the drive to propagate and survive. So where does this put them?
What felt like an urgent escalation towards a tense space adventure began easing off instead, becoming something more understated. I think those anticipating a bigger payoff might come away disappointed, but I found myself drawn to the rest of the story. These kinds of books that feature themes of transhumanism or explore what it means to be human always seem to get me for some reason. Add Brenda Cooper’s unique portrayal of artificial intelligence to that, and I had a very good time with this novel.
Edge of Dark won’t be for everyone, but it worked for me. I certainly didn’t expect to like it so much, and was surprised at how addictive most of the story was, especially in the beginning. One of the more enjoyable sci-fi reads of the year for me so far.
March 6, 2017
In a distant future a society of spacefaring humans who mainly live in enormous space stations are faced with the return to their solar system of the Next, a machine society originally based on uploaded humans.
In this solar system humanity is recovering the Earth-like planet Lym from the abuses of their ancestors. Few humans live there, with the center of culture being the Glittering, the name for the collection of ships and space stations further out in the solar system. On Lym we have Charlie Windar, an exemplary ranger who is deeply devoted to his job and the planet. In the Glittering we have Nona Hall, an heiress with good relations to some of the Glittering leadership who is about to visit Lym. Further out on the Edge of Glittering space, we have Chrystal and her wife and two husbands on the space station High Sweet Home, who are all about to have a very bad time of it as the Next make their first major show of force since they were banished from the system centuries before.
What follows is a fascinating look at a society of uploaded intelligences, inter-system and inter-species politics and a deeply personal story besides as we go in-depth on the major characters and what motivates them, and in particular the relationships between Charlie and Nona and Nona and Chrystal.
The world-building is exquisite and the characters wonderful. The central issue around the Next, that of being uploaded humans, is really well handled with balanced discussion of what is gained in the process as well as what is lost. My only complaint with it all is that the Next are so overwhelmingly strong that the outcome here isn't very dramatic. When facing a situation of war and annihilation as opposed to either non-interference or collaboration, the choice seems pretty clear right from the outset.
I would recommend this book, with the slight caveat that it is the first in a sequel series to another duology which starts with The Creative Fire. While I was able to read this without having read the earlier series there were frequent references to events from the earlier series which didn't go into a lot of detail. I'm ok with not understanding all the references, but I know other readers who would be bothered by that.
In this solar system humanity is recovering the Earth-like planet Lym from the abuses of their ancestors. Few humans live there, with the center of culture being the Glittering, the name for the collection of ships and space stations further out in the solar system. On Lym we have Charlie Windar, an exemplary ranger who is deeply devoted to his job and the planet. In the Glittering we have Nona Hall, an heiress with good relations to some of the Glittering leadership who is about to visit Lym. Further out on the Edge of Glittering space, we have Chrystal and her wife and two husbands on the space station High Sweet Home, who are all about to have a very bad time of it as the Next make their first major show of force since they were banished from the system centuries before.
What follows is a fascinating look at a society of uploaded intelligences, inter-system and inter-species politics and a deeply personal story besides as we go in-depth on the major characters and what motivates them, and in particular the relationships between Charlie and Nona and Nona and Chrystal.
The world-building is exquisite and the characters wonderful. The central issue around the Next, that of being uploaded humans, is really well handled with balanced discussion of what is gained in the process as well as what is lost. My only complaint with it all is that the Next are so overwhelmingly strong that the outcome here isn't very dramatic. When facing a situation of war and annihilation as opposed to either non-interference or collaboration, the choice seems pretty clear right from the outset.
I would recommend this book, with the slight caveat that it is the first in a sequel series to another duology which starts with The Creative Fire. While I was able to read this without having read the earlier series there were frequent references to events from the earlier series which didn't go into a lot of detail. I'm ok with not understanding all the references, but I know other readers who would be bothered by that.
April 22, 2017
I really enjoyed this. I like being surprised when I read a book, and this story's characters didn't always do what I expected them to do. I liked the main PoV characters, Nona Hall, Charlie Windar and Chrystal. It was fascinating seeing the Next's return and expansion into human space and the ensuing conflict, both within the characters and between different humans. The Next, while kind of frightening, was also weirdly interesting. At least, particularly thanks to Chrystal and her family, and their conversations with Jhilling Jin (sp?)
Though this is a continuation of a story started in a previous duology, I didn't feel like it was super important to have read the previous stories. The situation and characters in this story engaged me, and I found the discussions and conflicts believable, and I particularly liked how characters were struggling to resolve problems though discussion and compromise, instead of this story automatically turning into a "Kill the robots!" tale.
And I still really want a tongat.
Though this is a continuation of a story started in a previous duology, I didn't feel like it was super important to have read the previous stories. The situation and characters in this story engaged me, and I found the discussions and conflicts believable, and I particularly liked how characters were struggling to resolve problems though discussion and compromise, instead of this story automatically turning into a "Kill the robots!" tale.
And I still really want a tongat.
March 2, 2016
In the far future, a future so distant that Earth is just a rumor of a place, humanity lives in the dark. The two planets that sustained life are a nature preserve and a mining pit, respectively. Billions of people live in vast stations, telling scary stories about The Edge, the demarcation line between humans and the AI that once were human, banished beyond the light.
In a future so alien from our present, it is a testament to the writer's skill that I found the characters so completely relatable. The ranger who wants to protect his precious planet that barely survived the pillage of people. The sheltered woman thrust into power and politics. Even the sympathetic human/machine hybrids that asked for none of it. Incredibly readable with big, brain expanding issues and ideas.
Nominated for the 2015 Philip K Dick awards.
In a future so alien from our present, it is a testament to the writer's skill that I found the characters so completely relatable. The ranger who wants to protect his precious planet that barely survived the pillage of people. The sheltered woman thrust into power and politics. Even the sympathetic human/machine hybrids that asked for none of it. Incredibly readable with big, brain expanding issues and ideas.
Nominated for the 2015 Philip K Dick awards.
May 13, 2015
For the last two weeks The Edge of Dark has been the book I read during middle of the night breastfeedings, so it's been a bit slow, but overall I was enjoying the story until I got about half way through and there was a science detail so awful that I can't keep going. The sometimes underdeveloped writing I could deal with; The "transhumanity as villain" theme I could handle even though it's not something I really enjoy; But when the "robots" break the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (and I don't even think it's plot-critical that they do) I can't go on. My time is worth more than that given that I won't stop thinking of it the entire time. Maybe this isn't something that would bother you, and if not, this could quite possibly be a book that falls into the "fun read" category.
May 7, 2022
I was looking forward to reading Edge of Dark , but found a number of implausibilities in the backstory that kept me from really liking it. I'll try to avoid spoilers.
The setup is a solar system (not ours), where most humans live in space habitats of various sizes, ranging from large to colossal. At some point in the past, people transcending to robot-bodies were banished to the outer system, apparently in the hope that they would shrivel & die. Instead, they thrived and grew powerful. Now they call themselves the Next, and want a share of the inner system resources. Or else.
The Next demonstrate their ruthlessness & military power by overpowering a mid-size station, High Sweet Home, killing most of the inhabitants (hundreds of thousands of people?), and converting a few to "soulbots", ex-humans in new robot-style bodies. Many don't survive the forced transition. Three of the new soulbots are selected to be ambassadors to the humans, for a negotiated surrender.
Although there's no central human government, the largest habitat, the Diamond Deep, has millions of inhabitants and dominates the human economy. I found it implausible that a large, wealthy but vulnerable space-station wouldn't pay closer attention to hostile neighbors, and leave themselves with only the options of losing a war, or negotiating power-sharing with a mass-murdering adversary. And the political setup in the Deep is odd and implausible. As is its ineffectual military.
I wanted to like Edge of Dark more than I did. Kudos to the author for avoiding easy answers to the big questions in her book. But the pace tends to drag, and the characters aren't particularly convincing. Overall, 2.7/5 stars. I don't think I will read the sequel. [I didn't. And I think I recycled my copy: 5/7/22 note.]
Here's Faren Millers's review at Locus, that led me to read the book:
http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2015/...
She liked it more than I did.
The setup is a solar system (not ours), where most humans live in space habitats of various sizes, ranging from large to colossal. At some point in the past, people transcending to robot-bodies were banished to the outer system, apparently in the hope that they would shrivel & die. Instead, they thrived and grew powerful. Now they call themselves the Next, and want a share of the inner system resources. Or else.
The Next demonstrate their ruthlessness & military power by overpowering a mid-size station, High Sweet Home, killing most of the inhabitants (hundreds of thousands of people?), and converting a few to "soulbots", ex-humans in new robot-style bodies. Many don't survive the forced transition. Three of the new soulbots are selected to be ambassadors to the humans, for a negotiated surrender.
Although there's no central human government, the largest habitat, the Diamond Deep, has millions of inhabitants and dominates the human economy. I found it implausible that a large, wealthy but vulnerable space-station wouldn't pay closer attention to hostile neighbors, and leave themselves with only the options of losing a war, or negotiating power-sharing with a mass-murdering adversary. And the political setup in the Deep is odd and implausible. As is its ineffectual military.
I wanted to like Edge of Dark more than I did. Kudos to the author for avoiding easy answers to the big questions in her book. But the pace tends to drag, and the characters aren't particularly convincing. Overall, 2.7/5 stars. I don't think I will read the sequel. [I didn't. And I think I recycled my copy: 5/7/22 note.]
Here's Faren Millers's review at Locus, that led me to read the book:
http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2015/...
She liked it more than I did.
March 4, 2015
If a book's about a major world(s)-changing event, something that I expect is for it to make sense as to why the main characters were instrumental in this event. This is not so for Edge of Dark, where Nona and Charlie are very quickly placed in decisions where they have to make decisions for all of humanity - more or less for no good reason. For Nona especially, I often asked myself: why the heck isn't someone else doing this? In a society with billions of people... there should be a reason why none of those other billions were more important than her.
However, Nona and Charlie aren't the only characters: there's also Chrystal, who to me at least was a lot more interesting. Her importance to the plotline also seemed more logical, although still not quite entirely so. Her part of the plot was usually the most engaging, and I progressed through the book quickly largely in a desire to know what would happen to her. Also, she and her family are polyamorous and bi, which is nice to see represented in fiction, and seems to be handled well.
Unfortunately, I got the feeling that the setting as a whole was not fleshed out. I mentioned earlier how it seemed improbable that the main characters were so important; it's also worth pointing out that it really did feel like they were almost the only people in the world. Even theoretically important minor characters like Satyana tended to feel one-dimensional; for instance, we're told she's "an entertainer" and has "an entertainment empire" over and over, but are never told anything more specific about what her actual job is. For a book that seemed to be trying to make the point that humans don't act homogeneously, seeing more impact from non-homogenous humans might have helped.
The writing was also not very strong. It was usually okay enough, but it occasionally managed some moments of being truly bad. I present the sentence:
The pacing had some strange moments, too: there were a few places where multiple months passed by in five pages or so, and yet it seemed like the characters interacted little over that timezone. When a character makes a mental note to ask another about something, and then somehow doesn't get around to it for an entire months-long spaceship trip... that's questionable.
However, this wasn't a bad book either. It kept my interest all the way through, and I cared about some of the characters. The back cover is accurate in that it doesn't shy away from handling the topic of AI in a complex way; I just would have rather felt the setting was as large as it supposedly was.
(ps: I have no idea how I got this book when I did. It supposedly wasn't even out yet? All I know is it was there at the bookstore...)
However, Nona and Charlie aren't the only characters: there's also Chrystal, who to me at least was a lot more interesting. Her importance to the plotline also seemed more logical, although still not quite entirely so. Her part of the plot was usually the most engaging, and I progressed through the book quickly largely in a desire to know what would happen to her. Also, she and her family are polyamorous and bi, which is nice to see represented in fiction, and seems to be handled well.
Unfortunately, I got the feeling that the setting as a whole was not fleshed out. I mentioned earlier how it seemed improbable that the main characters were so important; it's also worth pointing out that it really did feel like they were almost the only people in the world. Even theoretically important minor characters like Satyana tended to feel one-dimensional; for instance, we're told she's "an entertainer" and has "an entertainment empire" over and over, but are never told anything more specific about what her actual job is. For a book that seemed to be trying to make the point that humans don't act homogeneously, seeing more impact from non-homogenous humans might have helped.
The writing was also not very strong. It was usually okay enough, but it occasionally managed some moments of being truly bad. I present the sentence:
"Move out!" the general called, his two-word sentence sounding like it ended in an exclamation point.That pretty much speaks for itself.
The pacing had some strange moments, too: there were a few places where multiple months passed by in five pages or so, and yet it seemed like the characters interacted little over that timezone. When a character makes a mental note to ask another about something, and then somehow doesn't get around to it for an entire months-long spaceship trip... that's questionable.
However, this wasn't a bad book either. It kept my interest all the way through, and I cared about some of the characters. The back cover is accurate in that it doesn't shy away from handling the topic of AI in a complex way; I just would have rather felt the setting was as large as it supposedly was.
(ps: I have no idea how I got this book when I did. It supposedly wasn't even out yet? All I know is it was there at the bookstore...)
June 26, 2015
I did not enjoy this book but I did not hate it. The plot was interesting, but only mildly. It felt underdeveloped and the characters were not really engaging. One could even go so far as to say many of them were flat. Despite all this it was still interesting and some intriguing ideas were explored, but not really well enough to be truly satisfying. All in all, it felt like a story that has potential, but that maybe should have percolated a bit longer. (The writing seemed so amateur and underdeveloped that one can imagine my surprise on finding out that this nowhere near her first book.) This is something you might enjoy on a long plane trip, or if you want something as a fun read that you won't get really sucked in to.
Aside from the aforementioned story issues, my problems with the book were mostly technical. For example: There are three main characters, each chapter switches the point of view between them. Switching points of view between characters can work really well, and give you multiple angles on a story, but here I feel it did more harm than good. Overarching plot points seemed to come out randomly, and there's little to no build on the main plot. It just happens all of a sudden. The characters and their interactions and connections weren't strong enough to be the real focal point. There were also myriad editing mistakes spattered throughout the book, often enough that I found them distracting. They were mostly simple things like "at" instead of "as" or an extra word in a sentence where it didn't belong or make sense. I had to re-read sentences on multiple occasions Because of an extra "they" or "the." This is especially disappointing as I had a physical copy of the book, not a digital one, where such mistakes show up less and can be attributed to formatting.
In conclusion, it was okay, but it's not one I'd ever think of when giving recommendations.
Aside from the aforementioned story issues, my problems with the book were mostly technical. For example: There are three main characters, each chapter switches the point of view between them. Switching points of view between characters can work really well, and give you multiple angles on a story, but here I feel it did more harm than good. Overarching plot points seemed to come out randomly, and there's little to no build on the main plot. It just happens all of a sudden. The characters and their interactions and connections weren't strong enough to be the real focal point. There were also myriad editing mistakes spattered throughout the book, often enough that I found them distracting. They were mostly simple things like "at" instead of "as" or an extra word in a sentence where it didn't belong or make sense. I had to re-read sentences on multiple occasions Because of an extra "they" or "the." This is especially disappointing as I had a physical copy of the book, not a digital one, where such mistakes show up less and can be attributed to formatting.
In conclusion, it was okay, but it's not one I'd ever think of when giving recommendations.
April 26, 2015
A very good exploration of what it means to be human, that uses a cast of great characters and an extremely troubling and mind-fucking transformation from human to artificial beings.
December 28, 2021
Ahoy there mateys! Oops! This was the 11th book of 2021 and I thought I had reviewed it. It was a solid read and the first part of the duology. There are two main characters. One is Charlie, a ranger on an ecologically preserved planet. The other is Nona, who grew up on a space station. There is a light romance subplot that I didn't mind. There are also AI who were banished from society but thrived instead of dying out. The AI are back in "civilized" space. The conflict is interesting as are the characters and how the AI are described. I will be reading the second half. Arrr!
Read
April 14, 2021The Next might be the next stage of evolution. Sometimes referred to as the Ice Pirates, the Next were once a human creation, near autonomous robots that were banished to darkest edge of the solar system. Instead of guttering without light, the Next thrived. Now they’re turning back toward the sun.
Some of them appear human, but they’re not. Their bodies are sexless constructs that don’t require sustenance of any sort. They don’t eat and they don’t breathe. They don’t sicken and they do not die. They’re stronger and faster, in all ways. But are they still individual beings? Are they what was once human or are they something else entirely? The fact that they don’t actually require a body to exist or may insert a copy of themselves into any construct that suits tends to weigh the argument on the side of ‘something else’.
Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper explores this argument. Set up as a novel of Science Fiction adventure, the story introduces us to three characters. Charlie is a ranger. Based on Lym, his job is to care for the planet’s carefully cultivated return to the wild. Lym is essentially a planetary nature reserve and stands as a lesson of what happens when nature isn’t respected and cared for. Nona hails from humanity’s other greatest achievement, Diamond Deep Station. She has the resources to buy Charlie’s dreams ten times over. Chrystal is a scientist. With her family of four, she embodies the big question when the Next capture her remote station and subsume the remaining population.
Chrystal and her family are turned into these oddly human robots and through their struggle to accept their fate, we learn what the Next are and what they want. Nona and Charlie make up a part of the team who go to meet the Next to negotiate. The action isn’t as cut and dried as all that, however. Charlie’s agenda is clear from the start. Lym is the most important human resource. Chrystal is now a robot and though she recognises the advantages, she misses being human. Nona is a little less defined.
It’s Nona’s lack of absolute purpose and drive that really slows this novel down, which is a shame as it’s an exciting set up and the concepts laid out to explore are fascinating. The reader is forced to grow at Nona’s pace, however. This leaves the other characters doing little to nothing for nearly a third of the book. Cooper could have started with Part II and we wouldn’t have missed much. Her characters are engaging and the time spent exploring their various habitats before the plot really kicked off is pleasant, but it’s not necessary. Pacing problems continue to dog the action in subsequent parts. My attention wandered often and, at times, I was tempted to simply skip forward and see how it all ended up.
The concepts and questions are fascinating and when the action ramps up, the book works. The exploration of transhumanism is the big draw, however. While I longed the story to pick up and start running, I can’t say that I completely regretted the time exploring Chrystal’s new state of being. I also enjoyed the gentle commentary on sexuality and the idea that not all marriages were made between just two people.
Edge Of Dark is the first book of a duology. I was unable to find any information regarding the second book, but there is definitely enough story to continue on with.
Written for SFCrowsnest.
Some of them appear human, but they’re not. Their bodies are sexless constructs that don’t require sustenance of any sort. They don’t eat and they don’t breathe. They don’t sicken and they do not die. They’re stronger and faster, in all ways. But are they still individual beings? Are they what was once human or are they something else entirely? The fact that they don’t actually require a body to exist or may insert a copy of themselves into any construct that suits tends to weigh the argument on the side of ‘something else’.
Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper explores this argument. Set up as a novel of Science Fiction adventure, the story introduces us to three characters. Charlie is a ranger. Based on Lym, his job is to care for the planet’s carefully cultivated return to the wild. Lym is essentially a planetary nature reserve and stands as a lesson of what happens when nature isn’t respected and cared for. Nona hails from humanity’s other greatest achievement, Diamond Deep Station. She has the resources to buy Charlie’s dreams ten times over. Chrystal is a scientist. With her family of four, she embodies the big question when the Next capture her remote station and subsume the remaining population.
Chrystal and her family are turned into these oddly human robots and through their struggle to accept their fate, we learn what the Next are and what they want. Nona and Charlie make up a part of the team who go to meet the Next to negotiate. The action isn’t as cut and dried as all that, however. Charlie’s agenda is clear from the start. Lym is the most important human resource. Chrystal is now a robot and though she recognises the advantages, she misses being human. Nona is a little less defined.
It’s Nona’s lack of absolute purpose and drive that really slows this novel down, which is a shame as it’s an exciting set up and the concepts laid out to explore are fascinating. The reader is forced to grow at Nona’s pace, however. This leaves the other characters doing little to nothing for nearly a third of the book. Cooper could have started with Part II and we wouldn’t have missed much. Her characters are engaging and the time spent exploring their various habitats before the plot really kicked off is pleasant, but it’s not necessary. Pacing problems continue to dog the action in subsequent parts. My attention wandered often and, at times, I was tempted to simply skip forward and see how it all ended up.
The concepts and questions are fascinating and when the action ramps up, the book works. The exploration of transhumanism is the big draw, however. While I longed the story to pick up and start running, I can’t say that I completely regretted the time exploring Chrystal’s new state of being. I also enjoyed the gentle commentary on sexuality and the idea that not all marriages were made between just two people.
Edge Of Dark is the first book of a duology. I was unable to find any information regarding the second book, but there is definitely enough story to continue on with.
Written for SFCrowsnest.
April 29, 2017
I liked many of the ideas in the book, and I really liked the multiple-POV structure, but I found some of the characters and relationships a bit off-putting. Nona, one of the primary characters, was a bit dull, and I thought less of Charlie, whom I quite liked, for falling for her - although to be fair, he didn't have much else to do at that point. I was a bit disturbed by the stereotypically Asian portrayal of Yi. I thought the relationship between Charlie and Jean-Paul was rather sad. I liked both of them, but I'm not sure that the longevity of their relationship was believable. Kudos to Cooper, though, for showing that a future in which anything goes, relationship-wise, doesn't guarantee a fully satisfactory sex life for everyone.
I also had some issues with the way the robots violated the laws of physics. Yes, there are currently watches and other wearables that are powered by kinetic energy - but you still need a human powered by food to make that energy in the first place. And, if they didn't need energy input to run themselves, why did they care how far away from the sun they were? Still, it was an imaginative book, and an enjoyable read.
I also had some issues with the way the robots violated the laws of physics. Yes, there are currently watches and other wearables that are powered by kinetic energy - but you still need a human powered by food to make that energy in the first place. And, if they didn't need energy input to run themselves, why did they care how far away from the sun they were? Still, it was an imaginative book, and an enjoyable read.
July 31, 2017
Brenda Cooper is a good author and at this point I pretty much read whatever she publishes. And yet I wasn't expecting much from this one. It is a followup to another series which was basically a YA take on Eva Peron in a generation colony ship. This one was a very interesting read on what it means to upload a human personality. And rather than being stuck on the technology and the change in society as it rolls out, instead it deals with two societies - one with upload and one without a long time after the uplift society stabilizes. The characters and worlds are believable, and the ideas are interesting.
November 28, 2015
Sci-fi with a narrative that jumps between several characters dealing in different ways with a species/race/um of robots/augmented humans, and examines (not terribly subtly) our ideas of humanity, and how that can transcend the human form. I found the plot a bit messy, and I'm not interested enough in how humankind makes peace with robots to go back for more novels in the series.
June 14, 2016
Pretty good series with a fascinating concept.
October 24, 2020
2.5 stars. Not really my type of book but not terrible
July 28, 2015
4.5/5 Rating Originally posted at https://mylifemybooksmyescape.wordpre...
One of my top books of the year!
I'll give to to you straight: I did not have the highest of hopes coming into this. The cover - while it is an impressive design - I do not think looks good. Never read Brenda Cooper before. I did read the synopsis, thought it sounded promising, but wasn't about to go rush out and buy it. How did I come to read this book then? Well, I was lucky enough to win it in a giveaway. When I say lucky, I mean lucky. To think that if I hadn't won this book, I never would have read it, and would have missed out on one of my top books of the year. I am so incredibly lucky.
Charlie is ranger who has lived on Lym his whole life. Nona was born and raised on space station; she has never left the Diamond Deep, but after her mother's passing, she finally decided to honor her father's dying wish and see the sky. Nona then goes down to Lym where she meets Charlies as her guide.
While Nona is visiting Lym, the Next - technologically advanced robots - begin to invade the Deep and take captive a space station. Once the station is in their control, they begin to force humans to convert to robots. On this space station is Nona's best friend, Chrystal.
We will follow the journey of Chrystal, as she tries to adapt to becoming a soulbot. Charlie, as he does his best to protect Lym - his home that he loves more than anything - from the Next. And Nona, as she battles the political world dealing with the decision of how to handle the Next, and tries to determine wether or her best friend, Chrystal, is still alive.
What exactly the Next want, no one knows, and whether or not they mean harm, no one can tell...
I enjoyed Brenda's prose very much. Her writing is precise, elegant, and the reading was very smooth. There is a lot of technology present in the story, yet never once did I have an issue understanding it or have to stop because the explanation was not clear. I did stop on many occasion to contemplation what was is was to be human - but I will get into that later.
From the beginning I could not put this book down. There wasn't any laser battles, high drama scenes to start, or a gripping mystery - it was Charlie's view of the landscape Lym, and it was a pleasure to read..
We start off meeting Charlie and Nona. Learning how much passion, care, and protection Charlie has for Lym, and seeing Nona - who has lived in the space-station for her whole life - exploring and seeing the world for the first time. She takes awe in little things and marvelous at the beauty in things as simple as seeing an open sky. It's a kin to seeing a child exploring Disney for the first time. The mixture of Charlie's native view and Nona's curious view of Lym, and Charlie's opinion of Nona being here for the time, and Nona's view of Charlie has living here for the first - this contrasting and overlapping view points help to build a complete complete picture for the planet, and also, for out characters.
Charlie and Nona are not generic by any mean, ant I would not say they are completely original, but they are memorable. I did build up a quick connection to both of them and was fascinated in seeing how each of them viewed each other, and each other's world. The world building and character development were truly what kept me going for the first half, while the foundation of the plot were being laid down.
The human's relationship with soulbots and the Next are the main focus of the plot. I'm not going to explain in detail what each are, but essentially the Next are extremely technologically advanced robots that have had a human consciousness uploaded to it. A soulbot is the step before the Next. Soulbot is after a person's consciousness has been uploaded into a robot body, but that robot body flawlessly identical to their human body. Eventually a soulbot can become a Next.
The third POV is from Chrystal - a friend of Nona. Chrystal was an interesting POV to have, because her and her family are humans to start and then become soulbots. Chrystal was not my favorite character - that was Charlie, but she was to my favorite read. Thought Chrystal, we are able to see how the family thinks as they humans, and then how they think as soulbots, and wether or not they still consider themselves as humans. Since Chrystal has a family of four, we are able to get a variety of different views which represent different opinions of how people may feel toward becoming a Next. It is a very eye opening and sympathetic experience seeing what Chrystal has to go through.
This trans-humanism is where the book shines and had me constantly asking myself and contemplating, "What does it mean to be human?" Is a human defined as our bodies and beating heart, or it just our ability to think and know of our self-awareness? If it is just consciousness, then if our memories were uploaded to a computer would we no still be human? However, where is our soul? Does the soul define a human? And is it attached to our body or mind?
A number of questions and issues arise from this, and how people perceive these soulbots and Next are the root of our conflict. Some people see the soulbots still as humans; some see them a robots. Some want to accept the Next and be friends; others want to destroy them and start a war. The Next are coming. Taking converts. They are searching for something, but won't say what. They say they mean no harm, but can we trust them?
I myself was very firm where I stood on the matter about wether soulbots and Next were human or not - though it took me most of the novel to reach this conclusion. However, as soon a certain event happened at the end... I had no idea what to think anymore. Brenda did an excellent job on manipulating my own beliefs of the situation.
Even with how much I loved this book, I am not sure it will be for everyone. Personally, I think this type of technology is awesome! (Singularity is right around the corner!). Brenda does a superb job of explaining the technology, focusing the story around it, and making you bring your own ethical and moral beliefs into this. The drawback is the story is mainly focused around this technology. If you're not into the soulbots and Next, you probably won't be too hooked to the plot. The characters have a bit of developed around on how this this technology affects them too. Thus, not interested in the technology, may not be interested in the characters, as well.
But I still highly recommend this! I loved her writing. I loved how the story had me thinking and constantly evaluating my own beliefs. But most all of all, I loved how even once I closed the book, I was still contemplating where I stood on the issue!
4.5/5 Rating
-DJ
Side Note: This book takes place is the same universe, but later on the same timeline as the Ruby's Song duology. You do not need to have read that series for this book (I haven't), but I really want to now!
One of my top books of the year!
I'll give to to you straight: I did not have the highest of hopes coming into this. The cover - while it is an impressive design - I do not think looks good. Never read Brenda Cooper before. I did read the synopsis, thought it sounded promising, but wasn't about to go rush out and buy it. How did I come to read this book then? Well, I was lucky enough to win it in a giveaway. When I say lucky, I mean lucky. To think that if I hadn't won this book, I never would have read it, and would have missed out on one of my top books of the year. I am so incredibly lucky.
Charlie is ranger who has lived on Lym his whole life. Nona was born and raised on space station; she has never left the Diamond Deep, but after her mother's passing, she finally decided to honor her father's dying wish and see the sky. Nona then goes down to Lym where she meets Charlies as her guide.
While Nona is visiting Lym, the Next - technologically advanced robots - begin to invade the Deep and take captive a space station. Once the station is in their control, they begin to force humans to convert to robots. On this space station is Nona's best friend, Chrystal.
We will follow the journey of Chrystal, as she tries to adapt to becoming a soulbot. Charlie, as he does his best to protect Lym - his home that he loves more than anything - from the Next. And Nona, as she battles the political world dealing with the decision of how to handle the Next, and tries to determine wether or her best friend, Chrystal, is still alive.
What exactly the Next want, no one knows, and whether or not they mean harm, no one can tell...
I enjoyed Brenda's prose very much. Her writing is precise, elegant, and the reading was very smooth. There is a lot of technology present in the story, yet never once did I have an issue understanding it or have to stop because the explanation was not clear. I did stop on many occasion to contemplation what was is was to be human - but I will get into that later.
From the beginning I could not put this book down. There wasn't any laser battles, high drama scenes to start, or a gripping mystery - it was Charlie's view of the landscape Lym, and it was a pleasure to read..
We start off meeting Charlie and Nona. Learning how much passion, care, and protection Charlie has for Lym, and seeing Nona - who has lived in the space-station for her whole life - exploring and seeing the world for the first time. She takes awe in little things and marvelous at the beauty in things as simple as seeing an open sky. It's a kin to seeing a child exploring Disney for the first time. The mixture of Charlie's native view and Nona's curious view of Lym, and Charlie's opinion of Nona being here for the time, and Nona's view of Charlie has living here for the first - this contrasting and overlapping view points help to build a complete complete picture for the planet, and also, for out characters.
Charlie and Nona are not generic by any mean, ant I would not say they are completely original, but they are memorable. I did build up a quick connection to both of them and was fascinated in seeing how each of them viewed each other, and each other's world. The world building and character development were truly what kept me going for the first half, while the foundation of the plot were being laid down.
The human's relationship with soulbots and the Next are the main focus of the plot. I'm not going to explain in detail what each are, but essentially the Next are extremely technologically advanced robots that have had a human consciousness uploaded to it. A soulbot is the step before the Next. Soulbot is after a person's consciousness has been uploaded into a robot body, but that robot body flawlessly identical to their human body. Eventually a soulbot can become a Next.
The third POV is from Chrystal - a friend of Nona. Chrystal was an interesting POV to have, because her and her family are humans to start and then become soulbots. Chrystal was not my favorite character - that was Charlie, but she was to my favorite read. Thought Chrystal, we are able to see how the family thinks as they humans, and then how they think as soulbots, and wether or not they still consider themselves as humans. Since Chrystal has a family of four, we are able to get a variety of different views which represent different opinions of how people may feel toward becoming a Next. It is a very eye opening and sympathetic experience seeing what Chrystal has to go through.
This trans-humanism is where the book shines and had me constantly asking myself and contemplating, "What does it mean to be human?" Is a human defined as our bodies and beating heart, or it just our ability to think and know of our self-awareness? If it is just consciousness, then if our memories were uploaded to a computer would we no still be human? However, where is our soul? Does the soul define a human? And is it attached to our body or mind?
A number of questions and issues arise from this, and how people perceive these soulbots and Next are the root of our conflict. Some people see the soulbots still as humans; some see them a robots. Some want to accept the Next and be friends; others want to destroy them and start a war. The Next are coming. Taking converts. They are searching for something, but won't say what. They say they mean no harm, but can we trust them?
I myself was very firm where I stood on the matter about wether soulbots and Next were human or not - though it took me most of the novel to reach this conclusion. However, as soon a certain event happened at the end... I had no idea what to think anymore. Brenda did an excellent job on manipulating my own beliefs of the situation.
Even with how much I loved this book, I am not sure it will be for everyone. Personally, I think this type of technology is awesome! (Singularity is right around the corner!). Brenda does a superb job of explaining the technology, focusing the story around it, and making you bring your own ethical and moral beliefs into this. The drawback is the story is mainly focused around this technology. If you're not into the soulbots and Next, you probably won't be too hooked to the plot. The characters have a bit of developed around on how this this technology affects them too. Thus, not interested in the technology, may not be interested in the characters, as well.
But I still highly recommend this! I loved her writing. I loved how the story had me thinking and constantly evaluating my own beliefs. But most all of all, I loved how even once I closed the book, I was still contemplating where I stood on the issue!
4.5/5 Rating
-DJ
Side Note: This book takes place is the same universe, but later on the same timeline as the Ruby's Song duology. You do not need to have read that series for this book (I haven't), but I really want to now!
February 4, 2024
This was a good science-fiction novel. The book is not covering much new ground or ideas. It is exploring the concepts of consciousness. The now popular question of: If I uploaded my mind into a robot, would I still be me? However, the book is remarkably thoughtful. It explores this idea deeply, and encompasses how it would impact society, how people would view someone who was once flesh and blood, but now something else.
Cooper is writing a space opera, with many moving parts, and she does it well. She grasps the importance of scale and vision. Clearly this is the start of a series of books. I will probably read the next.
That being said, someone told her to describe how the characters look, not just how they act. Which is great, until you start reading whole paragraphs describing their clothes like its an article from a fashion magazine. Also, she lightly dabbles in describing the food people are eating, which I find somewhat annoying. I feel this way because I've been scarred in the past by terrible books which spend disturbing amounts of time describing food, how it looks, tastes and feels. Just creepy.
However, this author mercifully veers away from this (or at least the editor did) at the last possible moment. So, I have a little more respect for her.
Over all, a good, tightly constructed, Sci-Fi novel with some thought-provoking ideas.
Cooper is writing a space opera, with many moving parts, and she does it well. She grasps the importance of scale and vision. Clearly this is the start of a series of books. I will probably read the next.
That being said, someone told her to describe how the characters look, not just how they act. Which is great, until you start reading whole paragraphs describing their clothes like its an article from a fashion magazine. Also, she lightly dabbles in describing the food people are eating, which I find somewhat annoying. I feel this way because I've been scarred in the past by terrible books which spend disturbing amounts of time describing food, how it looks, tastes and feels. Just creepy.
However, this author mercifully veers away from this (or at least the editor did) at the last possible moment. So, I have a little more respect for her.
Over all, a good, tightly constructed, Sci-Fi novel with some thought-provoking ideas.
January 11, 2016
Pros:
+ Love the world-building, both on Lym and the Deep
+ Adored the tangcats on Lym; esp. the connection between Cricket and Charlie
+ Excellent normalization of alternative relationships, like the 4-person plural marriage between Chrystal, Katherine, Yi and Jason, and the platonic-romantic relationship between Jean Paul and Charlie
+ Some cool speculative ideas, like how robot-enhanced human long-term memory might work
Cons:
- Distracting copy-editing errors
- Feels like it could use a few more revisions before it's done (way too much exposition; show don't tell! Lots of ideas that stayed half-cocked too, like the concept of downloading children into adolescent android bodies for the sex industry before the Next was banished from the Deep. It didn't seem in any way to tie in to the Next or the Jhailing Jim, though maybe that's a reveal later since this is book 1 in a series.)
- A lot of the context depends on previous books in another series, and there's no recap, so a lot of the previously introduced characters seem flat and under-developed. Like, why is Satyana a thing? I don't even know what she's famous for after reading this book stand alone. I think it might have to do with singing or politics, but I don't know.
There were two things related to gender that I had mixed feelings about:
1. There's a transgender character who appears at one point, and has zero plot relevance. It felt a bit disingenuous / faux diversity to me.
2. The previously female humans who are downloaded into robot bodies get robot bodies with breasts. I can't imagine a scenario in which the Next have both evolved to be sentient and entirely separate from humanity and still see any value in including breasts. A big deal is made of the other genitalia being sexless. Why keep the breasts? If it's later revealed that the bodies are only for recent humans, I guess that makes some sense, but it seemed like a weird incongruity to me.
+ Love the world-building, both on Lym and the Deep
+ Adored the tangcats on Lym; esp. the connection between Cricket and Charlie
+ Excellent normalization of alternative relationships, like the 4-person plural marriage between Chrystal, Katherine, Yi and Jason, and the platonic-romantic relationship between Jean Paul and Charlie
+ Some cool speculative ideas, like how robot-enhanced human long-term memory might work
Cons:
- Distracting copy-editing errors
- Feels like it could use a few more revisions before it's done (way too much exposition; show don't tell! Lots of ideas that stayed half-cocked too, like the concept of downloading children into adolescent android bodies for the sex industry before the Next was banished from the Deep. It didn't seem in any way to tie in to the Next or the Jhailing Jim, though maybe that's a reveal later since this is book 1 in a series.)
- A lot of the context depends on previous books in another series, and there's no recap, so a lot of the previously introduced characters seem flat and under-developed. Like, why is Satyana a thing? I don't even know what she's famous for after reading this book stand alone. I think it might have to do with singing or politics, but I don't know.
There were two things related to gender that I had mixed feelings about:
1. There's a transgender character who appears at one point, and has zero plot relevance. It felt a bit disingenuous / faux diversity to me.
2. The previously female humans who are downloaded into robot bodies get robot bodies with breasts. I can't imagine a scenario in which the Next have both evolved to be sentient and entirely separate from humanity and still see any value in including breasts. A big deal is made of the other genitalia being sexless. Why keep the breasts? If it's later revealed that the bodies are only for recent humans, I guess that makes some sense, but it seemed like a weird incongruity to me.
August 24, 2016
Brenda Cooper has steadily improved during her career, and “Edge of Dark” (Pyr, $18, 397 pages) is her best yet – though there are still a few rough patches.
This first of a series, though, tackles a complex topic – what it means to be “human” – and does so within the confines of a solidly written space opera. Set in the galaxy of “The Creative Fire” and “Diamond Deep” (which essentially transplanted Evita Peron to starships and huge space stations), “Edge of Dark” raises the stakes by considering whether augmented beings who started out human but had to be mechanically augmented to survive in deep space should still be treated as human beings.
Cooper also weaves environmental and political issues into the narrative, but a slow-developing love story and a pace that could be picked up keep “Edge of Dark” from being fully realized. Still, Cooper is onto something here, and her focus on how we define human beings and how we handle prejudice against “the other” are important topics in our real world that displays more and more intolerance and hatred with every news cycle.
And it’s a pretty good read.
This first of a series, though, tackles a complex topic – what it means to be “human” – and does so within the confines of a solidly written space opera. Set in the galaxy of “The Creative Fire” and “Diamond Deep” (which essentially transplanted Evita Peron to starships and huge space stations), “Edge of Dark” raises the stakes by considering whether augmented beings who started out human but had to be mechanically augmented to survive in deep space should still be treated as human beings.
Cooper also weaves environmental and political issues into the narrative, but a slow-developing love story and a pace that could be picked up keep “Edge of Dark” from being fully realized. Still, Cooper is onto something here, and her focus on how we define human beings and how we handle prejudice against “the other” are important topics in our real world that displays more and more intolerance and hatred with every news cycle.
And it’s a pretty good read.
July 11, 2015
This was decent, but in the end I feel like the author backed off from really saying anything interesting about consciousness, robots, etc etc. The second half really took advantage of the "see it takes months to travel!" stuff from a plot perspective, but that meant it ended up being underdeveloped emotionally. On top of that, separating the characters prevented the emotional development I wanted to give a fuck about the whole, instead of the characters as parts. And the end seemed to come out of nowhere - the vote doesn't make any sense. The dogmatic human revolutionaries seemed more like a distraction than a useful contribution to the book, plotwise or characterwise. And for the end to be the massive paradigm shift it is, it would've been nice to spend more time with the actual society, instead of in ships or just with Charlie and Nona on Lym.
Also, why did the female robots have titties? I still don't understand this. That was not a detail I liked.
Also, why did the female robots have titties? I still don't understand this. That was not a detail I liked.
March 15, 2015
In Edge of Dark, Brenda Cooper comes back to the world she created in her RUBY'S SONG duology. In it, humanity has driven AI robots to the edge of the galaxy — to the titular “Edge of Dark” — and maintained their own perimeter of ships and space stations, called The Glittering, around habitable planets, keeping warmth and life to themselves. However, the robots (called, ominously, The Next) have come back, invading a lone scientific space station, killing most of the crew, and uploading the consciousnesses of a chosen few into “soulbot” bodies. As a result of this, human and robot denizens of the three worlds — the planets, the Glittering, and the Edge — are thrown together in a tense political, environmental, and metaphysical drama that spans the galaxy.
If this s... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
If this s... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
January 9, 2016
This book was a blatant Mass Effect rip off. The Deep is the Citadel. The High Sweet Home is Eden Prime. The Next are the Geth and Reapers. There are even character parallels, too many to get into, but Nona nor Charlie are anywhere near as impacting as characters than Shepard. The plot even follows the same, to a point. When they diverge, it's mostly just boring. The only likable characters were Chrystal and Cricket (who's an animal). The world building, beyond what you can already find a better version of in Mass Effect, was meh.
It was poorly written and edited. It was like no one proof read it at all. There were typos that placed characters on completely different space ships then they were a page before.
Don't waste your money. Play Mass Effect (or read the comics) instead. Would not recommend.
It was poorly written and edited. It was like no one proof read it at all. There were typos that placed characters on completely different space ships then they were a page before.
Don't waste your money. Play Mass Effect (or read the comics) instead. Would not recommend.
December 19, 2021
Not perfect, but wonderful What If and Sense of Wonder. Promise of the premise fulfilled. I loved the world-building most, though, and may not continue; it does not end on a cliff-hanger. Some content did make me queasy, but mostly it's a quite optimistic, almost feel-good, story, as most ppl by this time have learned to respect nature more, to have done with most 'isms, etc. Good women who are people, just like men: some are stronger, some are smarter, some are more vulnerable, etc... all are individuals.
April 3, 2015
Bad first - if you find "off of" interrupts the flow of your reading don't read this, and there are other grammar peculiarities I found disrupting.
Then the good. This is a great story, full of real people in difficult positions working things out and set in a beautifully described universe, exploring contrasts and connections between nature and technology and asking what it is that makes us human.
Then the good. This is a great story, full of real people in difficult positions working things out and set in a beautifully described universe, exploring contrasts and connections between nature and technology and asking what it is that makes us human.
March 6, 2016
Neat far-future exploration of the later effects of transhumanism, when hundreds of years after exile, beings who were once human come back to rejoin and influence the descendants of those who once sent them away. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for further books in this series.
October 20, 2016
Strong sci-fi looking at a future of incorporating AI into human society as citizens. The author does a good job presenting three options - War, Tolerance, Acceptance with a range of rounded characters and narrative swings that demonstrate pros and cons of different sides.
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