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Four Hundred Billion Stars #3
Eternal Light
Traveling to the center of the galaxy to confront an invisible enemy that had drawn the earth into war decades earlier and now threatens to destroy the universe, psychic Dorthy Yoshida is unaware of her destined role in humanity's final battle. Reprint.
432 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 5, 2012
This was great, just the kind of over the top hard SF space opera I had been searching for. Yeah, yeah, the characters are a bit unloveable, the narrative was kind of all over the place, blah, blah. And yes, one of the main characters can do ESP, but you know the author put that in to deliberately irritate you nerds right? Right?
Bah. This stuff is wasted on you.
Bah. This stuff is wasted on you.
February 27, 2021
Great ending of "Four Hundred Billion Stars". 5 big one!
August 17, 2012
Ah, Goodreads. Not only are you full of hilarious reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey, you also make it absurdly easy to uncover inane trivia about one's reading habits. Such as, for example, what is the most recent year you haven't read any books from? I asked myself this when I found out what year Paul McAuley's Eternal Light was published. I had assumed it was from the 1970s. This was entirely because it's part of the Gollancz Space Opera collection, those of the sexy monochromatic covers, and all the other works in the collection that I'd read were written in the early ’70s. It turned out Eternal Light was written in 1991 (and the collection as a whole features works spanning from 1930 to 2004). Had I read any books written in 1991? I had a vague notion that books I'd read from the 1980s and 1990s were few and far between, and that it was quite possible my most-recent-year-sans-read-books could be sometime in one of these decades. But no, as it turns out the most recent year that I've read no books from is 1973. Between them, Discworld, Star Trek, and Stephen King cover most of the following three decades.
The early 1990s is an awkward time for science fiction to herald from. Quantum mechanics was sufficiently developed and understood for all sorts of wacky shenanigans to feature in anything written at the time. But the totality of the world wide web was still a single workstation at Sir Tim Berners-Lee's desk. And the supernovae observations that proved the Universe's expansion was accelerating wouldn't come until the end of the decade. Modern science fiction struggles to imagine a future for humanity that doesn't involve ever more advanced versions of the internet (the ongoing Commonwealth saga by Peter F. Hamilton, for example, begins with a man inventing the “datasphere”, a kind of mental version of the ’net, an invention that grows in sophistication as the centuries tick by); and science fiction eschatology almost always has to deal with the accelerating Universe and the contrary roles of dark matter and dark energy (see the Xeelee sequence, for example). The utter lack of internettery in Eternal Light and the fact that a major plot point is the eventual collapse of the Universe both age the novel beyond its twenty years.
Having said that, good science fiction doesn't have to accurately prophesy the future—Arthur C. Clarke may have pre-empted the geosynchronous satellite but he also predicted that hovercrafts would replace all sea and most land travel by the end of the twentieth century. So does Eternal Light succeed as a story if not as a soothsayer? I'd have to say “no”, or possibly “meh”. But probably “no”.
This is the third book in a trilogy, something my edition kindly fails to point out. McAuley does a half decent job at filling in the gaps for people who haven't read the the first two in the series, but I was still pretty lost for the first fifty or so pages. To be fair that's my fault for not checking these things, and Gollancz's fault for choosing the last third of a trilogy for their collection. Once I'd figured out what was going on the story was a little more palatable but unlikeable characters didn't help make it a particularly enjoyable trip to the end. Especially since with fifty pages to go the book does a Lord of the Rings and seems to try starting a whole new story. Aha, thought I, this is preamble for book four in thetrilogy tetralogy! But no, it's just a weird, barely developed bit stuck on the end, with an attempt to introduce some new characters but absolutely no room to get to know them nor really learn about them. It's supposed to provide some closure but really just opens up more questions. Maybe there was supposed to be a fourth book, who knows?
Ultimately the book failed to make me say wow, either out loud or mentally. It's got the ingredients for a science fiction book I should love: big dumb objects, a journey to the centre of the galaxy, discussions on the end of the Universe and attempts to prevent it. And yet between the characters, none of whom I really wanted to stay in the company of, and McAuley's often confusing writing style I just never enjoyed the book. Some great ideas stop it being terrible, but sloppy writing stops it ever being good.
The early 1990s is an awkward time for science fiction to herald from. Quantum mechanics was sufficiently developed and understood for all sorts of wacky shenanigans to feature in anything written at the time. But the totality of the world wide web was still a single workstation at Sir Tim Berners-Lee's desk. And the supernovae observations that proved the Universe's expansion was accelerating wouldn't come until the end of the decade. Modern science fiction struggles to imagine a future for humanity that doesn't involve ever more advanced versions of the internet (the ongoing Commonwealth saga by Peter F. Hamilton, for example, begins with a man inventing the “datasphere”, a kind of mental version of the ’net, an invention that grows in sophistication as the centuries tick by); and science fiction eschatology almost always has to deal with the accelerating Universe and the contrary roles of dark matter and dark energy (see the Xeelee sequence, for example). The utter lack of internettery in Eternal Light and the fact that a major plot point is the eventual collapse of the Universe both age the novel beyond its twenty years.
Having said that, good science fiction doesn't have to accurately prophesy the future—Arthur C. Clarke may have pre-empted the geosynchronous satellite but he also predicted that hovercrafts would replace all sea and most land travel by the end of the twentieth century. So does Eternal Light succeed as a story if not as a soothsayer? I'd have to say “no”, or possibly “meh”. But probably “no”.
This is the third book in a trilogy, something my edition kindly fails to point out. McAuley does a half decent job at filling in the gaps for people who haven't read the the first two in the series, but I was still pretty lost for the first fifty or so pages. To be fair that's my fault for not checking these things, and Gollancz's fault for choosing the last third of a trilogy for their collection. Once I'd figured out what was going on the story was a little more palatable but unlikeable characters didn't help make it a particularly enjoyable trip to the end. Especially since with fifty pages to go the book does a Lord of the Rings and seems to try starting a whole new story. Aha, thought I, this is preamble for book four in the
Ultimately the book failed to make me say wow, either out loud or mentally. It's got the ingredients for a science fiction book I should love: big dumb objects, a journey to the centre of the galaxy, discussions on the end of the Universe and attempts to prevent it. And yet between the characters, none of whom I really wanted to stay in the company of, and McAuley's often confusing writing style I just never enjoyed the book. Some great ideas stop it being terrible, but sloppy writing stops it ever being good.
November 20, 2014
‘In the aftermath of an interstellar war an enigmatic star is discovered, travelling towards the Solar System from the galactic core. Its appearance adds a new and dangerous factor in the turbulent politics of the inhabited worlds as the rival factions – the power-holders of the Reunited Nations, the rebels who secretly oppose their power, and the Religious Witnesses – all see advantages to be gained. But what awesome technology started the star on its journey half a million years ago – and why?’
Blurb from the 2009 Gollancz Space Opera Collection paperback edition
Predating Alastair Reynolds’ Industrial Gothic epics comes this beautifully written bit of Big Science Space Opera. It somehow holds the spirit of Reynolds’ work, if not the scope and the gothic embellishments.
This is a future where humanity has won a war against The Enemy, an odd alien life-form called the Alea who are only raised into intelligence when threatened, but otherwise live as animals.
The psychic Dorthy Yoshida came into contact with a remnant of the Alea and had a fragment of an ancient Alean neuter-female planted in her head.
Dorthy is kidnapped by the immortal Golden, Talbeck Darlstilkin who, along with several others, has discovered that that a sun, complete with an orbiting planet, was aimed at the Earth half a million years ago. An expedition is en-route and the Golden wishes to capitalise on it. Others trying to stop Dalstilkin hire Suzy Falcon, an ex-navy pilot to also fly out. Meanwhile, a group of religious fanatics called The Witnesses, who believe that Godlike aliens are living at the core of the galaxy, have infiltrated the Navy ship which is carrying scientists to the rogue star.
The Alea in Dorthy’s mind has told her that the core of the galaxy is controlled by marauders, an offshoot of the Alea who have genetically engineered their neuter males to be continually intelligent.
The original Alea attack other intelligent life since the marauders will detect intelligence wherever it arises and they do not wish the marauders to detect their presence.
It’s a novel in which no character’s word can be trusted, and everyone seems to have their own agenda with the possible exception of Dorthy whose life has been controlled by both the authorities and the Alea in her head.
When the various factions reach the star they discover that the orbiting planet is a gas giant with one moon, a very odd patchworked moon whose surface is covered with holes; gateways to the centre of the galaxy.
There has been a rash of authors who have explored the concept of intelligence being ‘culled’. Alastair Reynolds and Jack McDevitt have used this device as a backdrop for two vastly different series of connected novels, although McAuley predates these. (A previous example of this, however, was Nigel Kneale’s final Quatermass tale with John Mills in which aliens were harvesting humanity for their musk, or at least an essence, for reasons which were left unexplained).
Reynolds (eventually) and McAuley provide rationales for the attacks on intelligent life. McDevitt, as of 2010, seems in no hurry to do so, and I secretly hope he never does. It is one of the beautiful mysteries in his novels and to have everything resolved and explained would lessen things. I am a firm believer in not having everything explained. Life isn’t like that. Sometimes you never find out why things happen, as in Clarke’s ‘Rendezvous With Rama’. I have refused to accept that the dire sequels exist and have convinced myself that there is just the one novel.
There was a wonderful episode of ‘One Foot in the Grave’ in which the unfailingly grumpy Victor Meldrew received a parcel containing a three foot plastic fly.
At the end of the episode, when these mysteries are usually explained, Victor and his wife gazed perplexedly at the insect, and Victor said something along the lines of ‘Some things are just destined to remain a mystery.’ This is why I found the episode so memorable. It was real. It was profound. It keeps one thinking… It makes it memorable, which is what authors, surely, should be striving to do.
Blurb from the 2009 Gollancz Space Opera Collection paperback edition
Predating Alastair Reynolds’ Industrial Gothic epics comes this beautifully written bit of Big Science Space Opera. It somehow holds the spirit of Reynolds’ work, if not the scope and the gothic embellishments.
This is a future where humanity has won a war against The Enemy, an odd alien life-form called the Alea who are only raised into intelligence when threatened, but otherwise live as animals.
The psychic Dorthy Yoshida came into contact with a remnant of the Alea and had a fragment of an ancient Alean neuter-female planted in her head.
Dorthy is kidnapped by the immortal Golden, Talbeck Darlstilkin who, along with several others, has discovered that that a sun, complete with an orbiting planet, was aimed at the Earth half a million years ago. An expedition is en-route and the Golden wishes to capitalise on it. Others trying to stop Dalstilkin hire Suzy Falcon, an ex-navy pilot to also fly out. Meanwhile, a group of religious fanatics called The Witnesses, who believe that Godlike aliens are living at the core of the galaxy, have infiltrated the Navy ship which is carrying scientists to the rogue star.
The Alea in Dorthy’s mind has told her that the core of the galaxy is controlled by marauders, an offshoot of the Alea who have genetically engineered their neuter males to be continually intelligent.
The original Alea attack other intelligent life since the marauders will detect intelligence wherever it arises and they do not wish the marauders to detect their presence.
It’s a novel in which no character’s word can be trusted, and everyone seems to have their own agenda with the possible exception of Dorthy whose life has been controlled by both the authorities and the Alea in her head.
When the various factions reach the star they discover that the orbiting planet is a gas giant with one moon, a very odd patchworked moon whose surface is covered with holes; gateways to the centre of the galaxy.
There has been a rash of authors who have explored the concept of intelligence being ‘culled’. Alastair Reynolds and Jack McDevitt have used this device as a backdrop for two vastly different series of connected novels, although McAuley predates these. (A previous example of this, however, was Nigel Kneale’s final Quatermass tale with John Mills in which aliens were harvesting humanity for their musk, or at least an essence, for reasons which were left unexplained).
Reynolds (eventually) and McAuley provide rationales for the attacks on intelligent life. McDevitt, as of 2010, seems in no hurry to do so, and I secretly hope he never does. It is one of the beautiful mysteries in his novels and to have everything resolved and explained would lessen things. I am a firm believer in not having everything explained. Life isn’t like that. Sometimes you never find out why things happen, as in Clarke’s ‘Rendezvous With Rama’. I have refused to accept that the dire sequels exist and have convinced myself that there is just the one novel.
There was a wonderful episode of ‘One Foot in the Grave’ in which the unfailingly grumpy Victor Meldrew received a parcel containing a three foot plastic fly.
At the end of the episode, when these mysteries are usually explained, Victor and his wife gazed perplexedly at the insect, and Victor said something along the lines of ‘Some things are just destined to remain a mystery.’ This is why I found the episode so memorable. It was real. It was profound. It keeps one thinking… It makes it memorable, which is what authors, surely, should be striving to do.
July 20, 2015
If Iain Banks had written this novel, I'd have loved it.
This is a book that rather wore me down. I'm not really a hard SF person, but discovery in other parts of the galaxy is often a winner for me. there's a sense of wonder I get that makes it all worthwhile - however, spending too long talking about gravity, mass, more gravity and the various physics obstacles involved in space flight, while perfectly worthy, leaves me cold. As a result, it was a book I wanted to find out what happened at the end, but spent three weeks slogging through. I think he only actually quoted equations once to illustrate a point, but still, it diminished the book for me and was far less enjoyable than his more recent Cowboy Angels. Gimme giant space ships by all means, just don't bloody tell me how they work...
[Edit - I genuinely can't remember anything about the book now other than the faint memory of the things that bugged me. No plot, characters or events, it's all faded from my head. I don't have the best memory but that's rare even for me and probably not a good sign]
This is a book that rather wore me down. I'm not really a hard SF person, but discovery in other parts of the galaxy is often a winner for me. there's a sense of wonder I get that makes it all worthwhile - however, spending too long talking about gravity, mass, more gravity and the various physics obstacles involved in space flight, while perfectly worthy, leaves me cold. As a result, it was a book I wanted to find out what happened at the end, but spent three weeks slogging through. I think he only actually quoted equations once to illustrate a point, but still, it diminished the book for me and was far less enjoyable than his more recent Cowboy Angels. Gimme giant space ships by all means, just don't bloody tell me how they work...
[Edit - I genuinely can't remember anything about the book now other than the faint memory of the things that bugged me. No plot, characters or events, it's all faded from my head. I don't have the best memory but that's rare even for me and probably not a good sign]
November 26, 2025
A tale of two women. Dorthy Yashido, a Talent, who can read minds; and Suzy Falcon, a fighter pilot, no longer attached to any military. Dorthy was involved in the only direct confrontation with aliens and is now harbouring, what she thinks is part of one, in her mind. Suzy has been engaged by a Golden, a modified human with extended lifespan and gene-repairing nanotechnology, known as Talbeck Barlstilkin, to fly a mission to a hpervelocity star, orbited by a planetoid full of holes. The holes turn out to be wormhole gates and Barstilkin intends to find God, or its equivalent, in the region of the central galaxy, where the rumoured old ones existed. He is part of a fanatical religious cult of Witnesses and has persuaded Dorthy to accompany them. Plans change however, and he is forced to depart without his pilot Suzy, who is annoyed enough to follow them in a second ship. What they find at the planetoid is astonishing. They enter an interzone between two universes, where a virtual reality has been established that can harbour human life forms, and discover that the plans of the aliens will derail the smooth oscillation of the universe. In essence, they will cook it. Barlstilkin, however is undeterred and with the help of his followers intends to contact the alien Alea, and unwittingly alert the Enemy to their existence. Time dilation means a now-pregnant Dorthy returns to an Earth changed, and not for the better. The Enemy were thought to be extinct but the use of the ur-space engines has signalled their re-emergence and the fanatical Witnesses now rule the Earth. Complex and intriguing space opera, Paul J. McAuley’s tale requires some concentration as it is densely plotted. Part of a loosely connected series it can be read alone, and is worth persevering with.
December 26, 2022
Dorthy Yoshida has the ability to see peoples thoughts and more. She helped put an end to the threat posed by the Enemy, an alien race from the Galactic core,some ten years ago and has since been put on ice by the Navy. She has within her brain the collective consciousness of those aliens who have plans for her in the future.
Suzy Falcon is a singleship pilot who fought in the war. She has been employed to continue this battle when a hypervelocity star is detected heading for Earth from the Galactic core. It appears the Enemy is at work again.
An ancient race that has transcended from a physical state to one of light enlists the help of Dorthy and Suzy as the Enemy is a common threat.
There is a lot in this story to keep you entertained. It moves along like a roll-a-coaster with many direction changes in the plot. Essentially hard sf with doses of cosmology, biology, wormholes and more.
Suzy Falcon is a singleship pilot who fought in the war. She has been employed to continue this battle when a hypervelocity star is detected heading for Earth from the Galactic core. It appears the Enemy is at work again.
An ancient race that has transcended from a physical state to one of light enlists the help of Dorthy and Suzy as the Enemy is a common threat.
There is a lot in this story to keep you entertained. It moves along like a roll-a-coaster with many direction changes in the plot. Essentially hard sf with doses of cosmology, biology, wormholes and more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2023
I lost the will to live, temporarily, while reading this. The joy I derive from reading disappeared quicker than truth at a Trump rally. On the topic of the big orange narcissist what McAuley does have in common with Trump is a love of self that permeates every page, as he tries to show us how smart he and his ideas are. There’s hard science, and then there is boring nonsense. This might have a claim to be in the former but it sits mainly in the latter
December 24, 2023
Give a 3.4. Not my favorite, not the worst. I understand where the plot is trying to meander through, but he doesn't do a great job. The only reason I plucked it off the shelf at the store was because of the title and because of the cover. I guess it's kinda true that a great cover can sell a good, to decent, story.
I feel it could've been so much more than it was at the end.
I feel it could've been so much more than it was at the end.
July 7, 2021
With this, the 3rd book in the trilogy, we return to the main narrative begun with book one, and subverted by the dull, marginally related second book.
Not bad for a book of this vintage. Brings the story home.
Not bad for a book of this vintage. Brings the story home.
April 8, 2022
Amazing story written with skill and literary excellence. Mind-blowing world building, conceptual blizzarding and high science. Kinda got lost in its own worthy superlatives in the final third but nonetheless an un-put-downable novel worthy of a sequel. I hope.
February 13, 2022
Good, until it turned magical maybe three quarters of the way through, then things get a bit vague. It feels like there should be a sequel given the Coda.
March 22, 2022
Dnf this cause I ended up knowing its a trilogy and I'm reading the third book of the series...
April 14, 2014
I don't recommend this book.
I don't want to reread this book or read the first two books in the series.
For starters, anyone who doesn't make it clear that a book is a part of a series somewhere on the outer jacket is a jerk. I didn't know this was the third book in a trilogy until I happened to look the book up on here... when I was ten pages from the end.
This is the first hard sci-fi full length novel I've read, and it's just not for me. I don't care about all the astronomy or cosmology or whatever. It was interesting at times, but mostly I just glazed over when these descriptions of gravitational pulls and such went on for more than a short paragraph.
Eternal Light has plenty of interesting characters, but none of them that I really cared about. By the end of the book there were a couple that I cared about, and a few more than I kind of liked, but it was a long time getting there. The action was paced well, but the hard sci-fi bogged it down at times, which says more about my tastes than the author.
It introduced me to a few cool new concepts (i.e. having half your brain removed and replaced with a computer that takes care of the mundane parts of your life). The bottom line is that it was a story about selfish characters doing stuff that I didn't care about.
As is the case with some books, the last couple pages (especially the last paragraph) caused my rating to change from two stars to three.
I don't want to reread this book or read the first two books in the series.
For starters, anyone who doesn't make it clear that a book is a part of a series somewhere on the outer jacket is a jerk. I didn't know this was the third book in a trilogy until I happened to look the book up on here... when I was ten pages from the end.
This is the first hard sci-fi full length novel I've read, and it's just not for me. I don't care about all the astronomy or cosmology or whatever. It was interesting at times, but mostly I just glazed over when these descriptions of gravitational pulls and such went on for more than a short paragraph.
Eternal Light has plenty of interesting characters, but none of them that I really cared about. By the end of the book there were a couple that I cared about, and a few more than I kind of liked, but it was a long time getting there. The action was paced well, but the hard sci-fi bogged it down at times, which says more about my tastes than the author.
It introduced me to a few cool new concepts (i.e. having half your brain removed and replaced with a computer that takes care of the mundane parts of your life). The bottom line is that it was a story about selfish characters doing stuff that I didn't care about.
As is the case with some books, the last couple pages (especially the last paragraph) caused my rating to change from two stars to three.
April 6, 2010
In what is nominally a hard science fiction novel, the ESP-like "talent" of one of the main players nearly made me put the book down in the first 50 pages. However, it did play out as an alien communication ploy down the track.
The book contains some interesting hard science concepts (although including gratuitous formulae in the text was uncalled for, and you get the feeling that a lot of stuff is being thrown in just for the buzzword value). The biggest problem I had with it, however, was the backstory was told in a very disjointed fashion. Yeah, I got it in the end, but all the way through it felt like I should have read an earlier book in the series before I read this one.
Update: Perhaps because apparently there are earlier books. But there is absolutely no reference to them in this edition, so as a buyer, you'd never know. I suppose that's a mark against the publisher rather than the author.
The book contains some interesting hard science concepts (although including gratuitous formulae in the text was uncalled for, and you get the feeling that a lot of stuff is being thrown in just for the buzzword value). The biggest problem I had with it, however, was the backstory was told in a very disjointed fashion. Yeah, I got it in the end, but all the way through it felt like I should have read an earlier book in the series before I read this one.
Update: Perhaps because apparently there are earlier books. But there is absolutely no reference to them in this edition, so as a buyer, you'd never know. I suppose that's a mark against the publisher rather than the author.
November 5, 2024
It began when the shock wave of a nearby supernova tore apart the red supergiant sun of the Alea home system, forcing ten thousand family nations to abandon their world and search for new homes among the packed stars of the Galaxy's core. Or it began long after one Alea family had slaughtered most of the others and forced the rest to flee the core, when a binary star came too close to the black hole at the dead center of the Galaxy. Or perhaps it began half a million years after that, when Alea-infesting asteroids girdling the red dwarf star BD+20° 2465 destroyed a Greater Brazilian flyby drone as it shot through their adopted system.
November 1, 2012
This book rambles on. Lots of things happen but it's hard to keep it all straight. And the ending. Don't get your hopes up for a good ending. That's when it rambles the most. The characters are all over the place with lots of intrigue but very little details to help the reader understand what exactly is going on. The book is only so-so and not up to the high standards that McAuley sets with his other books like The Quiet War.
November 30, 2015
For the first half of the book, I was enjoying myself with this reading experience. As every character had their goal and motivation and not even two were in sync, it was battle of greater willpower. Then angels came and doubting their authority became a tabu. It certainly ruined things for me. I'm quite sure they were there for reason/metaphor/allegory, but still other half was just so sad for me.
January 6, 2016
I read this one years and years ago and when I found myself with nothing to read... yikes! I rummaged through the back shelves dusting off some oldies. So perhaps my tastes have changed or I wasn't in the mood for some seriously hard SF. Bogged down by physics and suffering from plot and character withdrawals, I hung her up mid way through. Did I really care what happened in the end to the universe - no. Enough said.
March 23, 2010
Sui generis. Good setup and some nice space-opera visuals, but it gets docked a star for its fractured narrative and utterly unconvincing characters, about whom I could not bring myself to care a whit. The beginning was awful, but I was reading away eagerly enough by the end. Nice to see a book with a sympathetic Sri Lankan among the cast, too.
February 25, 2021
If you're gonna do space opera, go with mind-blowing plots, long timelines, and galaxy spanning visions. Does not hurt to have godlike, psychic power and enemy that threatens universe extinction.
McCauley tries to write exciting story, he is stilted in explaining background and concept. Kudos for trying.
McCauley tries to write exciting story, he is stilted in explaining background and concept. Kudos for trying.
December 19, 2012
Surprisingly monumental.
May 25, 2013
Seems like this is McAuley's trilogy layout, first two are just setups for the real story in the final book. Much more involved and encompassing. Bringing more characters and stories together.
July 19, 2016
Reread: 2nd time, still as good as I'd thought originally.
Read
August 3, 2011Struggled to finish it..........
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