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the Light
‘the Light’ explores a world where you wake up and know this is the day you die. How would such a world shape the way we think, our views on each other and society, how we conduct our personal and financial affairs; how we live and how we will die?
On a daily basis, people are required to take the Light; a device that ascertains whether this will be their last day. Between investigating this new world order and the story of one ordinary person forced to cope in extraordinary circumstances, discover a world so achingly similar to our own, but different in one shattering, all-encompassing way.
When approaching death, whether dying in your sleep or experiencing your whole life flashing in front of your eyes, in the end it is no longer a case of floating towards the light. ‘the Light’ wants to find you first.
On a daily basis, people are required to take the Light; a device that ascertains whether this will be their last day. Between investigating this new world order and the story of one ordinary person forced to cope in extraordinary circumstances, discover a world so achingly similar to our own, but different in one shattering, all-encompassing way.
When approaching death, whether dying in your sleep or experiencing your whole life flashing in front of your eyes, in the end it is no longer a case of floating towards the light. ‘the Light’ wants to find you first.
342 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 29, 2020
*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
In the Light, Jim Alexander shows us the psychological effects on humanity when we know – for certain – when our last day of life will be.
His sci-fi dystopia shows a post-Event world, where everyone can touch a light panel in their own home, or in public, and the light either confirms that their life will continue for another 24 hours, or advises that this is their final day. Starting with someone who has received that condemnatory knowledge, Alexander then goes on to explore this scenario through the eyes of ‘everyman’ Si as he grapples with moral and philosophical questions relating to accepting the Light and its corollaries, or… shockingly… not complying and falling out of ‘the system’ altogether.
In addition to Si’s emotional journey, we also get glimpses into other mindsets – those related to the creation and development of the Light, the devout of the religion based around the Light and those who oppose it. Through this exploration of life, death, and how both might change with such certainty, the reader is presented with the opportunity to reflect on their own ethical positions and beliefs, and what knowing the day of your death might do to a person, physically, psychologically and philosophically.
There are also some horror-tinged aspects to the story, as we are faced with those happy to die those afraid to die, and the pitiful inevitability of not only being severed from ones family, friends and worldly goods, but being forced to experience said severance fully and witness helplessly as the impending doom comes down. A lot rang true here, from disagreements with loved ones about how the final day should be spent (and the money), to the whole process having quickly become the new normal, incorporated into one of the mildly inconvenient routines of daily life, like the morning commute or mid-video adverts online. It was shocking to me how little resistance there seemed to be, and how those that did resist were marginalised as a fringe minority. Yet, sadly, also not that shocking, as we see similar situations all around us and realise that people can accept just about anything to avoid disruption to their own inner realities.
This is my second Jim Alexander book (I previously reviewed the – very different – GoodCopBadCop) and he has shown that he is adept at combining such moral exploration with a well-written plot and well-developed characters, ethics with entertainment. His books share the similarity of encouraging critical thought and emotional engagement with the contents, in a way that reflects new light on current affairs. There is no telling what will come from this author next – dark or light – but it is certain to be unique, interesting and provocative.
There were no loopholes, or was it simply that people had stopped looking for them, afraid of what they might find instead. That life was a secondary concern. That everything that led up to the here and now was ancillary and superfluous. Meaningless. Geoff was not alone in facing a day like no other, frightened out of his wits; matters made worse by the real possibility that his Last Day was closer to the finishing than the starting line. It was the realisation that scared him half to death.
Over half, as was likely the case.
– Jim Alexander, the Light
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
In the Light, Jim Alexander shows us the psychological effects on humanity when we know – for certain – when our last day of life will be.
His sci-fi dystopia shows a post-Event world, where everyone can touch a light panel in their own home, or in public, and the light either confirms that their life will continue for another 24 hours, or advises that this is their final day. Starting with someone who has received that condemnatory knowledge, Alexander then goes on to explore this scenario through the eyes of ‘everyman’ Si as he grapples with moral and philosophical questions relating to accepting the Light and its corollaries, or… shockingly… not complying and falling out of ‘the system’ altogether.
In addition to Si’s emotional journey, we also get glimpses into other mindsets – those related to the creation and development of the Light, the devout of the religion based around the Light and those who oppose it. Through this exploration of life, death, and how both might change with such certainty, the reader is presented with the opportunity to reflect on their own ethical positions and beliefs, and what knowing the day of your death might do to a person, physically, psychologically and philosophically.
There are also some horror-tinged aspects to the story, as we are faced with those happy to die those afraid to die, and the pitiful inevitability of not only being severed from ones family, friends and worldly goods, but being forced to experience said severance fully and witness helplessly as the impending doom comes down. A lot rang true here, from disagreements with loved ones about how the final day should be spent (and the money), to the whole process having quickly become the new normal, incorporated into one of the mildly inconvenient routines of daily life, like the morning commute or mid-video adverts online. It was shocking to me how little resistance there seemed to be, and how those that did resist were marginalised as a fringe minority. Yet, sadly, also not that shocking, as we see similar situations all around us and realise that people can accept just about anything to avoid disruption to their own inner realities.
This is my second Jim Alexander book (I previously reviewed the – very different – GoodCopBadCop) and he has shown that he is adept at combining such moral exploration with a well-written plot and well-developed characters, ethics with entertainment. His books share the similarity of encouraging critical thought and emotional engagement with the contents, in a way that reflects new light on current affairs. There is no telling what will come from this author next – dark or light – but it is certain to be unique, interesting and provocative.
There were no loopholes, or was it simply that people had stopped looking for them, afraid of what they might find instead. That life was a secondary concern. That everything that led up to the here and now was ancillary and superfluous. Meaningless. Geoff was not alone in facing a day like no other, frightened out of his wits; matters made worse by the real possibility that his Last Day was closer to the finishing than the starting line. It was the realisation that scared him half to death.
Over half, as was likely the case.
– Jim Alexander, the Light
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
December 10, 2019
A very talented storyteller...
I enjoyed the story, character development, and dialogue. There were plenty of plot twists that I didn’t see coming and that added to the book’s mystique. When I stopped reading to work, I found myself wondering what happened in the book, and replaying parts of the novel in my head to see if I could figure more out. It has been a while since I enjoyed a book this much. It’s a first-class speculative fiction with perfect pacing. Not much is as it appears here, which is just the way fans of mystery, thriller and suspense will want it.
The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘exploring a world where you wake up and know this is the day you die. How would such a world shape the way we think, our views on each other and society, how we conduct our personal and financial affairs; how we live and how we will die?’
The story had every element a good story should have. An intriguing plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book. It’s one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader!
The contrast between tone and content is a characteristic talent of only a few authors. Jim Alexander pays as much attention to his sentences as he does to his plots, shifting or consolidating meaning with the use of a single word. His writing is impeccably honed, full of juxtapositions and qualifications that help to create a creeping sense of unease while laughing out loud at times.
I’ll be looking forward to reading more from Jim Alexander in the future. I would definitely recommend this book. Although, for those who are linguistically sensitive, profanity is used sporadically throughout.
A highly recommended read, and a well-deserved five stars from me.
I enjoyed the story, character development, and dialogue. There were plenty of plot twists that I didn’t see coming and that added to the book’s mystique. When I stopped reading to work, I found myself wondering what happened in the book, and replaying parts of the novel in my head to see if I could figure more out. It has been a while since I enjoyed a book this much. It’s a first-class speculative fiction with perfect pacing. Not much is as it appears here, which is just the way fans of mystery, thriller and suspense will want it.
The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘exploring a world where you wake up and know this is the day you die. How would such a world shape the way we think, our views on each other and society, how we conduct our personal and financial affairs; how we live and how we will die?’
The story had every element a good story should have. An intriguing plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book. It’s one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader!
The contrast between tone and content is a characteristic talent of only a few authors. Jim Alexander pays as much attention to his sentences as he does to his plots, shifting or consolidating meaning with the use of a single word. His writing is impeccably honed, full of juxtapositions and qualifications that help to create a creeping sense of unease while laughing out loud at times.
I’ll be looking forward to reading more from Jim Alexander in the future. I would definitely recommend this book. Although, for those who are linguistically sensitive, profanity is used sporadically throughout.
A highly recommended read, and a well-deserved five stars from me.
November 2, 2020
the Light by Jim Alexander is a novel for current times. There’s nothing like reading a story with such deep, thought-provoking storylines on death....in the middle of a pandemic.
If you knew today was your last day alive, and you could do whatever you pleased, what would you choose? Some choose to go out with a fight, while others take matters into their own hands and plan their exit.
We follow the main character, Si, as he interacts with last dayers, squatters, protesters, and more as he goes walkabout searching for the meaning of his life. Scattered throughout the novel are smaller plot lines that you know will eventually weave together to impact the story. As the many characters go through their day, they’ll provoke your most profound thoughts on life and what means the most to you.
I loved the dark underlying tone of this book. I could almost hear the menacing music playing as a soundtrack to the words.
Jim Alexander is a master storyteller. I have reviewed two of his books. He knows how to craft a story that you can’t put down.
I received a review copy of the book. This is my honest, unbiased opinion.
If you knew today was your last day alive, and you could do whatever you pleased, what would you choose? Some choose to go out with a fight, while others take matters into their own hands and plan their exit.
We follow the main character, Si, as he interacts with last dayers, squatters, protesters, and more as he goes walkabout searching for the meaning of his life. Scattered throughout the novel are smaller plot lines that you know will eventually weave together to impact the story. As the many characters go through their day, they’ll provoke your most profound thoughts on life and what means the most to you.
I loved the dark underlying tone of this book. I could almost hear the menacing music playing as a soundtrack to the words.
Jim Alexander is a master storyteller. I have reviewed two of his books. He knows how to craft a story that you can’t put down.
I received a review copy of the book. This is my honest, unbiased opinion.
February 21, 2020
Alexander portrays a world fundamentally different from our own yet also almost identical, creating an exciting and immersive tale that also casts a light on humanity’s relationship with death.
Following a sublime event, humans gained the ability to know that this is the day they will die—although not how. A knowledge that can be confirmed by a quick non-invasive test. Years later, society has internalised this change and settled into a new normal not much different from the old; but still different. In a series of interlocking narratives, Alexander explores how people might face their death if they had one day’s notice.
The majority of this novel covers several days in the life of Si, a man whose life is thrown into chaos by the last day of a work colleague. This use of a protagonist free of imminent death both frees the viewpoint to observe the world rather than fixate things relevant to the self, and permits the events to cover a longer span of time; combined, this creates a sense of continuity and commentary that prevents the book becoming a series of disconnected snapshots.
Where Si’s experience acts as“normal”, the vignettes and flashbacks which form the remainder of the book provide contrasting perspectives on how the current society came to be and how those of other nations and social situations face scientifically provable imminent death. Alexander’s skilful balancing of breadth of experience with returning to characters at different points—whether from their own perspective or that of others—show glimpses of how people’s lives are shaped by this new situation and how their true reaction might not be known even to them.
Alexander’s use of a series of vignettes across the period since the first predicable death also shows how the existing laws and conventions are the natural product of government and social inertia quelling each crisis as it arose; thus, the dystopian aspects are realistic evolutions rather than something placed before the reader with the expectation they will not question the premise.
Perhaps the greatest strength of this novel—offering sympathy and horror in equal measure—is how plausibly normal everything remains. There are new structures and rituals around death, but otherwise society has absorbed this immense revelation and carried on much the same, treating death prediction in the same way as the mobile phone or other disruptive technologies rather than gaining the extreme factionalism or fringe cults that some science-fiction suggests arise in the face of a massive change in humanity.
This lack of stark variation or extreme action might in another way be the books least plausible aspect. Individuals react to the knowledge of death in a realistic gamut of ways, and the rich and powerful have the same improved access to more hedonistic and bespoke last days, but the nations of the world seem homogeneous; save for asides regarding certain cultures embracing the idea of putting death checking in the home or others having only sparse testing machinery, every country seems to use the same mechanisms. Even accounting for Alexander focusing on the Western world and Russia—and thus merely not showing any differences there might be in the Middle East or Asia—the absence of even casual irritations equivalent to attempting to use one’s mobile phone or bank card abroad might leave a slight sense of over-simplicity in some reader’s minds.
Si is a sympathetic and complex protagonist, possessing conflicting drives and interests that both make his efforts to cope more challenging and make his character more interesting to follow, yet also possessing the imperfect will and focus that make him more an everyman than an exemplar of individualism or charity. His mostly happy marriage happens to be a homosexual one in the same way that the mostly happy marriages of many protagonists are heterosexual.
The other viewpoint characters are both similarly complex and distinct from each other, providing a mostly sympathetic perspective on a variety of reactions to both individual death and the wider situation. The exception to this is the President of the United States, who—while not named—is a thinly veiled copy of a real world figure that one hopes is exaggerated for effect.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking science-fiction that is focused more on exploring the impact of a single change on human experience than on space battles and alien civilisations.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
Following a sublime event, humans gained the ability to know that this is the day they will die—although not how. A knowledge that can be confirmed by a quick non-invasive test. Years later, society has internalised this change and settled into a new normal not much different from the old; but still different. In a series of interlocking narratives, Alexander explores how people might face their death if they had one day’s notice.
The majority of this novel covers several days in the life of Si, a man whose life is thrown into chaos by the last day of a work colleague. This use of a protagonist free of imminent death both frees the viewpoint to observe the world rather than fixate things relevant to the self, and permits the events to cover a longer span of time; combined, this creates a sense of continuity and commentary that prevents the book becoming a series of disconnected snapshots.
Where Si’s experience acts as“normal”, the vignettes and flashbacks which form the remainder of the book provide contrasting perspectives on how the current society came to be and how those of other nations and social situations face scientifically provable imminent death. Alexander’s skilful balancing of breadth of experience with returning to characters at different points—whether from their own perspective or that of others—show glimpses of how people’s lives are shaped by this new situation and how their true reaction might not be known even to them.
Alexander’s use of a series of vignettes across the period since the first predicable death also shows how the existing laws and conventions are the natural product of government and social inertia quelling each crisis as it arose; thus, the dystopian aspects are realistic evolutions rather than something placed before the reader with the expectation they will not question the premise.
Perhaps the greatest strength of this novel—offering sympathy and horror in equal measure—is how plausibly normal everything remains. There are new structures and rituals around death, but otherwise society has absorbed this immense revelation and carried on much the same, treating death prediction in the same way as the mobile phone or other disruptive technologies rather than gaining the extreme factionalism or fringe cults that some science-fiction suggests arise in the face of a massive change in humanity.
This lack of stark variation or extreme action might in another way be the books least plausible aspect. Individuals react to the knowledge of death in a realistic gamut of ways, and the rich and powerful have the same improved access to more hedonistic and bespoke last days, but the nations of the world seem homogeneous; save for asides regarding certain cultures embracing the idea of putting death checking in the home or others having only sparse testing machinery, every country seems to use the same mechanisms. Even accounting for Alexander focusing on the Western world and Russia—and thus merely not showing any differences there might be in the Middle East or Asia—the absence of even casual irritations equivalent to attempting to use one’s mobile phone or bank card abroad might leave a slight sense of over-simplicity in some reader’s minds.
Si is a sympathetic and complex protagonist, possessing conflicting drives and interests that both make his efforts to cope more challenging and make his character more interesting to follow, yet also possessing the imperfect will and focus that make him more an everyman than an exemplar of individualism or charity. His mostly happy marriage happens to be a homosexual one in the same way that the mostly happy marriages of many protagonists are heterosexual.
The other viewpoint characters are both similarly complex and distinct from each other, providing a mostly sympathetic perspective on a variety of reactions to both individual death and the wider situation. The exception to this is the President of the United States, who—while not named—is a thinly veiled copy of a real world figure that one hopes is exaggerated for effect.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking science-fiction that is focused more on exploring the impact of a single change on human experience than on space battles and alien civilisations.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews