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The Shoal Sequence #1
Stealing Light
For a hundred and fifty thousand years, the alien Shoal have been hiding a terrible secret behind a façade of power. In the twenty-fifth century, they dominate the galaxy and control all trade and exploration, possessing the secret of faster-than-light travel. Mankind has established just a handful of interstellar colonies; their freedom and knowledge of the galaxy limited by the Shoal’s punitive colonial charter. Dakota Merrick is a machine-head pilot on the run from one of the Consortium’s most powerful criminals. Desperate for escape, she contracts to ferry an expert team to a remote star system. Her passengers hope to scavenge a functioning FTL-drive from a derelict starship – rumoured to pre date the Shoal. But they’ll expose an ancient genocide the Shoal will do anything to hide. And Dakota will be forced to face demons from her own military past. ‘Packed with massive concepts and dark psychological twists . . . seriously entertaining’ SFX ‘Fast, confident, daring, skilful … A big book in scope and imagination’ Vector “The depth and scale of a writer coming into his own’ Sci-Fi-London.com
608 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
86 people are currently reading
3128 people want to read
About the author
Gary Gibson
52 books420 followersGary Gibson's first novel, Angel Stations, was published in 2004. Interzone called it "dense and involving, puzzling and perplexing. It's unabashed science fiction, with an almost "Golden Age" feel to it ..."
His second novel was Against Gravity in 2005; the Guardian described it as "building on current trends to produce a convincing picture of the world in 2096."
Stealing Light was first published in 2007, and garnered a wide range of positive reviews. The London Times called it: "A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure ... intelligently written and thought-provoking".
Stealing Light is the first volume in a four-book space opera, the final volume of which, Marauder, was published in 2013.
To date, Gary has written ten novels, most recently Extinction Game and its sequel, Survival Game.
His second novel was Against Gravity in 2005; the Guardian described it as "building on current trends to produce a convincing picture of the world in 2096."
Stealing Light was first published in 2007, and garnered a wide range of positive reviews. The London Times called it: "A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure ... intelligently written and thought-provoking".
Stealing Light is the first volume in a four-book space opera, the final volume of which, Marauder, was published in 2013.
To date, Gary has written ten novels, most recently Extinction Game and its sequel, Survival Game.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
January 11, 2019
I am glad to see the likes of Neal Asher writing a review for this novel here on Goodreads. In fact, if you've enjoyed Asher's Space Opera novels, you'll probably enjoy this too. I certainly did.
I am a sucker for stories that feature derelicts, alien or otherwise. I usually enjoy the exploration and sense of wonder that normally accompanies this theme. Add to that a dose of high octane action, interesting aliens, a millennia old secret that is very deadly, lots of cool tech (I especially liked the Planet Engines) and a grimy "used future" feel and you're already more than halfway there. The rest, of course, is plot and characterisation. Fortunately this novel didn't disappoint. The pacing is quite furious too, which really gets those pages turning.
In the end, I wasn't too surprised at the way the novel closed (it's not quite a cliffhanger, but it isn't too far removed). This story is much too big to tell in one novel, and is apparently the first in a trilogy. It is followed by Nova War, which I suspect I'll get to shortly, as I'm very curious how this is going to unfold.
If you like Space Opera where bigger is better and you enjoy the Culture novels (Iain M. Banks) or the Agent Cormac novels (Neal Asher) you should at least give Gibson a try. There's even a bit of a Deathstalker vibe. According to those in the know, the sequels to Stealing Light are even better.
I am a sucker for stories that feature derelicts, alien or otherwise. I usually enjoy the exploration and sense of wonder that normally accompanies this theme. Add to that a dose of high octane action, interesting aliens, a millennia old secret that is very deadly, lots of cool tech (I especially liked the Planet Engines) and a grimy "used future" feel and you're already more than halfway there. The rest, of course, is plot and characterisation. Fortunately this novel didn't disappoint. The pacing is quite furious too, which really gets those pages turning.
In the end, I wasn't too surprised at the way the novel closed (it's not quite a cliffhanger, but it isn't too far removed). This story is much too big to tell in one novel, and is apparently the first in a trilogy. It is followed by Nova War, which I suspect I'll get to shortly, as I'm very curious how this is going to unfold.
If you like Space Opera where bigger is better and you enjoy the Culture novels (Iain M. Banks) or the Agent Cormac novels (Neal Asher) you should at least give Gibson a try. There's even a bit of a Deathstalker vibe. According to those in the know, the sequels to Stealing Light are even better.
February 24, 2012
And yet another one! I enjoyed Gary Gibson’s other books, Angel Stations and Against Gravity, so was looking forward to this. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s big meaty space opera combining many of the elements I enjoy. It’s dark, wide-screen, concerns survival-of-civilization events and is populated with the kind of smart and often nasty characters that have become a staple of present day space opera, with the addition, when it comes to the Shoal, of some particularly Banksian aliens. I particularly like how he has dealt with implants, religion, AI and just the whole set-up of this future. And there’s exploding spaceships! I picked up this near 500-page book and roared through it in no time. Nice one, Mr Gibson.
May 12, 2013
Heinlein was a nutter.
Iain Banks is the best.
That's what I learned from this book.
Trouble is, I already knew Heinlein was crazy and Banks single handedly saved hard SF from extinction.
The main problem I had with this book is that it kept making me think about other SF authors' works instead of Gibson's own. Let me explain...
There's a society based on an updated version of Spartan principles, which plays a central role in the story. It's not portrayed in an at all favourable light. This can't be seen as anything other than a response to Heinlein Ra's Starship Troopers where-in a society based on an updated version of Spartan principles is portrayed as some kind of ideal in all apparent seriousness.
There's a part where a character quotes T.S.Eliot at a critical moment...the same quote as gives Iain M. Banks' first book its name. There are also aliens with stupid jokes for names...
Ever since the warped but wittily named Minds of Banks' Culture burst onto the scene, other authors of space opera have been copying the idea with no success, whether they be naming starships, robots or aliens...
There are also obvious thematic links to Alastair Reynolds and the Alien films, or at least the first one.
So here's what all this amounts to; all books have antecedents, all authors have conscious or unconscious influences, but if, as a writer, you fail to mix up all your influences with enough of your own ideas or atmosphere, your readers will fail to credit you with the results.
If you write a direct counter-argument to another book, that book will distract readers who have read it - unless enough else is going on for it to only emerge afterward. If you make obvious reference, for no good reason, to another author, during a climactic scene, the reader of both writers will be distracted from the action at a critical moment.
One reason this is so distracting is that Gibson failed to engage my sympathies early - it must have been half way through a 600p book before I began to care about the main protagonist. Another is that too much is given away early - indeed in the back cover blurb, for that matter. Whilst there were late surprises, most of the general outline of what is going on is given away by clumsy foreshadowing.
I have the feeling Gibson could get better if he pays attention to his weaknesses and works to improve but that hasn't really happened for Peter F. Hamilton, whose multi-tome space operas are not really as good as Gibson's - on the evidence of just this first volume, anyway.
The second half of this book is quite good, from a thriller perspective and I will grant Gibson this; whilst mind-computer interfacing plays an important role in this story, it isn't what it's about, which is a huge relief, because,"Look how cool my imagined gadgets are!" feels nigh ubiquitous and really boring nowadays, as an SF theme.
Instead, Gibson is talking politics and human nature - which has been an SF theme from the birth of the genre, really. But it's more interesting and vaster in scope than, "Wheee! Bio-electronics!" He's also saying something that is a direct counter to much of the aliens-vs.-humans SF of the Cold War era. Or he might be - because now that vol.1 is out the way, a less predictable situation has been set up and he's made me interested enough to tackle vol.2 - despite my nearly quiting at p200.
So if you stick with it, you might like this one - or if you aren't a jaded SF reader, you might too, or if you just don't care about that stuff and want a 'friller, maybe this is a reasonable choice - but you'd probably like Neal Asher better in the lattermost case.
Iain Banks is the best.
That's what I learned from this book.
Trouble is, I already knew Heinlein was crazy and Banks single handedly saved hard SF from extinction.
The main problem I had with this book is that it kept making me think about other SF authors' works instead of Gibson's own. Let me explain...
There's a society based on an updated version of Spartan principles, which plays a central role in the story. It's not portrayed in an at all favourable light. This can't be seen as anything other than a response to Heinlein Ra's Starship Troopers where-in a society based on an updated version of Spartan principles is portrayed as some kind of ideal in all apparent seriousness.
There's a part where a character quotes T.S.Eliot at a critical moment...the same quote as gives Iain M. Banks' first book its name. There are also aliens with stupid jokes for names...
Ever since the warped but wittily named Minds of Banks' Culture burst onto the scene, other authors of space opera have been copying the idea with no success, whether they be naming starships, robots or aliens...
There are also obvious thematic links to Alastair Reynolds and the Alien films, or at least the first one.
So here's what all this amounts to; all books have antecedents, all authors have conscious or unconscious influences, but if, as a writer, you fail to mix up all your influences with enough of your own ideas or atmosphere, your readers will fail to credit you with the results.
If you write a direct counter-argument to another book, that book will distract readers who have read it - unless enough else is going on for it to only emerge afterward. If you make obvious reference, for no good reason, to another author, during a climactic scene, the reader of both writers will be distracted from the action at a critical moment.
One reason this is so distracting is that Gibson failed to engage my sympathies early - it must have been half way through a 600p book before I began to care about the main protagonist. Another is that too much is given away early - indeed in the back cover blurb, for that matter. Whilst there were late surprises, most of the general outline of what is going on is given away by clumsy foreshadowing.
I have the feeling Gibson could get better if he pays attention to his weaknesses and works to improve but that hasn't really happened for Peter F. Hamilton, whose multi-tome space operas are not really as good as Gibson's - on the evidence of just this first volume, anyway.
The second half of this book is quite good, from a thriller perspective and I will grant Gibson this; whilst mind-computer interfacing plays an important role in this story, it isn't what it's about, which is a huge relief, because,"Look how cool my imagined gadgets are!" feels nigh ubiquitous and really boring nowadays, as an SF theme.
Instead, Gibson is talking politics and human nature - which has been an SF theme from the birth of the genre, really. But it's more interesting and vaster in scope than, "Wheee! Bio-electronics!" He's also saying something that is a direct counter to much of the aliens-vs.-humans SF of the Cold War era. Or he might be - because now that vol.1 is out the way, a less predictable situation has been set up and he's made me interested enough to tackle vol.2 - despite my nearly quiting at p200.
So if you stick with it, you might like this one - or if you aren't a jaded SF reader, you might too, or if you just don't care about that stuff and want a 'friller, maybe this is a reasonable choice - but you'd probably like Neal Asher better in the lattermost case.
June 23, 2018
On your knees, human! Bow down in obeisance to your new overlords – a school of giant goldfish in levitating goldfish bowls!
What? You’re not ready to kneel before your fishy rulers? Well you’d struggle with life in Gary Gibson’s Shoal Sequence universe, where humanity has spread across the stars only with the permission and assistance of a bunch of very powerful space-fish.
In Stealing Light, the first in a series of four novels, we learn that in the 26th century The Shoal, an aquatic race of fish usually seen floating around in suspended balls of water, are the dominant force in our section of the galaxy. They trade with many races, licence advanced tech to humanity and have immense power over their client races, which includes us.
The source of this power comes from The Shoal holding a galactic monopoly on super-luminal travel. They and only they, have the tech to go faster than light and they use vast coreships to ferry humans and other client species around, and they use their monopoly to keep track of what their clients are doing, and manipulate them in ways the Shoal consider necessary.
And they often engage in such manipulation, for the Shoal believe that a vastly destructive interstellar war is inevitable, but that careful skulduggery and influence can postpone it.
The Shoal’s fear of this war gives them the flavour of the Peterson’s Puppeteers in Larry Niven’s known space universe, a society laser focused on self-preservation. The Shoal have even gone so far as to move their planet to keep its location a secret, although they lack the amusing cowardice considered a virtue in Puppeteer society.
Into this scenario comes Dakota Merrick, a traumatised former soldier who was once party to an infamous and scarring war crime. Dakota is a machine head- someone with integrated circuitry in their brain that allows for enhanced perception and a parallel processing system known as a ghost. With this circuitry Dakota is able to remotely control vessels, access computer systems and generally be a badass.
Unfortunately Dakota is a debt-ridden badass, and a dodgy freight job she takes on for some very bad people sees her sucked into events that could break the Shoal’s monopoly on FTL, and begin the civilization ending war that the fish have long feared.
From here we’re treated to a page-turner of a story, full of tension, danger and daring.
Stealing Light occasionally feels a tiny bit by-the-numbers, but this didn’t really bother me - sometimes it’s nice to slip into a novel with a familiar feel to it, to simply go along with the gentle flow of a river that contains few rapids.
That’s not to say Stealing Light is in any way dull. This is a rollicking, fun story with interesting characters and a galactic scale plot with roots in events hundreds of millennia prior. There’s some deep-dark-backstory action too, and I quite enjoyed slowly discovering why Dakota once found herself on a battlefield surrounded by tens of dead civilians.
This may not be ground-breaking stuff, but it’s solid and entertaining, and it’s enjoyable to the point that I’m genuinely looking forward to reading Gibson’s next instalment in this series.
Oh- and as part of the narrative a bunch of extreme libertarians get their just desserts while being shown up as silly man-children, which is always a bonus for me.
3.5 super-luminal stars.
What? You’re not ready to kneel before your fishy rulers? Well you’d struggle with life in Gary Gibson’s Shoal Sequence universe, where humanity has spread across the stars only with the permission and assistance of a bunch of very powerful space-fish.
In Stealing Light, the first in a series of four novels, we learn that in the 26th century The Shoal, an aquatic race of fish usually seen floating around in suspended balls of water, are the dominant force in our section of the galaxy. They trade with many races, licence advanced tech to humanity and have immense power over their client races, which includes us.
The source of this power comes from The Shoal holding a galactic monopoly on super-luminal travel. They and only they, have the tech to go faster than light and they use vast coreships to ferry humans and other client species around, and they use their monopoly to keep track of what their clients are doing, and manipulate them in ways the Shoal consider necessary.
And they often engage in such manipulation, for the Shoal believe that a vastly destructive interstellar war is inevitable, but that careful skulduggery and influence can postpone it.
The Shoal’s fear of this war gives them the flavour of the Peterson’s Puppeteers in Larry Niven’s known space universe, a society laser focused on self-preservation. The Shoal have even gone so far as to move their planet to keep its location a secret, although they lack the amusing cowardice considered a virtue in Puppeteer society.
Into this scenario comes Dakota Merrick, a traumatised former soldier who was once party to an infamous and scarring war crime. Dakota is a machine head- someone with integrated circuitry in their brain that allows for enhanced perception and a parallel processing system known as a ghost. With this circuitry Dakota is able to remotely control vessels, access computer systems and generally be a badass.
Unfortunately Dakota is a debt-ridden badass, and a dodgy freight job she takes on for some very bad people sees her sucked into events that could break the Shoal’s monopoly on FTL, and begin the civilization ending war that the fish have long feared.
From here we’re treated to a page-turner of a story, full of tension, danger and daring.
Stealing Light occasionally feels a tiny bit by-the-numbers, but this didn’t really bother me - sometimes it’s nice to slip into a novel with a familiar feel to it, to simply go along with the gentle flow of a river that contains few rapids.
That’s not to say Stealing Light is in any way dull. This is a rollicking, fun story with interesting characters and a galactic scale plot with roots in events hundreds of millennia prior. There’s some deep-dark-backstory action too, and I quite enjoyed slowly discovering why Dakota once found herself on a battlefield surrounded by tens of dead civilians.
This may not be ground-breaking stuff, but it’s solid and entertaining, and it’s enjoyable to the point that I’m genuinely looking forward to reading Gibson’s next instalment in this series.
Oh- and as part of the narrative a bunch of extreme libertarians get their just desserts while being shown up as silly man-children, which is always a bonus for me.
3.5 super-luminal stars.
January 19, 2015
For me to enjoy a book, I find it helpful to have a reason to care for at least some of the characters in it. I failed to do so with this book, after about a quarter of the way through. All the characters I think we're supposed to care about are pawns in a degraded society to one degree or another and so far out of their depth that they can barely react, let alone act or form plans of their own. That they fail to even react with any degree of intelligence, grace, or purpose left me wondering why I was wasting my time with these sad, desperate, stupid people.
And what a useless, depraved, suicidal society it is, too. Grimdark has its place, to be sure, but that's when I need people to care about the most.
The world/setting is intriguing, but that's the only positive I could find. Liberating people by liberating technology is a trope I enjoy, I admit. But when the people you are supposedly liberating are such complete and utter scumbags, it saps my emotional investment to nothing.
Add in random timeline jumps and you have what looks like an author deliberately daring the reader to care about the novel. I chose not to take him up on it...
And what a useless, depraved, suicidal society it is, too. Grimdark has its place, to be sure, but that's when I need people to care about the most.
The world/setting is intriguing, but that's the only positive I could find. Liberating people by liberating technology is a trope I enjoy, I admit. But when the people you are supposedly liberating are such complete and utter scumbags, it saps my emotional investment to nothing.
Add in random timeline jumps and you have what looks like an author deliberately daring the reader to care about the novel. I chose not to take him up on it...
November 23, 2019
Hell yeah Gary Gibson, what an impressive sci-fi feast!
I've learned to trust certain authors over the years. A trust that no matter how confused I am or incoherent things may seem that all will be brought together and it will eventually make sense. What I sometimes forget or take for granted is that it takes time to build that trust and it usually doesn't happen in just one book. With this one book Gary Gibson has earned my trust. What I at first took to be a lack of planning or even just lazy writing came together in a white-knuckled, frenetic, conclusion that not only wrapped up the storylines initially presented but introduced enough new stuff to make me want to continue the story in books two and three. At almost exactly the fifty percent mark is when I began to see that this was bigger and badder than I was giving it credit for and that Gibson really did know what he was doing for the entirety of the first half. This is the gritty, razor-sharp-edged sci-fi of Event Horizon and Blade Runner with cool tech, cool characters, and tons of originality in terms of the aliens and worlds. Come for the multiple human factions screwing each other over for their piece of the pie, stay for the maybe-psycho, faster than the speed of light traveling fish aliens that just might hold the key to everything in the known universe. This really was a killer read that takes its time unfolding and jumps back and forth timeline-wise giving us only what we need to know when he need to know it before pulling back the curtain for the truly awe-inspiring third act. Well done Mr. Gibson, well done indeed.
I've learned to trust certain authors over the years. A trust that no matter how confused I am or incoherent things may seem that all will be brought together and it will eventually make sense. What I sometimes forget or take for granted is that it takes time to build that trust and it usually doesn't happen in just one book. With this one book Gary Gibson has earned my trust. What I at first took to be a lack of planning or even just lazy writing came together in a white-knuckled, frenetic, conclusion that not only wrapped up the storylines initially presented but introduced enough new stuff to make me want to continue the story in books two and three. At almost exactly the fifty percent mark is when I began to see that this was bigger and badder than I was giving it credit for and that Gibson really did know what he was doing for the entirety of the first half. This is the gritty, razor-sharp-edged sci-fi of Event Horizon and Blade Runner with cool tech, cool characters, and tons of originality in terms of the aliens and worlds. Come for the multiple human factions screwing each other over for their piece of the pie, stay for the maybe-psycho, faster than the speed of light traveling fish aliens that just might hold the key to everything in the known universe. This really was a killer read that takes its time unfolding and jumps back and forth timeline-wise giving us only what we need to know when he need to know it before pulling back the curtain for the truly awe-inspiring third act. Well done Mr. Gibson, well done indeed.
August 12, 2017
This was without a doubt one of the best new science fiction (or space opera, if you prefer) that I have encountered in ages.
In Stealing Light we are introduced to the space faring world of the twenty fifth century where Faster Than Light travel has opened up the galaxy, but with a condition: Only the alien race the Shoal (yes, that is right, as in 'shoal of fish') have the FTL drive and humanity must rely on them for trade, exploration and all other travel related things or risk losing their ability to FTL. The Shoal have their own agendas, which remain mysterious to humanity.
In this book, we follow Dakota Merrick, one of the early breed of military pilots who had a ghost interface embedded in her head. This has made her marginalised as a 'machine head' and so she is often forced to take dodgy missions to keep herself and her spaceship going. The final dodgy mission is the climax of the story and I will not spoiler it!
I loved the world building, I was thoroughly impressed by how well written the main character and the subsidiary characters were. I loved the fact that the alien race evolved in the sea. The overall plot arc was good, the smaller plot arcs also, there was just enough past expose to make the characters and events meaningful, but not so much that it got annoying. I loved the end.
So, basically, I have no complaints for this book at all.
In Stealing Light we are introduced to the space faring world of the twenty fifth century where Faster Than Light travel has opened up the galaxy, but with a condition: Only the alien race the Shoal (yes, that is right, as in 'shoal of fish') have the FTL drive and humanity must rely on them for trade, exploration and all other travel related things or risk losing their ability to FTL. The Shoal have their own agendas, which remain mysterious to humanity.
In this book, we follow Dakota Merrick, one of the early breed of military pilots who had a ghost interface embedded in her head. This has made her marginalised as a 'machine head' and so she is often forced to take dodgy missions to keep herself and her spaceship going. The final dodgy mission is the climax of the story and I will not spoiler it!
I loved the world building, I was thoroughly impressed by how well written the main character and the subsidiary characters were. I loved the fact that the alien race evolved in the sea. The overall plot arc was good, the smaller plot arcs also, there was just enough past expose to make the characters and events meaningful, but not so much that it got annoying. I loved the end.
So, basically, I have no complaints for this book at all.
September 23, 2024
One of the best Hard SciFi series I've sampled to date incorporating awesome classic space opera sense-of-wonder big ideas á lá Arthur C. Clark and Alastair Reynolds.
Added the whole series to my favs-sci-fi shelf, I highly recommend.
2022 Read
Added the whole series to my favs-sci-fi shelf, I highly recommend.
2022 Read
November 5, 2007
Here’s the setup. It is the 25th century. Humans have spread out across the galaxy by using faster-than-light technology from their only alien contact to date, an aquatic species named the Shoal, first met in the twenty-second century. The Shoal have generously donated the technology on the understanding that if it is copied all uses will be removed. As clearly interplanetary trade and expansion are connected to this, then Human cooperation is pretty much accepted. In the mean time, humans have continued to do what they normally do, fight amongst themselves and expand to fill up space where possible. Over the centuries, this has meant that the population has divided into two factions. The majority of people live in fairly happy coexistence as the Freehold, though under a fairly strict governing military regime known as the Consortium. However there is a breakaway splinter group at war for independence. Set up by maverick scientist Uchida, the ideological differences have led to a perpetual war between the two factions.
Our main character, Dakota Merrick, is a machine-head: a pilot hard-wired to link to the faster-than-light spaceships. Once part of a military unit, she is now currently a pilot for hire. Given a job she can’t refuse, she ends up piloting an old cargo ship towards a derelict ship discovered preserved under ice. The artifact has a faster-than-light drive, but one which predates the drives usage by the Shoal by a few thousand years. Its discovery suggests that the Shoal may have stolen the technology rather than invent it – something they clearly would not want others to know.
Of course as the book progresses we find that things are not as simple as they seem at first. Things become a complicated race against time and the risk of discovery, with the ending being suitably cosmic in scale.
This book, Gary’s third, shows that he is a writer who is developing in confidence greatly with each book. The characters are varied and interesting, the plot engaging. This reminded me of the scale of Peter Hamilton, the technological glee of Neal Asher and the violence of Richard Morgan’s Kovacs novels. If you like any of those authors, there is much to like here. I was a little disappointed with how little the Shoal alien (the Iain M Banks-style named ‘Trader-in-Faecal-Matter-of Animals’) was actually centre stage, and whose presence in the book was not at the end what I expected it was going to be. However, as this is the first book in a series, I suspect that there is more to follow.
In summary, a good page turner and pleasing signs of an author on the up. For scale, pace and sheer entertainment value, recommended.
Our main character, Dakota Merrick, is a machine-head: a pilot hard-wired to link to the faster-than-light spaceships. Once part of a military unit, she is now currently a pilot for hire. Given a job she can’t refuse, she ends up piloting an old cargo ship towards a derelict ship discovered preserved under ice. The artifact has a faster-than-light drive, but one which predates the drives usage by the Shoal by a few thousand years. Its discovery suggests that the Shoal may have stolen the technology rather than invent it – something they clearly would not want others to know.
Of course as the book progresses we find that things are not as simple as they seem at first. Things become a complicated race against time and the risk of discovery, with the ending being suitably cosmic in scale.
This book, Gary’s third, shows that he is a writer who is developing in confidence greatly with each book. The characters are varied and interesting, the plot engaging. This reminded me of the scale of Peter Hamilton, the technological glee of Neal Asher and the violence of Richard Morgan’s Kovacs novels. If you like any of those authors, there is much to like here. I was a little disappointed with how little the Shoal alien (the Iain M Banks-style named ‘Trader-in-Faecal-Matter-of Animals’) was actually centre stage, and whose presence in the book was not at the end what I expected it was going to be. However, as this is the first book in a series, I suspect that there is more to follow.
In summary, a good page turner and pleasing signs of an author on the up. For scale, pace and sheer entertainment value, recommended.
January 2, 2014
4.5 Stars
I was already a fan of Gary Gibson before I picked up this novel as I have read a few of his newer releases. Stealing Light plays to all of my science fiction fantasies. This is a space opera with deep roots in the cyberpunk genre that makes me giddy. I would definitely be first in line to be a machine head.
Gibson has crafted a blast of a universe where faster than light travel is possible, only not by us, that is without being babysat by the aliens, The Shoal. This book has warp speed traveling, machine/human hybrids, sentient fish people, self aware artificial intelligence, and a whole lot more. There is so much to be discovered by our heroine and by the reader as well.
I liked our heroine Dakota Merrick right from the start. She is a protagonist that won’t be soon forgot. I love how her implants open everything up to her and it comes across as being part of her rather than being a tool.
The underlying story and themes make this book and series something special and easy to relate to. Gibson does an amazing job at both crafting this universe and filling it in with some superb world building and backstory. The universe itself is almost a character and worth the read on its merits alone. I devoured this book.
This will appeal to a large group of science fiction readers. There is enough of a space opera feel to this to put in smack in the middle of that genre. It does however also fit nicely into the cyberpunk genre and would find many fans from that base as well. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to read book two next.
I was already a fan of Gary Gibson before I picked up this novel as I have read a few of his newer releases. Stealing Light plays to all of my science fiction fantasies. This is a space opera with deep roots in the cyberpunk genre that makes me giddy. I would definitely be first in line to be a machine head.
Gibson has crafted a blast of a universe where faster than light travel is possible, only not by us, that is without being babysat by the aliens, The Shoal. This book has warp speed traveling, machine/human hybrids, sentient fish people, self aware artificial intelligence, and a whole lot more. There is so much to be discovered by our heroine and by the reader as well.
I liked our heroine Dakota Merrick right from the start. She is a protagonist that won’t be soon forgot. I love how her implants open everything up to her and it comes across as being part of her rather than being a tool.
The underlying story and themes make this book and series something special and easy to relate to. Gibson does an amazing job at both crafting this universe and filling it in with some superb world building and backstory. The universe itself is almost a character and worth the read on its merits alone. I devoured this book.
This will appeal to a large group of science fiction readers. There is enough of a space opera feel to this to put in smack in the middle of that genre. It does however also fit nicely into the cyberpunk genre and would find many fans from that base as well. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to read book two next.
July 29, 2009
Second re-read - July 09 after first read on original publication; started Nova war and 100 pages in I realized I wanted to re-read this one first; the story of Dakota Merrick, Trader of the Shoal and Corso of Freehold as well as the rest of superbly imagined characters is new space opera at its best with all that you want and the re-read just showed once more why the novel was my top sf novel of 07
October 30, 2013
pg 152/603: Pretty easy read. Will take about 11 hrs. Seems more like a 300 page book.
pg 484/603: Finishing it up. I had stopped a while in the middle. The last 200 pages are picking up. There's a high body count.
pg 537/603: Almost done. It's really only an hour's reading left, the way the book is printed. It's the mystery that keeps me going. But is finding out the mystery at the end worth reading a whole book? This book might read better at night. There's kind of a horror feel.
All done. I liked the last 200 or so pages. Let's say it gets very 'cosmic', which is more my kind of book. Maybe 3.5 stars.
It has the accessibility of a Leviathan Wakes, but darker in tone.
Read
November 7, 20213.5 Stars
I really enjoyed the worldbuilding involving the Shoal controlled expansion of the universe. Likewise, I always enjoy the use of brain implant technology so I liked how the Ghost tech was woven into the narrative. However, the story shifted between different timelines and perspectives, which made the story harder to follow. I would be interested in reading more by this author.
I really enjoyed the worldbuilding involving the Shoal controlled expansion of the universe. Likewise, I always enjoy the use of brain implant technology so I liked how the Ghost tech was woven into the narrative. However, the story shifted between different timelines and perspectives, which made the story harder to follow. I would be interested in reading more by this author.
August 3, 2016
I feel like I should really like this book. It's a space opera with daring smugglers and firefights and alien species and mysterious technology and plenty of action, and the main character is a no-nonsense female pilot. Or... at least she should be no-nonsense but somehow a lot of nonsense keeps getting mixed in. I really try not to be feminist about these things, but I'm really put off by how frequently she's described naked, or how often her anus is mentioned. I mean... we really needed that much detail to get the point across? In chapter three I wrote a note in my book saying "Wait... is she fucking her ship now?" and a few paragraphs later it was like "Yup. She's fucking her ship." Literally fucking it. It takes human form and fucks her. Yeah.
There's a LOT of potential here, actually. The character is a "machine head" with implants in her brain that give her all sorts of (overly described and leaned upon for plot devices) tech abilities and information, but the implants are sufficiently balanced by having some significant downsides: they've previously allowed the bearers to become controlled and commit heinous crimes. The implants are actually illegal now because of the exploitation potential, but they offer huge benefits, especially to a pilot like our main character. So there are huge benefits, but not to the Mary Sue level because there are also huge risks. No one really trusts a machine head, so she's a loner who's also dealing with the traumas and consequences of the implants, and suddenly it makes a bit of sense that she might become 'involved' with her ship since that's her only companion. Right? Right??
... except every other male she encounters seems to end up fucking her too. Sigh. And, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are any other female characters of note for her to encounter.
Yeah, I dunno.
I found the first few chapters of the book were far too heavy on exposition (laying out every detail of the technology and world without really giving me any reason to give a single shit about the characters who had all clustered together to talk about it), but the action scenes have been decent enough and I am reasonably interested enough to see what happens. I keep going despite the vague distaste I keep feeling as I plow through descriptions. I feel like this would be way up there on my list of must-reads if it weren't for this greasy feeling that the book is more self-indulgent than it needs to be for plot purposes.
The characters spend the entire book flip flopping between emotions with no logical transitions. They're badass in one paragraph, weeping and cowering in the next. Then they're yelling and screaming at each other, and fucking in the next. It's disjointed and the poor writing doesn't do it any favours, with lots of perspective shifts and occasional lapses in tense. But despite all that, the second half of the book was decent, despite a very awkward sex scene that is initiated by the dialogue "I can tell by the way you have your hand on my dick." They were almost in the midst of growing as characters before they did that, too. Alas.
Give this to a ruthless editor who can cut all the bullshit out of it, and hand it off to an effects team, and I bet it would make a really decent (but probably cheesy) movie. As a book, it's pretty meh, although I am sufficiently curious to see how the plot wraps up across sequels. Curious enough to put up with more random sex and forced descriptions of nudity? Eeeehhh, maybe later.
There's a LOT of potential here, actually. The character is a "machine head" with implants in her brain that give her all sorts of (overly described and leaned upon for plot devices) tech abilities and information, but the implants are sufficiently balanced by having some significant downsides: they've previously allowed the bearers to become controlled and commit heinous crimes. The implants are actually illegal now because of the exploitation potential, but they offer huge benefits, especially to a pilot like our main character. So there are huge benefits, but not to the Mary Sue level because there are also huge risks. No one really trusts a machine head, so she's a loner who's also dealing with the traumas and consequences of the implants, and suddenly it makes a bit of sense that she might become 'involved' with her ship since that's her only companion. Right? Right??
... except every other male she encounters seems to end up fucking her too. Sigh. And, now that I think about it, I'm not sure there are any other female characters of note for her to encounter.
Yeah, I dunno.
I found the first few chapters of the book were far too heavy on exposition (laying out every detail of the technology and world without really giving me any reason to give a single shit about the characters who had all clustered together to talk about it), but the action scenes have been decent enough and I am reasonably interested enough to see what happens. I keep going despite the vague distaste I keep feeling as I plow through descriptions. I feel like this would be way up there on my list of must-reads if it weren't for this greasy feeling that the book is more self-indulgent than it needs to be for plot purposes.
The characters spend the entire book flip flopping between emotions with no logical transitions. They're badass in one paragraph, weeping and cowering in the next. Then they're yelling and screaming at each other, and fucking in the next. It's disjointed and the poor writing doesn't do it any favours, with lots of perspective shifts and occasional lapses in tense. But despite all that, the second half of the book was decent, despite a very awkward sex scene that is initiated by the dialogue "I can tell by the way you have your hand on my dick." They were almost in the midst of growing as characters before they did that, too. Alas.
Give this to a ruthless editor who can cut all the bullshit out of it, and hand it off to an effects team, and I bet it would make a really decent (but probably cheesy) movie. As a book, it's pretty meh, although I am sufficiently curious to see how the plot wraps up across sequels. Curious enough to put up with more random sex and forced descriptions of nudity? Eeeehhh, maybe later.
January 22, 2021
I read this at the perfect time. I had a hankering for space opera, and was not getting into cozy or lighter examples. Stealing Light gave me a ton of space opera tropes and engaged me throughout.
The novel, first in a series, situates humanity in an interstellar future. Thanks to a powerful alien race we have spread out to multiple stellar systems, and part of the book's pleasure is learning about how that works: different human groups, spacecraft, cultures, planets. Humans are not happy, though, especially as the all-powerful aliens limit our growth and seem to be potentially dangerous.
Several mysterious, schemes, and plots kick off the action right away, and Stealing Light never really slows down. Exploding stars, assassinations, duels, shattered asteroids, stolen starships, love affairs, political shenanigans just keep on coming. The end of the novel wraps up some of these threads, but clearly keeps a stack open for the sequel.
I was especially taken with the Shoal, the aforementioned aliens. Gibson gives us some grand visions of their vast starships and reengineered planets. Plus our main Shoal character, Dealer-in-the-Faecal-Materials-of-Animals, is entertaining.
Yet when the book shuddered to a halt, I found I wanted more. Yes, that's the desire for a sequel, which I'll gratify. But I also wanted something more challenging. Perhaps my ambitions for space opera are too high. Maybe I'm spoiled by reading classics like Nova and Mote in God's Eye as a kid, and remember the mind-expanding impact they had. Or I just have higher hopes for sf in general. Stealing Light isn't quite that ambitious. It seems to want to show us a fun time, and it succeeds in that.
If you're looking for a gallumphing space opera ride, four stars.
The novel, first in a series, situates humanity in an interstellar future. Thanks to a powerful alien race we have spread out to multiple stellar systems, and part of the book's pleasure is learning about how that works: different human groups, spacecraft, cultures, planets. Humans are not happy, though, especially as the all-powerful aliens limit our growth and seem to be potentially dangerous.
Several mysterious, schemes, and plots kick off the action right away, and Stealing Light never really slows down. Exploding stars, assassinations, duels, shattered asteroids, stolen starships, love affairs, political shenanigans just keep on coming. The end of the novel wraps up some of these threads, but clearly keeps a stack open for the sequel.
I was especially taken with the Shoal, the aforementioned aliens. Gibson gives us some grand visions of their vast starships and reengineered planets. Plus our main Shoal character, Dealer-in-the-Faecal-Materials-of-Animals, is entertaining.
Yet when the book shuddered to a halt, I found I wanted more. Yes, that's the desire for a sequel, which I'll gratify. But I also wanted something more challenging. Perhaps my ambitions for space opera are too high. Maybe I'm spoiled by reading classics like Nova and Mote in God's Eye as a kid, and remember the mind-expanding impact they had. Or I just have higher hopes for sf in general. Stealing Light isn't quite that ambitious. It seems to want to show us a fun time, and it succeeds in that.
If you're looking for a gallumphing space opera ride, four stars.
October 16, 2012
Fans of Jack McDevitt would probably like this book. McDevitt writes cerebral sci-fi (more suspenseful, thought-provoking, and scientific-minded than the regular action-packed sci-fi) and if you are of this audience, you would definitely like this book. I state this because I think the only bad reviews are by those looking for the always enjoyable action-packed sci-fi... and there's nothing wrong with these people or their reviews - I'm a fan of those books too. I plan on reading the whole series now, but as of this moment, I only read this particular book and I give it a resounding 5-stars.
December 26, 2023
Stealing Light is an amazingly solid space opera. It's not particularly deep, but just great fun and a blast to read. There's the occasional flat character or awkward sex scene, and towards the end the plot loses some strength, but nothing too severe. There are layers upon layers of plot and world building, all packaged in a compelling popcorn scifi spectacle. Love it.
August 29, 2010
This was a pretty good beach-read sci-fi, but (at least the first volume) falls short of being a classic. Take Ghost in the Shell's Motoko Kusanagi (or a female Case, for you Neuromancer fans) and drop her in the midst of a fast-moving interstellar intrigue along the lines of David Brin's Uplift Saga or Vernor Vinge's brilliant Fire Upon the Deep, add in a few choice elements from Herbert's Dune and Philip José Farmer's lost classic The Unreasoning Mask, and you pretty much have it.
Sadly, this was not quite as good as most of those pioneering precursors, so if you haven't yet read Vinge or Farmer, I'd have to recommend you start with the best and work back from there. Otherwise, if you want a fairly fun and occasionally interesting view on FTL fish and starfaring Libertarians, this is certainly worth a browse.
Update: the sequels make it worth it :-) Nova War expanded the ideas, action, and characters in a number of interesting ways, and even though the concluding Empire of Light lost some of that momentum, it too added some clearly cool touches. Considered end-to-end, this is an outstanding sci-fi trilogy which brings together a lot of intriguing concepts, joined by occasionally awesome action sequences, and peopled by characters that actually grow over time. Nicely done.
Sadly, this was not quite as good as most of those pioneering precursors, so if you haven't yet read Vinge or Farmer, I'd have to recommend you start with the best and work back from there. Otherwise, if you want a fairly fun and occasionally interesting view on FTL fish and starfaring Libertarians, this is certainly worth a browse.
Update: the sequels make it worth it :-) Nova War expanded the ideas, action, and characters in a number of interesting ways, and even though the concluding Empire of Light lost some of that momentum, it too added some clearly cool touches. Considered end-to-end, this is an outstanding sci-fi trilogy which brings together a lot of intriguing concepts, joined by occasionally awesome action sequences, and peopled by characters that actually grow over time. Nicely done.
November 25, 2020
I found this in a used book store, and picked it up solely because it had an SF look to it. I've not read anything else by the author, so I had pretty much no preconceptions.
FTL wielding aliens; remote human colonies having civil wars; outlaw cyborg pilots and space gangsters - yep, this is definitely my genre of choice.
Dakota and Corso are reasonably interesting protagonists, although they are cut from somewhat generic post-cyberpunk space opera cloth. Dakota in particular goes through a lot, but doesn't really exhibit much character growth. This is ok, as this is genre fiction, but it would have improved the story had she changed in response to her experiences.
Minor antagonists were also a little bit forgettable - Bourdain disappears of the map to be mentioned in passing during the finale, and Arbenz is just a nuts generalissimo on the make.
Overall, it is a very enjoyable space opera romp, marred only by unnecessary sex scenes and repeated threats of sexual violence. I'll definitely consider reading any sequels.
FTL wielding aliens; remote human colonies having civil wars; outlaw cyborg pilots and space gangsters - yep, this is definitely my genre of choice.
Dakota and Corso are reasonably interesting protagonists, although they are cut from somewhat generic post-cyberpunk space opera cloth. Dakota in particular goes through a lot, but doesn't really exhibit much character growth. This is ok, as this is genre fiction, but it would have improved the story had she changed in response to her experiences.
Minor antagonists were also a little bit forgettable - Bourdain disappears of the map to be mentioned in passing during the finale, and Arbenz is just a nuts generalissimo on the make.
Overall, it is a very enjoyable space opera romp, marred only by unnecessary sex scenes and repeated threats of sexual violence. I'll definitely consider reading any sequels.
August 15, 2020
In which heroine Dakota has magic stuff in her skull, owns a conveniently capable A.I.-ish starship, gets beat up a lot... and jumps from frying pan to fire to something even worse.
VERDICT: 3.75 stars, rounded to 4.
I actually considered 5 stars, because: .
I can't say it's always smart or scientific SciFi, but it was above average, and definitely succeeds as a moderately rip-roaring adventure with aliens, starships, fisticuffs, and intrigue.
UPPERS:
++ Lots of spaceship time.
++ Artificial Intelligence, or something like it.
++ Aliens, action, and adventure.
++ A good main character.
++ Some twists.
++ Mild humor (no actual LOLs for me).
NEUTRALS/HEAD-SCRATCHERS:
DOWNERS:
FYI:
-- 62 uses/variations of F**K were given (I counted).
Also consider:
The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh (short story collection, specifically the story "Companions").
VERDICT: 3.75 stars, rounded to 4.
I actually considered 5 stars, because: .
I can't say it's always smart or scientific SciFi, but it was above average, and definitely succeeds as a moderately rip-roaring adventure with aliens, starships, fisticuffs, and intrigue.
UPPERS:
++ Lots of spaceship time.
++ Artificial Intelligence, or something like it.
++ Aliens, action, and adventure.
++ A good main character.
++ Some twists.
++ Mild humor (no actual LOLs for me).
NEUTRALS/HEAD-SCRATCHERS:
DOWNERS:
FYI:
-- 62 uses/variations of F**K were given (I counted).
Also consider:
The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh (short story collection, specifically the story "Companions").
August 31, 2016
3.5 stars. A fresh, speculative look at galactic--even super-galactic--technology, history and politics, but grounded in the experiences of fully realized individual characters. That everyone pretty much hated and distrusted everyone else created instant tension and plot motion. Good writing, though the flashbacks within flashbacks complicated tracking who did what to whom.
The usual SF quibbles about instant communications and understanding of technologies and thought patterns of vastly disconnected entities, but more realistic groping would be boring. Why did everyone assume a wrecked starship would fly just by turning the key?
Specific science quibbles: Hard vacuum embodies dangers worse than a lack of oxygen--like explosive decompression and rapid temperature drop--yet several times bare bodies survive transiting hard vacuum unharmed. Orbital dynamics: approaching a star while staying in the shadow of a Mercury-sized inner planet is tricky; "orbiting" said planet and staying in that shadow is impossible. Doesn't anybody understand orbits? "… use up too much fuel and … lose orbit." No, if you're in a stable orbit, no power is needed (in the short term) to keep you there. Not to mention what happens--even in the "shadow"--of said inner planet when the star novas.
A good story with a satisfying conclusion, even though many hooks set for the follow-on novels.
A good read.
The usual SF quibbles about instant communications and understanding of technologies and thought patterns of vastly disconnected entities, but more realistic groping would be boring. Why did everyone assume a wrecked starship would fly just by turning the key?
Specific science quibbles: Hard vacuum embodies dangers worse than a lack of oxygen--like explosive decompression and rapid temperature drop--yet several times bare bodies survive transiting hard vacuum unharmed. Orbital dynamics: approaching a star while staying in the shadow of a Mercury-sized inner planet is tricky; "orbiting" said planet and staying in that shadow is impossible. Doesn't anybody understand orbits? "… use up too much fuel and … lose orbit." No, if you're in a stable orbit, no power is needed (in the short term) to keep you there. Not to mention what happens--even in the "shadow"--of said inner planet when the star novas.
A good story with a satisfying conclusion, even though many hooks set for the follow-on novels.
A good read.
August 19, 2012
From the blurb this book sounded just my cup of tea. Unfortunately it's bogged down with a cast of one-note characters and poorly chosen language. Every action scene is dogged by repetition of key words, things keep 'literally' happening, and I'm still wondering how something can be 'extremely inconclusive'. The book would have benefited from a ruthless editor to cull the extraneous adverbs and keep the idioms to a minimum. That said, I felt the flashbacks were the strongest part of the book.
The plot had enough interesting elements to keep me reading, but I couldn't shake the feeling i'd read all these before in better stories. Fallen Angels and Engines of God had some truly captivating (and terrifying) derelicts, Peter Watts' A Word For Heathens did the religious implant thing excellently, the honey trap idea has been used successfully in so many good novels it is now a firmly established space opera device. In comparison, this book just isn't memorable in its treatment of any of these areas, and that saddens me, because with a bit more work I think it could have been.
The plot had enough interesting elements to keep me reading, but I couldn't shake the feeling i'd read all these before in better stories. Fallen Angels and Engines of God had some truly captivating (and terrifying) derelicts, Peter Watts' A Word For Heathens did the religious implant thing excellently, the honey trap idea has been used successfully in so many good novels it is now a firmly established space opera device. In comparison, this book just isn't memorable in its treatment of any of these areas, and that saddens me, because with a bit more work I think it could have been.
October 2, 2011
I found the galaxy-spanning storyline around the Shoal is strangely reminiscent of the Dwellers (The Algebraist by Iain M Banks) and Pierson's Puppeteers (Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M Lerner).
However, I do feel that this particular novel needed some refinement, as the writing tended to come across to me as patchy and disconnected, especially when switching abruptly from first to third person. Overall it took away some of the enjoyment from the book as it was not a smooth read - a bit like an early novel by a new writer. Pretty sure though that the rough edges will be cleared up in the next book.
As a series though, clearly this has great potential. Looking forward to the next one...
However, I do feel that this particular novel needed some refinement, as the writing tended to come across to me as patchy and disconnected, especially when switching abruptly from first to third person. Overall it took away some of the enjoyment from the book as it was not a smooth read - a bit like an early novel by a new writer. Pretty sure though that the rough edges will be cleared up in the next book.
As a series though, clearly this has great potential. Looking forward to the next one...
October 4, 2011
This book seemed to me a mixture of fantasy/sci-fi.That's because a lot of the space theories and devices which were great were never scientifically described.His world lacks in that department.Generally in my opinion the world wasn't very clarified.We didn't learn much about the consortium the shoals or even the human empire.on the other hand the premise was interesting and so were the ideas about the machine heads and the weapon FTL techonology.The characters were interesting and out of the cliche league.I liked the ending, too.It made sense and left us wandering about the next adventure.Nice book overall but it could and I hope it will be better.I'll probably read the sequel.
September 17, 2015
Finally got through this. What to say? Gibson at moments struck me as a consolation prize for the greatly-missed Iain M Banks, but no.
Perhaps an unfair comparison. Gibson does the kind of large-scale vividly-rendered mises-en-scene my space-opera-loving heart yearns for. Pretty well. The plot gallops along but the cardboard cutouts all these Very Exciting things are happening to never come to life and it's hard to care.
Gibson kept losing me but then I'd force myself to continue. To find out what happens. So there is that; not sure if I'll continue with the trilogy, though.
Perhaps an unfair comparison. Gibson does the kind of large-scale vividly-rendered mises-en-scene my space-opera-loving heart yearns for. Pretty well. The plot gallops along but the cardboard cutouts all these Very Exciting things are happening to never come to life and it's hard to care.
Gibson kept losing me but then I'd force myself to continue. To find out what happens. So there is that; not sure if I'll continue with the trilogy, though.
September 9, 2013
This is a strange read from beginning to end. The plot was either frustratingly obvious, with the characters piecing it together like a drunk attempting a jigsaw puzzle, or just confusing, with random leaps of logic. There were some great ideas in there, original and solid, but the delivery was a little off. It's also worth saying that I'd read the next in the trilogy, if only to find out what happens next as the ending a very abrupt (and a little daft). Not a bad holiday read.
July 18, 2015
Solid piece of science fiction. Creatures with gills are not widely viewed as supreme being, owners of the galaxy, and here lays a significant difference from my usual fare.
Mammal bias has a tendency to regard fish as fish, not very smart and not entities with the capacity to build, and maintain intergalactic community's.
I tip my hat, to such a simple use of a familiar alien, fish!!!!!
Mammal bias has a tendency to regard fish as fish, not very smart and not entities with the capacity to build, and maintain intergalactic community's.
I tip my hat, to such a simple use of a familiar alien, fish!!!!!
August 7, 2015
Enthralling space opera.
I might have preferred a bit less torture / coercion / threat of violence.
Some elements of the back story / history which is revealed felt a bit too familiar from the "Revelation Space" universe by Alastair Reynolds.
I liked that the main villain had a Southern American accent.
I might have preferred a bit less torture / coercion / threat of violence.
Some elements of the back story / history which is revealed felt a bit too familiar from the "Revelation Space" universe by Alastair Reynolds.
I liked that the main villain had a Southern American accent.
January 5, 2018
Dakota Merrick is a heroine I want to spend much more time with. Just as well, then, that there are two further books to enjoy in the Shoal trilogy. Great worldbuilding, individuals brought together, some against their will, to discover the mystery and power of an ancient derelict spacecraft entombed within a distant sea, a civil war brought to epic heights of danger, the Shoal itself restraining humans within their limits of space. Stealing Light is an accessible science fiction feast of a novel.
October 17, 2016
A somewhat-derivative widescreen space opera. Bit of a slow start, but once it gets moving, the pages fly by. Good characters, good action, more casual bloodshed than I like. Not sure how well it would hold up to closer attention, but a fun, fast read, perfect for a rainy day. Lots of unexpected twists, and nice details. My first Gibson, and it's a winner. I'll be reading the next in this series.
Here's a good review:
https://forwinternights.wordpress.com...
Here's a good review:
https://forwinternights.wordpress.com...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews