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Eternal Light
 
 

Eternal Light (Paperback)

by Paul McAuley (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 463 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (9 Sep 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857989104
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857989106
  • Product Dimensions: 17.9 x 11.1 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,072,362 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

With this, his third novel, Paul J. McAuley stopped being merely promising and entered the front rank of British SF authors. The galactic backdrop already visited in his earlier books Four Hundred Billion Stars and Secret Harmonies here opens out at huge and exhilarating scale. Our galaxy is infested with quarrelling factions of the irrationally hostile alien Alea, against whose colonies the crumbling and partly decadent human Federation wages a depressing, genocidal war of self-defence. Now an anomalous star travelling at daunting speed has arrived from the galactic core and offers rapid wormhole transit to the centre--where ambitious Alea are building the most gigantic habitats in SF, hyperstructures light-years across. This project's use of energies from outside the universe endangers the cosmos: "Something is rubbing the fabric of space-time thin enough to allow creation to shine through." Only pure mathematical weaponry supplied by advanced "angels" from a fractal reality can stop the unravelling of space. But the ramshackle human mission to the core is beset by strife, religious fanaticism, greed and mutiny, and looks set for bloody failure even before the Alea unleash their own superweapon. A rich, crowded novel that combines exotic descriptions, slam-bang action and a mind-blowing secret history of the universe. --David Langford


Product Description

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?

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fourth Time Lucky, 11 Dec 2003
By dogbarkssome (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
After two novels and a short story collection that were at best mediocre, McAuley finally hits his stride with Eternal Light. It’s set in the same universe as the majority of his previous work, but it’s a huge leap forward in terms of quality. Primarily this is a direct sequel to Four Hundred Billion Stars, as it continues the journey of lead character Dorthy Yoshida, but with plenty of recaps it’s possible (and may actually be preferable) to skip the previous novel and read this as a standalone novel.

The central story takes another well-worn sf idea – the evolution of life beyond flesh – but weaves it around a giddily inventive plot. As with Secret Harmonies, McAuley splits his narrative between two main leads, thus ensuring that things never becomes dull.

At times Eternal Light borders on being too-hard sf, but thanks to its strong characters the book never completely disappears up it’s own standing wave function. If you like the sort of epic universe building of Stephen Baxter (and with its use of stars as weapons, evolving beyond the material universe, and a uroboric use of time Eternal Light is a close relative of Baxter’s Xeelee series) you’ll find much to enjoy here.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Reissue of modern classic, 10 Jun 2009
By Gareth Wilson "drosdelnoch2" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Eternal Light (Paperback)
Personally speaking this is the book that brought Paul to my attention and its been a firm Sci-Fi favourite since as one of the tales that I judge all others by. Its got cracking civilisations shaped by their technologies, idealistic societies and above all a tale that will keep you gripped to the last page with the fully formed characters. It's no wonder that this tale has been reprinted as a modern classic especially when you add to the mix time travel and classic space ship to ship battles that has become part of the staple fan diet. If you're only going to pick up one of Paul's books to try make it this one.
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