When I heard that the voice of the Sniper from TF2 wrote a book, I knew I had to pick it up.
I want to start off with my favorite part of the book. The great thing about this is that it is the beginning so it works out pretty well. The epic tale starts off with a man sitting at a bar with his life going nowhere and not having a clue what to do next. It is similar to the start of my favorite book of all time The Phantom Tollbooth. I have a soft spot for books that start like this. It is very relatable for a 20 year old who has no idea where his life is going to take him in the next five years.
So we meet Mohandas, Mo for short, the scaly man at the end of the bar, Yes in the year 4000 you can do that to your body. You can do quite a lot actually. The technology in the far future is pretty impressive. See everyone is connected to this thing called the "NET". It is like a super version of the internet except people can access it in their minds. Pretty cool idea if you ask me. This is one of Lowrie's strong points in the novel. The scifi elements he comes up with are not that hard to believe, and it works well in the book.
Back to Mo. So here he is not knowing where to go with his life and not really caring, Mo is approached by a beautiful mysterious girl named Steel. Being the biggest tease, Steel convinces Mo to come with her to go to an epic journey to parts unknown. That is pretty much all she tells him. Mysteriously telling him that she can not reveal the true intention of the mission until much later. However, Mo is unable to resist her charm and joins the crew of misfits on their journey to parts unknown, which we later learn is the one part of the universe people are not allowed to visit.
Now the crew was Lowrie's other strong point. The characters are all great. Even the ones that do not have a lot of face time, because it fits their personality. Each character is so unique. We have Yuri who is a technical genius and my personal favorite, Archie who is a doctor and research biologist, Marcus the calm crew leader, Tamika the pilot, Alice the sweet child, and Jamal the quiet assistant. They are all great characters and Lowrie does quite a good job of making them feel real. It is very rare for me to fall in love with characters as fast as I did with the crew of the Lightdancer. The character development through out the novel is impressive as well. My favorite example being Yuri describing why he went on to join the crew. It was a huge contrast to his personality and a complete schock, but made me like him even more.
Really all of the characters surprised me at one point or another in the book, and where the characters end up at the end was something I never saw coming. I was completely blindsided by it. And I feel comfortable saying this spoiler because you will never be able to guess the specifics of the characters.
Now the other planets that the crew visits are incredible as well. Eden was by far the most significant. It is a world that is very similar to modern day Earth stuck in the future. It is hard to really describe it without more of the context of the book, so you will have to read it for yourself to get a real grasp of why this little planet amongst billions is so significant. Lowrie also does a really good job of creating a history of the universe. From the great war of Man vs Women, which is a little terrifying, to the creation of artificial atmosphere on planets, it really feels complete. I would love to ask him how much time it took him to come up with this section of the novel, I have a feeling it took a while.
My biggest complaint was that the ending felt a little rushed. Maybe not the ending, but the climax was what I felt was incomplete. It happened so suddenly I was quite surprised. I just felt it needed a little something more, but I am just not sure what. I think it was because the story took so much time to make it to the final destination that there should have been more time on the final planet.
Now the most interesting thing that this book has is the way it treats death. A world where no one dies. That is a big deal. Really no one dies, the only way it really happens is by murder or a very rare freak accident. The whole book is about the fragility of life even in a world where people take it for granted. The worst part about this idea is that when someone does die it is very significant. And believe me people die. It is really heartbreaking when they do pass. Lowrie somehow knew which people to have experience death just so I would be sad when it happened.
I really don't think this review did the book justice. Usually I review stories with about 20 pages, and I don't have much experience reviewing one with over 20 times that. I would love to interview Lowrie. I have so many questions I want to ask him. But I don't think that will happen anytime soon. But seriously go read this book. I think a lot of people will like it. Maybe when I have more time I can go into an in depth review and list each event and how I felt about it. For now just go read the book for yourself. You might have to order it online unless you live in Washington and can travel to one of the local bookstores where Lowrie has done signings. (This is one of the few times I have wished I lived in a different state that California. I would have loved to go to one of those). It really is a crime that more stores do not carry this book.
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Top reviews from other countries
Chris.healey
Extraordinary - the best science fiction I've read in years
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2013
