Rate this book

By Light Alone (2011)

by Adam Roberts(Favorite Author)

3.26 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0575083646 (ISBN13: 9780575083646)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Gollancz

review 1: A strange, beautifully written, ambitious novel, both satirical and post-apocalyptic. The setting, in spite of its detail (the near-future world is completely altered by a virus that grows photosynthetic hair, thus allowing the poor to live pretty much without eating; a severely socially stratified world of poor-with-nothing/workers/the very rich who have everything and can do whatever they want -- including eat and drink for fun and status) to me lacked verisimilitude; as a reader, I couldn't suspend my disbelief and spent too much time thinking about the implausibilities of the scenario. We also spend too long within the bubble of the protected rich -- and then there is a very jarring transition to the violent, abusive world of the poor and their 'bosses'. However, some ... moregorgeous writing and some interesting characterization made the book interesting.
review 2: Adam Roberts is proof that the Booker Prize is essentially flawed. He shouldn't just get on the shortlist, he should win. Every sentence of his writing is just delicious, and his imagination is sharp, beautiful and wonderfully logical. He also chooses to tell stories that wouldn't occur to most writers - he isn't interested in the big revolutionary event, but in how the world gets to that point. This book is about an Earth where a man has invented photosynthetic hair, and what that one discovery means for rich and poor alike. It's also a changeling story - a little rich girl is kidnapped, but when she is recovered she seems ... different. It's not hard to work out what's happened, but it's beautifully explored. A really great book. less

Download links for: By Light Alone

Advertising