Beyond the Reach of Earth

Book 2 of the Lightspeed Trilogy

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I didn’t enjoy this. It tied up many ends left hanging in book 1 and left a few open for book 3, but I am putting the trilogy to the side for now. I just didn’t care about any of the characters.

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The writing is…fine, but the story just isn't interesting enough. I am also slightly turned off by how much politics is in this. The reader has to remember which character is on which side (and some characters change sides!), so as I was reading, I was never sure which faction we were focused on.

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Nayak turned away from the screen and blinked rapidly. It wasn’t because of the blue flash. The screen had dimmed it instantly, and only the faintest yellow after-image still haunted her retinas. It was the pang of seeing the Fighting Chance depart. You never forget your first starship . . .

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Ugh.

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Average writing aside, there are some interesting connections with choices made in this book with my own life.

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One of the main characters is named Emma and the alien intelligence is called the "Fermi”, which is the nickname I gave my partner nearly 30 years ago and use daily. Another connection is that one of the main characters jumped from the Alliance (which is the geo-political region that includes America) to live and work in the Union (the EU member states). So did I!

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He turned away and walked across the debris field to the nearest opening in the crystal cliff. Five minutes later, he was walking along a metre-wide passage between walls that seemed of pale green glass lined with fractally complex ridges, behind which indistinct shapes moved like tropical fish in some baroque aquarium.

It was a sight to ravish, and left him quite unmoved. He pressed on, into a silence that gave him the continuous feeling of being watched.

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I also appreciated the clever naming of the various AIs that manage tasks for citizens in each region.

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In the region of the Co-ordinated States (which is comprised of China, Russia and their controlled areas) the AI is called WeThink. In the Union, it’s called Iskander. In the Allied states (English-speaking countries) it’s called Smart-Alec. HAa!

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This book gets 2 stars because it does have some thought-provoking ideas in it. The pacing and the writing are what bring it down.

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