In "Light" by M John Harrison the blurb on the back was actually the ending for some reason. This was one of the few things I remembered about the novel when I first read it in English. After re-reading the trilogy after all these years, I still feel that was a very odd choice. I don't usually even read the blurb on the back cover. I like to go in blind, so to speak, and let the story win me over on its merits, especially if it's an author I've not read before. If the title or the cover intrigues me, I'll try it, but I have managed to break my obsession with having to finish a book, so if it's crap out it goes. I think that reading the blurb worked for “Light”, though. Although a Wikipedia overview really isn't the same thing as the back blurb, it's the closest thing to an alternative version I could find — and it somehow seems to suggest something that's a little more rip-roaring and then… I don't know. “Light” in a nutshell is space opera and also protocyberpunk without the noir.

“Light” is more successful than “Nova Swing” (in some days I’d venture to say it’s really crap)… and maybe about the same as “Empty Space” (also crap in some days, and not crap in some others). Now that I think about it, I did come to “Light” from another angle: I read something else by John Harrison, and I think he called it quits with writing bleak science fiction, weird fiction, and using that sort of prose style that only Harrison can do; I believe I may have read this novel’s blurb after the book itself. But now, some years after reading it and having recently re-read it, I think of “Light” as being more of a puzzle box, with the blurb as being the 'solution' and (if read first) something that might function to give the narrative(s) some sense of inevitability that might juxtapose nicely with the ideas of choice.

When I'm reading a good John Harrison's novel it always seems to me the narrative is packed differently when compared to other authors, i.e., it seems there's more information between the words...In "Light" there's rewarding in rereading for those that want it....but maybe not a lot of answers.

In the same trilogy, “Nova Swing” and “Empty Space” are sort of similar in some of their mood and style: Nova Swing's sort of like Tarkovsky crossed with Chandler, and “Empty Space” combines that Tarkovsky/Chandler mix with Light's shenanigans.

He's an author I always look forward to reading, but I find quite tricky to recommend. John Harrison is not a writer, he’s an author. Actual authors like John Harrison don't give a rat's ass what you do. They don't even care if you read what they've written. After all, they're not in it for the money. Like writers are. Life is way too short to take it completely seriously, and silly stuff often makes it worth living. That said, reading is a great thing for me and I advise anybody to do it. What is a wrong or right book is a matter of taste.



NB: Diesmal habe ich die ganze trilogie auf Deutsch gelesen.

Book Review SF = Speculative Fiction ( )