Customer Reviews
Light - By: David Brookes, 04 Apr 2008 
The majority of the story appears complex as it unfolds, but blossoms into a beautifully written conjunction of the three main story arcs: three characters of different times & places, one the creator of the technology another relies upon, the other hopelessly intertwined with both. The inexplicable & deeply interesting events of the plot somehow follow one another into deeper madness, yet never confuse or put off the reader. The net result is an easy-to-read, intricately composed piece of literary fiction pretending to be sci-fi.
Awesome: 8.5/10
Simply beautiful and thought-provoking - By: William C. Heslop, 26 Jan 2008 
I have never read a greater feat of imagination since Dune or The Silmarillion. In its own sphere this is an unsurpassed masterpiece - & I am not prone to hyperbole.
Impenetrable Rubbish - By: John A. Browne, 19 May 2007 
Purchased this book on the recommendation of Ian M Banks, looking forward to a quality sci-fi read, bitterly disappointing. From the opening chapter to the closing paragraph this book was a struggle to read. Empty characters which evoke no emotion, empathy or hatred, on the part of the reader & a senseless plot that leaves you empty. Drivel is the best single word to describe it.
A Radiant read... - By: Shane Lucy, 13 Dec 2006 I'm not surprised that this book has polarized opinions, don't read this if you think it's going to be another formulaic space opera. Light is a book that asks more questions than it answers & certainly isn't from the Clarke or Asimov branch of "science" fiction. Instead you get something a lot like the film Pi, an exploration of madness & obsession mingled with the strangeness that is pure math & quantum theory. Nothing much is explained, it's just left for the reader to piece togetherin whatever way they want.
This is a challenging read, but if you're tired of the same old formula of derivative fiction try this guy out. It is a truly intense book that might not be on everyone else's wavelength but is all the better for that. I've been devouring his work since rediscovering him a while back. I had read the Virconium books a long time ago but had lost them (and his name wouldn't come to me) until I found Light.
Reading Harrison's work you begin to see his influence refracted through all that is goodin SF/Fantasy at the moment, from Iain Banks to China Mieville. His strength, apart from some wonderful prose, is his ability to transcend genres; moving through the full spectrum of pastiche, science fiction & literature, sometimesin the same paragraph.
Highly recomended if you like to think about what you're reading.
Brilliant - By: Mr. E. Smith, 11 Sep 2006 Interesting how this book polarises opinion. I loved it. I fail to see how some reviewers view it as "infantile" or "puerile", referencing the few sex scenes & the character name Billy Anker. Playful & honest, but not puerile. And I can see how the opening is a bit disorientating: it does take a fair while before you can tell what's going on, & even longer before the threads start weaving together. But that's part of the manic pleasure it provides as you're carried along through one atmospheric environment after another. I thought the writing was absolutely extraordinaryin places, tight, precise, evocative. Yes, it is a bit overwroughtin places, overwritten, too stylish for its own good. But overall, it's stunning. The characters aren't particularly sympathetic, but one of the strands (Seria Mau) concerning a humanin a symbiotic relationship with a starship, is superbly imagined & moving; as another reviewer noted, it captures actual sensation of N-dimensional space fantastically (comparablein quality to Christopher Priest's capturing of the perception of infinite widthin Inverted World). Read it, unless you only like thick books which comein series & have swords on the front.
