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Light

By: M. John Harrison
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

Listed by the Guardian as one of the top 100 science fiction books of the 21st century.

On the barren surface of an asteroid, located deep in the galaxy beneath the unbearable light of the Kefahuchi Tract, lie three objects: an abandoned spacecraft, a pair of bone dice covered with strange symbols, and a human skeleton.

What they are and what they mean are the mysteries explored and unwrapped in LIGHT, M. John Harrison's triumphant novel. Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Interstellar
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I think I was able to follow about 1/4 of the audiobook. My mind wanders while listening to the endless descriptions. It might be a me problem or this might be a book that rather be read. Story wise, I was expecting the wonders of the exploration of the unknown but there is almost none of that.

Hard to follow

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A master at work: a ripping space opera and a deeply affecting meditation on everything.

Oblique, beautiful & hugely entertaining

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I am about 5 hours into this, and it seems pretty good in general, though lately my attention is inconsistent so I may need a re-listen to form a fair opinion. The narration seems fairly seamless with no obvious annoyances. The worst thing I recollect just now is one idiosyncratic pronunciation ("brillian-Tyne"), which counts as mostly harmless.

The reason I might not listen to it twice, or even finish it the first time, is something the Audible blurb doesn't foreshadow, which another site puts as "Michael Kearney is a serial killer on the run from the entity that drives him to kill". There are several jarring descriptions of mostly gendered violence - not lovingly detailed, but quite clear enough - set on Earth in the present day, more or less. There is also some future violence, but that doesn't feel (to me) as immediate or disturbing.

I don't doubt this is entirely justifiable and a necessary part of the narrative, but I'd have appreciated some warning, and so might you.

TW gendered violence

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