Incandescence
by Greg Egan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Greg EganEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-16
ISBN: 1597801283
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Book Reviews of Incandescence
Book Review: Poor Execution of a Nice Idea
Summary: 2 Stars
On an enclosed alien world, gravity works very differently than we are used to. As the story begins, the world's previously dormant culture embarks on a journey of scientific discovery to understand their world and its environment.
In a different story arch, the entire Milky Way has been thoroughly inhabited and explored by a peaceful amalgam of races. When given the opportunity to investigate the enclosed alien world in the Milky Way's core, one of the Amalgam's citizens take off, mostly motivated by the boredom stemming from the prospect that exploration is nigh-impossible.
In the center of the story is a scientific riddle. The idea is nice, but if you have read Larry Niven and know a bit of Newtonian physics and relativity theory, you can figure most of it out fairly early in the story.
As the story unfolds, we follow the aliens' scientific struggle to understand their world. Unfortunately, this is written in a rather abstract manner, so it quickly becomes quite repetitive to read.
Egan should be commented for writing a complete novel without having to resort to action writing. In fact, there's no conflict in the novel at all, and only a vaguely felt danger. As such, the scientific puzzle becomes the only real driving force in the story. If Egan had been able to pull this off, this could have been a really noteworthy piece of science fiction, but unfortunately, the book is just boring.
In these days of mammoth science fiction 'epics' bursting with filler, the book's short length is a redeeming feature.
This is an ambitious attempt at a serious science fiction novel for the discerning reader. Alas, it doesn't succeed.
Summary of Incandescence
The long-awaited new novel from Hugo Award-winning writer Greg Egan! The Amalgam spans nearly the entire galaxy, and is composed of innumerable beings from a wild variety of races, some human, some near-human, and some entirely other. The one place that they cannot go is the bulge, the bright, hot center of the galaxy. There dwell the Aloof, who for millions of years have deflected any and all attempts to communicate with or visit them. So, when Rakesh is offered an opportunity to travel within their sphere, in search of a lost race, he cannot turn it down!General Books
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