I’ve come to a small conclusion about M. John Harrison’s novels, small mostly because this is only the second one I’ve read. The conclusion is this: he has a knack for making a story just confusing enough that you want to keep reading to try to figure out that little thing you think you are not quite getting; but not so confusing that you get frustrated and put it down.

Light was definitely this way to me. Had I not been busy lately, I would have finished it much more quickly. Three interweaved stories which on the surface are only tangentially related, come smashing together in a burst of elucidation in the last 10 pages of the book; and I was left saying ooohhh, and wow for a good while.

So, I’ll back up and bit and say what else I liked about Light.

First, Harrison is known for writing about the banality of everyday life – though what ‘everyday life’ is is quite different for the various characters.

For Michael Kearney, a physicist trying to create a quantum computer in contemporary (more or less) London, everyday life is serial killing in an effort to keep a mysterious being known as ‘The Shrander” at bay; for Ed Chianese, former starship jockey, it’s what seems to pass as the urban life of a 24th century has-been: trying to scrape up enough money to escape now meaningless life by spending as much time as he can in virtual reality tanks; for Seria Mau Genlicher it’s life built into a starship (which she opted to do when she was 13 to escape the sexual advances of her widowed father) which also happens to be an incredibly advanced alien artifact.

None of these characters are heroic in the classic sense, but, given their circumstances, I find them quite realistic and sympathetic. I cared about all of them, cheered when they did the right thing, and hated, but understood, it when they didn’t. That Harrison can do this in particular with such apparent ease is what I think makes him a truly great author.

Light is fast paced in general, and when the action really gets going, which happens most often with Seria and her K-ship, it’s blistering. Things for a K-ship pilot are perceived in fractions of a nanosecond and Harrison manages to convey this heady pace amazingly well.

I think Harrison’s books have resonated with me more than they might otherwise, as lately I’ve been somewhat overwhelmed by my own day-to-day existence. That said, I will still recommend Light to pretty much anyone that likes a good, fast-paced scifi story.

In an odd bit of serendipity, the next book I’m reading is Robin McKinley’s Sunshine. (Light, sunshine… get it?)