Beyond the Hallowed Sky: Book One of the Lightspeed Trilogy Paperback – 25 November 2021

If you like MacLeod you probably like this one too. I did.

Picking up a book for the first time you normally know you will enjoy it because of the way of writing or prose. I cant fault the Author in this regards and its an easy book to read and enjoy. However it doesnt seem to be on the same level as the masters of Sci fi such as Peter Hamilton and others, there were some weird plot choices that just didnt make sense to me and a lot of scenery descriptions that seemed to be for the purpose of padding out the story. Spoiler alert, for example, I have no idea why some small private boat building company is capable of building a FTL starship ? its totally implausible and silly. There are some underlying sci fi themes hiding in the rest of the story that will keep me reading it though!

His usual interest in politics, Scotland and AI present and well represented, Ancient Mysteries, rollicking space adventure. 🚀I’d like to say more but won’t risk spoilers, some nice reveals in this tightly plotted story.

One of the joys of this author is that he is decidedly not of the 'business as usual' camp of future prognosticators. He's moved on from practically all past political paradigms and enjoys tweaking their noses in passing, much to my delight. Another, personal, joy is that he writes about places that I know intimately, ranging from the towns adjoining the Clyde through to shipyards, all viewed through the eye of a wry futurist. Ken Macleod takes as many traditional SF memes as one might imagine and reimagines them - his space opera is never old-fashioned gun-turret stuff but is always far more calculated and witty. He isn't a hard read and doesn't make life difficult for his readers but at the same time doesn't take them for granted but slyly challenges them at every turn. I should add that in terms of the science of his SF he's always entirely coherent and sensible and demands little in the way of brainless credulity from his readers - even his hand-waving and unobtainium is deliciously plausible!

This book falls very short indeed. The dreadful language (bestirred, debouched...shocking words that are terrible in context or without). Grim dialogue peppered with more f words than exist in any walk of life. Clunky plot cuts that scatter the thread of the book. Meaningless inclusions of Scottish references and vernacular that don't help the book to have any sci fi feel. And ITS SO BORING.There is a vague kernel of interesting plot but its not worth the effort, develops soooo slowly, and never achieves any gravitas. Its like the author had a reasonable idea for a plot but felt the need to spread it over a trilogy when a single volume would be sufficient.If I can impart any advice...don't buy this book. You'll waste a day or two. I ploughed on hoping it would improve. It doesn't. Hoping a few characters would shine. They don't. Wishing the plot would gather pace. It didn't.The book cover reviewer says Ken Macleod is a top drawer sci fi author. What went wrong with this one, Ken?