Dark Light: Engines of Light: Book Two

Classic sci-fi, great book by a great writer

Good writing, chock-full of ideas. But I'm a fan.

Difficult read to maintain some interesting ideas but a little too convoluted not as good as Engineer City

Ken is a Socialist SciFi Legend! Brilliant

Lots of solid MacLeod standards here - different levels of cultural development rubbing up against one another, powerful traders, some meaty paranoia about the intentions of the Gods and a healthy dose of socialism. There is a rather neat inversion of the cultural relationship between sex and gender, too, which is genuinely refreshing and which elevated the score by one star all on its own.The downsides? Not many. This is well-constructed and well-written stuff. Perhaps the author's preference for working with a large palette of actors dilutes things a little - it would be nice to get to know a smaller cohort a little better - and one could wish that the cosmonauts themselves were more sympathetic characters. And (although it feels a mean stab) it would be nice to read about some differently constructed societies; Ken MacLeod does seem to gravitate towards libertarian socialist entrepreneurs, commercial anarchies and turbo-charged stone-agers. All very fine things, but it would be good to see his skills and imagination extended in other directions sometimes.

With this second book in the series, it's clear that Macleod's Engines of Light series is plotting a different course than the one you might expect from the author of the Fall Revolution series of novels. In Cosmonaut Keep, the first novel of the series, Macleod's picture of life in a Communist dominated European Union of 2049 seemed to be following the same path as his earlier novels, but that was counterpointed by the life of the Cosmonaut Families of Mingulay and his introduction of the worlds of the Second Sphere, gradually linking the two stories together and then launching off into a world where SF cliches had become real and dangerous.Dark Light does follow on directly from Cosmonaut Keep, but it also stands as a novel in its own right - you could read it on its own, but it's a lot more fun to have read Cosmonaut Keep first - with Matt Cairns again centre stage, but this time perhaps even more out of his depth than he was first time around, trying to find his way among the plottings of various human groups on the world of Croatan, while also attempting to take the Bright Star into space to communicate with the 'gods' and find an answer as to why the Second Sphere exists in the first place.Dark Light still has the political element that has helped to distibguish Macleod from so many of his contemporaries, but it's coupled with a striking narrative and an engaging plot, which makes this definitely worth reading and I, for one, can't wait for the final part - Engine City.

i read this book in a single 14-hour sitting, which gives you an idea of what a page-turner i found it.it's much improved over Cosmonaut Keep. the main charaters are much more active, and i love the way the sections from the POV of the 200+ year old Matt Cairns are all written in the present tense - it gives a very strong sense of a man out of time.the politics in the book is very academic (and a bit dated), but interesting nonetheless. the idea of political systems as technology that can be introduced with just as potent effect as internal combustion deserves exploration; it's a shame that many people will turn their noses up at it because it doesn't gel with their own views.so, not quite five stars; the eulogising of the "heathens" rings quite false, it would have been more convincing if a more balanced picture of their society was portayed. also i thought it was implausible that there should be such racial tension between humans, and yet little evident between different species. still, those are pretty minor considerations in a good book.

Less sf this time and more of a politicial / social thriller, this is the second volume in the trilogy begun by Cosmonaut Keep. The cosmonauts have made their journey and arrived in a stable society, a society based on tight control of space travel and that certainly doesn't welcome a change to the status quo.It's typically Ken MacLeod - particularly the way that a grass-roots trade union movement can solve all intergalactic-strife. This time he takes an interesting slant on gender politics too.It works well as a stand-alone novel, although I think Cosmonaut Keep preserves its novelty better if read first. I'm certainly looking forward to Engine City.

Matt Cairns, Gregor Cairns and the rest of the crew of the Bright Star have left Mingulay and visited their nearest star system, right next door. But they all have different reasons for going. Not everybody is doing it for the trade.This second book in a the series is about motivation. What IS Matt after? What are Volkov's plans? What do the saur's want? What are the motivations of the krakens and, more importantly, what do the gods want?And what happens when Matt decides to go and ask the gods themselves?

Charming, well-written, and often funny, this followup to "Cosmonaut Keep" is, umm, lightyears better than its clunky predecessor.Well plotted, with memorable characters and interesting issues, especially about gender (prepare to be challenged), you'll probably get so wrapped up in the multiple POV tale that maybe you'll even forgive the author's goofball politics.So flip a Greatful Dead CD onto the old player, turn on your reading light, open the book, and enjoy!

After reading learning the world cant get enough of macLeod's work Dark Iight does not let you down.