A star off my rating for a rather abrupt ending. It is not a traditional cliffhanger, and neither is this billed as the first in a series, but I for one sincerely hopes Tade Thompson returns to the fantastic world he has created here. Oh, and including the Afterword, the book actually ends at page 350, with the extra 50 pages being an extract from ‘Beyond The Hallowed Sky’ by Ken MacLeod (which is clearly billed as ‘Book One of the Lightspeed trilogy’.)

Speaking of tradition, Thompson says there was a sustained conversation between his editor, agent and his cat about whether or not he was writing a space opera. “Current wisdom is that the book isn’t space opera.” According to Wikipedia, space opera “is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasises and is part of the general thematic genre science fictional space warfare with use of melodramatic risk-taking space adventures and chivalric romance…”

A plot development that adds much narrative tension to the last third of the book is that the colony world of Bloodroot is facing a potentially lethal threat from what can only be described as space pirates or criminals, for want of a better world. They have never bothered with developing planetary defenses because colonists are generally trying not to get eaten by the native wildlife of the planet they are colonising, and certainly do have not time for such futile dick-measuring contests. Still, having been dealt a good dose of realpolitik, they decide that they better ensure they are not sitting ducks when the next marauding invaders come breezing into their solar system. So, this is a space opera. Kind of.

Thompson, of course, is no stranger to tinkering with genre, as evinced by his wonderful Wormwood trilogy. The first instalment, ‘Rosewood’, saw him become only the second writer of black African heritage to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel. British, but of Yoruba descent, Thompson was born in London in the 1970s and spent his childhood in Nigeria. He returned to the UK in 1998, studying medicine and social anthropology in both countries, and currently practices psychiatry as his day job.

I was always curious as to what Thompon would write after ‘Wormwood’ – or even if he would continue writing, after announcing on his Twitter account that he was so disillusioned with the SF community that he was quitting the social media platform altogether. Thankfully, he did not give up on the genre itself. ‘Far From the Light of Heaven’ is a pulse-pounding ‘whodunnit’ set on an AI-controlled starship with more twists and turns than the maze in ‘The Shining’.

If you are surprised that Thompson has opted for the sleek kind of hard SF practiced so effortlessly by the likes of Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton, fear not: There is a delightful riff on the Space Station Lagos, built on Afrofuturist principles. And we also have one of the most haunting depictions of an alien race, accenting their strangeness without rendering them as Other, that I have encountered in a long time.

Be warned: Once you start reading the book, you are unlikely to be able to put it down. Thompson remarks in his ‘Afterwoord’ that his research resulted in much fascinating digressions, some of which he shares with us. But in terms of the book itself, it is pared down to a relentless focus on the murder mystery itself. (‘The Murders of Molly Southbourne’ has shown that Thompson is as good at horror tropes as he is at SF, and he has a lot of fun layering in some startling ickiness to keep the reader generally unsettled.)

The characters are quirky and wonderfully defined; there is a lot of humour and strangeness. Lots of attention is paid to the physical and practical details of space flight and colonisation, but without going full-on ‘The Martian’ on us. This was an absolute joy to read, and one of my top SF books of the year.

What is not to like about this book a murder mystery set in space
The science is well researched
This book is fast paced and with every turn of the page the inter weaving plots make for an incredible story and highly recommended
Thank you netgalley for a pre publication copy of the book for an honest review

Absolutely incredible book. The pace is so fast you will feel inmerse in the story since page one, and suddenly appear at the end of the book. What a trip. This is by far Tade Thompson best novel. A thriller-scifi-murder-mystery with a lot of speculation and twists to the story. I enjoyed it very, very much. I already preordered a physical copy!

I had such a good time reading this book. I might have (definitely) said to myself Nigerianssss Innnn Spaaaaaceee! but only quietly and mostly because I had recently watched reruns of The Muppet Show. There is an acknowledgement in the text that certain people on Earth may enjoy this thought, people of colour leaving the planet and sailing to the stars. In this reality they not only survive but thrive, taking on board the hard lessons learned from Earth's historical decline and getting back to living harmoniously with both their new world and the natives of it.
The cast of characters seem strong, with Shell Campion, Fin and the Lambars seemingly leaving plenty of room for sequels. There's a sociopathic Jeff Bezos type figure who is of course going to space, just like the real one. I was rooting for Salvo to be the K-2SO moment that I've been missing but they didn't quite get enough time to shine. I think as is often the case I was also doubly entertained by a brief author's afterword. explaining that the concept behind the book is based on classic Poe. It's such a fantastic nerd party that I deeply regret passing on an advance copy of Rosewater because all of these things are relevant to my interests. If I'm right about a sequel to this though, I won't miss it.

It's very rare that I'm left without words after I finish a book because I've disliked the book so very much, but here we are.

I really don't know how to comment on this book without sounding too rancid, and I'm sorry for that. From the blurb, the plot of this book sounded quite intriguing, but about 10 pages in I was already questioning why I'm reading this. Yet I continued, because that's too soon to judge a book.

Ultimately, like 99 % of the time when I dislike the book, it's because of the style. This book read, in my eyes at least, as if it's trying to be poetic but just ended up like if you made bread but forgot to add salt to the dough.

It was dry, jumpy, all over the place and there were just so many bits that seemed as if you're supposed to get them, as if there's something behind it but - honestly, I couldn't figure out what they were about no matter how deep I tried to look.

It sets up as if it will be a nice found family story, but I couldn't see a single connection, let alone chemistry between any of the characters, at all. None of them were particularly relatable, and they were mostly boring. If you ask me why the characters made any of the decisions that they made? I couldn't possibly tell you.

The story dragged, but I pushed on, mostly because of the "whudunnit" part. When we get this answer (which just left me ??? because I couldn't really see how it fit into the story) you'd think it's over, but it still drags on for way too long. I think one of the issued that I had here was the chapter length itself - up to this point the chapter length was quite consistent, not short and not too long, and then we suddenly get an extremely long chapter that just doesn't end, and after that about a million very short chapters. Admittedly maybe I'm a lone case - inconsistent chapter length makes me itchy, unless it's well executed, which I didn't find to be the case here.

There were some nice parts - I liked how this book played with the loneliness of space, and when the really iffed things started happening on the ship, changing it into something living, covered in weird moss and bugs - that was something that I would have loved to read more about, but it felt quickly abandoned (what's up with the experimental node. tell me. please), but in the end none of it was particularly enjoyable due to how much I didn't vibe with the writing style.

I don't know. I've been sitting on it for a few days now, trying to come up with something more palatable to say. It's still an interesting story, and I'm curious about what people who don't mind this authors style (in this book, at least - I haven't read any other work by Thompson) will think of it, so I'm looking frward to reading some more reviews.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC! New sci-fi work is always delightful to come across, regardless of how much I personally end up liking or not liking it.

In the past few years Tade Thompson has become one of my favourite authors, I was blown away by his Rosewater trilogy, so much so that I bought the ebook and then the audiobook because the narration on those was awesome, I enjoyed this but having become enamoured by his stories set in a near future Africa it took me longer to follow the flow of the story, once I got into it then I was yet again smitten by the story, more please

Far From the Light of Heaven is Tade Thompson’s latest novel and is a masterpiece of sci-fi that is incredibly grounded in the human experience. Following Michelle "Shell" Campion, a young newly promoted captain desperate to prove herself aboard the Ragtime when suddenly a murder mystery begins to unravel when a pile of body parts is discovered and a sinister plot is unveiled. The novel has a definite thriller like quality and I could not stop reading!!

I really enjoyed the characters in the book, they were not super memorable but I thought they served the book well. Shell in paticular was a very well written character, reflecting how a newly qualified, highly trained person may feel when suddenly thrust into a new reality. I especially liked the exploration of relationships both old and new, even under the stressors of space. I also think Tade Thompson’s writing has a really intricate quality to it that is so compelling and leads to great prose to read from. Additionally I appreciated the little medical details thrown in there - medicine in space is one of my favourite things to read about!!

I also really enjoyed the way the mystery was revealed and the politics that tied into what was happening. I liked getting the POVs of those not just on the spaceship but also politicians ‘on the ground’ as such (not actually earth haha).

Interestingly I found out that Tade Thompson is a medical doctor and the book was partially inspired by the feeling of being a new doctor fresh out of medical school and having a lot of knowledge but not much experience and therefore feeling incredibly out of your depth but struggling through whilst having remaining calm on the outside. This was very relatable to me as it will be my reality in only one years time T_____T (although fortunately i wont be in space). I also liked the exploration of the stressors of space; the physical, mental, interpersonal and habitat - and the effects these would have on both physical and psychological wellbeing. It is absolutely fascinating to me the effect space can have on the body. The way the author explores the effects of being isolated and in a confined space with threat looming is also super interesting.

One thing I’m not the biggest fan of in his books is the romance, it’s only a very minor part of the book so it didn’t bother me that much but it felt a little male gazey.

In conclusion if you are looking for a fast paced sci-fi thriller with some great themes (from workers rights to racial inequality and injustice) and look at the human psyche in a confined environment under pressure then you will really enjoy this!!