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Light Chaser. Surcaluz
Una exploradora del espacio inmortal.
Un mensaje misterioso. Un enemigo desconocido.
Un amor que trasciende la muerte y el tiempo…
Amahle es una light chaser, una surcaluz que viaja por el universo recopilando los recuerdos de los habitantes de los mundos distantes a cambio de baratijas.
Sin embargo, este último viaje guarda una sorpresa para Amahle. En uno de los collares de memoria recogidos encuentra un inquietante mensaje oculto que la interpela directamente. Este descubrimiento será solo el principio de algo que trastocará su visión de la realidad y dará al traste con todo lo que hasta ahora había dado por seguro.
Algo siniestro se oculta tras la supuesta estabilidad del Dominio que ha proporcionado a los humanos milenios de paz y seguridad. Y ella es la única que puede acabar con ello, aunque el precio a pagar puede que sea demasiado alto.
Un mensaje misterioso. Un enemigo desconocido.
Un amor que trasciende la muerte y el tiempo…
Amahle es una light chaser, una surcaluz que viaja por el universo recopilando los recuerdos de los habitantes de los mundos distantes a cambio de baratijas.
Sin embargo, este último viaje guarda una sorpresa para Amahle. En uno de los collares de memoria recogidos encuentra un inquietante mensaje oculto que la interpela directamente. Este descubrimiento será solo el principio de algo que trastocará su visión de la realidad y dará al traste con todo lo que hasta ahora había dado por seguro.
Algo siniestro se oculta tras la supuesta estabilidad del Dominio que ha proporcionado a los humanos milenios de paz y seguridad. Y ella es la única que puede acabar con ello, aunque el precio a pagar puede que sea demasiado alto.
149 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2021
About the author
Peter F. Hamilton
182 books9,668 followersPeter F. Hamilton is a British science fiction author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide, making him Britain's biggest-selling science fiction author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 474 reviews
June 22, 2021
Here's a surprisingly awesome Space Opera novella.
While it comes across as a loner pilot trading stories across many light-years, alone with her AI, the deeper story is one that caught me quite by surprise.
No spoilers, but if you love broad-scope massive empire-shaking timey-wimey hijinx love stories squeezed into bite-sized reads, then you really OUGHT to read this one.
I wanted to read it primarily for Peter F. Hamilton, but together with Gareth Powell, it became something special.
I was truly surprised by the scope. It snuck up on me because I was so invested in the everyday life. :)
While it comes across as a loner pilot trading stories across many light-years, alone with her AI, the deeper story is one that caught me quite by surprise.
No spoilers, but if you love broad-scope massive empire-shaking timey-wimey hijinx love stories squeezed into bite-sized reads, then you really OUGHT to read this one.
I wanted to read it primarily for Peter F. Hamilton, but together with Gareth Powell, it became something special.
I was truly surprised by the scope. It snuck up on me because I was so invested in the everyday life. :)
August 27, 2021
I have always had mixed feelings about stories written in tandem, and this one here makes no exception.
Worldbuilding was great, albeit kind of incomplete, but given the lenght of the novella it wouldn't have been possible to dwell more on it; scope, premise, and construction of the storyline were intriguing as well. My problem was with .
Taken this pet peeve of mine aside, it's a good story, with a huge scope, multiple worlds, spiced up with a bit of time travel and fantasy. It's missing that sense of wonder which I'm searching for in a sci-fi story, but it was quite enjoyable.
If I were to draw a guess, I'd say that the worldbuilding - including aliens - and scope were Hamilton's, and the rest Powell's. And I wish authors would stop doing this, writing together - from my PoV two different writing styles don't mix well.
Worldbuilding was great, albeit kind of incomplete, but given the lenght of the novella it wouldn't have been possible to dwell more on it; scope, premise, and construction of the storyline were intriguing as well. My problem was with .
Taken this pet peeve of mine aside, it's a good story, with a huge scope, multiple worlds, spiced up with a bit of time travel and fantasy. It's missing that sense of wonder which I'm searching for in a sci-fi story, but it was quite enjoyable.
If I were to draw a guess, I'd say that the worldbuilding - including aliens - and scope were Hamilton's, and the rest Powell's. And I wish authors would stop doing this, writing together - from my PoV two different writing styles don't mix well.
September 12, 2021
4.5 Stars
This was a well plotted sci fi novella that explored interesting ideas within a far future. Despite the length, the authors succeeded in some complex world building while creating a well developed main character at the center of the narrative. The story managed to be both fascinating and heartfelt, leaving a strong impression on me as the reader.
This was my first time reading from Hamilton but it certainly won't be my last. I am now even more interested to dive into his long epic space operas if his short work is this good.
I would definitely recommend this novella to any sci fi reader looking for a compelling narrative in a small package.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This was a well plotted sci fi novella that explored interesting ideas within a far future. Despite the length, the authors succeeded in some complex world building while creating a well developed main character at the center of the narrative. The story managed to be both fascinating and heartfelt, leaving a strong impression on me as the reader.
This was my first time reading from Hamilton but it certainly won't be my last. I am now even more interested to dive into his long epic space operas if his short work is this good.
I would definitely recommend this novella to any sci fi reader looking for a compelling narrative in a small package.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
January 26, 2022
Amahle found it disconcerting and faintly ridiculous that the future of her species depended on an atomic-sized particle that should never exist. But then, she acknowledged, this universe really had turned out to be a whole lot queerer than she’d ever suspected.
I am a regular reader of Peter Hamilton (the concept of an immortal wanderer turning a thousand-year sojourn through a range of worlds into a shag-fest is definitely his idea), but I have yet to read Gareth Powell. Happily, I have an arc of ‘Stars & Bones’ that will allow me to remedy that shortly.
Both of these are Hard SF writers who no doubt keep up to date with what is happening on the distant frontiers of science. ‘Light Chaser’ introduces us to the concept of the ‘strangelet’, a hypothetical particle consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. (It functions as a kind of fanciful widget in the novella.)
The only thing that didn’t work for me here is the supposedly spacetime-bending relationship between Amahle and Cormoran. The latter mysteriously keeps on popping up in various reincarnations to remind the former of the Eternals’ stranglehold on civilisation. For an example of how to do this properly, one only has to read ‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ (2019) by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
The world-building here is pretty cool and intricate. The opening chapter is quite dense and really only makes sense in the context of the ending, but at under 200 pages this is a solid and inventive read that does not outstay its welcome.
I am a regular reader of Peter Hamilton (the concept of an immortal wanderer turning a thousand-year sojourn through a range of worlds into a shag-fest is definitely his idea), but I have yet to read Gareth Powell. Happily, I have an arc of ‘Stars & Bones’ that will allow me to remedy that shortly.
Both of these are Hard SF writers who no doubt keep up to date with what is happening on the distant frontiers of science. ‘Light Chaser’ introduces us to the concept of the ‘strangelet’, a hypothetical particle consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. (It functions as a kind of fanciful widget in the novella.)
The only thing that didn’t work for me here is the supposedly spacetime-bending relationship between Amahle and Cormoran. The latter mysteriously keeps on popping up in various reincarnations to remind the former of the Eternals’ stranglehold on civilisation. For an example of how to do this properly, one only has to read ‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ (2019) by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
The world-building here is pretty cool and intricate. The opening chapter is quite dense and really only makes sense in the context of the ending, but at under 200 pages this is a solid and inventive read that does not outstay its welcome.
June 26, 2023
Un libro entretenido, original pero que simplemente no era para mi.
Me entretuvo, es un ok/vale/bien, está lleno de ideas interesantes y especialmente el principio me pareció que planteaba cosas geniales, pero en ningún momento llegué a implicarme con la lectura o los personajes que no me dijeron nada, y por lo tanto acabó por ser una lectura para mi poco memorable.
Creo que si os gusta la ciencia ficción más durilla (no como a mi) os encantará.
Me entretuvo, es un ok/vale/bien, está lleno de ideas interesantes y especialmente el principio me pareció que planteaba cosas geniales, pero en ningún momento llegué a implicarme con la lectura o los personajes que no me dijeron nada, y por lo tanto acabó por ser una lectura para mi poco memorable.
Creo que si os gusta la ciencia ficción más durilla (no como a mi) os encantará.
August 26, 2021
There's a mind blowing premise at the heart of Light Chaser which makes for a compelling read, yet some foundational plot elements are hastily glossed over or incompletely presented and left me feeling like I didn't quite get the full picture.
The story follows one woman's unraveling of an epic and perplexing riddle that calls into question the entire nature of our reality and human civilization. It borrows elements from Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns as well as Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire. The latter, in particular the concept of past lives memory stored in the form of imago machines, plays a key role, as does the theme of memory as identity. The authors make clever use of these stored memories sourced from a myriad of places and people across the galaxy to piece together the riddle that lies at the heart of the story.
If I had to guess I'd say Hamilton probably contributed some, or most of the core story elements, and that Powell did most of the writing. Not to slight Powell in the least, but the writing didn't feel quite as airtight and mature as I'd expect from Hamilton.
The story follows one woman's unraveling of an epic and perplexing riddle that calls into question the entire nature of our reality and human civilization. It borrows elements from Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns as well as Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire. The latter, in particular the concept of past lives memory stored in the form of imago machines, plays a key role, as does the theme of memory as identity. The authors make clever use of these stored memories sourced from a myriad of places and people across the galaxy to piece together the riddle that lies at the heart of the story.
If I had to guess I'd say Hamilton probably contributed some, or most of the core story elements, and that Powell did most of the writing. Not to slight Powell in the least, but the writing didn't feel quite as airtight and mature as I'd expect from Hamilton.
May 11, 2023
Light Chaser es la historia de Amahle, un ser casi inmortal (a través de las maravillas de la ciencia y la relatividad) que viaja por la galaxia. Su misión es intercambiar baratijas y por los recuerdos almacenados en collares de habitantes de los diversos planetas que pueblan su ruta. Su nave viaja cerca de la velocidad de la luz, creando grandes separaciones de tiempo entre sus visitas a los mismos planetas,casi milenios, convirtiéndola en una figura casi mítica. Sin embargo, en algunos de los recuerdos que repasa, la misma voz comienza a llegar a ella desde diferentes planetas y diferentes tiempos. Le advierte de un terrible secreto, dándole las pistas para resolver el misterio y poner fin a un plan secretode una vez por todas.
Light Chaser fue más divertido de lo que esperaba. Esperaba ver las fortalezas y debilidades típicas de sus otros trabajos.Hamilton es muy bueno con el World Building pero a veces hace descripciones muy extensas. Su Estrella de Pandora son unas 800 páginas. Sin embargo, este libro hace algo extraño. Comienza al final de la historia. Para los lectores de Hamilton, esto definitivamente está fuera de lugar, pero fue un cambio bienvenido en la fórmula típica. Nunca he leído uno de los libros de Powell, así que no puedo decir si esta es su influencia o una nueva dirección de Hamilton, pero esto despertó mi interés..
Si esperas un mix de los grandes éxitos de Hamilton, en cierto sentido, obtienes lo que pagas. Su clásico world building basado en un par de innovaciones tecnológicas está en este libro. Desearía que hubiera un poco más de variedad y un poco más desarrollo en alguno de los escenarios, pero las contribuciones de Hamilton están a la vista y sirven bien a la historia. Powell, por otro lado, parece estar en el asiento del conductor para el personaje y la historia. Hay un ritmo frenético y deliberado en la historia que se centra en el desarrollo y la complicidad de Amahle dentro del sistema en el que participa. Es una historia más centrada en los personajes, la construcción del mundo sirve como impulso en lugar de ser el foco principal. La trama y la construcción del mundo se potencian mutuamente.
El dúo también se esfuerza mucho para tratar de mantener bajo control los aspectos de la historia basados en el tiempo. Puede que no se sostenga bajo un escrutinio estricto, pero no solo agitan sus manos y dicen "es nuestra versión del tiempo", mientras lo desvían con ingeniosidades. En cambio, juega un papel tanto funcional como temático dentro de la historia y la vida de Amahle.
Hamilton y Powell han escrito una estupenda novela que explora la velocidad de la luz de una manera divertida, intensa e interesante.
Light Chaser fue más divertido de lo que esperaba. Esperaba ver las fortalezas y debilidades típicas de sus otros trabajos.Hamilton es muy bueno con el World Building pero a veces hace descripciones muy extensas. Su Estrella de Pandora son unas 800 páginas. Sin embargo, este libro hace algo extraño. Comienza al final de la historia. Para los lectores de Hamilton, esto definitivamente está fuera de lugar, pero fue un cambio bienvenido en la fórmula típica. Nunca he leído uno de los libros de Powell, así que no puedo decir si esta es su influencia o una nueva dirección de Hamilton, pero esto despertó mi interés..
Si esperas un mix de los grandes éxitos de Hamilton, en cierto sentido, obtienes lo que pagas. Su clásico world building basado en un par de innovaciones tecnológicas está en este libro. Desearía que hubiera un poco más de variedad y un poco más desarrollo en alguno de los escenarios, pero las contribuciones de Hamilton están a la vista y sirven bien a la historia. Powell, por otro lado, parece estar en el asiento del conductor para el personaje y la historia. Hay un ritmo frenético y deliberado en la historia que se centra en el desarrollo y la complicidad de Amahle dentro del sistema en el que participa. Es una historia más centrada en los personajes, la construcción del mundo sirve como impulso en lugar de ser el foco principal. La trama y la construcción del mundo se potencian mutuamente.
El dúo también se esfuerza mucho para tratar de mantener bajo control los aspectos de la historia basados en el tiempo. Puede que no se sostenga bajo un escrutinio estricto, pero no solo agitan sus manos y dicen "es nuestra versión del tiempo", mientras lo desvían con ingeniosidades. En cambio, juega un papel tanto funcional como temático dentro de la historia y la vida de Amahle.
Hamilton y Powell han escrito una estupenda novela que explora la velocidad de la luz de una manera divertida, intensa e interesante.
June 15, 2021
So yeah, this little novella packed one hell of a punch. Like we’re talking a Bruce Lee one-inch punch here. What’s this wee guy going to do here? Then WHAM, you’re halfway across the room on your ass trying to put your ribs back in place. Fuck me!
Our main gal Amahle is a Light Chaser, and no bro, it’s not what you drink after a tequila shot. Via genetic modifications and time dilation she is as close to as an immortal as you can get. She travels on a long circuit through the galaxy like a comet, making millennial pitstops on different worlds to trade for memory collars worn by the inhabitants. To bear these collars is a huge honour and they are passed down through the generations collecting centuries of memories of all those who wear it. The saved memories serve as entertainment for the advanced Glisten civilization. People there want to experience life as a king on a medieval planet or as an augmented mecha-spider-dude on a mining colony. It’s the Real Housewives or Siesta Key for this futuristic civilization.
Logging a life’s worth of memories and experiences really makes you look at yourself. Like, am I living my best life? Would people want to experience my life? My day so far has been me singing Hollaback Girl and hip thrusting in my underwear followed by eating an entire bag of cheeze puffs while watching a hockey game. So yeah dude, pretty rad I guess, future people would definitely pay top dollar for that!
Anyways, Amahle vicariously lives thousands of lives on her journey between the stars. While experiencing one life, someone named Carloman is communicating directly to her in the memory. She puts it off as something fucked up at first, but this guy keeps popping up in these memories as different people in different times on different planets but it’s always Carloman. He’s someone from Amahle’s distant past trying desperately to reconnect with her. There’s something sinister with the memory collars and why human civilization has stagnated. It’s up to Amahle to remember her early memories and save humankind.
I find myself frequently circling back and thinking about the story the last couple days which is a gigantic accomplishment since I have the attention span of a labradoodle puppy. There’s been a lot of soul searching with too many (or not enough) margaritas as I reflect on my life. Also, it’s me trying to piece together the mindfuck of time travel, reincarnation, memory, and just all the cool sci-fi shit in this book. Light Chaser explored so many rad worlds and ideas without ever feeling rushed. No need for an epic series of eight books with 900 pages each that just drags on endlessly. The authors were like “we have a gnarly idea, let’s trim the fat, and fucking wow some people!” Nailed it dudes!
Anyways, that’s about all I got. Adios amigos!
Oh wait, check out my rad site for more content like this: The SciFi Book Guy
Our main gal Amahle is a Light Chaser, and no bro, it’s not what you drink after a tequila shot. Via genetic modifications and time dilation she is as close to as an immortal as you can get. She travels on a long circuit through the galaxy like a comet, making millennial pitstops on different worlds to trade for memory collars worn by the inhabitants. To bear these collars is a huge honour and they are passed down through the generations collecting centuries of memories of all those who wear it. The saved memories serve as entertainment for the advanced Glisten civilization. People there want to experience life as a king on a medieval planet or as an augmented mecha-spider-dude on a mining colony. It’s the Real Housewives or Siesta Key for this futuristic civilization.
Logging a life’s worth of memories and experiences really makes you look at yourself. Like, am I living my best life? Would people want to experience my life? My day so far has been me singing Hollaback Girl and hip thrusting in my underwear followed by eating an entire bag of cheeze puffs while watching a hockey game. So yeah dude, pretty rad I guess, future people would definitely pay top dollar for that!
Anyways, Amahle vicariously lives thousands of lives on her journey between the stars. While experiencing one life, someone named Carloman is communicating directly to her in the memory. She puts it off as something fucked up at first, but this guy keeps popping up in these memories as different people in different times on different planets but it’s always Carloman. He’s someone from Amahle’s distant past trying desperately to reconnect with her. There’s something sinister with the memory collars and why human civilization has stagnated. It’s up to Amahle to remember her early memories and save humankind.
I find myself frequently circling back and thinking about the story the last couple days which is a gigantic accomplishment since I have the attention span of a labradoodle puppy. There’s been a lot of soul searching with too many (or not enough) margaritas as I reflect on my life. Also, it’s me trying to piece together the mindfuck of time travel, reincarnation, memory, and just all the cool sci-fi shit in this book. Light Chaser explored so many rad worlds and ideas without ever feeling rushed. No need for an epic series of eight books with 900 pages each that just drags on endlessly. The authors were like “we have a gnarly idea, let’s trim the fat, and fucking wow some people!” Nailed it dudes!
Anyways, that’s about all I got. Adios amigos!
Oh wait, check out my rad site for more content like this: The SciFi Book Guy
February 25, 2024
Short, fast-paced and fun novel, but with such an epic scope that I would have liked the author to make a thousand-page space opera out of it. I really liked it, but in the end you're left with a not entirely satisfying "that's all?" that rounds down the rating.
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Romanzo breve, veloce e divertente, ma con una portata così epica che avrei preferito l'autore ne tirasse fuori una space opera da mille pagine. Mi è piaciuto, ma alla fine ti ritrovi con un non del tutto soddisfacente "tutto qui?" che arrotonda per difetto la valutazione.
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Romanzo breve, veloce e divertente, ma con una portata così epica che avrei preferito l'autore ne tirasse fuori una space opera da mille pagine. Mi è piaciuto, ma alla fine ti ritrovi con un non del tutto soddisfacente "tutto qui?" che arrotonda per difetto la valutazione.
April 19, 2023
3,5 / 5
El trabajo de una surcaluz consiste en viajar por el universo recopilando los recuerdos de los habitantes de los mundos más lejanos a cambio de baratijas. Recuerdos que vienen compilados en collares de memoria, y que Amahle, nuestra surcaluz protagonista, ve y escucha en sus eternos viajes de un planeta a otro. Sin embargo, todo cambia cuando encuentra un inquietante mensaje oculto en uno de esos collares que la interpela de forma directa. Un mensaje que lo cambiara todo en su infinita vida. Sus creencias comenzarán a derrumbarse, todo lo que daba por seguro empieza a tambalearse y ella es la única que puede acabar con todo, aunque el precio a pagar sea más alto de lo que piensa.
La apertura de Light Chaser es cuanto menos extraña. Quizá, el primer capitulo sea el menos digerible para alguien que no este acostumbrado a la ciencia ficción más dura. Un comienzo in extrema res, que bien podría ser el final y nos trata de poner en situación. Una situación que debemos reconstruir collar a collar junto a Amahle. A partir de ahí, todo es una huida hacia delante hasta este punto y final que ya hemos visto. Light Chaser se preocupa más por ir al grano y centrarse en Amahle, su protagonista, que por todo lo que pueda plantear. La construcción de mundo es interesante, pero escueta, y nada más que un impulso para hacer avanzar la historia. Lo mismo pasa con el concepto del tiempo. Viajamos años y años, milenio tras milenio, pero es solo algo funcional y temático dentro de la historia. Recorremos el universo de forma frenética entre mundos y vidas, esculpiendo solo los cimientos de su cosmos y centrándose en la intima -pero épica- historia que quiere contar. Y es una pena, por que la complejidad de algunos mundos, su crítica capitalista y como funciona la sociedad de los surcaluz es cuanto menos interesante.
Amahle ha vivido durante miles de años con solo la compaña de su IA a bordo y de las relaciones pasajeras con las personas que visita en cada mundo. Vive una vida segura y predecible, visitando los mismos planetas una y otra vez. Los surcaluz no son más que humanos modificados para vivir siglos y milenios, que viajan por las estrellas de planeta en planeta en un camino cíclico que siempre les lleva a visitar los mismos mundos. La sensación de que los días se confunden y se hacen interminables es palpable en como Light Chaser esta escrito. Los planetas se asemejan unos con otros, los días de Amhale parecen similares entre si y todo la acción da la impresión de ocurrir en apenas un instante, aunque pasen milenios.
El universo creado es rico, tiene muchos mundos y culturas que se entrelazan y complementan. Sin embargo, es curioso como el interés de Light Chaser esta más cercano a establecer paralelismos en como nos perdemos en la tecnología hoy en día que ha explorar es extenso universo. Por que Amhale, como nosotros, pasa horas y horas mirando collares de memoria que bien podrían ser stories de Instagram. Este paralelismo nos hace preguntarnos y reflexionar sobre como perdemos nuestra conexión con la realidad por demasiada conectividad con el mundo digital y pensar en como podríamos estar de vuelta. Para Amahle, es un mensaje extraño lo que rompe su status quo, pero para nosotros, me temo que eso es algo mucho más complejo y complicado.
Una de las frases que más me llamaban la atención de Light Chaser era que es una historia de amor cósmica a través del espacio y el tiempo. Y en realidad, así lo es. Nadie miente en este caso. Quizá no llegue a las cotas de belleza y perfección que nos dieron Así se pierde la guerra del tiempo, de Amal El-Mothar y Max Gladstone, pero si que es una ópera espacial que abarca galaxias enteras cuyo componente emocional es una historia de amor cósmico. Sin embargo, y quizá es lo que más me gusta de Light Chaser, es que dicha historia de amor es poco convencional. Aunque ambos protagonistas pasan separados el 90% de la historia, es emocionante ver como el romance se va cociendo a fuego lento con cada grabación encontrada. Un elemento emocional que prevalece, explorando la naturaleza de la memoria y su relación con la identidad y la personalidad de cada uno, mientras insinúa un universo vasto e inexplorado al que ojalá volvamos alguna vez.
Reseña en el blog: https://boywithletters.blogspot.com/2...
El trabajo de una surcaluz consiste en viajar por el universo recopilando los recuerdos de los habitantes de los mundos más lejanos a cambio de baratijas. Recuerdos que vienen compilados en collares de memoria, y que Amahle, nuestra surcaluz protagonista, ve y escucha en sus eternos viajes de un planeta a otro. Sin embargo, todo cambia cuando encuentra un inquietante mensaje oculto en uno de esos collares que la interpela de forma directa. Un mensaje que lo cambiara todo en su infinita vida. Sus creencias comenzarán a derrumbarse, todo lo que daba por seguro empieza a tambalearse y ella es la única que puede acabar con todo, aunque el precio a pagar sea más alto de lo que piensa.
La apertura de Light Chaser es cuanto menos extraña. Quizá, el primer capitulo sea el menos digerible para alguien que no este acostumbrado a la ciencia ficción más dura. Un comienzo in extrema res, que bien podría ser el final y nos trata de poner en situación. Una situación que debemos reconstruir collar a collar junto a Amahle. A partir de ahí, todo es una huida hacia delante hasta este punto y final que ya hemos visto. Light Chaser se preocupa más por ir al grano y centrarse en Amahle, su protagonista, que por todo lo que pueda plantear. La construcción de mundo es interesante, pero escueta, y nada más que un impulso para hacer avanzar la historia. Lo mismo pasa con el concepto del tiempo. Viajamos años y años, milenio tras milenio, pero es solo algo funcional y temático dentro de la historia. Recorremos el universo de forma frenética entre mundos y vidas, esculpiendo solo los cimientos de su cosmos y centrándose en la intima -pero épica- historia que quiere contar. Y es una pena, por que la complejidad de algunos mundos, su crítica capitalista y como funciona la sociedad de los surcaluz es cuanto menos interesante.
Amahle ha vivido durante miles de años con solo la compaña de su IA a bordo y de las relaciones pasajeras con las personas que visita en cada mundo. Vive una vida segura y predecible, visitando los mismos planetas una y otra vez. Los surcaluz no son más que humanos modificados para vivir siglos y milenios, que viajan por las estrellas de planeta en planeta en un camino cíclico que siempre les lleva a visitar los mismos mundos. La sensación de que los días se confunden y se hacen interminables es palpable en como Light Chaser esta escrito. Los planetas se asemejan unos con otros, los días de Amhale parecen similares entre si y todo la acción da la impresión de ocurrir en apenas un instante, aunque pasen milenios.
El universo creado es rico, tiene muchos mundos y culturas que se entrelazan y complementan. Sin embargo, es curioso como el interés de Light Chaser esta más cercano a establecer paralelismos en como nos perdemos en la tecnología hoy en día que ha explorar es extenso universo. Por que Amhale, como nosotros, pasa horas y horas mirando collares de memoria que bien podrían ser stories de Instagram. Este paralelismo nos hace preguntarnos y reflexionar sobre como perdemos nuestra conexión con la realidad por demasiada conectividad con el mundo digital y pensar en como podríamos estar de vuelta. Para Amahle, es un mensaje extraño lo que rompe su status quo, pero para nosotros, me temo que eso es algo mucho más complejo y complicado.
Una de las frases que más me llamaban la atención de Light Chaser era que es una historia de amor cósmica a través del espacio y el tiempo. Y en realidad, así lo es. Nadie miente en este caso. Quizá no llegue a las cotas de belleza y perfección que nos dieron Así se pierde la guerra del tiempo, de Amal El-Mothar y Max Gladstone, pero si que es una ópera espacial que abarca galaxias enteras cuyo componente emocional es una historia de amor cósmico. Sin embargo, y quizá es lo que más me gusta de Light Chaser, es que dicha historia de amor es poco convencional. Aunque ambos protagonistas pasan separados el 90% de la historia, es emocionante ver como el romance se va cociendo a fuego lento con cada grabación encontrada. Un elemento emocional que prevalece, explorando la naturaleza de la memoria y su relación con la identidad y la personalidad de cada uno, mientras insinúa un universo vasto e inexplorado al que ojalá volvamos alguna vez.
Reseña en el blog: https://boywithletters.blogspot.com/2...
April 3, 2023
Light Chaser es una novela corta pero intensa, de ciencia ficción, en apenas 150 páginas los autores crean un universo consistente y una historia que consigue abarcar mucho con muy poco.
Amahle es una surcaluz milenaria. Viaja por los distintos mundos del Dominio recolectando recuerdos a cambio de baratijas. Hasta que un día encuentra en uno de esos recuerdos algo que le hará replantearse las cosas tal y como las conoce.
Destacar el sentido de la maravilla de la novela, en que no solo nos muestra el universo sociopolítico en que transcurre la historia, si no que nos permite conocer algunos de los mundos por los que pasa Amahle.
Una muy buena novela corta que reune varios elementos (acción, misterio, viajes espaciales, amor, política,...) a la que la única pega que puedo ponerle es su brevedad, pues me quedo con ganas de conocer más a fondo lo que hay detrás.
Amahle es una surcaluz milenaria. Viaja por los distintos mundos del Dominio recolectando recuerdos a cambio de baratijas. Hasta que un día encuentra en uno de esos recuerdos algo que le hará replantearse las cosas tal y como las conoce.
Destacar el sentido de la maravilla de la novela, en que no solo nos muestra el universo sociopolítico en que transcurre la historia, si no que nos permite conocer algunos de los mundos por los que pasa Amahle.
Una muy buena novela corta que reune varios elementos (acción, misterio, viajes espaciales, amor, política,...) a la que la única pega que puedo ponerle es su brevedad, pues me quedo con ganas de conocer más a fondo lo que hay detrás.
February 27, 2023
4,5*
Me encanta leer relatos y novelas cortas de ciencia ficción, creo que es un formato que le viene muy bien a este género y a mí me hace disfrutar muchísimo. Por eso siempre me llena de gozo encontrar una historia corta tan buena como esta. Una de esas novelas breves que empachan y en pocas páginas construyen algo inmenso. Aprecio muchísimo a aquellos autores que no necesitan escribir un tocho para dar al lector de todo.
En «Light Chaser» vamos a acompañar a Amahle, una surcaluz, en parte de su recorrido cíclico por los planetas y estaciones del Dominio a recoger los collares de memoria con los que comercia, unos objetos que almacenan los recuerdos de la vida de decenas de generaciones. En uno de ellos encontrará un mensaje que tambaleará su monótona y milenaria vida.
Este libro es un space opera de ciencia ficción dura que usa el misterio para empujar la trama, pero que tiene mucho más. A mí me ha encantado por ser todo un canto a la subversión y por su especulación social y política.
Obviamente, al ser una novela corta, los autores no se centran en explicaciones, pero dan al lector todo lo necesario para hacerse una idea de ese futuro tan chulo que han imaginado, de cómo es y funciona, también para dar forma a sus personajes; de hecho, esta historia también tiene una componente emocional que le da todavía más consistencia.
Como veis, me ha encantado y la recomiendo muchísimo. Además, es autoconclusiva, algo que personalmente agradezco entre tanta saga que continuar.
Me encanta leer relatos y novelas cortas de ciencia ficción, creo que es un formato que le viene muy bien a este género y a mí me hace disfrutar muchísimo. Por eso siempre me llena de gozo encontrar una historia corta tan buena como esta. Una de esas novelas breves que empachan y en pocas páginas construyen algo inmenso. Aprecio muchísimo a aquellos autores que no necesitan escribir un tocho para dar al lector de todo.
En «Light Chaser» vamos a acompañar a Amahle, una surcaluz, en parte de su recorrido cíclico por los planetas y estaciones del Dominio a recoger los collares de memoria con los que comercia, unos objetos que almacenan los recuerdos de la vida de decenas de generaciones. En uno de ellos encontrará un mensaje que tambaleará su monótona y milenaria vida.
Este libro es un space opera de ciencia ficción dura que usa el misterio para empujar la trama, pero que tiene mucho más. A mí me ha encantado por ser todo un canto a la subversión y por su especulación social y política.
Obviamente, al ser una novela corta, los autores no se centran en explicaciones, pero dan al lector todo lo necesario para hacerse una idea de ese futuro tan chulo que han imaginado, de cómo es y funciona, también para dar forma a sus personajes; de hecho, esta historia también tiene una componente emocional que le da todavía más consistencia.
Como veis, me ha encantado y la recomiendo muchísimo. Además, es autoconclusiva, algo que personalmente agradezco entre tanta saga que continuar.
March 28, 2023
Interesting concept though I had mixed feelings about the execution using scenes from various timelines and I have questions about some of the world-building elements that are really glossed over. In a novel about love and hope, Light Chaser follows a woman who is thousands of years old, who spends her time traveling from planet to planet collecting these collars filled with people's memories. It's her job, but she can't remember her past and she starts to find something strange hidden in the stored memories...
July 4, 2021
Sentido de la maravilla y ciencia ficción dura de primera. Especulativa, breve e intensa.
This is sense of wonder and hard-science fiction at it's best. Speculative, short and intense.
This is sense of wonder and hard-science fiction at it's best. Speculative, short and intense.
June 3, 2021
Amahle is one of a number of Light Chasers who traverse the known universe with only AI for company. She stops at planets, sometimes as often as once every fifty years and sometimes only once in a thousand, to collect their memories and their stories. Through these she lives an untold number of lives and is able to forget her own. This proves harder to do when the same voice and name, albeit in different bodies, starts to crop up in different planets that are light years apart. This is impossible, but the story it has to tell her is even more so.
This was a great, immersive sci-fi novella, focusing on futuristic AI and technology. I really enjoyed Amahle's quest for truth and that the reader was granted permission to journey with her across the realistic timeline of the years it took for her to gain it. There was a sweet love story concurrently developing although it was never allowed to overtake the main focus, which I also appreciated.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the authors, Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell, and the publisher, Tor, for this opportunity.
This was a great, immersive sci-fi novella, focusing on futuristic AI and technology. I really enjoyed Amahle's quest for truth and that the reader was granted permission to journey with her across the realistic timeline of the years it took for her to gain it. There was a sweet love story concurrently developing although it was never allowed to overtake the main focus, which I also appreciated.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the authors, Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell, and the publisher, Tor, for this opportunity.
March 16, 2022
This is an SF novella eligible for 2021 awards, written by British authors Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell. It is already selected for BSFA longlist, and maybe some Hugo voters will also support it.
The story starts at the end (often used feature in modern SF, which I know annoys some readers) with a couple in a spaceship, Amahle and Carloman, who prepared to die, even if the man says “There is nothing to fear. Trust me, I remember all my deaths.” The ship hits a star, but before vaporizing, it left a ‘strangelet’ that turns the star supernova, annihilating all around it.
Then we shift to the past and there is no couple, but only Amahle. She is a Light Chaser, whose job is to hop from one inhabited star system to another at a speed 0.9 of the light across the human Domain. On habituated planets she collects ‘collars’ memory devices containing life stories of generations, for the Domain is so vast that her round trip takes about a thousand years. The worlds differ in their level of development, from medieval fiefdoms to cyberpunk anarchic communities, but they are all similar in one aspect – they are ‘stable’ in the sense that there is no progress, but due to erosion of some systems, there is sometimes worsening. As Amahle travels, she reviews records on the collars, when she experiences a strange communication directed via a collar-wearing person: “My birth name is Bartz, but she will know me as Carloman; and I say this to her: You must not trust your AI.” This begins her chase for the truth.
This is a nice novella, even if I assume that starting from the start would have been better, and the worlds visited are given in very broad strokes. I like Hamilton’s novels more.
The story starts at the end (often used feature in modern SF, which I know annoys some readers) with a couple in a spaceship, Amahle and Carloman, who prepared to die, even if the man says “There is nothing to fear. Trust me, I remember all my deaths.” The ship hits a star, but before vaporizing, it left a ‘strangelet’ that turns the star supernova, annihilating all around it.
Then we shift to the past and there is no couple, but only Amahle. She is a Light Chaser, whose job is to hop from one inhabited star system to another at a speed 0.9 of the light across the human Domain. On habituated planets she collects ‘collars’ memory devices containing life stories of generations, for the Domain is so vast that her round trip takes about a thousand years. The worlds differ in their level of development, from medieval fiefdoms to cyberpunk anarchic communities, but they are all similar in one aspect – they are ‘stable’ in the sense that there is no progress, but due to erosion of some systems, there is sometimes worsening. As Amahle travels, she reviews records on the collars, when she experiences a strange communication directed via a collar-wearing person: “My birth name is Bartz, but she will know me as Carloman; and I say this to her: You must not trust your AI.” This begins her chase for the truth.
This is a nice novella, even if I assume that starting from the start would have been better, and the worlds visited are given in very broad strokes. I like Hamilton’s novels more.
April 22, 2023
El primer capítulo de Light Chaser (Surcaluz) apela a lo que me atrae en la space opera contemporánea. En una decena de páginas se asiste a una serie de tensas maniobras en las que los dos tripulantes de una nave cierran una misión y se abocan a su propia muerte. Para describir el proceso Gareth L. Powell y Peter F. Hamilton utilizan un lenguaje plagado de neologismos cuyo significado se intuye por el contexto, unas situaciones impensables con la tecnología actual. Apelan al hambre de sentido de maravilla y estimulan la curiosidad por descubrir los motivos detrás de esta acometida suicida. Una vez concluida esta introducción, se toman las 130 páginas restantes para exponer el por qué de ese curso de acción, durante las cuales coquetean con un tratamiento de la aventura espacial más apegada a la estética de la fantasía medieval. Por hacer un símil con las novelas de La Cultura, se alejan de Pensad en Flebas para sobrevolar Inversiones.
Tanto se distancia Light Chaser (Surcaluz) de ese sentido de la maravilla postsingularidad que le cuesta retomarlo durante el clímax final. De hecho, la idea del uso de un entorno tecnológico para controlar a sus habitantes y mantenerlos en el nivel de desarrollo deseado se deja una fracción de su lustre. Un novum potente que los autores se molestan en articular por partida doble a través de una estructura de matriuskas y formulan sin necesidad de conectarlo explícitamente con nuestro presente. Demasiados contextos atrasados, demasiados atisbos de historias personales de personajes que terminan en nada, se entrometen en el curso de un relato que podía haber lucido más.
Tanto se distancia Light Chaser (Surcaluz) de ese sentido de la maravilla postsingularidad que le cuesta retomarlo durante el clímax final. De hecho, la idea del uso de un entorno tecnológico para controlar a sus habitantes y mantenerlos en el nivel de desarrollo deseado se deja una fracción de su lustre. Un novum potente que los autores se molestan en articular por partida doble a través de una estructura de matriuskas y formulan sin necesidad de conectarlo explícitamente con nuestro presente. Demasiados contextos atrasados, demasiados atisbos de historias personales de personajes que terminan en nada, se entrometen en el curso de un relato que podía haber lucido más.
January 19, 2023
A very satisfying little book from Hamilton and Powell. Very cool concept. Not nearly as dense and waffley as Hamilton's usual fair, I assume we have Powell to thank for that. It was a power story.
I hope they do more collaborations
I hope they do more collaborations
June 16, 2022
Full review coming.
September 8, 2021
1.5* Sadly, I did not particularly enjoy this book. I was imagining the sweet story of a futuristic travelling tinker and story-teller. This is not that. I'm not really sure what it is, other than a bit of a mind-f*ck.
Amahle is 26,355 years old. She's been a Light Chaser for most of that, travelling alone on the circuit between the stars, dropping off and collecting memory collars for her employer, EverLife. The worlds she visits are hell holes of medieval reenactment or dingy mining, but she entertains herself between stops living their lives through the memory collars. Except, again and again, on different worlds and years apart, a voice keeps calling to her, telling her to remember, telling her she needs to act. And, slowly, she does.
The book starts well and I loved the first chapter, not to mention a number of the concepts and ideas raised. Unfortunately, it quickly goes downhill. The plot was confusing and, even now, I'm not 100% sure what happened. It involves time-travel (on top of the time relativity already inherent in space travel), reincarnation, other dimensions, and creatures called holm that may or may not be aliens. To say it was overcomplicated would be an understatement.
Two things could have made up for this: the characters and the chance to explore. Well, I didn't like Amahle and she's the only character of any significance, so there went that. My biggest issue with her was that, for all she's (almost) immortal, she behaves just like any-old human today (with an emphasis on 'today'). Likewise, the worlds described are surprisingly uncreative for a science fiction novella. They're analogs of either medieval, early industrial, or early modern Earth, with a lot of cultural references to the current day. Odd, considering that we're talking 26,000 years in the future. And yes, to some extent, this is part of the plot, but the authors could have tried just a bit harder.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this. The writing feels lazy, the plot confusing, and there's very little for the reader to get behind. It's not awful, and I'm sure some will like it, but I've read far better.
'See you in a thousand years...'
Amahle is 26,355 years old. She's been a Light Chaser for most of that, travelling alone on the circuit between the stars, dropping off and collecting memory collars for her employer, EverLife. The worlds she visits are hell holes of medieval reenactment or dingy mining, but she entertains herself between stops living their lives through the memory collars. Except, again and again, on different worlds and years apart, a voice keeps calling to her, telling her to remember, telling her she needs to act. And, slowly, she does.
'Kings died and castles fell, but the Light Chaser always endured, ageless and unending, in the dusk between the stars.'
The book starts well and I loved the first chapter, not to mention a number of the concepts and ideas raised. Unfortunately, it quickly goes downhill. The plot was confusing and, even now, I'm not 100% sure what happened. It involves time-travel (on top of the time relativity already inherent in space travel), reincarnation, other dimensions, and creatures called holm that may or may not be aliens. To say it was overcomplicated would be an understatement.
"Let's just remember who's the immortal space goddess around here, shall we."
Two things could have made up for this: the characters and the chance to explore. Well, I didn't like Amahle and she's the only character of any significance, so there went that. My biggest issue with her was that, for all she's (almost) immortal, she behaves just like any-old human today (with an emphasis on 'today'). Likewise, the worlds described are surprisingly uncreative for a science fiction novella. They're analogs of either medieval, early industrial, or early modern Earth, with a lot of cultural references to the current day. Odd, considering that we're talking 26,000 years in the future. And yes, to some extent, this is part of the plot, but the authors could have tried just a bit harder.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this. The writing feels lazy, the plot confusing, and there's very little for the reader to get behind. It's not awful, and I'm sure some will like it, but I've read far better.
"What a headfuck," she declared.
And all the readers of this book agreed.
October 16, 2021
'Light Chaser', a collaborative writing effort by veteran authors Peter Hamilton and Gareth Powell, is a very cool hard-science-fiction novella about a traveler of space in the year 28367!
Amahle is an employee of EverLife. Her job is to travel and visit human habitats - moons, planets - in her space ship, the Mnemosyne, in a 1,000-year loop around star systems. The same planets are revisited over and over, to collect old and distribute new memory collars. Memory collars are worn by people specially selected from a population to wear all of their lives. The collars record every second of their lives, including thoughts. Since Light Chasers might return in a hundred years or a thousand to collect collars, the collars would be passed down to the original wearer's children and children's children. To wear a collar is considered a great honor. Light Chasers like Amahle would stop at a planet on their distribution loop to pick up the collars which had survived (people died or disappeared, taking their collars with them) and distribute new collars to new people selected by the local ruler or boss. In return, she'd give them exciting tech trinkets and art, carefully selected to not disturb the local economies.
Every place Amahle stopped was unique. It could be a primitive medieval world or an advanced high-tech nation. Either way, Amahle would be respected and honored, even worshipped as a goddess. There were some places where violence was extreme, and she'd have to watch her back.
Home was Glisten, an ancient orbital dock. Her ship would be refreshed and fixed, to the relief of the ship's AI. She'd drop off the collars and pick up new ones. The collars were sold to the wealthy for entertainment purposes. They loved experiencing the lives of other people in foreign and often, more primitive and violent places, than what the watchers ever saw in their own lives. They paid top dollar.
Amahle was very old, but she looked young. Her body was revitalized when necessary. However, her memories were vague and spotty. Never mind, she was indifferent. Wasn't she? Odd dreams were stimulated by a person -Carloman- she kept seeing in the memory collars when she watched them to pass the time in her 1,000-year looping journey. Who was he? And why was he leaving her those strange messages? "Don't trust your AI."
Amahle was disturbed. She was going to get to the bottom of this mystery...
A very quick read, but extremely interesting! I liked it, although veteran readers of science fiction will perhaps recognize they've seen variations on this plot from other authors. So what? Right?
Amahle is an employee of EverLife. Her job is to travel and visit human habitats - moons, planets - in her space ship, the Mnemosyne, in a 1,000-year loop around star systems. The same planets are revisited over and over, to collect old and distribute new memory collars. Memory collars are worn by people specially selected from a population to wear all of their lives. The collars record every second of their lives, including thoughts. Since Light Chasers might return in a hundred years or a thousand to collect collars, the collars would be passed down to the original wearer's children and children's children. To wear a collar is considered a great honor. Light Chasers like Amahle would stop at a planet on their distribution loop to pick up the collars which had survived (people died or disappeared, taking their collars with them) and distribute new collars to new people selected by the local ruler or boss. In return, she'd give them exciting tech trinkets and art, carefully selected to not disturb the local economies.
Every place Amahle stopped was unique. It could be a primitive medieval world or an advanced high-tech nation. Either way, Amahle would be respected and honored, even worshipped as a goddess. There were some places where violence was extreme, and she'd have to watch her back.
Home was Glisten, an ancient orbital dock. Her ship would be refreshed and fixed, to the relief of the ship's AI. She'd drop off the collars and pick up new ones. The collars were sold to the wealthy for entertainment purposes. They loved experiencing the lives of other people in foreign and often, more primitive and violent places, than what the watchers ever saw in their own lives. They paid top dollar.
Amahle was very old, but she looked young. Her body was revitalized when necessary. However, her memories were vague and spotty. Never mind, she was indifferent. Wasn't she? Odd dreams were stimulated by a person -Carloman- she kept seeing in the memory collars when she watched them to pass the time in her 1,000-year looping journey. Who was he? And why was he leaving her those strange messages? "Don't trust your AI."
Amahle was disturbed. She was going to get to the bottom of this mystery...
A very quick read, but extremely interesting! I liked it, although veteran readers of science fiction will perhaps recognize they've seen variations on this plot from other authors. So what? Right?
February 3, 2023
5/5
A favor: buf, tot plegat! Per fi una novel·la sci-fi que m'ha volat el cap, plena de sentit de la meravella i amb una estructura narrativa que et fa cridar WTF! al final de quasi cada capítol. Fins i tot la història romàntica m'agrada, ja que li dona coherència i sentit a tot plegat. Els personatges de l'Amahle i el Carloman estan molt ben construïts, i la seva relació a través del temps i l'espai és excepcional.
En contra: el primer capítol de hard sci-fi et vola literalment el cervell, però és cert que pot costar una mica entrar-hi; cap al final torna a haver-hi aquesta especulació científica d'alt nivell, però ja te l'esperes i no sobta tant. Potser el punt més fluix és que et deixa amb ganes de més pel que fa a tots els mons que l'Amahle visita, ja que voldries amarar-te de records dels penjolls i tenir-ne més detalls, però tampoc aportaria res a la trama de la novel·la i seria omplir pàgines per omplir.
En definitiva: una novel·la rodona i molt recomanable que el 2023 podreu gaudir en català. Un llibre de ciència-ficció d'alta volada dels que genera adeptes i fa xalar de valent els amants del gènere, sens dubte una lectura obligada per tots els lectors de #cificat.
A favor: buf, tot plegat! Per fi una novel·la sci-fi que m'ha volat el cap, plena de sentit de la meravella i amb una estructura narrativa que et fa cridar WTF! al final de quasi cada capítol. Fins i tot la història romàntica m'agrada, ja que li dona coherència i sentit a tot plegat. Els personatges de l'Amahle i el Carloman estan molt ben construïts, i la seva relació a través del temps i l'espai és excepcional.
En contra: el primer capítol de hard sci-fi et vola literalment el cervell, però és cert que pot costar una mica entrar-hi; cap al final torna a haver-hi aquesta especulació científica d'alt nivell, però ja te l'esperes i no sobta tant. Potser el punt més fluix és que et deixa amb ganes de més pel que fa a tots els mons que l'Amahle visita, ja que voldries amarar-te de records dels penjolls i tenir-ne més detalls, però tampoc aportaria res a la trama de la novel·la i seria omplir pàgines per omplir.
En definitiva: una novel·la rodona i molt recomanable que el 2023 podreu gaudir en català. Un llibre de ciència-ficció d'alta volada dels que genera adeptes i fa xalar de valent els amants del gènere, sens dubte una lectura obligada per tots els lectors de #cificat.
September 9, 2021
The nitty-gritty: A galaxy-spanning mystery and an unexpected love story, Light Chaser is one of my favorite novellas of the year.
I did not expect to love this book as much as I did, and this little novella definitely stands out as a happy surprise of 2021. The cover is pretty generic, and in fact I almost decided not to read it for that reason, but thank goodness that didn't happen, because the story inside is emotional and full of wondrous world building. This is my first time reading both authors, and I’ll definitely be seeking out more of their work in the future.
Amahle is a Light Chaser, a human who has been genetically enhanced with eight letter DNA that has made her nearly immortal. Her contract with EverLife sends her on thousand year journeys throughout the Domain aboard her ship the Mnemosyne, visiting a multitude of worlds and planets in order to hand out and collect memory collars, digital recording devices that are passed down through generations in order to preserve stories and memories. Each thousand year circuit brings her back to the world of Glisten, where she turns over all the collars she’s collected and gets new ones to distribute on her next trip. The people of Glisten use the collars as a form of entertainment, borrowing them like books in a library.
Amahle spends the years-long trips between planets listening to the collars as a way to pass the time. But one day she’s playing back the memories of someone who is approached by a young boy with a curious message for the Light Chaser. He says: “My birth name is Bartz, but she will know me as Carloman; and I say this to her: You must not trust your AI.” In addition, he has a string of numbers tattooed on his arm. Amahle doesn’t know anyone named Carloman—or does she? As she starts to unravel the mystery of the numbers and the boy’s message, Amahle finds other similar messages hidden in other collars, each one referring to “Carloman” and suggesting that Amahle’s existence is not what it appears to be.
I was immediately swept up in Amahle’s fascinating world and her extraordinary life. She’s lived for thousands of years with only the companionship of her shipboard AI and her passing relationships with the people she visits. Her life is safe and predictable, as she revisits the same planets again and again, yet she’s never considered that the whole thing might be a sham. That is until she “meets” Carloman in other people’s memories. One of my favorite parts of the story is the way the authors used flashbacks to give the reader a peek into some of the memories surrounding Carloman and his attempts to send messages to Amahle through the collars. Amahle is caught up in this intriguing mystery and she can barely rest, she’s so determined to figure out who Carloman is and what he wants her to do.
The world itself is so vast—it takes light years for Amahle to reach each planet—yet the authors have written a story that feels intimate. At its heart, Light Chaser is a love story between Amahle and Carloman, but it’s one of the most unconventional love stories I’ve ever read, spanning both space and time. I loved this unexpected emotional element, even though the two are separated for most of the story, I was rooting for Amahle to figure things out so that she and Carloman could finally be together.
I loved the different worlds Hamilton and Powell came up with. In this story, Amahle only visits a handful, but each was completely different. Like Winterspite, a medieval world without modern conveniences, or Vespaer, a huge planet with only a thin strip of mountainous land dividing two oceans. When she arrives in each world, she’s treated like a queen, because everyone wants the favor of the Light Chaser and hopes they’ll be chosen to wear a memory collar.
Because the story is so short, I don’t want to ruin it for you by saying too much, so I’m keeping this review short. But I did love the way everything is resolved at the end. Amahle discovers through the memories of Carloman just what needs to be done to fix the universe, and I loved watching her carry out her plan. The final chapter gave me chills and put a big smile on my face. I recommend this delightful novella to anyone who loves a perfectly crafted mystery/adventure with interesting characters and worldbuilding.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I did not expect to love this book as much as I did, and this little novella definitely stands out as a happy surprise of 2021. The cover is pretty generic, and in fact I almost decided not to read it for that reason, but thank goodness that didn't happen, because the story inside is emotional and full of wondrous world building. This is my first time reading both authors, and I’ll definitely be seeking out more of their work in the future.
Amahle is a Light Chaser, a human who has been genetically enhanced with eight letter DNA that has made her nearly immortal. Her contract with EverLife sends her on thousand year journeys throughout the Domain aboard her ship the Mnemosyne, visiting a multitude of worlds and planets in order to hand out and collect memory collars, digital recording devices that are passed down through generations in order to preserve stories and memories. Each thousand year circuit brings her back to the world of Glisten, where she turns over all the collars she’s collected and gets new ones to distribute on her next trip. The people of Glisten use the collars as a form of entertainment, borrowing them like books in a library.
Amahle spends the years-long trips between planets listening to the collars as a way to pass the time. But one day she’s playing back the memories of someone who is approached by a young boy with a curious message for the Light Chaser. He says: “My birth name is Bartz, but she will know me as Carloman; and I say this to her: You must not trust your AI.” In addition, he has a string of numbers tattooed on his arm. Amahle doesn’t know anyone named Carloman—or does she? As she starts to unravel the mystery of the numbers and the boy’s message, Amahle finds other similar messages hidden in other collars, each one referring to “Carloman” and suggesting that Amahle’s existence is not what it appears to be.
I was immediately swept up in Amahle’s fascinating world and her extraordinary life. She’s lived for thousands of years with only the companionship of her shipboard AI and her passing relationships with the people she visits. Her life is safe and predictable, as she revisits the same planets again and again, yet she’s never considered that the whole thing might be a sham. That is until she “meets” Carloman in other people’s memories. One of my favorite parts of the story is the way the authors used flashbacks to give the reader a peek into some of the memories surrounding Carloman and his attempts to send messages to Amahle through the collars. Amahle is caught up in this intriguing mystery and she can barely rest, she’s so determined to figure out who Carloman is and what he wants her to do.
The world itself is so vast—it takes light years for Amahle to reach each planet—yet the authors have written a story that feels intimate. At its heart, Light Chaser is a love story between Amahle and Carloman, but it’s one of the most unconventional love stories I’ve ever read, spanning both space and time. I loved this unexpected emotional element, even though the two are separated for most of the story, I was rooting for Amahle to figure things out so that she and Carloman could finally be together.
I loved the different worlds Hamilton and Powell came up with. In this story, Amahle only visits a handful, but each was completely different. Like Winterspite, a medieval world without modern conveniences, or Vespaer, a huge planet with only a thin strip of mountainous land dividing two oceans. When she arrives in each world, she’s treated like a queen, because everyone wants the favor of the Light Chaser and hopes they’ll be chosen to wear a memory collar.
Because the story is so short, I don’t want to ruin it for you by saying too much, so I’m keeping this review short. But I did love the way everything is resolved at the end. Amahle discovers through the memories of Carloman just what needs to be done to fix the universe, and I loved watching her carry out her plan. The final chapter gave me chills and put a big smile on my face. I recommend this delightful novella to anyone who loves a perfectly crafted mystery/adventure with interesting characters and worldbuilding.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
May 26, 2022
Amahle es una Light Chaser que viaja en su nave, controlada por una IA, en un circuito constante. Su misión, ir recogiendo unos collares especiales que recogen las vivencias de las personas escogidas. Pero entre una recogida y otra pueden pasar cientos de años, algo que no afecta a la protagonista gracias al viaje relativista. Estos mundos visitados pueden variar desde medievales hasta avanzados tecnológicamente, lo que supone un riesgo. Todo transcurre invariablemente hasta que se tropieza con un misterio que trastoca sus recuerdos.
Novela corta a cuatro manos por dos de los grandes de la space opera actual. La idea es muy buena, y recuerda bastante a La Cultura de Iain M. Banks, algo que no sentí como un homenaje y sí me molestó en cierta manera. Pero aún me fastidió más que la historia derivase hacia el misticismo y la reencarnación. En mi opinión, floja, y no veo ese “sentido de la maravilla” tan mentado.
Novela corta a cuatro manos por dos de los grandes de la space opera actual. La idea es muy buena, y recuerda bastante a La Cultura de Iain M. Banks, algo que no sentí como un homenaje y sí me molestó en cierta manera. Pero aún me fastidió más que la historia derivase hacia el misticismo y la reencarnación. En mi opinión, floja, y no veo ese “sentido de la maravilla” tan mentado.
October 9, 2021
Some fascinating ideas, and a story with huge scope: far-flung colonized planets, with Light Chasers travelling from planet to planet in an everlasting circuit, collecting select individuals’ memories with specially designed wearable technology, for the entertainment of others.
One Light Chaser discovers a centuries-long conspiracy to maintain an artificial stability in the human populations through messages seeded in select memories by a mysterious figure on multiple planets.
Sounds interesting and mysterious, right? Problem is, I figured part of the puzzle almost immediately after starting, and felt the story dragged from there.
One Light Chaser discovers a centuries-long conspiracy to maintain an artificial stability in the human populations through messages seeded in select memories by a mysterious figure on multiple planets.
Sounds interesting and mysterious, right? Problem is, I figured part of the puzzle almost immediately after starting, and felt the story dragged from there.
October 7, 2024
No las tenía todas conmigo al empezar esta novela. El primer capítulo está cargadísimo de tecnicismos científicos sobre el espacio y la nave, y de primeras puede llegar a saturar un poco. Pero en cuanto empiez el segundo capítulo, entramos en una historia de viajes espaciales por distintos planetas en distintas fases de desarrollo que es sublime.
November 25, 2021
More of a 3.5 but I’m rounding up.
A space opera sci-fi novella isn’t actually my kind of book, especially written by two authors known for their very hardcore science fiction series. So, I don’t even know why I bought this one but I guess seeing many lovely reviews by bloggers I follow made me wanna give it a try.
And it turned out to be such a fascinating one. Told through the eyes of a loner pilot who has been alive for thousands of years traveling across planets and collecting memories, this story spans worlds and centuries and even lifetimes. The authors use the story within a story format to take us through the lives of many characters and how they all tie up to our main characters’ destiny. Love that survived across lives, reincarnations, extremely sentient AI, a highly evolved species that can control the destiny of the universe, and a lonely pilot who finally decides to do something about it - this little novella has it all and if you aren’t looking for too much detailed world building and are ready to suspend disbelief, I’m sure you will have fun reading this one.
A space opera sci-fi novella isn’t actually my kind of book, especially written by two authors known for their very hardcore science fiction series. So, I don’t even know why I bought this one but I guess seeing many lovely reviews by bloggers I follow made me wanna give it a try.
And it turned out to be such a fascinating one. Told through the eyes of a loner pilot who has been alive for thousands of years traveling across planets and collecting memories, this story spans worlds and centuries and even lifetimes. The authors use the story within a story format to take us through the lives of many characters and how they all tie up to our main characters’ destiny. Love that survived across lives, reincarnations, extremely sentient AI, a highly evolved species that can control the destiny of the universe, and a lonely pilot who finally decides to do something about it - this little novella has it all and if you aren’t looking for too much detailed world building and are ready to suspend disbelief, I’m sure you will have fun reading this one.
January 5, 2023
After reading the first chapter of this short novel I was considering ditching it because it felt too ‘hard sci-fi’ for my tastes, but I’m glad I persevered. What followed was a lean and compelling story about a woman who journeys across the solar system collecting memory collars from far away worlds so the long-lived inhabitants of her advanced but stagnant home-world can experience the arduous but more eventful lives of others.
This was a fun, quick read with some interesting ideas and a likeable if enigmatic protagonist. The central mystery kept me engaged and the authors have managed to pack a lot of story into a book that is only 177 pages long.
This is a short novel epic in scope but with many details left vague and unexplored. I get the impression that this story was probably originally planned as a much larger narrative, like the huge sweeping space operas that the authors (well Hamilton at least) are known for. Still, this was an absorbing, suspenseful and ultimately moving read. Definitely one of the better sci-fi novellas I’ve picked up in recent years.
This was a fun, quick read with some interesting ideas and a likeable if enigmatic protagonist. The central mystery kept me engaged and the authors have managed to pack a lot of story into a book that is only 177 pages long.
This is a short novel epic in scope but with many details left vague and unexplored. I get the impression that this story was probably originally planned as a much larger narrative, like the huge sweeping space operas that the authors (well Hamilton at least) are known for. Still, this was an absorbing, suspenseful and ultimately moving read. Definitely one of the better sci-fi novellas I’ve picked up in recent years.
August 7, 2023
És ciència-ficció, sí. I comprensible, coherent en la seva execució i en el món que crea és del tot creïble. Es pot llegir d'una tirada, cosa que facilita la seva comprensió i no et deixa perdre el fil narratiu. Podria haver tingut cinc-centes pàgines, si ho voleu, però aquest relat llarg és una bona mostra que es pot fer literatura fantàstica sense necessitar més espai del necessari, la resta és omplir pàgines i pàgines, sense un sentit narratiu útil del tot, sols per ampliar microcosmos on perdre't i creure que qui ha escrit allò és genial. Aquesta novel·la és genial.
July 3, 2024
Año 28367 en el calendario de Vieja Tierra. Amahle nació humana, pero han pasado siglos desde que la modificaron con un ADN sintético. Su condición le ha permitido vivir más que cualquier humano y viajar por el espacio a una velocidad cercana a la de la luz, viajes que duran años en el tiempo de su nave y décadas en tiempo real.
Amahle es la capitana y única tripulante de Mnemósine, una nave de dos kilómetros controlada por una IA consciente. Durante miles de años, su trabajo como surcaluz ha consistido en recorrer un circuito de planetas colonizados por el Dominio con el único propósito de recolectar los collares de memoria que pasan de generación en generación y almacenan los recuerdos de diferentes civilizaciones.
Todos los mundos que forman parte del circuito son estáticos, los Elevados han diseñado cada planeta habitado con un único objetivo: la estabilidad. Aunque diferentes, las sociedades están atrapadas en estructuras económicas específicas y en ningún rincón del universo hay progreso, ni social ni tecnológico.
Los collares sirven para sumergirse en otras vidas y otras culturas, como quien lee un libro, pero adentrándose en los recuerdos íntimos de humanos que llevan siglos muertos. Amahle ameniza sus días contemplando sus vidas, hasta que descubre un misterioso mensaje, alguien que intenta ponerse en contacto con ella.
Si bien es una novela bastante breve que se centra en lo imprescindible, el trasfondo social es inmenso y me ha fascinado. Por un lado, encontramos la clásica distopía de circo, aristócratas que se entretienen con el sufrimiento de los desfavorecidos, viendo a los pobres como el espectáculo de los poderosos.
A través de figuras novedosas como los Eternos o la surcaluz, revisitamos la batalla entre la estabilidad y el cambio, la creciente rebelión de los oprimidos a quienes se les niega el progreso y la educación. No conozco la intención primera de la obra, pero es un libro con múltiples lecturas que se vale de la ciencia ficción para retratar la más cruda realidad.
También nos habla de nuestro deseo de sentirnos vivos en esta soledad, la búsqueda de recuerdos no es otra cosa que llenar nuestra existencia de emociones. Amahle reflexiona sobre la realidad, la percepción y el sentido de las almas, hilando una trama concisa que explica bien los conceptos más teóricos, es una lectura bastante ligera. Tal vez demasiado para los términos que maneja, puede que a nivel científico contenga algunos saltos y pequeñas lagunas. Pero merecen la pena.
Amahle es la capitana y única tripulante de Mnemósine, una nave de dos kilómetros controlada por una IA consciente. Durante miles de años, su trabajo como surcaluz ha consistido en recorrer un circuito de planetas colonizados por el Dominio con el único propósito de recolectar los collares de memoria que pasan de generación en generación y almacenan los recuerdos de diferentes civilizaciones.
Todos los mundos que forman parte del circuito son estáticos, los Elevados han diseñado cada planeta habitado con un único objetivo: la estabilidad. Aunque diferentes, las sociedades están atrapadas en estructuras económicas específicas y en ningún rincón del universo hay progreso, ni social ni tecnológico.
Los collares sirven para sumergirse en otras vidas y otras culturas, como quien lee un libro, pero adentrándose en los recuerdos íntimos de humanos que llevan siglos muertos. Amahle ameniza sus días contemplando sus vidas, hasta que descubre un misterioso mensaje, alguien que intenta ponerse en contacto con ella.
Si bien es una novela bastante breve que se centra en lo imprescindible, el trasfondo social es inmenso y me ha fascinado. Por un lado, encontramos la clásica distopía de circo, aristócratas que se entretienen con el sufrimiento de los desfavorecidos, viendo a los pobres como el espectáculo de los poderosos.
A través de figuras novedosas como los Eternos o la surcaluz, revisitamos la batalla entre la estabilidad y el cambio, la creciente rebelión de los oprimidos a quienes se les niega el progreso y la educación. No conozco la intención primera de la obra, pero es un libro con múltiples lecturas que se vale de la ciencia ficción para retratar la más cruda realidad.
También nos habla de nuestro deseo de sentirnos vivos en esta soledad, la búsqueda de recuerdos no es otra cosa que llenar nuestra existencia de emociones. Amahle reflexiona sobre la realidad, la percepción y el sentido de las almas, hilando una trama concisa que explica bien los conceptos más teóricos, es una lectura bastante ligera. Tal vez demasiado para los términos que maneja, puede que a nivel científico contenga algunos saltos y pequeñas lagunas. Pero merecen la pena.
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