Dark Light (Engines of Light) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The plot picks up where "Cosmonaut Keep" left off: with the familiar cast of characters traveling to the planet Mingulay. Unfortunately, right off the bat the writing gets awkward. Gregor and Elizabeth, the two main characters from the first novel, have a role in the first twenty pages, and then completely disappear for the next 150. Now, I understand that Macleod is looking for an epic feel, with a large cast of characters, but it really interrupts the flow of the novel when two important characters fall completely off the radar.

As the novel continues, we learn of Matt Cairn's quest to solve the mystery behind the origination of the Second Sphere, and later, having received his answer, engaging in political-military intrigue to equip Mingulay to meet its fate. Unfortunately, Macleod's touch isn't as deft as it usually is in this area. The machinations of the characters seem more contrived than meaningful, and I was frequently left wondering why they were even bothering. Motivations in this novel are muddy to say the least. Also, Macleod on several occasions seems to be on the verge of delving into the nature of faith, but then he backs away, leaving interesting, but half formed, ideas on the page.

As I stated earlier, "Dark Light" is not a bad novel, and if you enjoyed "Cosmonaut Keep" you will definitely want to read it (if you haven't don't even attempt to start with this book, you'll be lost from the get go). However, it falls short of Macleod's previous writings, and is somewhat disappointing as a result. Still, it is does have some remarkable moments of adventure and imagination, and if you're looking for a quick, smart read, you won't go wrong with "Dark Light".

Especially fascinating is MacLeod's concept of the Gods and their relationship with humanity. Not highly recommended to extreme conservative religionists.

I did find myself mired down a couple of times in the political dissertations. However, MacLeod basically tells a good story. How good a story it is depends, I suppose, on the concluding book in the series. But these first two are interesting enough and I'm getting to better like the characters, and so I will be reading the final installment.

Most of the high tech in Dark Light is of the pedestrian sort: FTL travel, longevity, powerful and enigmatic aliens. The meat of the book focuses on the city of Rawliston (whose tech is slightly behind modern America's), and the low-tech culture of The Great Vale, beyond the limits of the city. MacLeod introduces some gender-ambiguity issues in the people of the Vale which I found tiresome at best. He does better with Rawliston, with its "democracy through drawing lots" government, and suspicion of the human-navigated spacecraft on which our heroes arrive.

Dark Light turns of the focus of the novel squarely on long-lived Matt Cairns (whereas in Cosmonaut Keep his descendant Gregor shared the spotlight). The quest of Matt and his cohorts to learn why their ship was brought to this sector of space by the powerful aliens is the most arresting element of the book. Unfortunately the threads of this story are spread a little too thinly. There is finally a payoff, but it takes quite a while to get there, and too much time is focused on a supporting cast that didn't engage me.

Just as with the first book, I felt that Dark Light was a good foundation on which to build. Alas, it's this second book in the series should have done a lot of the building!

MacLeod seems strangely interested in human cultures trying to rediscover their past glories, but after three such novels (The Sky Road also had this theme) I feel like I get the idea. He's so adept at showing humans grappling with their FUTURE glories, I wish he'd go back to tackling that. Maybe the next book will finally bring such a payoff to this series.