Incandescence (2008)

This book was very, very difficult for anybody other than a scientist or mathematician to read. I persisted, however, because despite all the jargon, the basic plot was quite interesting. I don't know why I bothered. The book had two separate story-lines, giving the impression that these would eventually come together. This did not happen. The two stories were not properly combined, leaving the reader with the sense that the book just ended suddenly, as though the author just ran out of words. This would be disappointing at any time, but after wading through all the maths and science to get to this point, I feel as though I wasted my time. The first set of characters came into contact with a world like that on which the second set reside, but we are left wondering if this is a similar world, the same world in the past or the same world in the future. This book just wasn't worth the effort. ( )

I just about squeaked through physics in college. Maybe if I'd had Egan as a teacher, I would have done better. His description of the Splinter people transiting from the Galileo stage to the Einstein stage in a short while - using stones and wires, mostly - really fascinated me. Granted, the details often slipped through my brain. But Egan's characters, who seemed to be a sort of cockroach, earned my sympathy and kept me interested.

The parallel narrative, involving human types, was thought provoking, but the two plot lines never intersected. It seemed that they might, but the novel ended with a disquieting disconnect. I suppose Egan meant by this to point out the equivocal nature of scientific progress, which proceeds by attempting to bring together disparate elements into a unity, but never quite achieves it, while accomplishing a tentative improvement in the conditions of live along the way.

Accordingly, "Incandescence" tentatively improved my life. ( )

For a long time during and shortly after graduate school, I avoided most "hard" science fiction; if I wanted astrophysics, I'd read the journals. (The characterization in much hard SF is only marginally better than in the journals, after all.) It's been long enough, though, that it's no longer "too much like work", so I picked up Greg Egan's latest. Unlike much of his earlier and to my mind superior work, which was heavily concerned with the nature of consciousness, this is mostly a physics thought experiment with a bit of a plot wrapped around it; given a sufficiently contrived scenario and sufficiently intelligent creatures, can a very low-technology society discover general relativity? If this doesn't seem like an interesting question, this is probably not the book for you. Half of Incandescence follows the alien society of the "Splinter" as they discover general relativity and through it a threat to their world. This is not light fare; I've had GR, I could translate the terminology into the more standard nomenclature, but it never seemed like more than a stunt. It was an interesting exercise, but not a very interesting novel (or half a novel.)

The other plot follows Rakesh, a human-derived citizen of the multispecies Amalgam, and his friend Parantham as they journey into the galactic bulge in search of a potentially undiscovered race, an exciting prospect in a galaxy where all the mysteries have been solved long ago or remain insoluble due to the mysterious "Aloof". Any SF reader will expect that the two plots will eventually connect up, and they do, but in an ironic and somewhat subtle way. (From reading reviews elsewhere it's apparent that many readers miss a key point in this connection.)

If you like this sort of thing -- old-style "puzzle" SF that's about the science first and foremost -- this is the sort of thing you'll like. The characters may be a bit wooden but they're still more three-dimensional than, say, Hal Clement. ( )

Incandescence uses the same backround as two stories, Riding the Crocodile and Glory. All are set in the Amalgam, a far future utopia that allows people to follow any path they want to personal enlightment. Boredom is the only remaining problem.

In alternating chapters, two stories seem to go in different directions. Rakesh and Parantham are both looking for adventure. A traveller tells of the Aloof, a presumed civilisation that has no contact with the Amalgam but which dangles the possibility of a quest to solve a puzzle of the origins of some unique DNA. Rakesh and Parantham take up the challenge and follow a complex trail to the remains of an intelligent race whose civilisation was wiped out by stellar instability. The other story concerns aliens living inside what seems like a large planetoid, the Splinter, which periodically undergoes extreme peturbations. Normally just intent on the basic tasks of living, one of their number, Zak, tries to understand the complex behaviour of their habitat. This intellectual quest slowly pulls in Roi, and then more and more of the Splinter's inhabitants, as they realise the need to understand their environment overrides the normal routines of living.

This is not action-packed science fiction. The story set on Splinter is a thinly disguised tutorial on astro-dynamics, illustrated by diagrams, and mathematical speculations being proven (or not) by an ongoing series of measurements/experiments. The quest for the missing alien race story is equally intent on using complex science to unpick a puzzle. What becomes endearing about both is the single-minded quest for understanding. It is almost as though any problem can be solved by rational investigation. While there is little action, there is a lot of incredible speculation. Perhaps this is true science fiction, where science and discovery is the hook, not the story? ( )

Egan dazzles with his amazing vision for the far future, but Incandescence drags in places with far too much of the book focusing around orbital mechanics which will loose most readers. Not one of his best books, but as usual crammed full of creative ideas. ( )