Incandescence - Hardcover

Egan, Greg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575081627 ISBN 13: 9780575081628

Publisher: Gollancz, 2008

Synopsis

A million years from now, the galaxy is divided between the vast, cooperative meta-civilisation known as the Amalgam, and the silent occupiers of the galactic core known as the Aloof. The Aloof have long
rejected all attempts by the Amalgam to enter their territory, but have occasionally permitted travellers to take a perilous ride as unencrypted data in their communications network, providing a short-cut across the galaxy's central bulge. When Rakesh encounters a traveller, Lahl, who claims she was woken by the Aloof on such a journey and shown a meteor full of traces of DNA, he accepts her challenge to try to find the uncharted world deep in the Aloof's territory from which the meteor originated.
Roi and Zak live inside the Splinter, a world of rock that swims in a sea of light they call the Incandescence. Living on the margins of a rigidly organised society, they seek to decipher the subtle clues that might reveal the true nature of the Splinter. In fact, the Splinter is orbiting a black hole, which is about to capture a neighbouring star, wreaking havoc. As the signs of danger grow, Roi, Zak, and a growing band of recruits struggle to understand and take control of their fate. Meanwhile, Rakesh is gradually uncovering their remote history, and his search for the lost DNA world ultimately leads him to a civilisation trapped in cultural stagnation, and startling revelations about the true nature and motives of the Aloof.

About this title

Review:

Egan is perhaps the most exciting SF writer at work today. (Andrew McKie THE DAILY TELEGRAPH)

One of the very best progenitors of hard science fiction out there...Egan explores the very essence of what it is to be human, the very nature of what and who we are and how we relate, or don't, to one another. Expansive, engaging and thoroughly thought-provoking stuff. Science fiction at its most powerful and profound. (Alasdair Morton SCI FI NOW)

"[A] curious combination of cool rationality and philosophical adventure. Egan has been working these veins since 'Dust', 'Permutation City' and 'Diaspora' and his hand has not lost its cunning nor his mind its passion." (Russell Letson LOCUS)

"This is science fiction on a massive scale and with Egan being one of the genre's top ideas men, there's no shortage of invention or brain-spinning concepts. For any fans of hard SF, this is genuinely unmissable." (SFX)

With Incandescence Egan's imagination continues to dazzle and distil the sense of wonder that makes SF such a joy. If you like your SF real hard then you'll simply love this one: it's as solid as the genre gets. (CONCATENATION)

...a clever and original scientific mystery, and the evocation of a couple of very unusual and fascinating cultures. It's been too long since the last Egan novel. Hopefully the next gap won't be nearly as great. (DONDAMMASSA.COM)

Egan's ideas - notably people travelling the galaxy as data - are frequently fascinating. (Dave Golder BBC FOCUS)

"Greg Egan has no equal in the field of hard SF novels. His themes are cosmic with galactic civilizations and plots spanning millennia. Compelling throughout, [Incandescence] contrasts some fascinating moral quandaries of knowing decadence with the mind-expanding discoveries of isolated peasants and eventually blends its narrative threads in a surprising twist." (Tony Lee STARBURST)

In his hard science fiction novels, Greg Egan isn't afraid to tackle high concepts, and as the afterword to Incandescence shows, he has drawn inspiration from the most up to date scientific thinking. (DREAMWATCH)

Sheer exuberance of invention. The way Egan writes it, the Amalgem feels like the only possible future, and the future looks just fine from here. (INTERZONE Jim Steel)

Book Description:

The master of hard SF returns with a riveting tale of hope and discovery

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0575081627
• ISBN 13: 9780575081628
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304