Incandescence

Rating NR Genre sci-fi Author Greg Egan Publisher Night Shade Books

Incandescence, the long-awaited novel by science fiction writer Greg Egan, is much like his other works in that it is a paean to science.  Indeed, the entire plot is based on the idea that the road to scientific exploration and discovery leads to personal satisfaction.

Egan depicts two separate journeys on that road, that of Rakesh and Parantham and of Roi and Zak.  Rakesh and Parantham are two friends very much fascinated with the Aloof, a mysterious race of beings living in the bulge, which is the center of the galaxy.  The Aloof are just that; they recoil from any contact, both physical and digital communication, and they allow no one to pass through their world.  

Rakesh has spent much time feeling disappointed that his quest for knowledge has been fruitless, believing that his ancestors have discovered everything there is to know in the galaxy.  So, when a stranger approaches him and gives him the chance to leave his home and make contact with the Aloof, who are now seemingly ready to come face-to-face with outsiders, Rakesh is ecstatic.  Without hesitation, he seizes the opportunity, and Parantham is just as happy to join him for the journey.  They set out to find out why the Aloof have been so guarded, and what they want to reveal to them now.

In another world called the Splinter, insectoids live and breathe the drudgery of cultivating and harvesting the crops to maintain a constant food supply for the entire population.  There is no time for history or science. One insectoid named Roi labors as hard as she can with the others, but cannot shake the melancholy that comes with feeling that a life without intellectual pursuits is a dreary existence.  On the way home from her work one day, she meets Zak, a curious man of science, who intrigues her with his knowledge of physics.  He soon invites her to join him in studying the weight and motion changes on their world.  Roi, of course, knows that this will be a respite from the tedium to which she’s accustomed, and she gladly accepts his invitation.

This novel is decidedly not literary fiction.  The story reads like a technical report sprinkled with mildly interesting characters and mechanical lines of dialogue.  Even the dialogue lacks spirit because most of the conversations revolve around the laws of physics.  With any journey comes self-discovery, but there is hardly any character development here.  The “detective” aspect---learning physical and biological principles and pushing the frontiers of knowledge---should have been more suspenseful, but the journeys were slow and flat, and the discoveries seemed uneventful.  After finishing the book, readers will most likely be left with the feeling that they’ve just studied for a very grueling final exam.

Though Incandescence is not literary fiction, hard science fiction lovers will nevertheless devour this book.  With a descriptive style that can only come from a science-soaked intellectual mind, Egan proves that the language of science can be eloquent.  In the beginning when he describes the mating processes of the insectoids on the Splinter, the imagery is so interesting and vivid (resembling a scene in an animal kingdom documentary) that you will want to read it more than once.

If you’re new to hard science fiction, but your knowledge of advanced science is lacking (as mine is), you’ll get to learn nifty terms like panspermia and accretion disk.  However, most of the time you will be confused and bored because enjoyment of the story primarily depends on whether you have this knowledge.  

Egan’s “Afterword” provides scientific explanations for many of the concepts he explores in his novel.  For science lovers, this section will be a trove of interesting facts and resources on black holes and gravity.