Dying of the Light – George R. R. Martin
I believe not many know of this first novel by George RR Martin, an unknown author destined for a bright career. Dying of the light is a work that has been fairly successful, resulting finalist both at the Hugo and at the British Fantasy Awards.
It is an ambitious and complex story that reveals the traits of the future writer of races and clans, a story set in an unforgettable world, Worlorn, a wanderer in the deep space, without light, cold and bleak, at least until the Wheel of Fire, the most amazing star system ever discovered, sheds light upon it for the first time.
A short, intense summer heats up Worlorn, to become the site of the Festival of the Margins, 14 races and planets, and to be visited by millions of people, at least until the darkness will return to dominate.
Sometimes the past comes back and overwhelms the safety of a whole life, bursting into the daily reality in strange ways: the lace that captures Dirk’t Larien is a tiny jewel. A gem of the soul, a pledge that led him to embark on a journey into the unknown, to his old love Gwen, to the planet Worlorn, a world that is about to slip back into a gloomy winter. Once arrived on the planet, Dirk collides with an unexpected reality, Gwen does not seem at all pleased to see him. Worse yet, the woman is permanently linked to Jaan Vikary and his “teyn” Garse, two noble High Kavalan, a world dominated by clan and rigid laws of honor, one of the most retrograde planets in the galaxy. So why did she send him their ancient pledge of love, knowing that he would come to her rescue?
As the planet moves away from Fat Satan, the giant red star that has given it an ephemeral but extraordinarily fruitful summer, Dirk will face a difficult situation, caught between Gwen who seems not to love him anymore, and the ferocity of some noble High Kalavan, for which he is just a phony, a prey to knock down. Dirk will have to take over his life and bring out resources he did not suspect the existence if he wants to get out alive from the complex situation in which he was dragged into by a little gem.
Dying of the Light had a different title at first, perhaps a bit more evocative: After the dark. Indeed, the darkness seems to dominate the story of Dirk and Gwen, their meeting on Worlon is the result of a deception, and the beginning of a slow descent into darkness. An inexorable flow of events will lead both to confront enormous dangers and with the reality of their consciences.
Ambitious and complex, the first novel by Martin entails some issues that the writer will face throughout his corpus of books, even if the narrative mechanism is not as smooth as in his later works. Some small imperfections do not ruin, though, the overall goodness of the complex plot. “Dying of the Light” is the conclusion of a long narrative cycle of stories from Martin. For this, there is a long dictionary of names and places. As always in these cases, the writer remains prisoner of a number of facts which must be taken into account and that encumbers the story.
This said, in this adventurous novel, the epic, the grandiose scenarios are accompanied by a psychological, careful construction of the characters. As in many works of Martin, there are no “good” and “bad” absolutes: the nobles Kalavaniani can be fierce and ruthless but still follow their code of honor; Dirk and Gwen should be free spirits, but their behavior is not free from cowardice and meanness.
The scenario is dominated by Worlorn, the lone wanderer planet, illuminated for a moment by the most extraordinary of stellar systems. The worlds of the Margin have sown with multiple forms of life during its approach to Fat Satan red star, they have built fourteen cities, and the headquarters of the fabulous Festival of Margins. The story takes place at the end of the festival, when few people remain to populate a planet that gets increasingly cold, and has started on a road to the end of which there is only darkness. Regrets and melancholy dominate the novel.
It’s a good book, and the advice is to read first thing the short glossary which explains many of the terms used in the novel and gives a vision of the worlds that populate the galaxy.
For all those who loved the science fiction writer Martin, his first novel is a must read.
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