Icarus

by Roger Levy

In this exemplary work of pyschological acuity, the reader encounters a world where mankind has reached deep space. Separated from Earth and each other by unimaginable reaches of stars, forced to adapt to various diverse plantetary environments, the colonies have become isolated and inward looking, forgetting their pasts, losing touch with their humanity—that is, until a mysterious ship is found locked in the deep rock by a mining team, sparking a deadly conspiracy that threatens man wherever he is.

Genres: Science Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2006

About the author

I live in London. I'm married with two children. My third novel, Icarus, was shortlisted for BSFA best novel of 2007. My latest, The Rig, is published by Titan.
My other interests include photography and jazz. As I'm red/green colourblind, I especially love black & white photography, and jazzwise, I naturally like the blues. I especially love the cover of The Rig, not just because it’s a thing of beauty and perfectly fits the story, but because I think I can see the colours.

Reviews

[John Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all of Roger Levy's books (though there are only four of them so this isn't a great achievement) and I have just reread Icarus for an SFF reading group I belong to. When I first read it in 2006 I thought it was wonderful. Rereading it now, 16 years later, I still liked it but I am more aware of its flaws.

Levy's books are all packed with wonderful ideas, and Icarus is no exception. I loved the first three quarters of the book as Levy gradually revealed the plot to the reader. It's one of those books where at first you have no idea what is going on and the pieces gradually come together as you read. I found the gradual development of the character "Cap" to be mesmerising.

The problem is that Levy has a tendency to let the action get away from him towards the end of his books, and in Icarus as in his other books the last few chapters felt a bit ragged and uncontrolled. The book doesn't come to a climax. Rather it stutters to a halt leaving the reader a little unsatisfied.

Despite this I still recommend this book if only for the wonderful ideas it contains. And if you like this book I also recommend his other three books, Reckless Sleep, Dark Heavens and The Rig.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has two main issues, and bizarrely they're the opposites of each other. The novel follows cohorts of characters on three separate worlds, with no apparent link between any of them. It's frustrating spending 30 pages with one character, jumping to another and then another and then finally making it back to the first world only to be introduced to yet another stranger. The passage of time is marked poorly within and between the worlds, and it takes a while to work out exactly when events are happening, which brings confusion when the characters do finally meet up.

Then, in the final 100 pages everything starts to come together and the book sheds it's diffuse nature for a direct, bare-bones ending. Characters meet, travel and die without preamble. Men from different worlds instantly team up to destroy a government, nothing happens unless it explicitly advances the plot. This "and then" style of writing is a sprint to the finish line, but with so many one-dimensional characters driving the story it's probably a godsend.

I really liked the worldbuilding on Haven and enjoyed reading those sections. I think Haze is a lot more improbable; how can you have cars, air conditioning and beam weapons without an industrial society to produce and maintain them all? And have these workers entirely secret from the majority hunter gatherers?

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustrating to start, because of the way it begins 4 different, seemingly unconnected stories; but well worth getting through to the second half where everything begins to make sense.

[Maura Heaphy Dutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel with three narrative strands (which come together in quite an exciting conclusion in the final 100 or so pages) which, for me, was only about 1/3 completely successful.

There is fabulous world-building in the "Haven" sections, developing a great society that flows naturally from the challenges of of colonizing a savagely challenging planet, and relatable characters who are the offspring of that world, the only world they have ever known. Witty, too, in fair measure: I particularly loved the Haven residents misremembering of history, and mangling of words and phrases ... when we swear, for instance, we say "Crise!" It comes from crisis of course, we know that ... Levy does a great job of constructing a society that has only the most tenuous hold on its own past, due to the passage of time, the struggle of survival, and a deliberate policy of forgetting and obfuscating. I was particularly interested to learn, in Levy's Acknowledgements at the end, that he'd done research into the history of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge as the starting point for his Haven.

The other two strands are, IMHO, much less successful, in varying degrees. The "Haze" chapters feel like a Very Special Edition of an M. Night Shyamalan story: a jungle planet occupied by a medieval hunter/gatherer society, which is riven by tribal wars, and lorded over by sadistic overlords who steal the natives' children to supplement their numbers, and seem to have access to a much higher level of tech. It was ok, but felt more like a fantasy story than the much more historically organic world-building of Haven. A punch-line, in search of a story ...

And the "Cap" sections ... well, true confession: Reader, I skipped them. After the first couple, I found the voice of the unreliable narrator gratingly boring and repetitive. Right: evil genius (a televagelical preacher, no less), being completely disgusting, self-pitying and self-serving; plotting all sorts of things and probably going to be revealed as the Big Bad responsible for all the goings on on Haven and Haze. Got it. Don't really need to know much more. I probably missed out a little fine detail of the Big Reveal, by not reading those chapters, but I honestly don't think so.

The final 100 or so pages are just great -- genuinely exciting, and quite moving as (trying to avoid Spoilers, here) the scales fall from the eyes of various of the characters. One or two reviewers have commented that it's all a little too pat, easy and sudden, and I can see why anyone might feel that way -- but I think it's only in contrast to the ultra-slow of slow burns and (seemingly) inconsequential meanderings in the 300 pages that precede it. I wish an editor had suggested that Levy speed it up just a bit, make clearer the hints about the interconnectedness of the three strands. (For example, until almost the end, there is nothing that hints at the true horror of Haze, and how the nasty overlords could possibly manage to pull off their generations-long gaslighting of the population. I really think more should have been made of that, from an earlier point in the narrative.)

[David G Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a writer. How this chap isn't more popular is beyond me. I've loved every book I've read of his. 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me.. just read it!!!!.....

[Nick Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird story of evangelical preacher who leads his followers to another planet. Dreadfully slow and uninteresting. DNF

[Michael Kubat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning! If, like me, you read fast and skim a bit, you'll never get the gist of this book. It took me two rereads to really get it. You really need to read it line by line and consider each sentence, but Levy writes so well and his plot and characters are so convincing, that it is worth the effort.

Not published in the US. I only have the book because I found it in one of the Australian campsite paperback exchanges. Urgently need to find his other books...

[thegrandr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book. And it was so messed up that when i finished it i got rid of it to make room in my room. But now all i can think is that i wish i hadn't gotten rid of it and i knew this would happen but i did it anyway. damn.

[JJ Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of a slow burn of a novel - it begins quite confusingly with discordant story lines - some quite exciting in comparison to others, but it gradually builds to a cohesive ending. Overall I enjoyed the story and it was worth persevering.