Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Mar 07, 2017 Justine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, 2017-read

4.5 stars rounded up just for the amount of enjoyment I got from reading this.

I really loved this book. It does a great job of exploring fear of the other, and turning the reader's thoughts around on what the "right" response to a difficult situation might be.

The writing is easy to read and the characters very engaging. I'm not only eager to read the second book in The Glittering Edge Duology, I also plan to read the predecessor duology, Ruby's Song, that takes place in the same fictional world. ...more

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Jul 20, 2016 Lindsay rated it really liked it

In a distant future a society of spacefaring humans who mainly live in enormous space stations are faced with the return to their solar system of the Next, a machine society originally based on uploaded humans.

In this solar system humanity is recovering the Earth-like planet Lym from the abuses of their ancestors. Few humans live there, with the center of culture being the Glittering, the name for the collection of ships and space stations further out in the solar system. On Lym we have Charlie In a distant future a society of spacefaring humans who mainly live in enormous space stations are faced with the return to their solar system of the Next, a machine society originally based on uploaded humans.

In this solar system humanity is recovering the Earth-like planet Lym from the abuses of their ancestors. Few humans live there, with the center of culture being the Glittering, the name for the collection of ships and space stations further out in the solar system. On Lym we have Charlie Windar, an exemplary ranger who is deeply devoted to his job and the planet. In the Glittering we have Nona Hall, an heiress with good relations to some of the Glittering leadership who is about to visit Lym. Further out on the Edge of Glittering space, we have Chrystal and her wife and two husbands on the space station High Sweet Home, who are all about to have a very bad time of it as the Next make their first major show of force since they were banished from the system centuries before.

What follows is a fascinating look at a society of uploaded intelligences, inter-system and inter-species politics and a deeply personal story besides as we go in-depth on the major characters and what motivates them, and in particular the relationships between Charlie and Nona and Nona and Chrystal.

The world-building is exquisite and the characters wonderful. The central issue around the Next, that of being uploaded humans, is really well handled with balanced discussion of what is gained in the process as well as what is lost. My only complaint with it all is that the Next are so overwhelmingly strong that the outcome here isn't very dramatic. When facing a situation of war and annihilation as opposed to either non-interference or collaboration, the choice seems pretty clear right from the outset.

I would recommend this book, with the slight caveat that it is the first in a sequel series to another duology which starts with The Creative Fire. While I was able to read this without having read the earlier series there were frequent references to events from the earlier series which didn't go into a lot of detail. I'm ok with not understanding all the references, but I know other readers who would be bothered by that. ...more

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Apr 20, 2017 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, x2017-read, auth-f

I really enjoyed this. I like being surprised when I read a book, and this story's characters didn't always do what I expected them to do. I liked the main PoV characters, Nona Hall, Charlie Windar and Chrystal. It was fascinating seeing the Next's return and expansion into human space and the ensuing conflict, both within the characters and between different humans. The Next, while kind of frightening, was also weirdly interesting. At least, particularly thanks to Chrystal and her family, and t ...more

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