Engines of Light by Ken Mcleod

Engines of Light is a science fiction trilogy written by Ken Mcleod and consists of Cosmonaut Keep (nominated for the Hugo and Arthur C Clarke awards), Dark Light (nominated for the John W Campbell award) and Engine City.

This trilogy is excellent. It's the kind of story you're glad to finish but at the same time sad. The first and third books are fantastic, and although the second can be somewhat slow, it's still worth reading.

Macleod's character development is immaculate. It's the relationships between them that make this story so good. One aspect, however, which did bore me occasionally was the political side of it, which was quite frequently refered to... although, looking at it now, I can see why it was necessary.

Some of the ideas he includes are fascinating, and many completely original such as the 'Gods', which are best described near the beginning of Book three - Engine City.

This is a story you'd be wise to follow from the start, as many of the concepts require the entire trilogy to completely grasp.

I'm not sure whether I would read them again - I think once is enough - however I could see why some people might. tc's review was very helpfull in reasuring me on some areas, as due to the richness of the story many things are plunged into your head before others have time to settle. Generally though, the book is very well-paced, and can be a real page-turner at times.

I would rate the overall story as 9/10 and character development as 10/10

P.S. I would heavily recommend Ken Macleod to fans of Iain M Banks, as they are very similar authors.

reviews in the series

Engine City

by Ken Mcleod

Engine City is the third volume in the Engines of Light series by Ken Mcleod.

I've been holding back on reading this the last book in the Engines of Light series, as I was rather disappointed with the second book. Luckily Newton's Wake was a wonderful book, as it gave me the strength to take on MacLeod and Engine City. And a good thing that is!

First of all, I have to mention that this is the first book I've read on my PalmOne PDA (a Tungsten T3). I'm not sure if...

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reviewed on Sunday 15 August 2004

Dark Light

by Ken Mcleod

Dark Light is the second volume in the Engines of Light series by Ken Mcleod.

This is the first time that I've had any kind of doubt as to what I should write about a MacLeod book. Normally I would just heap words of praise upon other words of praise, until it hit a fitting length for a book review. I'm afraid that it isn't quite that easy with Dark Light. The last quarter of the book is absolutely perfect, but the first three quarters lacked that special something that I've co...

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reviewed on Monday 01 October 2001

Cosmonaut Keep

by Ken Mcleod

Cosmonaut Keep is the first volume in the Engines of Light trilogy by Ken Mcleod.

This is the first book in a brand new universe, called "Engines of Light", and as that the first book that MacLeod has written outside the universe of Star Fraction and Cassini Division. As I've understood it the universe behind the "old" books kind of evolved, as it was needed, with no major planning done in advance. There has be more planning involved in the Engines of Light universe (I asked hi...

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reviewed on Tuesday 01 August 2000