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    Lightless
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    Lightless
    Audiobook11 hours

    Lightless

    Written by C.A. Higgins

    Narrated by Fiona Hardingham

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED AND KIRKUS REVIEWS • With deeply moving human drama, nail-biting suspense-and bold speculation informed by a degree in physics-C. A. Higgins spins a riveting science fiction debut guaranteed to catapult readers beyond their expectations.
     
    Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond-not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship's electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.
     
    While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner-the enigmatic Ivan-may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities' most relentless surveillance-and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.
     
    As the ship's systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner's layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan's mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever-if it doesn't kill her first.

    Praise for Lightless
     
    "Gripping . . . sci-fi flavored with a hint of thriller."-New York Daily News
     
    "[A] measured, lovely science-fiction debut [that is] more psychological thriller . . . contained, disciplined, tense . . . The plot is compulsive. . . . Lightless is the first of a planned series, and you can't help looking forward to learning what's next."-The New York Times

    "Lightless is full of suspense and fun as hell to read."-BuzzFeed

    "Absolutely brilliant . . . This is science fiction as it is meant to be done: scientific concepts wedded to and built upon human ideals."-Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye series

    "The stakes in this story are high-life and death, rebellion and betrayal-and debut novelist Higgins continually ratchets up the tension. . . . A suspenseful, emotional story that asks plenty of big questions about identity and freedom, this is a debut not to be missed."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

    "A taut, suspenseful read."-Tech Times

    "Lightless is an exercise in lighting a very slow fuse and building the tension to an unbearable pitch while making us guess just how apocalyptic the ultimate explosion will be. . . . It is a high-wire act, a wonderment, and a fine accomplishment from a name we'll be seeing again."-Sci Fi


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 29, 2015
    ISBN9781101926550
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Lightless

    3.5/5

    151 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The style of this author was jarringly dissimilar to several recent books I've enjoyed. It took me a short while to get into the flow, but the author brought tension early, then continued building suspense through to the conclusion of the story. Very original story, I felt as clueless as the crew of the ship throughout the novel, wondering at every turn what would come next. Overall excellent listen, and I'm looking forward to the next novel in the Lightless universe.
    • 5/5
      Starts a little slow but then gains speed with good character difinition.
    • 5/5
      Great piece of scifi. Well written, well read and overall very enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      Diversity of female characters with a strong overall storyline. Flags a little bit in the middle but then picks up pace and gallops to a well constructed end.
    • 3/5
      This book was okay. The beginning and end were good but the middle just dragged on and was boring.

      I was going to go into greater detail about what I didn't like about the book, but most of the reviews have already covered that. I can say that by the end of the book, I really had no feelings towards the characters, I didn't care what happened to them. I didn't pick a side who I was rooting for. That was my thought when I got to the end of the book.

      I won this book in a giveaway.


    • 3/5
      Fine. Too suspense thriller and not enough actual sci-fi exploration of humanity and awareness. I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. I might continue the series but it's not a priority for me.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Gripping. Written in an easy and engaging rhythm, the plot unfolds evenly, calms down a bit and then delivers a final bunch of twists.It has been some time a book didn't hook me like this. It shows that well-known ingredients can still produce engaging stories.
    • 4/5
      Lightless, the compelling science fiction debut of C. A. Higgins, will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. The story begins when a huge ship manned by a 3-person crew is invaded by terrorists. One of the storylines follows Ida Stays, a government interrogator, who uses psychological tactics to try to extract information from a captured terrorist. The other storyline focuses on Althea, the ship’s mechanic, who tries to solve one problem after another caused by a virus the terrorists introduced into the ship’s computer. Althea and Ida often find themselves at cross purposes, but young and naive Althea does a remarkable job of holding her own against the seasoned, high-ranking government official. I found myself reading at top speed, unable to put the book down, especially during the second half of the book where I simply had to know how it all turns out. There are many twists and turns, but the author doesn’t give away her ending until the final two pages. Science fiction readers may find that this book starts a little slow, but it soon picks up and ends with a bang.
    • 1/5
      When I saw this book compared to Gravity and Alien, I had to check it out. I seem to be the minority when it comes to this book and not liking it. I am a fan of sci-fi stories so I was very bummed that this book was such a downer for me. There was nothing entertaining about the story, the characters, or even the location. I got to almost part 2 of this book and put it down. I actually had to force myself to pick this book up again. This is because I still at this point had high hopes that the book would pick up for me and the second time around would produce better results. Nope. No such results. I read a few more chapters and then found myself skipping parts to make it go faster. I finally skimming the last few chapters to see how the book ended but with no real interest.
    • 4/5
      The Ananke and its 3 member crew are on a secret mission for the System, an organization that has taken control over the solar system. Things turn to disorder when the ship is boarded unexpectedly by two men who are wanted for theft crimes and possible connections with the Malt-y-Nos, a terrorist, who is seeking the destruction of the system. The two men, Ivan and Mattie, are captured when Althea, the mechanic of the ship, becomes aware of their presence. Mattie escapes and in the process manipulates the computer of the Ananke causing chaos. Althea tries to control the computer but every step she takes to fix it seems to backfire and cause more chaos. In the meantime Ida Stays, a favorite of the System, boards the ship to question the two fugitives because she is convinced they are involved with plans to start a rebellion. Between the ships erratic behavior and Ivan not cooperating, Ida begins to lose patience and then she figures out who the Malt-y-Nos is and seals the fate of all those on board. I thoroughly enjoyed this sci-fi tale of rebellion against an overly authoritative bureaucracy and the computer becoming a sentient being and helping thwart the system. Characters were well constructed and likable yet unlikable; they felt very real even the sentience of the Ananke
    • 5/5
      I felt very much for Althea, a computer engineer on a top-secret spaceship built by an authoritarian government for a top-secret mission. She keeps her head down so as to not make waves in a culture where everything you do your entire life is recorded and analyzed by someone you don't know but are sure doesn't have your best interest in mind. It's the way everybody has to live, and there are constant rebellions, large and small. Into Altheas' world comes the most disruptive force, which leaves her computer, the one she designed that tries to control chaos and reverse entropy, changed. Changed beyond her comprehension and beyond her control. This happens just as the final rebellion is undertaken. What happens next is in the future, but it will be interesting.
    • 4/5
      I liked it. Very grim world view. Believable for the most part.
    • 4/5
      Another one of those books where I kept going back and forth trying to decide if I should give it 3 stars or 4. In the end I felt 4 was best since it was a better than average book which is what 3 stars is so for me. Some things to like and some I didn't in the debut scifi thriller. The first 2/3 of the book were a bit slow. The publisher's description said it was Gravity meets Alien. I don't blame the author for that, but wish they did't make that comparison because for me it definitely wasn't. For a scifi book I kind of hoped for a little more science too. Especially from an author who has a physics degree from Cornell. Now on what I did like. As I said the first part was slow, but the author really hit her stride and the last 1/3 of the book flew by! I was not expecting the twist or the change into basically a thriller novel. As a science fan I did enjoy the science that was in there. I didn't realize until I was almost done that this is just book one with two planned sequels. That said it did end at a satisfying point and left me curious enough to want to know where it goes next. I will be checking out book two for sure.
    • 2/5
      I picked this up because the I saw that the main character shares my name. ;-)
      And because I love sci-fi. So, I was predisposed to love the book. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to.

      The premise: Three crewmembers are aboard an experimental spacecraft, on a top-secret mission, about which even they do not know all the details. The action begins when they discover and capture two men who have illicitly boarded their craft. Are the men simple burglars or space pirates? Or are they affiliated with an infamous terrorist group which intends to bring down the entire interstellar empire known as The System?

      The System sends a senior investigator, Ida Stays, to interrogate the prisoners. Before she gets there, one of them escapes. He's presumed dead - but the investigator is none too pleased. However, at least she's still got one captive to question.

      And then... well, the bulk of the book is the inquisitor (a completely two-dimensional character) questioning the guy, and what he tells her. He's mystifyingly forthcoming, sitting down and blabbing his life story, even though Ida's much-vaunted interrogation techniques don't seem to consist of much more than: "Talk to me. And if I think you're lying, I'll give you a truth serum."

      Meanwhile, there seems to be a ghost in the machine - that machine being the ship's AI. Althea, the engineer/computer tech, bumbles around trying to fix things, getting emotional about the situation, and trying to cover up how very confused she is about the malfunctions.

      Well... that's about it. I felt like I kept waiting for the story to get started but it never did. The style of the writing felt like it ought to be a not-too-deep but entertaining & exciting space opera... but we just all sat there on a malfunctioning ship, with some people talking.

      It's been mentioned in multiple other reviews, but I'm also compelled to chime in that the publisher's blurb comparing this to 'Alien' and 'Gravity' is wholly baseless. All three stories do take place in space, and feature astronauts. That's where the similarities end.

      Many thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
    • 3/5
      Ignore the blurb, because if you're looking for Alien or Gravity here, you're going to be disappointed. This is, instead, a claustrophobic thriller set on a very unique spacecraft. The story itself is interesting, but I felt the characters and the world-building could use a little more development. How did the System come to be? How did the Ananke get developed? Who were Domitian and Gagnon and Althea when they were not Ananke's crew members? Why was Ida the way she was? The only character I felt was really explored and the only one that had some real depth, was Ivan, but most of our time was spent with Althea. It is my hope that, if Althea makes an appearance in book two, she will be allowed to develop more as a person.

      t was a highly-entertaining read that I enjoyed throughout--I'll definitely pick up the sequel--but it is a first novel from a young writer, and that shows quite clearly in places.
    • 3/5
      The publisher describes this book as "The deeply moving human drama of Gravity meets the nail-biting suspense of Alien in this riveting science fiction debut." There should be more attention paid to truth in advertising, because this book is absolutely nothing like either of those movies. It is more like a non-suspenseful mashup of a potential terrorist plot and artificial intelligence gone awry.In this book the spaceship the Ananke, designed for secret scientific research, has a three person crew consisting of Domitian, the captain, Gagnon, the supervising scientist, and Althea, the engineer. The Ananke is invaded by intruders who arrive via the spaceship Annwn. (As an aside, we also have a truth serum called Aletheia. It would have been helpful if some of these names started with a different letter.) Ivan, one of the intruders, is captured and Ida, an intelligence officer who is convinced that Ivan is part of a terrorist plot and not just a thief, arrives to interrogate him.The story is primarily told from Althea's point of view and takes place in some unspecified future date when the universe is under the control of a vaguely described System. There is zero world building in this book. It's good to know, though, that even in the future female intelligence agents are still wearing bright red lipstick and tottering around in high heels and that female engineering officers are still the weak emotional members of the team. Such a disappointment from a female author. To be fair, the men in this book aren't breaking any new ground either. The book felt like a padded short story. The pacing was very slow for the first two thirds of the book. There was no action or suspense nor were there any interesting personalities or ideas to keep me motivated. All Althea did was try to fix a computer malfunction caused by the intruders and the other two crewmen did even less. There were endless interrogation scenes in which nothing was revealed. I'm surprised that I kept reading, but there was enough of a glimmer of an interesting story to make me want to find out how it turned out. The pace did pick up considerably and the book became exciting and suspenseful in the last third of the book. That should have been the short story. In addition to the pacing there were two other problems for me with this book. First, I don't have much patience with stories about anthropomorphized computers unless they are written better than was the case here. Second, Althea made a very weak protagonist. She was on the verge of tears or angry (or both) at all times. She was gullible, easily manipulated and none too bright. How did she get her job?The book wasn't terrible but I don't think I will seek out this author again. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Set in a future that feels like Orwell's 1984 but with spaceships, this is a bit dark for my taste. I can't say I connected with any of the characters or factions. It is an entertaining bit of space opera, though.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This story takes place in a mysterious spaceship in deep space on an unknown mission. There is a crew of three on board . The ship is supposedly the most powerful spacecraft that the repressive government has developed. Yet it is has no armed guards .This makes it easily boarded and sabotaged by two boarders. The remainder of the novel is about how the sabotage affects the ship and a larger issue of if this act is the opening gambit in a larger plot to over turn the government. This is an attempt at a psychological thriller. It works on some levels. The interactions between the naive engineer and a roguish prisoner work. Yet the interactions between interrogator that is brought on board, and the prisoner seemed formulated. The larger plot to over throw the government seems to be thrown in and developed at the last minute in order to justify a sequel.

      Overall I enjoyed the novel. I liked the claustrophobic feel the writing gave. The novel gives a deeply personal aura. It has the bones of potentially decent space opera. Yet this book has a lot of obvious flaws. Why do you have a powerful spaceship crewed by only three people? Given the small crew why did they let an unknown spacecraft get close enough to board them? Why was so complex a ships AI so easily sabotaged? Given the unknown location of the ship how is it that so many spaceships were able to locate it? Hopefully the next book won't have these flaws.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book is absolutely fantastic. If you like science fiction at all, you should read it. It is dark in the best possible way.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      The Ananke, a top-secret experimental spaceship, is boarded by a couple of pirates/con men/thieves. One of the criminals escapes, but not before doing something to the ship's computer. The other is captured and questioned at length by a ruthless interrogator who is convinced he has ties to a high-profile terrorist, but she's so focused on getting the truth out of him that she's clearly not paying as much attention as she should to the increasing computer malfunctions, or to the ship's mechanic's protests that something is seriously wrong.It sounds like a good, interesting setup, and the plot is clearly trying to be clever and twisty. But it just failed to work for me on far too many levels. The pace was slow, with almost nothing happening for much of the book, until a bunch of plot revelations -- many of them far too easy to guess in advance -- get dumped on us all at once at the end. The writing, while not bad, exactly, felt slightly odd or awkward to me, in a hard-to-pin-down way that had me double-checking to see if it had been translated from another language. (It hadn't.) Too much important world-building stuff is left entirely too vague and underdeveloped, while a lot of other story elements, from the minor to the plot-critical, felt implausible or just plain wrong. It ends on an not-very-satisfying note, too, presumably to induce us to buy the sequel (which I am not going to do). Most damning of all, I never felt, from the first page on, that I had any reason at all to care about these people, their ship, or their solar system.Rating: 2/5, although it does occur to me to wonder if I'd be less harsh on it if my expectations were lower going in. I'd heard some good buzz about this one that steered me very, very wrong.
    • 4/5
      Two thieves with terrorist connections break into a top-secret research spaceship run by the all-knowing, tyrannical System. As the engineer tries to fix whatever they did to the ship’s computer, which is making it behave erratically, an inquisitor interrogates one of the thieves. She knows that he’s her best lead to the terrorist leader, and if she doesn’t get good information out of him, her career and probably her life will end. If you like reading about good people (and some bad ones, like the inquisitor) who are loyal to bad institutions, and don’t mind a bit of extremely convenient plotting, this is a good read.
    • 5/5
      I don't get the publisher's hype about the book being like Alien and Gravity, but as any number of others have done a better job of explaining what the book is about, giving away the plot, and all the other wonderful things people do to “review” a book, I will leave that alone. My review will be limited to this man's opinion that it is science fiction; and good sifi at that. Like good sifi it is a commentary on the future state of civilization. It appears the author believes terrorism in the name of equality will be with mankind for a long time to come. Also, and not one of the reviews I've read mentioned, the birth of AI, an explanation of how it happened, and some foreshadowing of what may be in store for its creators is integral to the plot, and I hope the basis of any sequels.I enjoyed reading the book, the plot was unique, especially in explaining the creation of AI, and should leave the author with several starting points for sequels should that be her wish. Thanks for the chance to read your work, I'll be recommending it to my contacts.
    • 3/5
      Things are claustrophobic in the Solar System of a few centuries hence.There’s room, plenty of room. Man lives on Earth, Luna, Mars and various planetoids and moons.People used to live on Saturn’s moons too – before they rebelled against the System, and it killed them all.Rebellion persists, though, in a shadowy figure, the Mallt-y-Nos, and her organization.When stowaways Leontios Ivanov and Mattie Gale are captured aboard the System’s supersecret spaceship the Ananke, System security agent Ida Stays is sent aboard to interrogate Ivanov. She is convinced he knows who Mallt-y-Nos is.The best part of the story is Higgins skillfully filling in the backstory mostly through those interrogation sessions.She restricts herself, for most of the book, to three viewpoint characters: Ida, Ivanov, and the story’s heroine, engineer and computer scientist Althea Bastet.There is a claustrophobic feel to the story because we never leave the Ananke and because the characters are always cautious about the emotions and thoughts they express because, like everywhere else humans live in the Solar System, they are watched by the System.The various plots and subplots come together perhaps too neatly at the end, but I particularly liked the final chapters.The overarching problem with Higgins’ story is vagueness. We’re not sure if the System is a government headed by an artificial intelligence or humans or a combination of both. The details of the government are vague. The justification for what happens in the final chapter is vague.And the marketing for this book is misleading. It is not a “’locked spaceship’ mystery”. It is more a haunted spaceship mystery. Higgins, trained as an astrophysicist, does not give us “bold speculation”. The secret ability of the black-hole powered Ananke? It can reverse entropy. Certainly useful, but we don’t even get pseudoscientific babble as an explanation.Presumably some of these questions will be answered in the sequel, and I found this book good enough that I will probably take a look at it.
    • 4/5
      The spaceship Ananke is a ‘miracle of engineering, a miracle of physics, a miracle of computing’. Despite its size, the ship requires only three crewmembers, Domitian, its captain and two maintenance crew, Gagnon and Althea. Althea knows and loves this miracle ship as if it was her child but it soon becomes clear that something is wrong with Ananke. The ship should be impenetrable but two intruders manage to somehow make their way onto it. One of them is caught but the other manages to escape. Intelligence officer Ida Stays arrives to interrogate the prisoner who may or may not be aligned with a terrorist group known as the Mallt-y-Nos. Then the ship begins to malfunction and no matter what Althea tries, she can’t seem to find the source of the problem – she is losing control of her beloved ship. Lightless by author C.A. Higgins seemed to start out slow at least for me and I almost gave up on it. But then, somewhere near the middle, without even realizing it had happened, I found myself completely engrossed in the story and couldn’t put it down. The narrative for much of the book is split between Stay’s interrogation of the intruder and Althea’s efforts to discover what is causing all of the ship’s malfunctions. The fact that the entire story takes place on the ship within narrow corridors, windowless rooms, a makeshift cell and maintenance shafts gives the story an overpowering sense of claustrophobia. Add to this the tension which is strengthened by the chaos that takes over Ananke and is magnified by the physical limits placed on it – the visual and auditory sensations created by lights flickering, alarms wailing, and the very loud tantrums of a very powerful teenaged computer counterposed with Althea’s frantic attempts to save her ship and Stay’s interrogation- and the impact on the reader is almost visceral. Lightless is a very well-written, intelligent, and compelling scifi novel. I didn’t realize until after I finished it but this is the first in a series - if this first book is any indication, this series is shaping up to be one hell of a ride.
    • 3/5
      This book is OK and will keep you amused for a few hours or so. Ivan, Ida and Althea are well presented, the others not so much, and the final chapters are a bit more hectic than they need to be but that's pretty common these days.I am skeptical, though, that "The System" (a Big Brother lookalike) could really maintain surveillance and control over the entire solar system from a base on Earth. There are some loose ends in the story that the editors should have caught - specifically that bit about destabilizing the solar system with the new drive.I received a review copy of "Lightless" by C.A. Higgins (Del Rey Spectra) through NetGalley.com.