Incandescence

Greg Egan

May 2008 · Start Publishing LLC

About this ebook

The long-awaited new novel from Greg Egan! Hugo Award-winning author Egan returns to the field with Incandescence, a new novel of hard SF.
The Amalgam spans nearly the entire galaxy, and is composed of innumerable beings from a wild variety of races, some human or near it, some entirely other. The one place that they cannot go is the bulge, the bright, hot center of the galaxy. There dwell the Aloof, who for millions of years have deflected any and all attempts to communicate with or visit them. So when Rakesh is offered an opportunity to travel within their sphere, in search of a lost race, he cannot turn it down.
Roi is a member of that lost race, which is not only lost to the Amalgam, but lost to itself. In their world, there is but toil, and history and science are luxuries that they can ill afford.
Rakesh's journey will take him across millennia and light years. Roi's will take her across vistas of learning and discovery just as vast.

Ratings and reviews

I found this to be a compelling and beautiful read. Thirty six times thirty six. Despite many other reviews on Incandescence and Egan's other works I find the characters to be relatable despite their alien nature, the plot interesting despite the almost lecture style scientific dialect throughout. At the end of this book, I realized I was going to miss Roi and Rakesh. While it's certainly the intention that you fill in the gaps in the Aloof timeline, I would still be interested in reading a sequel or more following their history.

About the author

Greg Egan is the author of the acclaimed SF novels Diaspora, Quarantine, Permutation City, and Teranesia. He has won the Hugo Award as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His short fiction has been published in a variety of places, including Interzone, Asimov’s, and Nature. Egan holds a BSC in Mathematics from the University of Western Australia, and currently lives in Perth.