#BlogTour - Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson

The colony ship Ragtime docks in the Lagos system, having traveled light-years from home to bring thousands of sleeping souls to safety among the stars. 

Some of the sleepers, however, will never wake – and a profound and sinister mystery unfolds aboard the gigantic vessel. Its skeleton crew make decisions that will have repercussions for the entire system – from the scheming politicians of Lagos station to the colony planet of Bloodroot, to other far flung systems and indeed Earth itself.

‘Space is the Brink of Death’

I really was not expecting this. I have never read Tade Thompson before but the description of FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN promised a slice of exciting space opera, and it is an entertaining read. I was not expecting to be drawn in so deeply, to become so invested in the characters, to discover one of my favourite reads of the year.

Ostensibly a locked door murder investigation set in space, FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN is a thrilling, puzzling mystery novel, an incredibly well written and satisfying one, but it is so, so much more. Michelle ‘Shell’ Campion is an inexperienced captain of a ship taking a ten year journey to the colony planet of Bloodroot. It is pretty much a ceremonial position as the ship is really piloted by the AI that controls all its functions. On waking however, Shell discovers several of the cryogenically suspended passengers dead, cut to pieces to the extent that it is impossible to confirm how many bodies she has found. Aided by Fin, an investigator dispatched from Bloodroot, Shell starts to piece together the evidence, despite a seemingly compromised AI, but soon finds she and her companions are fighting for their lives. 

The mystery is as gripping as the best noir, Thompson proving to be a great storyteller and the plot races breathlessly. But he also draws on his Nigerian, Yoruba heritage to comment on colonialism, on capitalism, on race and our treatment of ‘others’. The characters are fully rounded and totally believable, funny, frustrating, realistic. There are no absolutes, no archetypes. When the ‘villain’ is revealed, the reader is both horrified and sympathetic, the events which lead to the climax of the novel truly tragic.

I thoroughly loved FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN and doubt I would have discovered the book, or the author, without the invitation to take part in the BlogTour. So thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers, @Tr4cyF3nt0n, and Orbit Books, @orbitbooks for the opportunity to take part and I really look forward to discovering Tade Thompson’s Rosewater series.