[note note_color=”#FCFBE9″ text_color=”#000000″]Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente • October 20, 2015 • Tor Books
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Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own, from the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Severin Unck’s father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father’s films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.
But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony’s last survivor, Severin will never return.
Aesthetically recalling A Trip to the Moon and House of Leaves, and told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Tor Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “Come forward.”
How do I even begin to describe to you the beauty of Radiance? This book left me incapable of articulating words that could perfectly convey to you its imaginative space world, different narrative forms, the old-timey radio quality, and the mystery of Severin Unck that troubles the book. I don’t think anything I could say would do this book a justice, but I will try because wow, this book, guys. Absolute book hangover.
Spanning from the 1920s to the late 60s, Radiance imagines an alternate universe where people live on the Moon and the film industry has barely made any progress due to Edison’s strict business practices that keeps motion picture technology from people. You’ll find: an epic space noir mystery about a headstrong documentary filmmaker, Severin Unck, who had disappeared after visiting Venus with her film crew to investigate the disappearance of a diving colony and the mysterious alien-like callowhales; old glamour Hollywood; layers and layers of characters performing and crafting stories, trying to make sense of the terrible; an alternate solar system where it’s like a playground for Severin to film and discover; different narrative techniques like gossip rags and movie scripts; a deep appreciation for storytelling and filmmaking; and so much more.
