142. Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin
Review
“Dying of the Light” by George R. R. Martin is a book set on a dying planet, far from Earth. It is a deeply melancholic book, which greatly resembles a modern version of a great tragedy. It is a book, which describes the ending of things in general; culture, planets, relationships. Somehow, it feels very depressing to describe it afterwards. Yet, somehow I find it is an amazing book. Obviously, one has to deal with a great deal of melancholy, but if this is possible the true power of the book lies in the world-building and the depth of the Kavalaar-culture, which is described in the book. It is a very complete description of a world-view of an alien humanoid race, which is strongly driven by honour.
The book itself is quite straight-forward to read, yet George R. R. Martin has never been an author, who is shy of facing grand emotions or decisions and seeing that this is his first novel, I can see that it is not something he has acquired over the years, quite the contrary. The scale of the story is in itself not grand, but the universe he’s built certainly feels that way. If it wasn’t for his legendary status of being excruciatingly slow at finishing things, I’d wish for him to continue to write books in this well-crafted universe and learn more of the different cultures and their interactions. I found that the characters were also quite well-written, because they portray three archetypes of behaviour relative to a relationship. Perhaps, it is quite male-oriented, but on the other hand, that is somehow the whole point of the book - Portraying different behaviours or perhaps outcomes.
Reading the book made me consider which books I’d compare it to and the first one that comes to my is “Ringworld” by Larry Niven, which it is in many ways very similar to. It also bears quite a resemblance to “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons and is probably a mixture between the two. The Kavalaar is comparable to the Klingon culture from Star Trek. If you add a bit of the world-building from “Helliconia” by Brian Aldiss and mix in a bit of brutality and you’ve pretty much gotten “Dying of the Light”.
Score: 9/10
Personally, I loved the book. I found it thoroughly interesting and entertaining. Though, the book might be considered depressing, I found that it takes inspiration from a great tragedy and it is not often that an author manages to portray something that is somehow interesting and beautiful in the darkness that it attempts to express. The book itself feels like an introspective view by the author, who describes the darkness left behind by a love that has been lost. Obviously, if you’re looking for something upbeat and cheerful, this is definitely not the book you’re looking for.