Reading Light is quite the experience. Oftentimes it feels like Harrison is indifferent to entertaining his reader. The reader is a spectator to what is happening and serves the functional role of having the story become some small part of them, for better or worse. It's not so much contempt for the reader as it is disinterest. That can understandably be off-putting both in attitude and stylistic effect. The narrative doesn't much care whether the reader has any idea of what's going on or why it matters. Some of what it means is stated, but the specific details are mostly left for the reader to speculate upon and attempt to make inferences and associations. That doesn't make it a puzzle, in which its purpose is to be solved, so much as an exercise in apophenia. Maybe it's meaningful, or maybe it isn't. My thought process was all over the place, especially about cats and names. There are many references.

Usually I'd write some sort of synopsis to start with, but I don't believe that's needed this time. You can find that easily enough if it's what you need as a hook. This isn't a character driven book. The characters matter, but they aren't the ones making the decisions, or if they are, their free will isn't meaningful. The "plot" is what determines everything. If you need the characters to be likeable, have a lot of agency, be well-developed, or experience much growth, you won't find it here. There's a considerable amount of philosophy, which I surely didn't understand much of, let alone what relevance it has, aside from that dualities are prominent. The story alternates between three different perspectives and times. Science is present as well, in that extreme technologies are used and that it's advanced to the point where it may as well be magic for some things. Is it ultimately technobabble? I don't know. It does state that everything is possible, even when theories are mutually exclusive.

Light is New Weird Cyberpunk Space Opera. That's being reductive, as it doesn't seem to know any boundaries. There's various elements of horror, mystery, thriller, romance, and other genres. It's absurd and surreal, comedic and tragic. It may try to be too much all at once. There's an abundance of sex and masturbation, which is much more notable for its frequency than its eroticism. The relationships are dysfunctional and tenuous.

As shown by its rating distribution, its readership doesn't know what to think about it. I'm not exempt from that. What I do know is that I'll read the rest of the trilogy. I recommend reading it if you're willing to have an open mind and put in some effort trying to understand it. The ratings are all over the place so why not see how you feel about it? This is difficult to rate, but because it's such a different experience, though I don't how enjoyable of one, I'm giving it the benefit of rounding it up. Reading it definitely affected me.

Rating: 3.5/5