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A review by jpjackson
Empire of Light by Alex Harrow
5.0
Every now and again you come across a book where you swear the author set about creating a list of words, a vernacular guide for their novel. It’s almost as if each word used within the story was carefully selected to fit the feel and style of the world being created in the book. This is how I felt reading Harrow’s Empire of Light.
Damian is our main character and a perfect example of a diamond in the rough. He’s a gun for hire, an outlaw, and madly in love with Aris – a relationship that constantly gets him into more trouble than seemingly it’s worth – but then, love conquers all, right?
There are twists and turns, political intrigue, gunfights, violence of all sorts, explosions, betrayals, deaths galore, all taking place in a broken down section of society that is described perfectly as nowhere you’d ever want to be. Harrow’s world-building skills are to be commended. The scenes in my head as I read the book were picture perfect and I have no doubt this would make a most entertaining visual should it ever be made into a Netflix original.
And then we have The Voyance. Throughout the story, we are treated to small snippets of wondrous, out-of-control magic (psionic abilities?), that seem random and unfocused until we progress through the book and find that those trained can tap into their abilities and accomplish great feats. Harrow has been clever with this element of magic. There’s always a danger that magic can solve all problems. In Empire of Light, the Voyance is to be feared as a dangerous disease. Those who have it are hunted and exterminated, or ‘cleansed’ leaving the individual a former shell of themselves (think lobotomy). Having the ability is also a death sentence, as the magic burns through your body, using it up. However, Harrow never really tells us where this ability arose from, or the history of it. We don’t really have a full understanding of its limitations or its strengths. Normally that’s a thorn that will stick in my side and drive me wild, but in this tale, it works. There’s a yearning now to know more.
Empire of Light is an extraordinary dystopian story. It is gritty and raw, and from the list of trigger warnings listed above, definitely not for the faint of heart. But if broken-down sci-fi set in a political nightmare, focusing on the most marginalized community, and seeing heroes arise is your jam, then get the peanut butter and bread, because this is one hell of a tasty sandwich.
Damian is our main character and a perfect example of a diamond in the rough. He’s a gun for hire, an outlaw, and madly in love with Aris – a relationship that constantly gets him into more trouble than seemingly it’s worth – but then, love conquers all, right?
There are twists and turns, political intrigue, gunfights, violence of all sorts, explosions, betrayals, deaths galore, all taking place in a broken down section of society that is described perfectly as nowhere you’d ever want to be. Harrow’s world-building skills are to be commended. The scenes in my head as I read the book were picture perfect and I have no doubt this would make a most entertaining visual should it ever be made into a Netflix original.
And then we have The Voyance. Throughout the story, we are treated to small snippets of wondrous, out-of-control magic (psionic abilities?), that seem random and unfocused until we progress through the book and find that those trained can tap into their abilities and accomplish great feats. Harrow has been clever with this element of magic. There’s always a danger that magic can solve all problems. In Empire of Light, the Voyance is to be feared as a dangerous disease. Those who have it are hunted and exterminated, or ‘cleansed’ leaving the individual a former shell of themselves (think lobotomy). Having the ability is also a death sentence, as the magic burns through your body, using it up. However, Harrow never really tells us where this ability arose from, or the history of it. We don’t really have a full understanding of its limitations or its strengths. Normally that’s a thorn that will stick in my side and drive me wild, but in this tale, it works. There’s a yearning now to know more.
Empire of Light is an extraordinary dystopian story. It is gritty and raw, and from the list of trigger warnings listed above, definitely not for the faint of heart. But if broken-down sci-fi set in a political nightmare, focusing on the most marginalized community, and seeing heroes arise is your jam, then get the peanut butter and bread, because this is one hell of a tasty sandwich.