Radiance

by Catherynne M Valente

"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"--

• ISBN10: 0765335298
• ISBN13: 9780765335296
• Publish Date: 20 October 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 August 2021
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[ross91]

DNF at 68%
I've lost interest pretty quickly.
I can't seem to like Valente's books.

[empressbrooke]

I really loved this one. It reminded me a lot of [a:Jeff VanderMeer|33919|Jeff VanderMeer|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1400594878p2/33919.jpg]'s offerings. It felt like a more cohesive [b:City of Saints and Madmen|230852|City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390260432s/230852.jpg|522014], with its bits of scripts and interviews and radio broadcasts and gossip columns all building this incredible world. Much like VanderMeer's entire Ambergris trilogy, the worldbuilding and atmosphere are phenomenal. And like all of VanderMeer's offerings, a conclusion is presented but left vague for the reader to draw their own conclusions, with a tantalizing suggestion of universe-hopping thrown into the mix. My favorite part of Radiance was how each chapter felt like a present - it could be anything, from anyone's point of view, and I couldn't wait to unwrap each one and see how it added another bit to the overall story.