Book Review: The Light Brigade

   

Image: The cover of the book shows a full-body profile of a slim and armored soldier.  There is a bright white light behind them taking up the center of the background which then fades to blues and greens and black at the edges. There is a sea foam green light blurring the figure's legs and fading as it reaches her waist. The top half of the foreground of the cover says the author's name in large, white, capitalized letters. Below that, the title of the book is in the same letters only green. Between the words "light" and "brigade" a quote from Jeff Vandermeer in small white letters reads, "A brave, unflinching, original writer" and below that is a line of text too small for me to make out.

I recently became enamored with Kameron Hurley after reading her bizarre and original "The Stars Are Legion." I had never read anything like it and immediately sought out other books by her. I discovered the recently published "The Light Brigade" and I am very glad that I did.

The Light Brigade is a science fiction story that is quite heavy handed in its leftist sociopolitical messaging. This is something that could be bothersome when not paired with excellent writing and story line, but Hurley executes both quite well. The story centers a queer woman whose military participation in a mega-corporation's war involves some interesting outcomes via her light-speed travel. Hurley gets around the science suggesting the impossibility of light-speed travel by introducing a creative methodology in which soldiers are broken down into light itself. For some soldiers including the protagonist, this does not go as expected, outside of the already extreme danger the process puts them all in. The main character's heroine's journey is excitingly conveyed via fantastic story telling peppered with interrogation recordings/transcripts.

Hurley uses the story to send a message of anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-militarism in ways that are abundantly clear. I assume it was intentional to create the book as the author's far-left political manifesto told through the vehicle of a cyberpunk tale in space. The story is fast-paced enough to satisfy those into thrillers and has a glimmer of hard scifi sprinkled throughout for those who are into the science part of science fiction. Though it is fantastical enough to probably still be put in the space opera category.

In order to avoid major spoilers, I am not going to discuss the story further. But, I will say that it is exciting throughout with a satisfying ending. It probably helps that I can completely get behind the messaging in this manifesto. Would a far right wing reader enjoy the book as much as I did? Frankly, I don't care.

This review was also posted to goodreads.