Totally incomprehensible. I could not get past the first hour. Don't waste your money/credit on this.

I kept listening to the book long past the time I would if Neil Gaiman hadn't recommended it. In my mind, Neil Gaiman can do no wrong so I'm annoyed at myself and feel that maybe I'm missing what makes the book great. Whether I'm missing something or not, the book depresses me. The characters and the plots just don't draw me in.

The way I felt about the story reminded me of how I felt listening to Hyperion, if you liked the mystery and non-resolution of that book then you might like this as well. I thought the narrator did a good job, but I found it hard sometimes to remember who was talking. All in all I think I liked it and I'll use a credit to check out the next in the series which is supposed to be quite different.

The narrator was superb.

Shake my head and laugh.

The idea was interesting and the writing was very competent...but it seemed like, "this happened" and "this happened" and "this happened"... Which is fine if there is something to draw you forwards to a "why" you would be interested to find out about what happened. The characters are not really likeable, the attempt to make them human happens at the very end of the book. The mystery isn't very interesting (it's more shocking-ish than anything) and the author only pays attention to details that further his intent (logic isn't a HUGE factor). It's more like we're following HIS fascination, not his crafting (a good book should be both). I wish he had taken a litle more control (?) of the story and crafted the approach a tad more? This is hard for me to say because I'm not a critic OR an author, I'm a visual artist who reads books. I love symbolism, mysteries and sci fi/fantasy and... I almost put this down halfway through in boredom... but it was so well written and so short of a story that I persisted to the end (if it had been more than 11 hours I would have given up). The end third of the story actually attempts to make the people human and bring a mystery to life, but... There are VERY interesting things but it was.... ok. I laughed out loud at the ending. Are you kidding me? Really...? Anyway. This review is for anyone else thinking of buying the book who likes the same kind of books I do. LOL. It wasn't normal, that's a fact. There were very cool concepts invented... but it was ok. I hoped for better.

Light is the strangest book I've read in a long time. It is not a particularly likeable book, but it is fascinating at times, and -- more often that not -- compelling. Harrison's writing is so strong and crystalline that the weirdness of some scenes becomes so believable, and the details of such scenes so memorable.

The three intertwined storylines are all dark; each of his characters is haunted by something. Harrison provides, barring perhaps the endings of each tale, the opposite of consolation. He is here to tell us of regret. This makes for tough reading, but he illuminates, from time to time, the mood and spirit of the book with, yes, light.

It's hard to enjoy a book like this. But the moments of light are excellent. The quality of the writing alone warrants giving a few chapters a try, at the least. My gut feel is that this book deserves more than a single reading, as well as exploration of the second and third books of the trilogy. I must mention that the audiobook version of Light, narrated by Julian Elfer, is superb. Elfer's engagement with the characters make the novel a joy to listen to and a good deal more approachable.

If this book is any indication, the author never gets any sex and as a result imagines a world where that's all people do all day long. All people, all the time, over and over. When they aren't getting any, they're begging someone for it. I'm no prude, I like sex in a novel, but if you took all instances of the word f**k out of this book I think it would reduce the total length by half. It makes the characters pretty shallow. There is one character, Seria Mau, who is not a sex-a-holic having given up her body to become One with her ship. But even she watches in fascination as her passengers have sex over and over.

The plot is confusing and hard to follow which wouldn't bother me if it was more interesting. I wanted very much to like "Light", and because it was a "Neil Gaiman Presents" book I expected much more out of it. The narrator is really good, and his voice compliments the genera and "feeling" of the novel. The writing itself is great, but the story... not so much. I made it through 3.5 hours but then I threw in the towel because the plot was stagnant and I was bored.

If this book is any indication, the author never gets any sex and as a result imagines a world where that's all people do all day long. All people, all the time, over and over. When they aren't getting any, they're begging someone for it. I'm no prude, I like sex in a novel, but if you took all instances of the word f**k out of this book I think it would reduce the total length by half. It makes the characters pretty shallow. There is one character, Seria Mau, who is not a sex-a-holic having given up her body to become One with her ship. But even she watches in fascination as her passengers have sex over and over.

The plot is confusing and hard to follow which wouldn't bother me if it was more interesting. I wanted very much to like "Light", and because it was a "Neil Gaiman Presents" book I expected much more out of it. The narrator is really good, and his voice compliments the genera and "feeling" of the novel. The writing itself is great, but the story... not so much. I made it through 3.5 hours but then I threw in the towel because the plot was stagnant and I was bored.

First, the audiobook version was at times quite confusing to listen to. I am not sure if this is due to a lack of intelligence on my part, or the audiobook format, or something entirely other. I enjoy Neil Gaiman's writing, and thought perhaps that I would enjoy his suggestion, but now I am sure that I was quite wrong.

I suspect that most of the reason that I did not enjoy this book was because of the complicated twists and jumps in the storyline. It jumps from century to century, character to character, and planet to planet with little notice. This format might be enjoyable in text version, where a reader can flip to and fro, looking back upon the previous pages for reference, but I was just confused.

I do believe that some people will enjoy this book-perhaps writers themselves, the readers of dark poetry, and eccentric scientists, perhaps.

The book just didn't flow smoothly enough for me.