Bright of the Sky

by Kay Kenyon

Book Overview

Kay Kenyon, noted for her science fiction world-building, has in this new series created her most vivid and compelling society, the Universe Entire. In a land-locked galaxy that tunnels through our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591025419
• ISBN13: 9781591025412
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Pyr
• Length: 453 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

This book is beautiful and a great starter to an original series that blends Sci-Fi and Fantasy

When Titus Quinn, a top pilot for Minerva Corporation vanishes with his ship in a disaster it is hardly surprising in itself. However, when he turns up a year later raving about an alternative universe that his family is stranded in he is quietly mothballed by his employers - that is until they unexpectedly find proof that maybe he wasn't raving and that Titus may be their best resource to uncover an alternative method of interstellar travel. The Entire and the Rose is a strange title for a book, but it quickly makes sense once you start reading the story. Titus is a driven and tortured character. He's a man who's past means much more than even he realises and he may turn out to be fulcrum on which the future of the universe depends. I enjoyed this novel. It's well written with an original and beautifully described alternate universe. In many ways this book sets up the basics of the characters of this series, some of the stakes involved and gives the reader a good understanding of two worlds. It's certainly enough to make me buy book 2 of the series in hardcover when it becomes available - which looks to be 4 books long if the authors introduction is anything to go by.

Please don't avoid this book because of HK review!

This is a brilliant piece of SF/F writing and does not deserve to suffer simply because HK reviewed it in "her" usual, incoherent style. The two professional reviews give a good summary of the plot, so I'll just comment on why I enjoyed the book so much: Kenyon's characters are so vivid that I found myself attached to even minor characters, wondering what happens to them after they leave the stage. There are only a handful of writers whose characters I've actually had dreams about, writing further adventures for them in my head, after I finish a book. Kenyon is one of those writers, and I can't wait to read the subsequent installments in the series. The characters are the stars for me here, but I must mention how fascinating the world is that Kenyon has created. The two parallel worlds are revealed gradually to the reader throughout the course of the book, but even from the first scenes they feel solidly real. They make sense because Kenyon adds the kind of telling details that bring them alive most subtly and completely for me. Both worlds come complete with nuanced social and political stresses: corporate greed and executive dogfights, difficult family dynamics, political power struggles, clashes between cultures, xenophobia, and lots more. It sounds like a lot for one book, but the strands are so skillfully built and intertwined that the reader's knowledge builds in an apparently natural way. From the first, wrenching scene in the Rose (future Earth) universe--where we encounter an entire ship at the mercy of technology so complex that only one person on board is capable of fully understanding, much less controlling it--to the first scenes in the Entire universe--where we witness a summary execution by one of the powerful and terrifying Tarig--Kenyon sets up fascinating and illuminating parallels between the two parallel worlds. The plot is complex and surprising also. The pace is never dull, yet events are allowed the proper time to build believably and achieve resonance for the reader. Kenyon doesn't pull any punches, and the consequences of the characters' decisions are sometimes brutal, adding increasing depth to the plot and characterization as the book progresses. Entirely enjoyable. Highly recommended for those who enjoy both SF and Fantasy worldbuilding and want something complex and engrossing.

Tremendous world-building and adventure from one of SF's best writers

This book is as big and bold as science fiction gets. You travel with Titus Quinn, the main character, through the universe and into another world on a great wave of narrative energy, and encounter a scary and fabulously detailed alien environment (the storm walls are especially cool). Yet the terrific world-building is balanced by the alien creatures and the many intriguing human and almost-human characters, my favorite being Quinn's daughter, who - well, I wouldn't want to spoil it. Anyway, Kay Kenyon is one of those writers that is so good you wonder why everybody doesn't know about her . . . I can only hope this novel gives her the breakthrough she deserves. Once you read Bright of the Sky and want to read one of her other books while you wait for Book Two of The Entire and The Rose, check out Tropic of Creation. Until this came out, it was my favorite Kenyon novel.

Kenyon's Best to Date

I have followed Kenyon's writing career closely and have read every one of her novels. There's no question that Bright of the Sky is her very best work yet. It is everything that you expect from her work (beautifully crafted characters that you really care about, a plot and story that holds you attention from the first page to the last and last, but certainly not least, a milieu and "world" that is utterly believable even in its most fantastical aspects) and it is everything that you expect from any science fiction/fantasy story. This truly is one case in which the blubs on Bright's cover can be believed -- there isn't anyone on the science fiction scene these days who does it as good as Kenyon. One of the structural aspects of this book that I found particularly interesting was the seamless interweaving of traditional "hard" science fiction with a fascinating fantasy overlay. I don't often see this done well (or at all), but Kenyon has managed to do it in a way that makes perfect sense in the context of the story line. Bright is a grand adventure undertaken by people whose reality seems to leap off the pages. The off-earth forays of Titus Quinn take place in an almost magical and mysterious world, but one whose structure and purpose (when you find out what that is) make perfect sense. This world (the "Entire") is populated with some of the most interesting and intriguing characters (recognizable humans whose lives are patterned from glimpses of an ancient Chinese cultrure) and critters (you'll have to read Bright yourself) that I have come across in my reading. The world-building is just delightful. Bright is apparently the first book in a 4-book series so there are some story elements that remain loose at the end of this first book. But the story of Bright, itself, is complete and concluded in this first book. I was left with the usual reaction at the end of a 1st book -- "What happens next?" In addition to that anticipation, though, I also got a nice sense of satisfaction that many of the important questions raised and conflicts posed in Bright were resolved (even though that resolution set the stage for what must come next in Volume 2 and subequest books). All in all, this was a delightful read and, as I noted above, the best work that Kenyon has done to date. This is one that is worth the hardcover price -- you're probably going to hear people talking about this one and I think you're going to want to read it.

Space opera at its best

It's so nice to have fun reading science fiction again! Kenyon's story is big and sprawling and colorful, and yet the story is so accessible, with memorable characters and good, but not esoteric, science. I love this adventure/romance/thriller of a book, to say nothing of the fact that the cover itself is worth the price. Kay Kenyon and Stephan Martiniere (the cover artist) make a great pair, and bode well for the future of this kind of sf.