As suggested, here’s a place you can comment on Realms of Light and discuss it with other folks who have read it.
I’ll be including some corrections.
Spoilers are explicitly okay here, so if you haven’t read the novel you might not want to look at the comments on this post.
Yes, that should be “lever,” not “level,” in Chapter Eighteen.
Also, it’s been pointed out to me that Shinichiro’s copy of Yoshio-kun wouldn’t know anything about Hsing. Oops. Will fix in rewrite.
And here’s the third-to-last paragraph that I should have inserted before sending out the last few chapters, but didn’t:
“I was hoping it would be a life with friends, with family; I’d have money, so I wouldn’t be struggling to survive by digging up other people’s unhappy secrets, and maybe that meant I could dig up a little happiness for myself.”
I am very pleased with the way the book turned out, though I was kind of hoping for a little more conflict within the shut-down compound. I would think that the Nakada nets had some in-roads into the police/government systems that Shinichiro could/would have exploited before giving up. Surely Shinichiro could have hacked the local constabulary into thinking there was something illicit/illegal/untoward going on there and sent at least some combat floaters or something, couldn’t he/it?
OH MY GOD!!! Hsing kills Nakada!? *Gasp*
That was a really nice read. This is my first serial. During the first few chapters I didn’t like the serial format because I wanted the next chapter and the next until the book was finished But toward the end I started to really appreciate the pacing. One, it helps that the text is short enough and spaced out enough to not interfere with school work. Two, I usually end up skimming over fairly significant chunks of text whenever I read a novel (whether I want to or not – it’s automatic now), but the spacing helped to prevent that in this case.
I’m satisfied with the ending. It felt good (analogy to a meal with tastes reminiscent of cravings satisfied that leaves one just full enough to not want more, and not so full it feels unpleasant).
Thanks.
I’m glad you liked it.
I enjoyed the ending. I realized now, however, that there are a couple of (possibly) loose ends (or, at least, unresolved questions):
What will happen to the copy of Shinichiro on Nightside city? And this isn’t a loose end, but more an unanswered question: what will happen to the copy of Yoshio on the ship?
I guess the second isn’t as important to the plot, but I was just curious…
Good questions!
I thought I’d implied what was going to happen to Yoshio-kun — Yoshio-sempai is going to keep him/it around as a secret adviser and helper. I guess I need to hint a little more about that.
As for the copy of Shinichiro on Epimetheus, I agree that’s a loose end; truth is, I hadn’t decided what Yoshio was going to do about it.
I just read what has been published so far and I so much want to donate!. If and when I find a job, I will! I had not read it until tonight because I knew I would want to send money and we can’t afford it now.
It is a good read. The uploads concept reminds me of Neuromancer, but of course the writing otherwise does not, because _Realms of Light_ is good. Overall it is engaging, a compelling read, and clear. Neuromancer was just a mess and nearly unreadable.
I read the last available chapter first, where she is getting her father out, and that was POW!erful. I could not resist going back and finding out how she got there. I wondered if she had stolen the ship or if it was from a client and I still have unanswered questions about her parents. If you wanted to in media res starting there you could do worse.
Some of the backstory about her parents is from Nightside City; that may get a little more explanation in the second draft, for those who didn’t read Nightside City.
An enjoyable read, thanks. I agree that the ending could be fleshed out a little more, with a bit more dueling between the various factions of the Nakadas.
Perhaps this may be published someday in a combined edition with Nightside City? I could see that working as a two-books-under-one-cover set.
The publisher at FoxAcre is not enthusiastic about the idea of a combined edition, but we’ll see.
Ok, went back and re-read Nightside City, followed by Realms of Light. You need to adjust the shutdown aspect a little. So many systems have local backup power supplies that you need to add something to negate that from the computer setup.
An interesting point. I don’t think you can really assume that because back-up systems are commonplace in 21st-century America that they will be in the 23rd-century Eta Cassiopeia system, but it is something I should address in the second draft. Thanks.