Review of Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken Macleod

My Ken Macleod needle pings only two points on the spectrum of literature: vanilla or interestingly innovative. And it is truly a coin flip which you'll get whenever a new book is released. The Fall Revolution tetralogy, Intrusion, and Execution Channel are examples of sharply-edged books which make a person excited to discover something new, whereas books like Cosmonaut Keep, Dissidence, and Learning the World have been flat, too easily forgettable experiences. Another way of putting this is: Macleod will always be on my radar as a potentially good read, but it's far from certain how the potential manifests itself. What then does 2021's Beyond the Hallowed Sky, first in a trilogy, do with the needle?

Beyond the Hallowed Sky is set in a future not too distant from our own. Solar system exploration has been pushed forward, and humanity has set up a station in an asteroid above Venus. The impetus for the novel is a strange letter Lakshmi Novak receives one day, inviting her to participate in perhaps the most interesting human project of all time: Faster Than Light travel. What makes the letter truly interesting is that it appears to be from her future self. With a small number of other characters folded into the mix, the narrative takes off, leading the reader across the Earth, through the atmosphere, and to the solar system.

I'm dimly aware FTL is a blocker for a portion of science fiction readership. There seems to be a certain niche who refuse to read any book which features FTL due to the fact they believe it not possible, and therefore any book featuring FTL a farce. Macleod's approach seems to be something akin to Greg Egan's approach to the Theory of Everything in Distress, i.e. it's possible, and with professional hand waving, emerges.

In the end, Beyond the Hallowed Sky is a book which struggles to poke its nose above average. There are a few well-realized and engaging scenes that combine character, tech, and, the possibilities of the future in interesting social and futuristic ways. But the majority still feels like Macleod doing Macleod—not abjectly a bad thing, but not a pushing-the-envelope thing or soulful thing, either. After having published eighteen novels, the reader will either fit comfortably into the Macleod's groove and be satisfied, or have started to look for something else. Take that as a recommendation.