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Narrated by:
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Fiona Hardingham
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By:
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C. A. Higgins
About this listen
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED AND KIRKUS REVIEWS
With deeply moving human drama, nail-biting suspense—and bold speculation informed by a degree in physics—C. A. Higgins spins a riveting science fiction debut guaranteed to catapult readers beyond their expectations.
Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship’s electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.
While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities’ most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden. As the ship’s systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner’s layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan’s mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn’t kill her first.
©2015 C. A. Higgins (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Editorial reviews
Critic reviews
“Gripping . . . sci-fi flavored with a hint of thriller.”—New York Daily News
“[A] measured, lovely science-fiction debut [that is] more psychological thriller . . . contained, disciplined, tense . . . The plot is compulsive. . . . Lightless is the first of a planned series, and you can’t help looking forward to learning what’s next.”—The New York Times
“Lightless is full of suspense and fun as hell to read.”—BuzzFeed
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When Eris faked her death, she thought she had left her old life as the heir to the galaxy's most ruthless empire behind. But her recruitment by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire's voracious expansion, throws her right back into the fray. Eris has been assigned a new mission: to infiltrate a spaceship ferrying deadly cargo and return the intelligence gathered to the Resistance. But her partner for the mission, mechanic and hotshot pilot Cloelia, bears an old grudge against Eris, making an already difficult infiltration even more complicated.
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Badass Women in Space!
- By Marie S. on 01-28-22
By: Laura Lam, and others
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The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict
- The Gap Cycle, Book 1
- By: Stephen R. Donaldson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson returns with this exciting and long-awaited new series that takes us into a stunningly imagined future to tell a timeless story of adventure and the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us.
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Your So Vain, You Probably Think This Book is
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-13-13
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Crewel
- Crewel World, Book 1
- By: Gennifer Albin
- Narrated by: Amanda Dolan
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For generations, girls known as Spinsters have been called by Arras' Manipulation Services to work the looms and control what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die. Gifted with the unusual ability to weave time with matter, 16-year-old Adelice Lewys is exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. But Adelice isn’t interested.
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Good story
- By abacuscode on 01-12-15
By: Gennifer Albin
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Mass Effect
- Revelation
- By: Drew Karpyshyn
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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After discovering a cache of Prothean technology on Mars in 2148, humanity is spreading to the stars---the newest interstellar species, struggling to carve out its place in the greater galactic community. On the edge of colonized space, ship commander and Alliance war hero David Anderson investigates the remains of a top secret military research station---smoking ruins littered with bodies and unanswered questions. Who attacked this post, and for what purpose?
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Enhances the enjoyment of the games substantially
- By Some Dude on 09-01-11
By: Drew Karpyshyn
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Dark Run
- Keiko, Book 1
- By: Mike Brooks
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The Keiko is a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune and adventurers, travelling Earth's colony planets, searching for the next job. And nobody talks about their past. But when a face from Captain Ichabod Drift's former life sends them on a run to Old Earth, all the rules change. Trust will be broken, and blood will be spilled.
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Fun sf in a familiar setting *cough Firefly cough*
- By John on 06-12-16
By: Mike Brooks
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Inside Out
- By: Maria V. Snyder
- Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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"I drew a deep breath. I’d spoken more in one burst to this stranger whose room I’d invaded than anyone else in weeks. And with a single word he could alert the Pop Cops and send me to the Chomper. We stared at each other for a few heartbeats. Before I could retreat he said, 'My name’s Riley Narelle Ashon. Any time you need peace, you’re welcome to use my hideaway.'"
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Interesting world
- By kim on 08-16-10
By: Maria V. Snyder
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Invasion
- Alien Invasion, Book 1
- By: Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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They are coming. The countdown has begun. First visible only as blips on a telescope image, the discovery of objects approaching from Jupiter's orbit immediately sets humanity on edge. NASA doesn't even bother to deny the alien ships' existence. The popular Astral space app (broadcasting from the far side of the moon and accessible by anyone with Internet) has already shown the populace what is coming.
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"terrible, absolutely terrible"
- By Andre M. Nel on 08-02-18
By: Sean Platt, and others
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War of the Spheres
- By: James Millington, B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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When humanity reaches for the stars, our probes are destroyed. They crash into an incredibly advanced piece of technology: a massive force-field. Unknown beings have placed a barrier around our star and planets, enclosing us within. We’re locked inside a Great Sphere. Was this invisible obstacle built to imprison us - or to protect us? No one knows the truth, but it soon becomes clear the barrier has leaks. Aliens infiltrate and try to sabotage our efforts to escape our cage.
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misleading summary...
- By Neil Kresl on 04-04-19
By: James Millington, and others
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Firstborn
- StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga, Book 1
- By: Christie Golden
- Narrated by: Christie Golden
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Jake Ramsey - an unassuming yet talented archaeologist - has been given the chance of a lifetime. Hired to investigate a recently unearthed Xel'Naga temple, he knows this latest assignment will open up whole new possibilities for his career. Yet when Jake discovers the remains of a long-dead protoss mystic, his hopes and dreams are irrevocably drowned in a flood of alien memories. Bonded to the spirit of the dead protoss, Jake has become the sole inheritor of the protoss' total history - every event, every thought - every feeling.
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Christie Golden doesn't have a wide enough range
- By Chad Dye on 04-30-19
By: Christie Golden
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Conquest
- The Chronicles of the Invaders: Book 1
- By: John Connolly, Jennifer Ridyard
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The Earth has been invaded by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilized, yet ruthless alien race. Humanity has been conquered, but still it fights the invaders. The Resistance grows stronger, for it is the young people of Earth who battle the Illyri.
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Spoiled Teenager or Sci-fi?
- By Bob H. on 04-24-16
By: John Connolly, and others
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Gabriel’s Ghost
- The Dock Five Universe Series, Book 1
- By: Linnea Sinclair
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn't commit and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows. Gabriel Sullivan alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue is supposed to be dead.
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Gray Fuzzy Soft Laser Pulse Rifle
- By Paul on 06-06-11
By: Linnea Sinclair
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Starfire
- By: B.V. Larson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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On June 30, 1908, an object fell from the sky, releasing more energy than a thousand Hiroshima bombs. A Siberian forest was flattened, but the strike left no significant crater. The anomaly came to be known as the Tunguska Event, and scientists have never agreed whether it was the largest meteor strike in recorded history - or something else. Alien artifacts have been uncovered since the 1908 event, and a new star drive is discovered.
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Het
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-09-17
By: B.V. Larson
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From a Changeling Star
- Starstream, Book 1
- By: Jeffrey A. Carver
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Beneath the roiling surface of Betelgeuse, scientists anxiously await the one man essential to the success of Starmuse, the greatest engineering project in human history. But on Kantano’s World, Willard Ruskin battles invisible agents for control of his life, his physical form, and even his memories. Drawn into a conflict from which not even death will free him, Ruskin must find a way to reach Betelgeuse before his enemies sabotage Starmuse—and humanity’s future among the stars. A harrowing journey from inside the human cell... to the mind of a dying star.
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Disappointed
- By Loraki on 09-08-18
What listeners say about Lightless
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- TravelingT
- 04-21-21
On and on and on
Irritated after a few chapters, some interesting spots but not enough to listen to the end
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- Kyle
- 12-04-15
Fantastic narrator she is so great.
she really captures the mood of the story i really enjoyed this book well done.
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- Randall James Andrews
- 05-12-16
Excellent!
Really enjoyed how the whole story stayed on the ship. Excellent character development and world building. I wanted more of the world. Couldn't stop listening.
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- T. L. Walker
- 06-01-16
Psychologically Gripping Space Opera
Lightless is a psychologically driven novel that focuses on its characters more than anything else, so if you prefer your space operas fast and furious, this book may prove to be too slow for your speed. The story unfolds layers at a time as readers try to piece together what’s real and what’s not as the characters wage psychological warfare against one another. As the story soldiers on, you begin to see frayed edges of the main characters–their weaknesses, their prejudices, their fatal flaws. Despite their beliefs that they’re good at what they do, they fall apart. The ship’s continuing problems further aggravates this by playing into the familiar theme of man versus machine, which creates a tense backdrop that culminates to a chaotic, explosive end. Higgins employs the laws of thermodynamics to frame this narrative, using it to allude to the environment on the ship and the interactions of the characters with one another, their interactions with the galaxy/power structure at large, and their interactions with the ship itself.
"The amount of work done in one direction is the same as the amount of heat transferred in the other, or, the internal energy of an isolated system is constant. Because of this, a perpetual motion machine cannot exist, and all systems come to an end."
As interesting as this deconstruction of her characters was, and while I certainly understand why she went the direction she did with some characters, it didn’t stop me from feeling as if certain characters were a joke, a really bad joke. There were moments when I just felt these characters were completely incompetent and stupid, but that could go hand-in-hand with the overestimation of their abilities. However, I enjoyed this story, so I can forgive that.
Now, this book does suffer from being a bit too “talk-y.” I would expect a story like this to be more action oriented, to really capitalize on the claustrophobic, isolated feel of the setting, but a large portion of this book revolves around two characters conversing around the sections of the novel that focus on Althea and the ship. There’s nothing wrong with that, but in this case, it made the story feel tedious at times. There had to be better ways to convey the information they exchanged than to have two characters literally sitting in a room together going back and forward for a huge chunk of the novel. While I love a good psychological story, I expected much more to happen in this story than what actually happened. In fact, I feel like the last third of the book is where the pace really picked up and showcased the best of this story.
Fiona Hardingham narrated the story with the kind of straightforwardness you’d expect from a novel in this vein. While most of her men sounded largely the same, she did an excellent job with the female characters’ voices, especially a cold, calculated character named Ida Stays.
If you don’t enjoy “hard” science fiction, don’t fret. Aside from these brief passages about the laws of thermodynamics, the science in this novel is easy to grasp. The science is almost secondary to the conflict. Higgins has created an absorbing and thoughtful read with Lightless. Sabotage, intrigue, and terrorism meets loyalty, freedom, and even a hint of humor in this story. I’m definitely looking forward to visiting this universe again in Supernova, especially to see if we’ll be diving into the larger conflict now that we’ve established the characters.
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- Jay Crossler
- 09-01-17
Loved the characters and reading
Loved the characters and reading. Some major plot holes, but if you ignore those than it's a gripping tale of intrigue.
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1 person found this helpful
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- DT Campbell
- 01-29-17
Intense
Exquisite interpersonal drama. One of the best character-focused novels I've ever read. There are echoes of how AI has been handled elsewhere, but the relationship dynamics and character portrayal are the heart of the story.
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- Robert N. Stephenson
- 04-21-16
Had its moments
Would you try another book from C. A. Higgins and/or Fiona Hardingham?
I am waiting for a follow up to this, so yes I would try the next one.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
It was slow going and needlessly so.
Did Fiona Hardingham do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
Fiona did a very good job, she was what made the slowness more bearable
Do you think Lightless needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
I hope there is one, as it is incomplete without it.
Any additional comments?
Good work, could have used improvements in pacing, but that shouldn't put off the avid reader. A good story.
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- Dustin Burrell
- 03-11-19
slow start
the book was good but it took almost the entire book for something to happen
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- Daniel
- 11-25-17
deus ex deus ex machine (excuse my poor latin)
I don't mind the verbiage that some reviewers complain about; the setup of this book as a gruelling prisoner interview is 100% promising.
However the story doesn't click for me; the main POV character Althea is a fairly limp sort, reactive and frustratingly recalcitrant, and viewing the tale through her eyes is like viewing a Sherlock Holmes mystery through the eyes of a Watson who attempts to shoot Sherlock or run away every time he attempts to reveal the perp. It might be natural for the character, but but it left me feeling constantly vexed by unnecessary plot delays introduced purely by people being irritating. If this were a film it would be in the cross hairs of the "How it should have ended" parody team.
Are the vexations worth it? The plot twists are present but not exactly powerful. Chekov's pistol principle violations abound. The subplots are full of arbitrary weirdness- the AI, the deus ex machina, seems less driven by comprehensible origin in the plot and more by the need to unfold in ways that will happen to produce very particular action set-pieces later on.
I dunno, there were lots of ingredients that I liked in here - amazing setting, interesting characters, nice framing. But I was just too vexed by how these characters collided with the exposition to enjoy this book.
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- S. Yates
- 09-10-16
Engrossing and Intelligent
Any additional comments?
Absolutely loved this book, though I am having a hard time figuring out exactly why. It grabbed me from the beginning and is something of a psychological thriller and character study. However, for all its tense anticipation, the tenseness is ratcheted by narrative and talk 90% of the time, with only about 10% action. Despite this, it does not feel dull, it somehow moves forward and brings you with it. In a nutshell, the story is about a cutting edge, military space ship called the Ananke, its three crew members, two intruders, and a governmental intelligence agent determined to uncover a larger sedition plot. The world is a future one where humanity has spread to various bodies in the solar systems (both planets and moons), and a central government based on earth (called The System) relies on intrusive and nearly complete surveillance to keep order. The book bounces its points of view to various characters, though mostly concentrates on Althea (one of the three crew members, who feels more strongly about the Ananke's computer system than she does about people) and Ida Stays (the intelligence agent who hides her sociopathy well and is single-mindedly focused on bringing down an arch terrorist). The book is largely told through Althea's attempts to fix the malfunctioning computer (which went awry when one of the two intruders put a virus in it), and the interrogation of the second intruder by Ida Stays. The first of a planned trilogy and highly recommended.
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