The Book of All Skies

november reviewed The Book of All Skies by Greg Egan

Basically a Greg Egan novel

4 stars

Content warning Spoilies

Rather bummed out that Egan's physics writeup on his site about this book is focused on how gravity works, which I was perfectly willing to take at face value; what I'm more interested in is the geography of the lands beyond the hoops. I think I have an okay idea in my head of how they work, but I'm not 100% sure. And like specifically, I want to know what's through the other side of the hoops at the nubs. More nubs? More void? Do you always have to go that far out to find a nub, or are there some that are a lot closer to Jierra? which I'm imagining as the center of this web of lands.

Also was rather annoyed by-- there's an implication that one character was a trans man, which fascinated me because I wasn't expecting that, and what does it say about the world he lives in? But before that could get followed up, or confirmed or denied, or even addressed by the character in question himself, both he and the character who made the implication die off-page. I'm not saying "don't kill queer characters", but for one thing, I'm also fascinated by the fact that Del was just like "oh, okay", her only concern being why he would obfuscate his past achievements; is transness widely accepted in this world, or is that a quirk of Del's? WE'LL NEVER KNOW.

The book also ends rather abruptly, when I wanted to see more of the aftermath, but I guess that just wasn't in the cards.

Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Book of All Skies by Greg Egan

An interesting journey of discovery through a world of many skies

3 stars

An interesting story about a journey of discovery though a world of many skies. Del, the main character, becomes custodian of a book discovered during an archaeological dig: "The Book of All Skies". But it is immediately stolen. We then get an introduction to the world that Del lives in.

'Hoops' are found in Del's world and when you pass through them, you are still on the world, but transported to a region that features a different sky, implying that the Hoops are a way to connect different regions of the universe together. But Del's world is restricted: an impassable mountain blocks the path through the Hoops in one direction and in the other, the world 'ends' and the Hoops lead to an empty sky with no ground.

In the past, some people from Del's land somehow made it through the mountains to a place called the 'Bountiful Lands' and …

An interesting story about a journey of discovery though a world of many skies. Del, the main character, becomes custodian of a book discovered during an archaeological dig: "The Book of All Skies". But it is immediately stolen. We then get an introduction to the world that Del lives in.

'Hoops' are found in Del's world and when you pass through them, you are still on the world, but transported to a region that features a different sky, implying that the Hoops are a way to connect different regions of the universe together. But Del's world is restricted: an impassable mountain blocks the path through the Hoops in one direction and in the other, the world 'ends' and the Hoops lead to an empty sky with no ground.

In the past, some people from Del's land somehow made it through the mountains to a place called the 'Bountiful Lands' and people have been trying to find the path through again. But Del gets involved in an audacious scheme to bypass the mountains in another way: a journey that would eventually succeed but would be filled with dangers.

As we follow Del's journey, we learn more about the world of the Hoops, including how it may have come about. Through a copy of "The Book of All Skies", we would learn about the hubris of Del's people in the past who though they could control the Hoops and how the world that Del knows came about. And we also learn about people who would reject any change to their way of life and would do anything, including killing, to keep the world the way it is.

The author has a website that contains more information on the physics of the Hoops [ www.gregegan.net/ALLSKIES/AllSkies.html ].