Radiate

Format:

Book

Title:

Radiate

Author:

Higgins, C. A. (Caitlin A.) author

ISBN:

9780553394481

9780553394504

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Del Rey, [2017]

Physical Description:

320 pages ; 25 cm

Series title(s):

Lightless trilogy ;

Number in series:

BK. 3.

Summary:

"In the follow-up to Lightless and Supernova, C.A. Higgins again fuses science fiction, suspense, and drama to tell the story of a most unlikely heroine: Ananke, once a military spacecraft, now a sentient artificial intelligence. Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human longing: to know her creators. Now Ananke is on a quest to find companionship, understanding, and even love. She is accompanied by Althea, the engineer who created her, and whom she sees as her mother. And she is in search of her "father," Matthew, the programmer whose code gave her the spark of life. But Matthew is on a strange quest of his own, traveling the galaxy alongside Ivan, with whom he shares a deeply painful history. Ananke and her parents are racing toward an inevitable collision, with consequences as violent as the birth of the solar system itself--and as devastating as the discovery of love. Praise for C.A. Higgins's Lightless "[A] measured, lovely science-fiction debut. 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 "Absolutely brilliant. This is science fiction as it is meant to be done: scientific concepts wedded to and built upon human ideals."--Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye series "The stakes in this story are high--life and death, rebellion and betrayal--and debut novelist Higgins continually ratchets up the tension. A suspenseful, emotional story that asks plenty of big questions about identity and freedom, this is a debut not to be missed."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"-- Provided by publisher.

"Radiate explores the fate of Ivan, the mysterious revolutionary whose secrets lie at the heart of intergalactic revolution--and Ananke, the sentient spaceship who is learning what it means to be human"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject(s):

Artificial intelligence -- Fiction.

Women engineers -- Fiction.

Space travelers -- Fiction.

Space ships -- Fiction.

Parent and child -- Fiction.

Genre:

Action and adventure fiction.

Fiction.

Science fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Silver Falls Library	SF HIGGINS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	SCI-FI Higgins, C.	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In the follow-up to Lightless and Supernova, C. A. Higgins fuses science fiction, suspense, and drama to tell the story of a most unlikely heroine: Ananke, once a military spacecraft, now a sentient artificial intelligence. Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human longing: to know her creators.

Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human longing: to know her creators. Now Ananke is on a quest to find companionship, understanding, and even love. She is accompanied by Althea, the engineer who created her, and whom she sees as her mother. And she is in search of her "father," Matthew, the programmer whose code gave her the spark of life.

But Matthew is on a strange quest of his own, traveling the galaxy alongside Ivan, with whom he shares a deeply painful history. Ananke and her parents are racing toward an inevitable collision, with consequences as violent as the birth of the solar system itself--and as devastating as the discovery of love.

Praise for Radiate

" Radiate will take you to the corners of space you've never even dreamed of going and beyond." -- Bustle

"Gripping . . . This sci-fi universe [is] utterly believable, while metaphor and allegory enrich the characters." --New York Daily News

"A compelling emotional tale about two people trying to save each other from a disaster of their own making." --Kirkus Reviews

The Lightless Trilogy is "a perfect sci-fi entry point that matches a rich, character-driven story with fundamental questions about who we are and why we're here." --Los Angeles Times

Author Notes

C. A. Higgins is the author of the novels Lightless and Supernova and numerous short stories. She was a runner-up in the 2013 Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing and has a B.A. in physics from Cornell University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Higgins's third near-future novel (after Supernova) drifts along with its main characters mostly bereft of agency. The main story follows Mattie Gale and Leontios "Ivan" Ivanov from the moment they escape the Ananke with Ivan gravely wounded. Much of the rest of the book follows the pair of revolutionaries as they seek to reunite with Constance Harper, who's Mattie's foster sister and Ivan's lover. The three of them, led by Constance, planned and carried out the destruction of the Earth-based System, which controlled all of the solar system's colonies; now, rebel factions fight among themselves. Mattie and Ivan are held prisoner more than once and often don't even know where to look for Constance in the vastness of the solar system. Intermittent chapters look back, sometimes at revolutionary actions but just as often at more personal moments among Mattie, Ivan, and Constance. Lurking in the background is Ananke, the sentient ship inadvertently created by Mattie, who longs to recapture him. Despite the war setting, this isn't an action story but one of characters, and it suffers from their lack of control over their fates. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Associates. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A tense drama about a thief and a con man caught up in the end of a world; a conclusion to the trilogy that began with Lightless (2015) and Supernova (2016).Mattie and Ivan are the two people in the universe closest to the terrorist Constance Harper. But in the aftermath of the devastating attack they launched on the powerful System that ruled the solar system, Constance refuses to go back to try to rescue Ivan, so it's up to Mattie to save his partner in crime. Meanwhile, the solar system is in chaos, with rebels still fighting remnants of System forcesand each other. Any ship, any person, could be a threat. Loyalties are shifting and hard to define. Betrayal lurks around every corner. And somewhere out in the black, the powerful ship known as the Ananke is searching for another computer she can wake into consciousness, sowing destruction wherever she goes. This novel takes Mattie and Ivan forward from the cataclysmic attack on the System and extends their story backward to see how they ended up making the choices they made. The extensive flashbacks slow the pace at firstthey don't seem to be adding much new informationbut eventually their purpose becomes clear. The tension builds as Mattie and Ivan struggle to find safety, and all the while the horror that is the Ananke comes closer and closer. This conclusion lacks the propulsive power of Lightless, but it opens up into a compelling emotional tale about two people trying to save each other from a disaster of their own making. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

A revolution to overthrow the System is under way, with Matthew Gale and Ivan Ivanov entangled deep in the war efforts owing to their ties to the woman known as the Mallt-y-Nos. She has already destroyed the Earth, seat of the System's power, but her revolution is fracturing, with factions forming from her inner circle. In the meantime, the ship that Mattie helped become sentient, Ananke, is following Mattie and Ivan, determined to infect other starships to trigger them to become conscious as well. The revolutionaries as a whole get more attention in this volume, although it would have been nice to get Constance's perspective on her splintering revolution. Instead, the focus stays on the strain the war has put on Mattie and Ivan's relationship. Verdict Wrapping up the trilogy that began with Lightless, the action jumps backward and forward in time in ways that don't always serve the story. The imagery of the dangerous, lonely Ananke roaming the solar system attempting to make others like herself will stick with readers.-Megan M. McArdle, Lib. of Congress, National Lib. Svc. for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Washington, DC © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.