Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Terra Ignota #1 

Publisher: Tor Books (May 10, 2016)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Length: 432 pages

My Rating: 3 stars

Ambitious.  Complex.  Thought-provoking.  Ada Palmer’s debut novel, Too Like the Lightning, is all those things and more.  The book truly an intellectual piece of science fiction literature, not only in its themes (political, societal, philosophical, and religious) but also in the ornate, elegant, and nuanced writing style.  Demanding your full attention, this novel’s complete depth cannot be appreciated without devoting time and effort to first consuming it before slowly sorting and digesting all its potent ingredients.

Taking place in the 25th century, the narrative is largely the first-hand accounts of Mycroft Canner (though, as a government edited recount, its complete accuracy is somewhat in question) supplemented by information garnered by use of electronic trackers that allow Mycroft…