Beyond the Hallowed Sky cover art

Beyond the Hallowed Sky

Lightspeed, Book 1

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About this listen

When a brilliant scientist gets a letter from herself about faster-than-light travel, she doesn't know what to believe. The equations work, but her paper is discredited - and soon the criticism is more than scientific. Exiled by the establishment, she gets an offer to build her starship from an unlikely source. But in the heights of Venus and on a planet of another star, a secret is already being uncovered that will shake humanity to its foundations.

Science fiction legend Ken MacLeod begins a new space-opera trilogy by imagining humankind on the precipice of discovery - the invention of faster-than-light travel unlocks a universe of new possibilities and new dangers.

©2021 Ken MacLeod (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration Space Opera Solar System Interstellar

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Critic reviews

"An exceptional blend of international politics, hard science, and first contact." (Michael Mammay, author of the Planetside series)
All stars
Most relevant
Great story. Slow at first and needed a bit of replay to understand it. Great second half. It gets faster and faster. Narration excellent except for one word - what do you call a soldier that fights for pay?

Just one word

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I really wanted to like this from the write up but I just felt it pondered a bit and I never really got 'into' it. The first few chapters seemed promising but it just didn't deliver the excitement and intrigue and 'sci-fi feel I wanted. I guess I won't be buying the others in the series. This could just be because it's not really my tipe of sci-fi.

A bit lacklustre for me

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Why is it considered OK for a novel set in Scotland and written by a Scottish author to have a narrator who does such an awful Scottish accent? Like, seriously, did nobody ever hear it and just have a quiet word, like "mate actually you're not the right person for this job"?

Honestly really sick of it.

The Scottish accents are bad

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A good read but I felt the story to be a bit fragmented. Personally I had a number of interruptions in the reading so it might’ve been my own fault. I’m considering a re-read when things quiet down a bit

A good read

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This is not a standalone story, so it ends rather abruptly. It also feels very old fashioned, like stories from the 50s where a rocket to the moon is built in a backyard.

Still the world building is impressive and the plot rattles along.

Old fashioned

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