Review: Beyond the Reach of Earth by Ken Macleod

Beyond the Reach of Earth by Ken Macleod, first published March 21, 2023.

Book two in Ken Macleod’s Lightspeed trilogy, Beyond the Reach of Earth, was an interesting albeit mixed read, much like its predecessor. It picks up where the first entry in the series left off, and continues the story – the three geopolitical factions of the near future, vying for dominance in humanity’s expanding domain, thanks to the “FTL” technology they’ve all developed, whilst also contending with the alien presence of the Fermi – or at the very least Fermi artifacts.

In many ways, it’s the world-building of the Lightspeed trilogy that I simultaneously find to be the most interesting and most frustrating parts of these stories. The Earth of 2070 and beyond, as Macleod imagines it, is fascinating – with the lines on the map redrawn, power redistributed and reorganised, it creates an imaginative yet grounded backdrop for the stories. One thread that I found quite interesting was around that of deterrence. When a faction has a power that no one else has, you have dominance by virtue of your superiority – if you and you alone have nuclear weapons, you’re untouchable by threat of total and utter retaliatory annihilation. When several or all factions have the same advantage, the deterrence shifts from superiority to mutually assured destruction. In-universe, the discovery of the “FTL” technology once again provides superiority – nukes that can now be teleported to a target location, circumventing all counter-measures and defences – but when all the factions have the same “FTL” technology, the balance of power once again shifts to mutually assured destruction.

The aspect that I perhaps found most frustrating was the introduction of the idea that not only do the “FTL” drives teleport rather than move the object faster than light, but they also jump between alternate realities and time. Disregarding the fact that this is still occurring in submarines of all things, now the protagonists are moving between universes and timelines. As I’d commented on in my Beyond the Hallowed Sky review, this suspends my disbelief as a reader, and clashes with the harder sci-fi billing that the series has.

Similar to the first book, the mostly per-chapter POV switching still irked me, as I struggled to really connect with any one character, and when coupled with some of the premise choices, makes the read less satisfying than I’d hoped it would be, yet the story is well written and maintains enough intrigue to keep me engaged. With one book left in the trilogy, I’m keen to see where the story goes and how Macleod concludes the series. It still isn’t a series I’d recommend to everyone, but I would still suggest giving Beyond the Hallowed Sky a go – if that first story clicks with you and your reading preferences, then absolutely continue onto Beyond the Reach of Earth, as they really are parts one and two of the same narrative. As for me, it’s onwards to Beyond the Light Horizon!