Great North Road

by Peter F. Hamilton 

In Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton humanity has discovered the ability to travel around the galaxy through “portals”. The North family has found great riches as the discoverers and exploiters of the technology. The Norths are special, though: each generation is a clone of the last. Generations of this has created genetic mental and physical flaws, with each branch and generation in an escalating rivalry with the rest of the family. But even with all this, the family is huge and powerful. So when one of these clones is murdered, it’s a huge, public scandal. 

Detective Sidney Hurst trying to understand the killing and why it’s so similar to a murder 20 years prior for which a young woman was convicted. Despite the scope of the crime, the politics and power of the North family makes the investigation a complicated quagmire. 

Angela Tremelo is the woman charged with the old murder and has now been released from prison. She insists on her innocence and is convinced a malevolent alien force is responsible for new murders. She’s now working with an expedition to the wild lands of the North world of St. Libra, but danger is following them as members are being picked off one by one. 

Peter F. Hamilton’s world building is very thorough. Every facet of the universe is deliberately plotted, each little detail is created explicitly to tell part of the story, even if it doesn’t actually contribute to the plot. Compare it to the set dressing in films like Blade Runner or Minority Report. Everything you see (or read, as in this book) is there to give you a feeling, a sense of the world, one that colours the story and steers your imagination where Hamilton wants it to go. 

One thing to remember about Peter F. Hamilton: he doesn’t know how to write a short book. This is not a criticism, mind you. If you are a fan of space opera it’s part of the appeal. It’s a compelling mystery in a richly detailed universe. Think in terms of the scope of Game of Thrones and the sci-fi of The Expanse mixed with the gritty (and moral questionable) police of Luther.

Exit West

Exit West

 by Moshin Hamid

In the futuristic, magical novel Exit West by Moshin Hamid, Saeed and Nadia meet in an evening class in an unidentified country that is under siege and about to explode into war.  Saeed is contemplative and reserved while Nadia is fiercely independent and confident.  As their friendship develops, the fighting becomes more violent and begins to inhabit their neighbourhoods.  They both anguish over the future of their country and their own fate.  Will they survive?  What will be left for them if they do?

Hearing of doors that will take them to other, safer places, Saeed and Nadia make the decision to leave and find a nonviolent home. This step through the door leads them to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Mykonos, where they struggle to belong, to survive, and to get news of the country they have left behind.  As they adjust to their new location, they are held together by the effort it takes to find housing, work, and food.

As they move through doors to other countries the reader moves with them and learns that the refugees are everywhere worldwide. These doors allow the world’s citizens to move from one refugee camp/city/country to another – but they come with a price. For Saeed and Nadia, the price is a loss of the closeness they once had to each other, as through them we live the refugee experience, reading how each of them learns to cope in each new situation, each of them seeking something to belong to, and something to tie them to their past. 

This novel takes place in the future-- or does it? Hamid’s poetic narrative gives the reader an insight into the refugee experience, and provides food for thought on current approaches to refugees.

For other popular reading suggestions check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks/.