A Strange and Brilliant Light by Eli Lee follows the lives of three women in a world similar to ours where machines are taking over jobs
Lal is a coffee shop manager eager to rise in the ranks and work for Tekna, a powerful technology company akin to Google. Unlike her childhood best friend, Rose opposes how the tech companies are destroying livelihoods by automating more and more jobs. Janetta, Lal’s sister, is a brilliant PhD student working on making AI conscious.

I have to admit being confused about where the overall story was going. I enjoyed discovering each of the women’s story, but the disparate story lines didn’t make sense to me until the very end when I felt the author rushed to tie all three paths together.

The best part of the story had nothing to do with AI: it’s about how these three women deal with living in a world where their thoughts are not valued (most often by men). I relished watching their self confidence grow in spite of the capitalist and misogynistic society they are immersed in.

I would recommend this read if you enjoyed the likes of Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I want to start by saying I think the themes of this book and the ideas that it explores are both fascinating and a little bit terrifying. I don't think this was the first time I've seen 'the world is being overtaken by AI' as a plotline but I think this is the first time it's felt real and also imminent. These aren't hyper-intelligent robots coming down from secret labs high in the mountains to overthrow humanity, they're there to make your coffee and they're putting someone else out of a job. I mean we've started to see it in places already!

So as someone who had recognised this as a growing...thing but hadn't really considered the potential ramifications of life where this is becoming more normal I found this book interesting. I liked that we got to see some of the benefits and pitfalls of this kind of change and I very much appreciated that for the most part the bad guy is capitalism (always a win for me).

I also appreciated that this book featured a lot of women in science - always something you like to see. I thought that this also did a good job of showing women in positions of power that weren't scientific - just women doing things, it works.

I think that, for me, this was a bit too much of a bleak book to be something I would want to re-read or to lend out to people. I like more of a balance between joy/hope and despair/apathy and I think this book leaned a little bit too much towards the despair/bleakness for my personal tastes. It wasn't necessarily that it felt imbalanced or like the focus was pushed too far one way in an artificial sense, it was more that this whole topic is quite depressing and I may not have been in the right place for that at the time.

All told I think this is a well written, thought provoking book that I suspect will only become more and more relevant as time goes on. I would recommend it to those looking to explore these ideas but I would have something happy on deck to bring you back up once you're done.

I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

The premise of this book really intrigued me - in a future world where AI is becoming prevalent, how will people react and respond and what lengths will we go to to work with / against them?
The story focuses on three women - Lal, Janetta and Rose - whose lives are connected and become both more and less intertwined as the story goes on. Sisters Lal and Janetta are not close but both work within the realms of AI technology, Lal as an employee of a huge AI Tech company and Janetta who is completing her PhD studies in advancing empathetic conscious Artificial intelligence. Rose and Lal have been friends for a long time but their relationship is hurt when Lal leaves to go work for the tech company while Rose's career is put at risk by the very AI 'Auts' that Lal's new employers produce, and who Rose has a huge issue with. So far, so good.
Each woman has her own story, as well as the elements where she is connected to the other protagonists, but none of them felt developed enough for me; huge emotional and relationship decisions seemed to happen in the space of a few sentences, or else were referred to pages later and had me checking back to see what I had missed. As the story went on I so badly wanted to really care about what the women were going through but I struggled. The story also became more convoluted while also being a bit repetitive, and by the end (which was a good, discussion-enabling ending to be fair) I was not really worried about what happened.
I wanted to love this, and there is promise there, but it just was not for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Whilst at times it’s hard to read and complete get your head round, there’s no denying that Eli Lee can write description beautifully.

The life described in this book of artificial intelligence and robots replacing huh man jobs is a life becoming more and more a reality which is rather frightening, but I never felt that scared for the characters in this book.

I did find it difficult to keep on track with who was who and who they were in relation to other characters. I also found the flitting around in time, “1 year earlier; 6 months later” a bit jarring.

I did get the sense there was a lot of ‘telling the reader what is happening rather than showing them’.

A book with great promise, just didn’t hit the mark for me.

I very much liked the premise of this book - AI and its effect on society - from the perspective of three female characters. It did at times, though, rather lack pace and I found it difficult to stay hooked. The characters were not as engaging as I'd like and would have preferred if they had been stronger and less passive in the narrative.. There is a great deal of potential in this story and with tighter plotting, and more tension it would have made an easier read. Also, perhaps more of a likeable protagonist we can root for and antagonist who personifies the negative elements of AI from the start would help us understand the pros and cons. Showing rather than telling us. I did like the ambiguous ending which was much more interesting than a trite resolution. Maybe the sequel could tell us what happens next?

A Strange and Brilliant Light focuses on three main characters: Lal, Janetta and Rose who are living in a time of technological development and advancement, with AI (Auts) gradually replacing humans within the workforce leading to high levels of unemployment, discontent and social upheaval.

The three perspectives are all very different and I found Rose the most relatable – an ordinary worked wanting to see change in her society but unsure how best to approach it.

Lal on the other hand is a huge fan of innovation and is seeking to better herself in the corporate world of AI. While Janetta, the hardest of the three to connect with in my opinion, is a genius level student of AI but seems to spend much of the story wallowing in her failed relationships.

I didn’t find the three girls to be particularly strong characters and they each seemed to maintain relationships with or pander to the feelings of other more obnoxious characters (i.e.: Malin, Taly, Alec, etc).

The concept of human jobs being replaced by AI is really interesting and I liked the sci-fi approach with a political twist. I did, however, find the book a bit meandering in places and I couldn’t tell whether it was actually going anywhere or just offering a brief glimpse of a potential future society.

The final few chapters felt a little rushed with no real resolution for any of the characters and the open ending was unsatisfying.

Unfortunately not for me!

This is an interesting book set in the near future, when robots (auts) are rapidly replacing people in many work settings.
This is seen through the eyes of three women, Lal, who wants to be part of the aut industry, Janetta her sister, an academic, who is researching emotions in auts, and Rose who is opposed to auts, and wants to help the people left jobless.
Their journey was interesting, but I found the writing and language very stilted, and that made the reading a chore rather than a pleasure.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I don’t want to damn A Strange and Brilliant Light with faint praise. I enjoying reading the book and Lee make many thought-provoking points about the potential impact of AI. Like the best Sci-fi, it uses speculative technological developments to explore the way people and society respond to change.


The world-building for the most part is well done, a sort of near-future where robots (or Auts) are slowly taking jobs away from regular folk. Lee has a good ear for dialogue and writes some cracking exchanges between the characters. Lee also captures perfectly the creeping sense of worthlessness that people out of work feel and why having a purpose is so important. The best sequences in the book depict how people working for large corporations work long hours and are asked to complete tasks at an inhuman speed. Lee does a great job of bottling the fear of not wanting to stand out, of not being seen as lazy, of being sacked from a job you hate.
That said it is let down by a clumsy structure. Three separate prologues and the three POV characters occasionally made it hard to follow the narrative. None of the protagonists really got their hooks into me. I felt it could have been streamlined a bit. Part of me wonders if it would have worked better as a TV show where the change of perspective would have been smoother.

Lee writes about relationships very well. The way the characters allow small slights to add up, how difficult they find it to turn to those they love when they feel like they have wronged is something Lee captures well.
It never really soars as a character drama though. The solutions proposed by the characters to the problems they face are nowhere near a clever as Lee seems to think they are. It is the kind of book that ambles along and is entertaining enough. I had a pleasant enough time reading it but was hoping for something a bit more impactful given the themes to book explores.

Buy the book here and me some money.

A Strange and Brilliant Light – not sure how the title fits into the story narrative but maybe that is just me missing something.

The story is set in the near future in a fantasy world where AI automatons (auts) are taking over the workplace. This revolution is seen somewhat differently by each of the main protagonists, three women, two sisters who have never seen eye to eye and the best friend of the younger sibling. Rose, the best friend, is interested in the labour movement and how people who lose their jobs should be compensated. Lal, her best friend wants to get a job with the AI company so a falling out is inevitable. Meanwhile Lal’s sister Janetta just happens to be the best AI expert in the world (very convenient).

The story revolves around the conflicting lifestyles and viewpoints held by each of these characters, but failed to really captivate me in any way.

I erred in reading this book, as I had thought from the blurb that it was dystopian/scifi, but it was literary fiction and therefore lacking in plot, well developed characters, and interest.
It should have been good, but what could have been covered in novella form was draw out into a quite long book, over 400 pages, and there just wasn't enough there to do that.
All the characters had similar names, so you have to concentrate, and there wasn't anything that made me care about what happened to them. There was also a degree of woke-ness that just seemed unnecessary; I would much rather the author had put more effort into developing her characters and cutting out long passages of unnecessary jabber.

This novel focuses on Rose, Lal and Janetta who are living during the time of a technological advancement when AI or auts are slowly replacing the human workforce and the story focuses on the women's very different reactions to this.

I really enjoyed this novel; I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy but this was told from the human perspective and felt much like something g that could actually happen during our lifetime. I particularly liked Rose's character as she felt very real and honest in her views and I was gripped until the very satisfying end!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

You know those books you read, you can tell they’re good, on a level you do like reading them, but you just don’t feel anything about them? This is me with A Strange and Brilliant Light. It’s a good book, and Eli Lee is clearly an accomplished writer.

It’s just then it came up against me.

I think, really, it’s that age-old problem of me reading literary fiction. This was a very thoughtful book, with critiques of capitalism, industry, and productivity, wrapped up in “what happens when we can create truly intelligent artificial intelligence?”. All of which went straight over my head.

Which is why I think you should just ignore my rating of this book, and my review, and pick it up anyway if you think it’s something you’ll enjoy. There’s really not that much else for me to say about this book. It has sympathetic characters that do, in all honesty, make the story pass quicker. But there’s very little that happens. It’s a very cerebral book, in that respect. In fact, the most excitement comes right at the end.

And that’s probably why I struggled to actively like it, really. That, combined with a general dislike of literary fiction.

But, when I say don’t let this put you off, I mean it. It’s a way better book than this review makes it sound.

Just to be different, I'm going to start my review from the back. The ending was a classic. This would be a great book for a club as there are so many consequences to discuss.

I enjoyed this work, it was well written and gave the reader strong insights into the characters and their personalities. Also, their preferences when it comes to the robots - or 'auts' as they are called - taking jobs away from humans. Similar to the Industrial Revolution, I think.

I was pulled in by the characters' interactions with each other. Their honesty and dishonesty, strength, and friendship. I enjoyed Rose's mirroring of her father, a kind of loyalty to his union ways.

To be honest, I was hoping for a lot more science fiction content. Perhaps my hopes were far too high. It's not a bad book by any means, please do not let me put you off reading it. One thing I did have a HUGE problem with - and again, this is to do with me, not the writing - was the character names. If there are too many names with the same amount of letters, then I find it hard to differentiate between them and have to keep looking back through the book to remind myself. So, imagine my frustration with *breathes in* Los, Lal, Van, Mas, and Jyl, and wait for it, Rose, Naji, Alek, Iria, Hela, Taly, Payo, and Uhli!

I received an ARC copy via NetGalley which I voluntarily read and honestly reviewed. All opinions are my own.

A Strange and Brilliant Light follows the story of three wildly different women and the way their lives are affected by the rise of artificial intelligence within society. It presents lots of moral questions about governments, class inequality and the state of society.

I got Black Mirror-y vibes from this one, although it was a little heavier on the theoretical side so can be a bit difficult to sink your teeth into at first. It's worth sticking around for though, and brings up some interesting moral questions throughout which really get you thinking about the way our real society is heading!

The characterisation is something I wasn't a massive fan of - Lal is immediately unlikeable and seems to be completely void of human nature. Whilst I was really happy to see some LGBT+ rep with Janetta, she seems quite spineless, and Rose doesn't feel that interesting either. I would've much preferred this book if I had felt more invested in the characters, but unfortunately they are the let down in this case.

Overall, this is an interesting work of fiction focusing on the social narrative of AI and would be great for strongly political/theoretical sci-fi fans.

I was offered this book as an ARC via Netgalley and I usually try my best to read the whole novel so that I can give a fair review however I gave up on this one around page 170. It took me a while to work out what it was that was leaving me cold and initially put it down to having just finished Klara and the Sun which I had enjoyed.

Initially I was thrown by the headings in the Prologue which state 'One Year Earlier' with each character's name. I felt that this was a little odd as labelling something as a prologue makes me as a reader assume that this comes before the main story and that if necessary the time jump will be made clear in the main body of the story and sure enough on p34 there is a break stating 'Twelve Months Later'. Starting the novel this way immediately left me feeling that I had missed something as the question in the forefront of my mind was "One year earlier than what?" I admit that this is probably just me being overly picky!

Given that the premise of the novel is that automation is taking over many people's jobs the main issue I had with the novel is that I didn't like any of the characters. There were some strange statements given the close third style of narration for most of the novel such as on p96 'Janetta was the best. The others had known this when they entered the doctoral programme, and they were even more sure three years on. They admired her because her brain was subtle and flexible, but they liked her because she carried her learning lightly...She knew most of her peers were no competition...' These statements seem contradictory as someone who knows 'most of her peers were no competition' is hardly carrying her learning lightly. To me is just appears that she is egotistical but likes to think of herself as popular.

There is a lot of posturing and lecturing about 'post-labour movements' (p169) but it comes across as exposition. In the end I came to the conclusion that the reason I couldn't get into the novel was that it felt like it was 'telling' you everything in the antithesis to the immortal quote 'show, don't tell'. Personally I prefer my novels to be thought provoking rather than lecturing.

Sometimes you read a book by a new author and are struck by their ability to write well. Even if the story isn't quite en pointe this time round, you know that when they hit on the right idea, they'll execute it successfully. That's the case with Eli Lee's debut novel. Lee writes characters that are believable, and the author's turn of phrase is good. I enjoyed reading the way the book was written.

The story is set in something like early 21st century USA, in terms of the culture and technology, although all place names, brands and history are fictitious. I'm not sure this was a good choice - you don't realise how many cues you pick up as a reader from the inclusion of real places. For example, you know immediately if a place is a city or a rural area, poor or rich etc. Made-up names are OK for true high fantasy, but in a novel that's basically set in the 'real' world, it means you lose something.

The novel begins at a time in history when automation is increasingly taking over jobs. Artificial intelligences - known as 'auts' - are appearing in every industry and workers are being laid off. The story focusses on three women whose lives are affected by this revolution. Rose loses her job in a coffee shop and becomes an anti-automation activist. Lal, her best friend, ends up working for the corporation that makes the 'auts'. Lal's sister, Janetta, is an academic trying to train artificial intelligences to understand emotions.

The set up is very promising, the characters are interesting, the topic is hugely relevant, and the writing style is good. But it doesn't really go anywhere. The story starts with a time jumping format that is really confusing, but fortunately settles into a linear narrative after the first quarter. I read avidly, waiting for something significant to happen... and waiting... The three characters never really come together in the way the blurb suggests and the end feels hurried and disappointing. I wanted a bit more drama, or a bit more peril. The whole thing ended up feeling like a damp squib.

I would read another book by Eli Lee as I think this is an author who could produce a really superb book. This one, whilst readable enough and not by any means 'bad', isn't it.

**2.75**

[This ARC was provided by NetGalley.]

This novel is a piece of speculative fiction that explores three women, in a similar world to ours, and their reactions to the rapidly growing influence of AI technology upon its society.
This book is a lot less science-fiction focused than I was initially expecting - instead, it explores the economic and political philosophy side of the impact of technology upon humanity, and discusses themes of autonomy, class, and freedom in an interesting way.
The three different perspectives provided three unique insights into how people might feel about "auts" - the main AI technology within the novel - and the impact they have upon the women's relationships and wellbeing.
However, the three different perspectives of lal, rose, and janetta ultimately felt like flat, two-dimensional characters to me, which meant I unfortunately wasn't as invested in this novel as I wanted to be; their different perspectives felt distinguishable, sure, but they just didn't feel interesting, sadly. The pacing was also all over the place, making the novel hard to follow in some areas.

I enjoyed this book though not my usual choice of read - it was hard to put down and left me thinking about the questions the characters were posing. Definitely a thought provoking read.

I was sent a copy of this book for an honest review.

It was set in an unfamiliar place and makes you think about what's going to happen in the future with AI technology. Personally, I'm not that keen. This book showed a very interesting perspective. It was interesting, but not as gripping as books I've read recently,.
#Netgalley #AStrangeAndBrilliantLight

I thought at first that this was set in Japan as the names of the characters and the food were slightly exotic, and unknown to me. However, I came to realise that this is a society and maybe a world which is completely imagined by the author. The description of the auts was a little hazy so I did not know if they were boxes, robots or humanoid. But I surprised myself by really enjoying the story and well done to the main character for her final decision. This reminded me a bit of the TV series Humans.