Review of the book 'The Light of Other Days' (2000), by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter

Title: The light of other days

Author: Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter

Publisher: Voyager, An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Cover uncredited

The light of other days is a science-fiction story about an idea: the WormCam, a Camera-through-a-Wormhole that allows to watch any place, and later on (as it is given away by the title) any time as well. This is definitely literature about ideas, because the rest of the novel (plot, characters, places) is incidental.
 

What if we could watch any place? Privacy would be dead, there would be no secrets, and crime would be almost impossible to get away with. The novel explores these possibilities.

What if we could watch any time? Famous disappearances could be explained, the biggest mysteries of history would be unveiled, we would be able to tell whether Fermat was joking about the proof to his last theorem, and Christ could be watched. The novel explores this, and provides some answers... which of course, are just educated guesses.

The story has a set of protagonists at the core, developing this invention and also experiencing the consequences of it. Hiram Patterson is the owner of the OurWorld corporation, an arrogant, determined, energetic character with no scruples whatsoever. From Eve Curzon, Hiram got David, an estranged son that went on to become a young genius of Physics and a professor at Oxford before joining this father on the WormCam project. From Heather Mays, Hiram got Bobby, whom he kept at his side from birth and prepared to be his heir. Journalist Kate Manzoni joins the team and gets involved in a relationship with Bobby... but getting to influence Hiram's heir surely makes her an enemy of him. As for Bobby, he meets his mother and also his half-sister Mary.

There is also the Wormwood, a gigantic asteroid set to impact Earth and exterminate mankind in the future, but in spite of being frequently mentioned by the characters it doesn't feel real – no consequence is ever shown for the characters or the OurWorld corporation.

The style, very resembling of Arthur C. Clarke novels, is easily readable but superficial. It mixes up news and reports with scenes between the characters, with a lot of exposition and an intense use of passive voice. When it comes to characters it lacks depth – characters have emotions and traits all right, but the narration does not provide much insight of their thoughts and feelings so they don't quite feel as having a life of their own. There are police investigations, but the novel never follows them and all that we get is the verdict at the end. There is a long kidnapping at some point, which seems unrealistic in a world where there are no more secrets. In spite of being easily readable, the novel fails to hook the reader up – it lacks a thread that would lead the action from one point to another so the reader could develop expectations. On one hand, the novel succeeds at portraying the many changes that the invention of the WormCam would mean for human society. On the other hand, the novel fails at providing the reader with solid characters.

All in all, a novel worth of reading because of its depiction of a world with no secrets.