Beacon 23:
The Complete Novel

Hugh Howey

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part.

Until something goes wrong.

Until a ship is in distress.

In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust.

They never break down.

They never fail.

At least, they aren't supposed to.

Review by Nigel (290216) Rating (8/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 8/10
Beacon 23 tells the story of a war veteran looking for solitude in the future equivalent of an earthly lighthouse. The Beacons consist of a Gravity Wave Broadcaster (GWB) that allows the faster-than-light spaceships to navigate the cosmos safely by broadcasting to them all the local gravitational disturbances as they travel through hyperspace.

We never know the name of the main protagonist, other than his call sign at flight school, but as the story develops we learn why he has chosen such a solitary existence as his past races to catch up with him. Strangely, given the fact that his current profession was chosen to avoid people, the operator of Beacon 23 gets quite a lot of visitors…

Beacon 23 is a loose combination of Dark Star and The Martian. At times I found the story very funny, particularly the dialogue with Rocky, as well as some interesting interchanges with NASA, imagined and real. There are also the inevitable technical issues to overcome when you are on your own and help is not an inconsiderable distance away. And to top it all the Operator of Beacon 23 is almost certainly suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or in his own words “…just a little bit crazy.”

I enjoyed Beacon 23 immensely. While not a long novel it has everything you want. It is well written with both humour and tension, has great characters and above all is a good old fashioned story with which to while away an idle afternoon. If you haven’t read any Hugh Howey before it would be a great place to start… and may lead you on to the joy that is the Wool trilogy.

As with other works by the author Beacon 23 was originally a five part eBook series:

1. Beacon 23: Part One: Little Noises (June 8, 2015)
2. Beacon 23: Part Two: Pet Rocks (July 5, 2015)
3. Beacon 23: Part Three: Bounty (July 19, 2015)
4. Beacon 23: Part Four: Company (July 26, 2015)
5. Beacon 23: Part Five: Visitor (August 8, 2015)

Nigel (29th February 2016)