Too Like the Lightning

{{db-self}}

---

Too Like the Lightning is the first novel in Terra Ignota, a series of political science fiction novels by American author Ada Palmer. It was first published on May 10th 2016 by Tor Books. It was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel,and won the 2017 Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year.

Set in the year 2454, the novel is a fictional memoir written by Mycroft Canner, a brilliant, infamous, and paroled criminal who often serves the world's most powerful leaders. Mycroft frequents the Saneer-Weeksbooth home, at which an important stolen document has been planted. The mystery of why and by whom serves as a focal point which draws many different characters, vying for global power and peace, into involvement with the family. Meanwhile, Mycroft tries to protect and conceal a child named Bridger, who has the power to make the unreal real.

Plot

Set in the year 2454, the novel is a fictional memoir written by Mycroft Canner, a brilliant, infamous, and paroled criminal who often serves the world's most powerful leaders. Mycroft frequents the Saneer-Weeksbooth home, at which an important stolen document has been planted. The mystery of why and by whom serves as a focal point which draws many different characters, vying for global power and peace, into involvement with the family. Meanwhile, Mycroft tries to protect and conceal a child named Bridger, who has the power to make the unreal real.

March the twenty-third, 2454

Carlyle Foster has been assigned as the new sensayer (a professional spiritual guide) of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'. He enters their home suddenly and witnesses the death of a living toy soldier, brought to life by Bridger's miracle. Martin Guildbreaker has also arrived at the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash' to investigate a crime: the unpublished Seven-Ten List (ranking the world's ten most influential people) was stolen from the Black Sakura news office and planted in the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'house as though to frame them for grand theft. Martin meets and interrogates Ockham Saneer, head of the bash'.

Mycroft is summoned to Tōgenkyō by Chief Director Hotaka Andō Mitsubishi. Hotaka and his wife Danaë interrogate Mycroft about the potential use of the "Canner Device" (which allows the user to travel untraced) in the Black Sakura theft.

March the twenty-fourth, Renunciation Day

Mycroft and Censor Vivien Ancelet calculate the economic and cultural impact of this year's publication of the Seven-Ten lists. Vivien recognizes the statistical sequence 33-67; 67-33; 29-71, because his former co-worker Kohaku Mardi wrote it on a wall in his own blood before he died. Mycroft divulges that the statistics predict the tipping point of global destabilization. Mycroft and Vivien agree privately to do anything they can to prevent this catastrophe. The six Hive leaders approve J.E.D.D. Mason to lead the investigation of the crime.

Switching narrators briefly, Martin Guildbreaker dictates his investigation interview, where he begins to learn about the conspicuous suicides and car crashes which have been subtly affecting world politics.

March the twenty-fifth

Mycroft returns to the Sanner-Weeksbooth bash' to find Bridger distressed: Dominic Seneschal has found Bridger's cave and confiscated many items. Mycroft wants to hide Bridger somewhere new, away from the bash'house, but Thisbe is suspicious. Carlyle finds out Mycroft is the infamous serial killer Mycroft Canner who tortured, murdered, and ate the seventeen Mardi bash' members years ago. Julia Doria-Pamphili, Mycroft's court-appointed sensayer, arrives. Carlyle and Julia travel together and discuss how Mitsubishi bash' members are now employeed in the Censor's Office, European Parliament, the Humanist Praetor's office, the C.F.B., and the Black Sakura.

March the twenty-sixth

Saladin, Mycroft's secret lover and accomplice, has found and wants to kill Tully Mardi, the only remaining Mardi. Mycroft asks Saladin to kill Bridger if he is about to be captured.

Thisbe and Carlyle go to Paris to the 'black hole' which Eureka says J.E.D.D. Mason frequents. It turns out to be a secret, Eighteenth-Century era themed, high-security Gendered Sex Club, where they worship J.E.D.D. (Jehovah Epicurus Donatien D'Arouet) Mason as a God. They find out that the world leaders often secretly assemble here, united by Madame D'Arouet and her illegitimate son, J.E.D.D. Mason.

Saladin finds Bridger in distress, takes him to a safe house, and decides to hunt down Dominic Seneschal.

March the twenty-seventh

A final interlude by Martin Guildbreaker commences: a consultation with Commissioner General Ektor Papadelias. By examining the pattern of car crashes and Cato Weeksbooth's suicidal episodes, they realize the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash' is carrying out targeted assassinations, ostensibly in order to maintain the world political status quo and prevent war. They debate the kill-dozens-to-save-thousands ethics of pursuing this investigation. If these assassinations are revealed, war may begin.

Main Characters

• Mycroft Canner: an infamous convicted Servicer who works for many of the most powerful world leaders and protects Bridger
• Bridger: a 13-year-old orphan who can "miracle" inanimate objects to become real
• The Major: The leader of a unit of toy soldiers who were miracled by Bridger and protect him
• Thisbe Saneer: another of Bridger's protectors, a member of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash' which runs the world's transit system
• Carlyle Foster: an orphaned Cousin sensayer, assigned to the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'
• Cato Weeksbooth: a member of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash', brilliant but unstable
• J.E.D.D. Mason: strange but brilliant Tribune, Cornel MASON's adopted son. Other names include: Jed, Tai-Kun, Xiao Hei Wang, Jagmohan, Jehovah Epicurus Donatien D'Arouet Mason, Ἄναξ (Anax) Jehovah
• Mycroft "Martin" Guildbreaker: A Masonic investigator and J.E.D.D. Mason caretaker
• Aldrin Bester: A Utopian investigator, wears a coat depicting a space city
• Voltaire Seldon: A Utopian investigator, wears a coat depicting ruins
• Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle: world famous beauty, biological mother of Carlyle Foster, wife of Hotaka Andō Mitsubishi, sister of Ganymede de la Trémouïlle
• Saladin: Mycroft's lover and secret accomplice

World Leaders

• Hotaka Andō Mitsubishi: Chief Director of the Mitsubishi Hive, husband of Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle
• Ganymede Jean-Louis de la Trémouïlle: President of the Humanist Hive, brother of Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle
• The Anonymous: Vice President of the Humanist Hive by Proxy
• Cornel MASON: Emperor of the Masons Hive
• Vivien Ancelet: Censor of Romanova, spouse of Bryar Kosala
• Bryar Kosala: Chair of the Cousins Hive, spouse of Vivien Ancelet
• Felix Faust: Headmaster of the Brillist Institute & Gordian Hive
• King Isabel Carlos II: King of Spain
• Casimir Perry: Prime Minister of the European Hive
• Madame D'Arouet: J.E.D.D. Mason's biological mother, madam of the Gendered Sex Club, leader of the secret world leaders' bash'

Hives and Factions

Group	Capital City	Hive Language	Governmental Structure	Notes
The Humanists	Buenos Aires	Spanish	Flexible-Constitution Democracy	Power is proportional to the amount of the vote received. For example, in times of crisis, power concentrates in a President, who might have more than half the voting power, whereas in more stable times it might be spread among a ruling council. Humanists believe in the power of individual achievement, and were formed by the merger of the sport-dedicated Olympic Hive and the artist-dedicated One Big Party Hive. Humanists wear individualised boots.
The Cousins	Casablanca	English	Board of Trustees and Suggestion Box	Originally an international group of volunteers who provided welcoming accommodations to travelers, the Cousins continue to be a community of good Samaritans, their Chair being responsible for the Servicer program, and their laws banning the use of recreational drugs and prostitution. Cousins wear a wrap.
Masonic Empire	Alexandria	Masonic neo-Latin	Nonhereditary absolute monarchy	Legend says that the Masonic Empire is descended from Masonic lodges, and the air of mystery gives the Imperium an aura of strength. Masons wear suits, frequently with different coloured arms or armbands to symbolise status.
Gordian	Ingolstadt	German	Brain Bash, selected by Adolf Riktor Brill Institute of Psychotaxonomic Science	The Brillist Institute is an academic institution founded by Brill, a revolutionary psychologist. The direction of the Brillist institute is determined by the Brain bash'. Gordians wear sweaters with patterns that indicate their personality traits.
Europe	Brussels	French	National Parliamentary Democracy	The EU of the series represents those who still value ethnic/national identity, even beyond the European continent. They wear historically European accent accessories like cravats with their more contemporary clothes.
Mitsubishi	Tōgenkyō (in Indonesia)	None (English)	Shareholder Democracy (Corporate Timocracy)	Mitsubishi members value land ownership, and are allocated additional shares based on ownership of land, apartments, or factories. The Greenpeace Hive controlled most of the world's wildlife before the merger. Indonesia was chosen as the location of the capital as a compromise between the Hive's three major nation-strats, Japan, Korea, and China.Mitsubishis wear clothing that changes with the season. Their suits denote which nation-strat they come from.
Utopia	Luna City (on the Moon)	None (English/U-speak)	Overlapping "Constellations" of working groups/teams	Utopians wear coats and visors of Griffincloth, a digital material that is programmed to display an alternative view of the world behind it based on the interests of the wearer; for example, as though the surroundings were a space station.
Blacklaw Hiveless	Hobbestown	None		Blacklaw customs are suggested to those living in Hobbestown. Further, it's expected that before committing any serious action, a Blacklaw will consult the Rumormonger, who is the best informed person in the city, for advice. All humans must follow the 8 Black Laws, or the Universal Laws. Blacklaw Hiveless choose to follow no more. There are an additional set of customs, but these are not binding. Blacklaws wear a black sash.
Graylaw Hiveless		None		By default, all Minors are Graylaws until they pass their Adult Competency Exam and choose otherwise. Graylaws follow the Black Laws, plus an additional set of "Consensus Laws". Graylaws wear a gray sash.
Whitelaw Hiveless		None		Whitelaw Hiveless follow all Black Laws and Gray Laws, plus an additional set of "Characters Laws" Whitelaws wear a white sash.

Style and influence

The books start with in-universe authorizations, disclaimers and trigger warnings. Palmer explained in an interview that French books of the Ancien Régime period listed the authorities having approved them for censorship purposes, and that such lists provide insights as to the preoccupations and priorities of the society in which they were published.

The novels make frequent direct addresses to and from the reader to create a "personal relationship" between the author and the reader, inspired by Jacques the Fatalist from Diderot, which provides the epigraph, and other pieces of eighteenth-century literature. Palmer felt there is a particular "emotional experience" when one reads this kind of book, and so adopted the style herself, to further the connection to the eighteenth century in the world of the series. Similarly, the narrator makes frequent reference to his act of actually writing of the book, and the scrutiny he is under from some other characters, who have apparently acted as editors and censors.

Palmer has stated that "a number of the major themes come from Enlightenment literature: whether humans have the ability to rationally remake their world for the better, whether gender and morality are artificial or innate, whether Providence is a useful way to understand the world and if so what ethics we can develop to go with it." Too Like the Lightning features frequent references to Voltaire, referred to as the Patriarch. Throughout the first three books of the series, Mycroft engages in dialogues with the reader, whose responses and objections to Mycroft are also given, and The Will to Battle also features dialogues with Thomas Hobbes.

Languages

Many different languages are spoken throughout the course of the series. Most dialogue is usually rendered in English, but to indicate other languages, and other mediums of communication, various orthographic conventions are used. For the most part, different quotation marks are used for each language. To represent words spoken in Japanese, 「corner brackets 」 are used, while French and Greek speech receive «guillemets». ¡¿Inverted question and exclamation marks?! are used to distinguish speech in Spanish. German receives no special punctuation, but text that is translated from German preserves the rules of noun-capitalization of that language, "so the Text looks like this, with all the Nouns capitalized". Masonic Latin, as well as J.E.D.D. Mason's own variety, is often left untranslated, and italicised, but is usually followed by an English translation in brackets, supplied either by Mycroft or 9A. Despite these being the seven languages that Mycroft speaks, occasionally other languages do appear, and they have their own conventions: for instance, when a character speaks Hindi, the full stop is replaced by the Hindi poorna viraam ("।") (U+0964 "Devanagari Danda"). Set-sets communicate only via text seen through trackers, and their dialogue is enclosed in <less-than and greater-than signs>, with all text rendered in lower case letters. Other text appearing over trackers is also enclosed in <less-than and greater-than signs>, but with proper capitalization.

Gendered language

By default, almost all characters use gender-neutral language, with "they/them" the predominant pronoun used. Mycroft, the primary narrator, finds his world's obsession with gender-neutrality oppressive, so often uses gendered pronouns to refer to other characters, assigning genders based on the characters' personalities and roles, as they relate to traditional Western gender roles. For instance, Chagatai is male but referred to using "she/her" pronouns because of her fiercely, caring demeanour and role as a domestic cook. Mycroft uses "he/his" pronouns to refer to Carlyle Foster, though other characters who use gendered language use "she/her" to refer to Cousins. The author has explained that Mycroft frequently "misuses" gendered pronouns, just as people in real life often make mistakes when using gender-neutral pronouns. Also, in its chapter at the start of Seven Surrenders, Sniper advises the reader to not "trust the gendered pronouns Mycroft gives people, they all come from Madame". Mycroft sometimes varies the gendered pronouns he gives characters. For instance, Carlyle is mostly referred to using she/her pronouns starting with Seven Surrenders, whereas in the first book Carlyle is referred to with he/him pronouns.

(This article uses the pronouns that Mycroft uses, changing when he changes.)

Publication history

The worldbuilding process took five years, and was first inspired when Palmer heard the line in Romeo and Juliet that gives the first book its name. Palmer states that the original inspiration was for a structure involving the loss of something precious at the midpoint, and that the outline and worldbuilding grew out of that. The Mycroft character was developed after most of the other central characters, but before the plot.

Palmer found out that she had sold the story to Tor Books at San Antonio Worldcon 2013, five years after she had first submitted it. By the time the first manuscript had been sold, Palmer had written drafts for the second and third.

Reception

NPR qualifies the book as "dense and complex" and the worldbuilding as a "thrilling feat", comparing with Gene Wolfe and Neal Stephenson worlds. Kirkus Reviews described the book as, "thought-provoking, disturbing, occasionally perverted, and always entertaining. Worldbuilding at its richest." The WIRED book club said that, "Ada Palmer has done a brilliant job with the pacing and keeping us in the close confidences of such a charming and deceitful narrator."

Paul Kincaid in Strange Horizons is disappointed by the gender treatment, deploring the direct abandon by the narrator, preferring the Ancillary Justice style. They consider the book concepts had the potential to be "one of the most significant works of contemporary science fiction" but fails to "[live] up to its aspirations". The critics describes Too Like The Lighting as "one of the most maddening, majestic, ambitious novels – in any genre – in recent years" but deplores the abrupt ending. The New York Review of Science Fiction compares the narrator with Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

Awards

Too Like the Lightning was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and won the 2017 Compton Crook Award for the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year.

Notes

This article "Too Like the Lightning" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Too Like the Lightning. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.

---