Edge of Dark: Humanity vs. the natural and the unnatural

Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper

In Edge of Dark, Brenda Cooper comes back to the world she created in her RUBY’S SONG duology. In it, humanity has driven AI robots to the edge of the galaxy — to the titular “Edge of Dark” — and maintained their own perimeter of ships and space stations, called The Glittering, around habitable planets, keeping warmth and life to themselves. However, the robots (called, ominously, The Next) have come back, invading a lone scientific space station, killing most of the crew, and uploading the consciousnesses of a chosen few into “soulbot” bodies. As a result of this, human and robot denizens of the three worlds — the planets, the Glittering, and the Edge — are thrown together in a tense political, environmental, and metaphysical drama that spans the galaxy.

If this sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen Battlestar Galactica. Much of what Cooper is doing here echoes the themes of that series: the human race in search of a home, governance and power that spans planets and spaceships; and the perceived threat of sentient robots. However, Edge of Dark doesn’t feel derivative. Cooper doesn’t spend much time on religion or mythology — one of the hallmarks of BSG and, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating aspects of the series. However, she has her own interesting insights into this situation.

Edge of Dark spends a lot of time with one character, Chrystal, who has been turned into one of The Next against her will. We learn what it’s like to become a robot after being human. Chrystal mourns the loss of her human body, of the joys of food and sex and physical sensation. She also mourns the loss of a human perspective as her mind slowly acclimates to its new form; she learns a new way of thinking and being. While she never fully celebrates her robot abilities — such as merging consciounesses — in the book, she begins to accept them as her new reality. I was very interested in Chrystal’s story; Cooper defines some aspects of humanity that we often overlook in our discussions of what it means to be human.

I also liked the story and perspective of Charlie Windar, the ranger from Lym, one of the habitable planets. Charlie is sworn to protect Lym’s natural resources and wild beauty from human and Next alike. From hints in the novel, we understand that Lym has been ravaged by over-mining, over-harvesting, and pollution, time and time again. While Cooper does not harp on this theme, Charlie’s fierce dedication and bond to his home speaks to the author’s environmental focus.

I was least interested in the third protagonist, Nona, a child of privilege living on Diamond Deep, one of the largest space stations. She comes from the line of Ruby (the heroine of Cooper’s earlier series) and, once her parents die, it is expected that she will take some position of command. She is pulled in many different directions: Chrystal, the new Next, is her best friend, while Charlie, the Lym environmentalist, is a new love interest. I understand that a young woman, on the threshold of autonomy and possibility and faced with too many choices, could find this situation overwhelming. However, I read her as wishy-washy, whiny, and a bit boring.

This could be an effect of Cooper’s writing. It was clear and precise, often descriptive, but I felt it lacked emotional affect. This works very well for Chrystal’s narration, of course, but not for the rest of the book. As I’ve said in previous reviews, though, this aspect of writing is so subjective; in the past, other reviewers have called Cooper’s writing “lush, sensual, emotionally driven.” Even with the sense of emotional distance from the characters, I would still recommend Edge of Dark to people interested in stories of space exploration or artificial intelligence and its consequences.