Radiance: Catherynne M. Valente (Tom Thorne Novels)

As a mixture of life story / drama, science fiction and small parts of something like a murder mystery this book really surprised me in the places that it was going. In different kinds of texts, like scripts, editors notes and diary entries it tells, in not chronological order, the story of the life and disappearance of a director in a place like our old Hollywood, but in space. At first this space setting is more like a gimmick but becomes more of a plotpoint later on. The way the story is told made me almost believe Severin Unck has been a real person, as the people and there relationships feel genuine and mostly likeable. The texts are very different from each other and sometimes feel unconnected but in the end lead to a good understanding of this world, of Severin and of the people around her which made me care for them at the end even if we don't follow a traditional plot. I think who is interested in the topics of film and the old Hollywood and does not mind or would even like an alternative universe with a few scifi elements might enjoy this book.