No Life But This by Anna Sheehan is a stand-alone sequel to her 2011 novel, A Long, Long Sleep (review). When I read that novel upon its release I was surprised to find such an intimate and emotional story, one that pulled me in and completely captivated me with the writing and characters. Seeing that No Life But This was being released at the end of 2014 made it a book that I knew I had to read, and one that I hoped would evoke that same feeling of emotional connection I remembered so strongly from A Long, Long Sleep.
From the Publisher:
For Rose the dream is over, it’s time to wake up. She has the power to change the world – but can she make it better?
Rose slept for a hundred years and when she awoke the world as she knew it had vanished, utterly.
She has gone from being a cherished only child to being the sole heir to a vast, interstellar empire. From being alone to being surrounded by friends; from being protected against everything – whether she wanted to be or not – to having others depend upon her.
In the superb stand-alone novel A LONG, LONG SLEEP we saw her survive assassination attempts and heartbreak alike. Now, in the stand-alone sequel, Rose must take control of her future for the sake of her friends – and find a way to protect them without unwittingly caging them in love…
Where A Long, Long Sleep focused on Rose Fitzroy and her waking from a 62 year stasis sleep, No Life But This follows events after its conclusion. The point of view is also a different one, this time told from the perspective of Otto Sextus, one of Rose’s friends, and, along with some of the others in the group, the result of a genetic experiment created on the moon of Europa.
No Life But This starts off in a relatively straight-forward manor. We’re introduced to Otto and Rose, as well as the other surviving members of the Europa experiment. However, out of these survivors Quin stands out the most with his seeming uncaring and harsh personality, though each of the group gets a good look through Otto’s eyes.
Otto is a strange one to tell the story through, being unable to talk, instead communicating telepathically through touch. He can whisper on occasion, but it hurts him to do so and only does this to those he is closest to. This is a side effect of his genetics, and each of the experimental subjects display varying levels of this power. Otto is by far the most extreme, with Quin the most normal of the lot. Of course, normality is relative when they’ve all got blue skin – again another result of the genetic experiment.
Rose, the main character from the first novel, is the focus of Otto’s attention, for he is in love with her. But her stasis sleep has caused her to be completely out of touch with those she knew when younger, particularly her childhood boyfriend, Xavier, who is now in his 70’s. Due to this, and the uniqueness of Otto’s genetics, we’re left with a story that, while dealing with a clear issue – that of Otto’s declining health and mental state, and the quest to Europa in an attempt to heal him – is another intimate affair that Sheehan handles with grace and ease.
Using an SF setting to tell this story really does increase the emotional connections between the characters, especially Otto and Rose. However, the narrative doesn’t get bogged down by any needless world building or exposition, it simply tells the story of these relationships and the effect they have on all around Otto. When the story shifts focus to Europa things get interesting for many reasons, not least because Otto is slowly losing his mind due to his condition. It also gives Sheehan a chance to go past a character-focused story and establish an interesting society that is entirely believable.
No Life But This completely met my expectations, and it’s a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed for its emotional and character-focused plot. While marketed as a stand-alone, I would highly recommend starting with A Long, Long Sleep before reading this one, if for no other reason than it’s a great novel. Books like No Life But This don’t come along often, but when they do it once again shows how diverse and interesting the science fiction genre is. Recommended.
Publisher: http://www.gollancz.co.uk/
Author: http://annasheehan.com/
December 2014, 320 Pages
Paperback, ISBN: 9780575104778
Review copy received from the publisher
© 2015 Mark Chitty
