Unto Leviathan

Unto Leviathan (2003) by Richard Paul Russo
Orbit — ISBN 9781841492704
Condition: As New

There are sensible ways of exploring the universe. You can send probes. You can build enormous telescopes. You can sit comfortably at home and wait for an alien civilisation to send you a polite introductory message containing useful information about faster-than-light travel and perhaps a few restaurant recommendations. Or, if you happen to inhabit the universe of Richard Paul Russo, you can climb aboard a gigantic starship, head off into the unknowable depths of space and discover that whatever is waiting out there has probably been waiting considerably longer than you have.

Unto Leviathan follows the vast starship Argonos, wandering through deep space with generations of humanity aboard. It is less a cruise liner than an entire travelling society: thousands of people, their descendants, their politics, their beliefs and all the usual human baggage which apparently remains stubbornly overweight even when actual luggage allowances have ceased to matter. The ship has been travelling for centuries, searching for somewhere — or perhaps something — worth finding.

Then they encounter an apparently abandoned human colony.

This is generally the point in science fiction where somebody should say, “Perhaps we shouldn’t go inside.” Unfortunately, if fictional explorers routinely followed this advice, most science-fiction novels would be approximately twelve pages long.

The colony contains evidence of something deeply unpleasant, while a mysterious alien vessel nearby offers an even larger and considerably more ominous question mark. The crew of the Argonos investigate, because humanity has spent thousands of years demonstrating that an unexplained doorway marked PROBABLY A TERRIBLE IDEA is essentially irresistible. What follows is a dark, atmospheric journey into alien mystery, religious obsession, human division and the uncomfortable possibility that the universe may contain things which neither notice nor particularly care about our carefully constructed ideas of significance.

Russo’s novel is space opera stripped of the cheerful optimism. There are enormous distances, ancient mysteries and alien artefacts, but very little suggestion that humanity is inevitably destined to stride triumphantly across the stars planting flags and opening branch offices. Instead, the sheer scale of space makes people look fragile, temporary and rather argumentative. Naturally, faced with incomprehensible cosmic mysteries, the humans aboard Argonos respond by disagreeing among themselves. Some things apparently survive every technological revolution.

The book has often been praised for its brooding atmosphere, and with good reason. This is not a galaxy filled with brightly coloured aliens popping round for diplomatic cocktails. Space is vast, empty and unsettling, and Russo allows the mystery to remain genuinely mysterious. There is something rather effective about science fiction which remembers that encountering something truly alien might not result in a handy conversation explaining its motives during Chapter Twelve.

Religion also runs strongly through the novel, particularly through the ship’s social divisions and the powerful religious hierarchy aboard it. Faith, authority, curiosity and fear all collide as the discoveries become stranger. Humanity may have escaped Earth and travelled unimaginable distances, but bureaucracy, class, fanaticism and people absolutely convinced that they understand God’s intentions have apparently achieved interstellar travel as well.

Originally published in America as Ship of Fools, the rather grander British title Unto Leviathan suits the novel beautifully. It sounds biblical, ominous and like something extremely large is about to emerge from the darkness and make everyone regret leaving home. Which, broadly speaking, is exactly the mood you want.

This Orbit paperback edition dates from 2003 and is offered in As New condition, meaning it has survived its own journey through time and space remarkably better than most of the people in the novel. No mysterious alien contamination has been detected, although Crappy Old Books’ testing facilities in this area remain regrettably limited.

A cracking choice for readers who like their science fiction enormous, intelligent, gloomy and faintly terrifying — particularly fans of generation ships, alien archaeology and stories in which humanity ventures boldly into the unknown only to discover that the unknown was perfectly happy without us.

Crappy Old Books verdict: A huge spaceship, a dead colony, an incomprehensible alien vessel and several thousand humans who really ought to turn around and go home. Unfortunately, home is several centuries away. Excellent.

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