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Space

This bold, experimental slice of deep-space sci-fi is just brilliant

In Adam Roberts's Lake of Darkness, two spaceships meet to study a black hole. Their research comes to an abrupt halt, however, when crew members start dying horribly, says Emily H. Wilson

By Emily Wilson

20 November 2024

The scene of a black hole devouring a spaceship, digital painting, 3D illustration.

Something evil may be lurking in a black hole in Adam Roberts’s new novel

Liuzishan/Getty Images

Lake of Darkness
Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

I WAS recently asked for my definition of “hard science fiction” and I burbled something along the lines of “it has to have a lot of science in it, and also spaceships”. I’m not sure the spaceships bit is right. But if, for the sake of this article, my terrible definition is the one in play, then Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts hits the mark 100 per cent.

In this case, the spaceships are two deep-space…

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