If it weren’t for certain people sharing the updates via GRSI this would’ve been one of those things that slipped under my radar: Viz setting up a line of titles that are a marked departure from their usual light/graphic novels. Haikasoru appears to be geared towards a more, dare I say it, *serious* readership who are interested in their usual output but a bit more besides. The promotional blurb speaks of “Space opera, dark fantasy, hard science.” Delicious.

Needless to say, this could be the best (or worst, when the time comes to move into a new place) thing to happen to my bookcase in months. To kick things off I picked up Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri, which went by the tagline “Arthur C Clarke meets Haruki Murakami”, presumably because there aren’t many other Japanese novelists who are familiar to English-speaking readers. Call me cynical, but I’m always wary of advert-speak that promises anything that good.

It doesn’t have much Murakami flavour as far as I can tell but Nojiri’s storytelling is VERY Clarke-ian, and the influence shines clearly through the concepts of the novel and the approach taken in portraying them. In his afterword Nojiri admits that the ‘first contact’ theme is a crowded area of SF so it’s credit to his imagination that the narrative is able to keep surprising the reader and prevents the disappointment you experience when you guess what’s coming up before it happens.

The classic Rendezvous with Rama is one of my favourite novels of this type and Nojiri has made a nice job of updating the idea for an early 21st Century audience, assuming that was his intent. We see the usual descriptions of nuclear-powered spaceships traversing the Solar System – which is nothing unusual in itself – but Usurper of the Sun comes into its own with the attention paid to the way the First Contact pans out.

I won’t toss in spoilers regarding the details, but it’s refreshingly different and convincing, and takes advantage of scientific advances and cultural changes to update the scenario. This is where your mileage may vary: Nojiri sure as hell knows his science and technology so goes into psychology, nanotechnology, planetary dynamics and computer A.I. in great depth.

Even with my own background, I found it hard to follow at points and had to re-read certain passages occasionally. Still, I’d rather my intelligence were challenged than insulted so if you enjoy your science hard, heavy and solid, this is the book for you. Because its terminology is a bit dry and tough to digest, I recommend a strong coffee or two to wash it down though.

The heavy-going and businesslike approach to the storytelling means that the emotional side is left out in the cold a little. The Love Interest Lost In Space is one plot point where Nojiri’s originality momentarily runs dry; hell, even Gunbuster did a wonderful job of a similar thing. Personal lives are mentioned in passing, but it’s all kept at arm’s length.

The choice of Aki Shiraishi as the lead character is I think part of the reason for this. She may not be appropriate from a dramatic standpoint because of this emotional detachment she shows throughout, but that aspect of her is advantageous in other ways. For instance it comes across as a demonstration of what she herself loses during the story’s course, and later draws parallels between her outlook and how sentient life forms in a more general sense interact with the universe around them.

As the one who discovers the first signs of the encounter, she finds a focus and as a result her entire life is consumed by wanting to learn more and meet the aliens face-to-face. Isn’t that, after all, what happens to most of the scientists who change history? Her development from curious schoolkid to potential saviour of humanity doesn’t throw up much of what goes on inside her head, but I think that is the point: even when the reader is kept at a distance from her heart, it’s plain to see what makes Aki tick and how lonely she has become. Okay, maybe there’s a little Murakami creeping in there after all…

I felt more of a sentimental attachment to Aki’s character than I expected but this is helpful when the real stars of the show – the aliens – are by their nature mysterious and for the most part elusive. I suppose it was Aki’s pure intentions and dogged persistence that endeared her to me, but a little warmth would’ve given her an appeal broader than…well, people whose tastes are as odd as mine.

I do wonder if the human element was deliberately underplayed or if it was overshadowed by a desire to put the Big Ideas across. The main reason why I kept reading through the muted feelings and head-scratching jargon however is simply because, like Aki, I wanted to know what would happen next. It certainly succeeds in being a page-turner.

Ultimately, I call it a good read when I come off my lunch break several minutes late because I don’t want to stop. Usurper of the Sun did that (fortunately nobody seemed to notice. Heh). What effect the Haikasoru line as a whole will have on box lifting-related injuries during my next house move however remains to be seen…a new bookcase at the very least is beginning to look certain. I’m very interested in what they plan to bring out next, at any rate.