Book review | A genuine Finnish invention serves as the engine of Risto Isomäki’s exciting space adventure

Novel

Risto Isomäki: Dark ice. Zeal. 338 pp.

As a nonfiction writer and a citizen activist who has also been rehabilitated Risto Isomäki Sarasvati sand novel was nominated for Finlandia in 2005. Since then, his fiction production has consisted of techno-thrillers peppered with scientific thought games.

Now Isomäki is returning to his roots, to science fiction that cuts through space. Sci-fi visions of a massive size roll forward, making the reader gasp. Ultimately, the fate of all humanity is at stake.

Jules Verne, by Isaac Asimov and By Arthur C. Clarke the sense of wonder that colors the novel following the footsteps is almost palpable.

Dark ice takes place in the same landscapes as Isomäki, which appeared in 1997 Knights of the Dark Cloud -novel. However, it is an independent sequel, which is structured in such a way that understanding the story does not require reading the previous book.

Let’s live year 2117. The mission of the Spaceguard organization is to protect the Earth from comets arriving from space. Every year, however, more and more comets end up in our planet’s atmosphere. The biggest fragments fall either on the ground or in the sea and create massive destruction.

Cities disappear from the world map as huge seas of fire or swept away by gigantic tsunamis. The number of dead has already exceeded one billion, and worse is to come. Something so bad that when the information reaches the leader of the Spaceguard, he immediately commits suicide. The hope for humanity’s survival seems to have been trampled here.

Hopelessness also reflects the mood of former space pilot Johnny Kororo. He believes that nothing can be done anymore. The game is lost and the earth is doomed.

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The sense of wonder is almost palpable.

Quite unexpectedly, the latest space telescope reveals something that could come to save humanity. However, the destination is significantly further than where a person has ever traveled. But if there’s even the slightest chance, veteran pilot Johnny and his companions are ready to plunge into space and brave countless dangers.

A novel in the beginning, Isomäki cultivates the large-scale imagery of destruction familiar from disaster stories. More fascinating, however, is the question posed to Johnny: what would it mean if exotic dark matter and dark energy did not exist?

Through this, Isomäki gets to uncover the ultimate theories related to the structure of the universe.

Isomäki deals with the mystery of dark matter and energy in an almost detective-like way. He manages to build a tickling suspense drama from dry scientific theories that captivates you.

In the end, we move on to new creative ideas, the possible veracity of which remains to be seen. However, the structure offers a fascinating basis for a science adventure that reaches far into space.

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Isomäki deals with the mystery of dark matter and energy in an almost detective-like way.

In novelty also has a strong Finnish color, because the space travel described in the story is made possible by a Finn Pekka Janhusen revolutionary electric sail technology developed by It is a real invention, although Isomäki exaggerates its potential in the name of artistic freedom.

In his afterword, the author states that if funding is not found in Finland to test this technology, “future generations will wonder at the extreme narrow-mindedness, narrow-mindedness and introversion of Finns of the 21st century.”

Dark ice is not completely without problems. The rhythm of the narrative is especially disturbed by the sex adventure taking place in Dubai Center’s nightclub hub. It has no function as a whole, and the scene delays the launch into space by 40 pages.

Fortunately, in return, there are mystical artifacts of an ancient civilization, whose secrets make the novel’s small dips and the monotony of the human image pale. Finnish sci-fi literature has never before been inclined to such exotic and foreign science fiction visions.