It was in the very early 1980s, I’m pretty sure of that. And it was a library book too, from, I think, Mansfield Central Library. So it could have been during the summer from the mid-1970s, or any time during the year after I left school in 1984. But for some reason, I have a feeling it was earlier rather than later. I also seem to remember I read The Dark Side of the Sun (1976, UK), before the first Discworld novel appeared — which was The Colour of Magic (1983, UK).
All of which is a long-winded way of saying I first read The Dark Side of the Sun within six or seven years of its first appearance, and that I thought it was written by a science fiction writer.
But, above all, I remember enjoying it.
That was the first time I read The Dark Side of the Sun. The second time was this year. I had recalled some details of the story — mostly accurately, it turned out — but I’d also forgotten a lot. Like, for example, the actual plot.
Dom is the heir to an industrial empire, but according to “p-math”, a sort of rip-off of psychohistory, and in which his deceased father was a pioneer, Dom is going to be assassinated on the day he achieves his majority. After he survives several mysterious attempts on his life, it comes to light he’s also the person who will discover the Joker home world. The Jokers are an extinct alien race who built a galactic civilisation, disappeared millennia previously and are considered mythical at best. (Except, that is, for the existence of a handful of enigmatic artefacts they left behind.)
After the assassination attempts, Dom sets off on a sort of “tour of the universe”, with the express intent of uncovering the secret of the Jokers — ie, the location of their home world, and their fate.
There are some good original ideas here. Many, sadly, have been recycled since, which does sort of reduce their impact. Unfortunately, those good ideas are married to a predictable bildungsroman plot and a somewhat belaboured comic prose style. The weird mix of real inventiveness and bad jokes makes for an odd read, especially given the forty-five years since The Dark Side of the Sun’s original publication. On the one hand, this does generate suspense, and a desire to continue reading to learn the universe’s secrets; on the other, it can be frustrating, because too much of Dom’s journey feels like it doesn’t actually contribute to the plot.
I wouldn’t say The Dark Side of the Sun was a good science fiction novel, although readers probably would — and probably did — find more to admire in it when they read back it in the late 1970s. Not only has it been left behind by the genre, it has been left behind — in an entirely good way — by the author’s own career. Terry Pratchett is, of course best-known these days for the Discworld series (over 40 books, I believe), and if the earlier Discworld novels were on a par, quality-wise, with The Dark Side of the Sun, the series improved substantially as it progressed. Interestingly, at least two Discworld novel titles appear in The Dark Side of the Sun, almost as if Pratchett went back to the novel to pull out a couple of jokes to recast as Discworld novels.
It’s also worth mentioning I certainly remember being surprised, in a pleasant sort of way, that the protagonist of The Dark Side of the Sun, Dom, is black — in fact his entire family are. They are explicitly described as black-skinned, and it’s explained as a deliberate antidote to the high UV of Dom’s home world. The fact of their colour is good, especially for the 1970s; but in the 2010s, the fact their colour needs to be justified is both offensive and unwanted. Even worse, Dom later turns white (with a greenish tinge). So what starts out as a surprisingly non-racist vision of a future proves to be not so different after all…
It goes without saying that Pratchett, nor his oeuvre, should be judged solely by The Dark Side of the Sun. He has the entire Discworld series as testament to his values and worldview. We know he was one of the good guys, because we have it there in writing — baring a few missteps early in his career.
And yes, this is important. One of my mantras is: no art is created in a vacuum, no art is consumed in a vacuum. You cannot ignore an author’s views when reading their works, especially when they use the platform given them by virtue of being a popular author to promote those views. On the other hand, what you find in an author’s work is not necessarily what they put there. That requires a level of honesty which seems sadly lacking in many reviews.
I recently read a review of Gregory Benford’s latest novel which read out the riot act against him. And which seemed entirely justified. I have read Benford‘s work in the past, and I have my own opinion of him as a writer and of his books. I’m not surprised by the points raised in the aforementioned review — sadly because they seem endemic to white US authors of a certain age… But neither should Benford’s earlier less-contentious works be tarred with the same brush as his most recent work.
It’s a two-way street. Don’t refuse to read Pratchett because of 1976’s The Dark Side of the Sun; don’t refuse to read earlier Benford novels because of 2021’s Shadows of Eternity. These are not entirely egregious examples. Do, on the other hand, refuse to read someone whose views remain consistent and offensive, or who uses their fame to promote offensive agendas or views.
In summary, The Dark Side of the Sun is a lightweight, not as comic as it thinks, science fiction novel, whose good ideas mostly still have currency. Nonetheless, it’s a minor work by the creator of Discworld, so I can’t honestly think of a good reason why anyone might want to read it.
