The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth by Stuart Clark is a historical novelisation of Johannes Kepler’s study of the motion of the Sun and planets and the mathematical laws he derived as a result. Kepler’s investigation is set against a backdrop of conflict with the prevailing religious view of an Earth-centric universe, family tragedy and the machinations of various others including Galileo Galilei and assorted members of the Catholic hierarchy.
In scope, the story covers Kepler’s life from early years through his time working for Tycho Brahe, advising Emperor Rudolph II, the observation of the 1604 Supernova, his two marriages and his theological differences with the Lutheran church of which he was a member. This makes it useful as a history book as well as a description of an important stage in our understanding of the universe. As such it achieves the aim stated on the author’s web site:
“The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth is the first in a trilogy of novels which dramatically bring to life key moments in our understanding of the cosmos – when our view of the universe changed forever…”
However I feel that as a novel it doesn’t quite work. I have to confess that I’m not sure quite that why that is but I think it’s to do with the difficulty inherent in turning scientific studies and events into a narrative. So whilst the story contains intrigue, tragedy and conflict these elements are, in this case, not enough to outweigh the scientific content. So if I was awarding stars with these posts I’d probably give it 3 out of 5 as a novel. But if I change things around by putting a popular science hat on I’d up that rating to 4 because Stuart Clark does a very good job of conveying the nature and importance of Kepler’s contribution to astronomy and our understanding of the cosmos.
Of course, I’ll pick up and read the remaining parts of this trilogy The Sensorium Of God and The Day Without Yesterday in order to find out more about the lives and impacts of Sir Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley from the former and Albert Einstein and Georges Lemaître from the latter.