Considered Stone's most realistic achievement, Children of Light is polished narrative strikingly similar in development to Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926). Immensely dependent on dialogue, the novel exposes the innermost depth of human suffering as well as the day-to-day routine of the film industry. Stone creates diversified voices within the novel but exercises complete control over the diction and intonation of his characters.

Stone is particularly successful, as he was in A Flag for Sunrise (1981), in producing intricate plot development while orchestrating the actions of his major characters to intersect at the climax of the novel. Likewise, Stone creates an interesting parallel, similar to the relationship between Holliwell and Pablo, with Lu Anne and the character she is playing in the film. As fantasy and reality become interchangeable for Lu Anne, she realizes her destiny is to follow the precedent set by her...