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What's New
Review Features
S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Alastair Reynolds |
| Author Information |
Reviewed Books |
Other Books |
Notes: (R) - All part of the same, I think, unnamed
series, beginning with Revelation Space.
(S) - Short Story Collection |
Revelation
Space (R)
Chasm City (R) |
Century Rain (10/04) (R)
Redemption Ark (R)
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (R) (S)
Absolution Gap (R) |
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Our Ranking Revelation Space is the first
full length novel by Alastair Reynolds, and is also the first book in what appears
to be a pretty lengthy series. I've owned this book for years, but for some reason,
never got around to reading it. Well, on the down side, I denied myself a very
good book for a long time, but on the plus side, he's already 4 books into the
series, so I don't need to sit around anxiously awaiting the next one (like George
RR Martin). First off, this one would certainly qualify as hard science fiction.
It has a slight space opera feel, as it involves several different worlds, but
with the vast technical details and explanations of how things work and are evolved,
this lands in the hard sci-fi space. However, the odd difference here, (and I
didn't realize how rare this was until I started reading it) is that this is describing
a broken, and dark science. Most hard sci-fi books I've read, describe worlds
where everything is driven with precision and wonderfully developed technology.
Even the nasty evil stuff seems to work with a cold perfection. But in Reynolds
universe, it is obvious it was once like that, but now it is mostly in a state
of decay. For example, despite the fact that mankind is now scattered throughout
the galaxy, due to this collapse in technology, or at least the understanding
of the technology, space travel is possible, but difficult and expensive, and
in some of the more remote planets, almost historic events when a ship visits.
I really enjoyed this setting, almost a post technological golden age. And with
the concept, Reynolds does a terrific job describing the affects of this on the
characters, and cultures they visit. The tantalizingly limited view of Chasm City
you are introduced to, is fascinating. Life on the very remote planet of Resurgam
is also nicely described, and the destroyed alien civilization that once lived
there is well developed and fits nicely into the plot. Also, probably, the most
interesting, is the Ultra spaceship (I can't give too many details without ruining
anything) that a good portion of the book takes place on. If there's one weakness
in his first novel, it's probably the characters. The characters, in particular
Sylveste, are a bit flat. A lot of that, especially in the case of the Ultras,
is due to the fact that they are just not necessarily totally human characters.
However, they really seem to just move along with the plot and the setting, and
you never really get attached to any of them. The most interesting character is
probably Sylveste's father, but unfortunately, you don't get to see enough of
him. That aside though, this is still a great novel, especially if you are into
hard sci-fi, or even just dark science fiction. I'm extremely impressed that this
is his first novel and look forward to reading the rest of the series. It's a
long one, nearly 500 pages, so be sure to clear a nice block of time to read it.
Especially, when you'll probably be reaching for Chasm City right after it. |
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| Our RankingChasm City, is the second book
by Reynolds and is set in the same universe as Revelation Space. However, this
is not a direct sequel. While it mentions one or two characters from Revelation
Space, beyond that, it is a completely stand alone novel using the same setting.
It also winds up having a slightly different feel to it. While it still plays
out in the same broken down, dark universe that appealed to me so much, this one
is a bit more of an action tale versus the more space opera feel of Revelation
Space. It is mostly centered around a mercenary, Tanner Mirabel, and his quest
to avenge a mission gone wrong. The book starts off with some incredible scenes
as Tanner launches his quest. The scene around the Needle is immediately drew
me in and sold me on the book. From the war ravaged planet of Sky's Edge Tanner
head's to Chasm City where Reynolds goes into much greater depth about it's plight.
Chasm City itself is an incredible idea, a world much so reliant upon technology
it backfires in a pretty horrifying manner. Reynolds describes the city and it's
society in terrific detail, including the Glitter Band, and even The Game, which
he briefly teased us with in Revelation Space. Overall, the setting is just as
good as in Revelation Space, here concentrated mostly to a few locations, but
done in great detail. Another big step forward, I felt, was around the characters.
Reynolds does a nice job going into the main characters, in particular Tanner,
his employer, and Sky. Tanner is a very multi-angled character, from which a lot
of the book is told from his perspective. Without doing such a good job on Tanner,
a lot of the book's mystery and twists would have been lost. And this one certainly
has it's share of twists and turns. Which brings me to the reason why I couldn't
give this one five stars. For the first half of this book, I was convinced it
was a five star book and was completely entrenched in it. But then, when the pace
picked up, and some of the twists and turns started to reveal themselves, the
plot became a little too convenient for Tanner and his quest. Characters began
helping for really weak reasons, he was able to stumble on things, etc. that were
just way to coincidental. Also, there was a lot of explaining of the plot through
conversation with other characters, which grew a little annoying by the end. But,
beyond that, this was still a great read, probably even a little better than Revelation
Space (it's close though). Chasm City itself, is worth the read, and Reynolds
does pull off an extremely complicated tale, which is why I think he fell into
some of the traps he did. I think his next book, Redemption Ark, picks up where
Revelation Space left off, but, this is not one to be skipped over. |
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