Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space
The novels and stories are set at least 200 years in the future and many go way beyond that period. They are thrilling, interesting and have that 'must read just another page' feeling that all the best novelists can engender in their readers. The characters feel like real people that you can care about, love or hate. They aren't the cardboard cut-outs that we see too often in some science fiction. All this adds up to a recipe for great reading experiences.
About Alastair Reynolds
Born in Barry, South Wales in 1966, Alastair Reynolds spent his early years in Cornwall (south west England) and returned to South Wales where he spent his school years. He studied astronomy at university and then did his doctorate in the subject.He's not only academically qualified to write science fiction but he also worked for many years for European Space Agency in the Netherlands.
He has now returned to live in Glamorgan, South Wales.
Picture: Copyright © Alastair Reynolds, used under a GNU Free Documentation Licence.
Revelation Space - the Novel
This was Alastair Reynolds' first novel although he had written many popular short stories.
One of the main characters, Sylveste, is the only man ever to return alive and sane from an enclave in space - the Shroud - protected by gravity-warping defenses.
When the story opens, he is part of a group exploring the dead planet of Resurgam. The birdlike inhabitants had become extinct long before. Evidence seems to indicate that a booby-trap made their sun erupt in flames destroying their world.
While Sylveste is exploring Resurgam, the captain of a huge spaceship called the Nostalgia for Infinity is being transformed by the nanotech plague. He is kept frozen to try to slow the disease. At the same time, the ship is decaying and more parts of it are becoming unusable. The crew believe Sylveste could help the Captain.
Unfortunately, a new addition to the small crew, Ana Khouri, has been blackmailed to join the ship in order to assassinate Sylveste. Long serving crew member, Ilia Volyova, wants to save the captain and the ship. She has a stock of ultimate, 'hell-class' weapons but, unfortunately, the weapons computer system has been infiltrated by an alien intelligence with its own agenda.
The trail leads to a neutron star and an alien race set on destroying certain planetary civilizations.
Revelation Space
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/05/2009)
This is great science fiction - gripping, great characters and fascinating plot.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
"This is Alastair Reynolds' first book and it's a doozey.
Perhaps more than any other I've read, it's a perfect example of Baroque Hard SF -- hard SF with lots of lovely complexity and lots of cool things."
Review from New England Science Fiction Association.
Chasm City - Award Winning Novel
The plot twists and turns, making it essential to read 'just one more page' to discover how Tanner Mirabel, as hard-boiled as any Raymond Chandler private eye, discovers the truth.
This book won the British SF Association Award.
Chasm City (Revelation Space)
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/05/2009)
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
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Redemption Ark
Control of the cache of hell-class weapons introduced in the first novel is an issue while the alien intelligence also plays a major role. Known as the Inhibitors, they want to eliminate all civilizations capable of space travel and use planets to build the machines to destroy them.
We meet Ana Khouri and Ilia Volyova again as well as the captain of the Nostalgia for Infinity who has become part of the ship due to the melding plague. The planet Resurgam and its current inhabitants are also a main part of the plot.
In the universe, humanity has split into two main groups: the mechanically enhanced Conjoiners and the Demarchists.
The Conjoiners know about the Inhibitors and are trying to build starships to escape from them. We meet a pig-man, as tough and ruthless as they come, with a distrust and hatred for all humans.
The destiny of the main characters resolves in Resurgam's planetary system, a target for the Inhibitors...
Absolution Gap.
Although the novel introduces new characters whose tales form a large part of the book, we soon become fascinated by the strange planet Hela, another world with an ancient extinct civilization. A prophet infected with a religious virus has infected others. Now the main activities are the planetary treks of mobile cathedrals across the surface of the world. Their aim is to watch the sun, Haldora, to see if it 'blinks'. This is an event that occurs periodically but has recently become more frequent. It is seen as a portent of the end of the world.
Rashmika Els, a young girl native to Hela, manages to infiltrate the main cathedral to discover the fate of her brother who has disappeared after leaving home to join it. She becomes the instrument of disaster for the religious fanatics and helps to resolve the mystery of the 'blinking sun'.
Our heroes from the earlier novels come to the planet seeking answers to the problem of the Inhibitors. After they arrive, they must face a dilemma between eventual extinction or the possibility of something just as bad.
The Prefect
Still in the Revelation Space universe, his jurisdiction covers the utopian society of the Glitter Band, a huge swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, site of Chasm City, but before the events recounted in the earlier novels so it is free of the melding plague.
When an attack against a Glitter Band habitat takes place, it becomes clear that it isn't as simple as it first appears when Dreyfus starts investigating. He discovers the involvement of powerful people including the sinister Aurora who may once have been human.
We follow the engrossing and thrilling investigation as secrets are revealed and the plots twists and turns.
"This is a book about freedom, its limits and how much liberty we should sacrifice in the name of safety -
pertinent themes suggesting a new political edge to Reynolds' work."
Jonathan Wright, SFX
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What do you think about science fiction or this lens?
drifter0658 wrote...
I've been mired in non-fiction for over a year, and I think it's time to get back to some good Sci-Fi. This will be the one.
Thanks!
Posted April 07, 2009
MobyD wrote...
I love science fiction - most of the books crowding my bookcases are SF. Looks like I should check out Mr. Reynolds. 5 stars and I lensrolled it to MobyD's Science Fiction Lenses.
Posted November 01, 2008
CleanerLife wrote...
Looks very interesting. I don't keep up with new writers like I used to. Thanks making me aware of Alastair Reynolds' work.
Posted September 18, 2008
by Stazjia
I am English and I've spent the last 11 years writing freelance for UK magazines, a couple of books and online. More on my Lensography.
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