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darkbackground's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
karinlib's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not quite ready to write a review, except that this entry in this was so dreamlike As always, the technology and science is fascinating, and the Reynolds ideas are really interesting.
Spoiler
nightmarish, but in the end, hope for humankindthemanfromdelmonte's review against another edition
3.0
I downloaded this on Kindle on the back of quoted reviews on Amazon e.g.
“Pirates in space, full of peril and high-jinks... This is a novel that's elegantly plotted …” “This is a story to break hearts and make you turn pages.” “... the mapping of Age of Sail tropes onto space travel is just the start...”
Nope, didn’t get any of that.
This is a relativistic universe, even the local neighbourhood is vast beyond imagining, but there’s no sense of it here, just climb in the suspended animation casket and off you go. If this is Thursday, this must be AX Microscopii.
The protagonist plods stodgily from one scenario to the next. There’s no real sense of peril or doubt that he’s going to succeed.
Along the way, secondary characters are discarded freely, without a huge amount of distress. Poor old Snowdrop, eh? Still, time to get out of Dodge. Laters!
The pirate theme might refer to the encounter with the Swine Queen (or whatever her name was) at Chasm City I suppose, but then I rather skated over the cannibalistic grossness of that chapter.
There’s a series of flashbacks that add nothing to the story (read Fred Pohl’s ‘Gateway’ to see how this should be done) and a series of reveals that are sadly anti climactic. So the Nestbuilders have been hollowed out by Slugs. But wait! A renegade Slug is onside. *Sigh* I was beyond caring at this point.
I used to love hard SF. Larry Niven was my go-to back in the day. Then it was cyberpunk and William Gibson. Then I came across Lois McMaster Bujold. I think you can see the direction of travel. I’m just an old romantic. Unless I can invest in the characters, I don’t care about the gadgetry and this book is much more about the ‘what’ than the ‘who’. So there’s nothing for me in this book with its hyper-this and its hyper-that.
“Pirates in space, full of peril and high-jinks... This is a novel that's elegantly plotted …” “This is a story to break hearts and make you turn pages.” “... the mapping of Age of Sail tropes onto space travel is just the start...”
Nope, didn’t get any of that.
This is a relativistic universe, even the local neighbourhood is vast beyond imagining, but there’s no sense of it here, just climb in the suspended animation casket and off you go. If this is Thursday, this must be AX Microscopii.
The protagonist plods stodgily from one scenario to the next. There’s no real sense of peril or doubt that he’s going to succeed.
Along the way, secondary characters are discarded freely, without a huge amount of distress. Poor old Snowdrop, eh? Still, time to get out of Dodge. Laters!
The pirate theme might refer to the encounter with the Swine Queen (or whatever her name was) at Chasm City I suppose, but then I rather skated over the cannibalistic grossness of that chapter.
There’s a series of flashbacks that add nothing to the story (read Fred Pohl’s ‘Gateway’ to see how this should be done) and a series of reveals that are sadly anti climactic. So the Nestbuilders have been hollowed out by Slugs. But wait! A renegade Slug is onside. *Sigh* I was beyond caring at this point.
I used to love hard SF. Larry Niven was my go-to back in the day. Then it was cyberpunk and William Gibson. Then I came across Lois McMaster Bujold. I think you can see the direction of travel. I’m just an old romantic. Unless I can invest in the characters, I don’t care about the gadgetry and this book is much more about the ‘what’ than the ‘who’. So there’s nothing for me in this book with its hyper-this and its hyper-that.
psyckers's review against another edition
5.0
This book exhibits all the hallmarks of an epic Sci-fi novel from the acclaimed Alastair Reynolds.
The expansive and exquisitely detailed worlds and characters depicted in this book, is what we are accustomed from this beloved author. This time the pace of the story is considerably quicker than previous novels, with much emphasis on detail of characters, that vastly different to each other.
Likewise the reality of travelling through space towards distant worlds (no such thing as warp drives here, you need to 'reefersleep').
As compelling as the story is, I did feel the ending was a little bit rushed. Nonetheless it is a compelling and satisfying conclusion, though with enough loose ends to feel that a number of books could spawn from this one.
The expansive and exquisitely detailed worlds and characters depicted in this book, is what we are accustomed from this beloved author. This time the pace of the story is considerably quicker than previous novels, with much emphasis on detail of characters, that vastly different to each other.
Likewise the reality of travelling through space towards distant worlds (no such thing as warp drives here, you need to 'reefersleep').
As compelling as the story is, I did feel the ending was a little bit rushed. Nonetheless it is a compelling and satisfying conclusion, though with enough loose ends to feel that a number of books could spawn from this one.
infi85's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
alinareading's review against another edition
3.0
I expected 2 things from this latest Revelation Space book.
1. the main character wouldn't be who he thinks he is
2. important characters would die off screen and we'd only find out about it from dialogue
Both of those happened.
What I didn't expect was to revisit some of the unsatisfying plot lines of Absolution Gap, like the destruction of Yellowstone, or Ararat after the moon blew up, and give them a more detailed conclusion.
It reads more like well researched fan fiction from someone disappointed by the end of the main trilogy who is trying to include all the tropes, than a well planned conclusion.
Maybe I'm just still sad about Absolution Gap.
1. the main character wouldn't be who he thinks he is
2. important characters would die off screen and we'd only find out about it from dialogue
Both of those happened.
What I didn't expect was to revisit some of the unsatisfying plot lines of Absolution Gap, like the destruction of Yellowstone, or Ararat after the moon blew up, and give them a more detailed conclusion.
It reads more like well researched fan fiction from someone disappointed by the end of the main trilogy who is trying to include all the tropes, than a well planned conclusion.
Maybe I'm just still sad about Absolution Gap.
cyanistes's review against another edition
3.0
The setting and the world-building are more interesting than the characters, the plot, and the prose.