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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.
librarian_of_trantor's review against another edition
5.0
I was a bit disappointed in the author's Revenger series because it was not up to his stories of the Revelation Space universe. I still read the first two Revenger books, and will probably read the third, because even a lesser Reynolds novel is still pretty good space opera. But it was wonderful to read this book, which is a full throttle return to Revelation Space. It gives another glimpse into humanity's battle/adjustment to the Inhibitors. Wonderful characters, both old and new (sometimes in the same body), further elaboration on the advanced technology of the era, and a wonderful ending.
infinispace's review against another edition
4.0
Preface: AR is one of my favorite scifi authors, if not most favorite. I've been reading his novels/novellas/stories since 2001 when I first picked up Revelation Space. The entire setting is unique, dark, noir, gothic...and amazing. Inhibitor Phase has been "marketed" as a standalone or entry book into the Revelation Space setting (or Inhibitor Phase sequence), but it most certainly is not.
Enjoyment and understanding of the people/places/things/motivations contained in IP are dependent on having at least read the other three Inhibitor Sequence books. There are so many references (and some easter eggs) to what has come before that I can't see anyone picking up IP cold and fully enjoying or appreciate it.
That being said, AR has written a more trim novel (that's his stated goal for his new books), but even so, the pace in a couple places felt very slow, with detail being spent on things that didn't really drive plot. A nitpick for the most part, because it's a fun romp across this local corner of our galaxy, and it leaves the door open for more Revelation Space. Which is good.
Enjoyment and understanding of the people/places/things/motivations contained in IP are dependent on having at least read the other three Inhibitor Sequence books. There are so many references (and some easter eggs) to what has come before that I can't see anyone picking up IP cold and fully enjoying or appreciate it.
That being said, AR has written a more trim novel (that's his stated goal for his new books), but even so, the pace in a couple places felt very slow, with detail being spent on things that didn't really drive plot. A nitpick for the most part, because it's a fun romp across this local corner of our galaxy, and it leaves the door open for more Revelation Space. Which is good.
ninjalawyer's review against another edition
2.0
This books is a good reminder that writing dialogue is hard. So many passages - from the main character’s weirdly sterile/formal conversations with his wife, to his desperate-for-love conversations with a pig-person - are cringeworthy.
I kind of expected that, but I didn’t expect the bad plotting. A lot of the first half of this is characters chasing after one poorly explained magic object after another, and the plot only works at all because of secret knowledge revealed at the end that’s basically a wallpapered over deus ex machina.
Oh, and the plot just kind of ends pre-climax.
I kind of expected that, but I didn’t expect the bad plotting. A lot of the first half of this is characters chasing after one poorly explained magic object after another, and the plot only works at all because of secret knowledge revealed at the end that’s basically a wallpapered over deus ex machina.
Oh, and the plot just kind of ends pre-climax.
kynan's review against another edition
4.0
TL;DR: Another excellent entry in the Revelation Space series. Despite the Foreward's claim that this can be a standalone novel, DON'T DO IT! You'll be robbing yourself of a most delightful and poignant experience! Go back and read the others first, it'll be worth it! Also, read them in this order if you can, it will be 110% worth it!
TL: Ooof. What a story! Inhibitor Phase is, well, to borrow a portion of Mr Reynolds' blog:
As mentioned above, I disagree about the stand-aloneness, you could read it and it would work, but a) knowledge of "the story so far" really endows plot events with the weight they deserve to be interpreted with, and b) there is a lot of callback to prior places and events that really hit home a lot more if you've spent time with those people and places. I think it's also worth mentioning that these callbacks are not done with kitsch or in a garish eye-winking pantomime ostentatiousness that intimates "we know what's going on, don't we dedicated-fans". Things are mostly just mentioned in passing, and there are several characters who make appearances that are more significant if you've lived their backstory with them.
I've been on a Revelation Space bender this year, reading everything available in this order and, despite the frequent jarring starts to these books, I was once again surprised with where we joined this story. It begins with a gentleman by the name of Miguel de Ruyter waking up from reefersleep, kind of, and it's a useful way to ease into the story because it's a well known phenomenon of reefersleep that one has to claw one's way back to both consciousness and mental-consistency with reality, such as it was when getting into the casket anyway. We wade into currency, along with Miguel, as he remembers who he is, and what murderous mission he's on, and why. It's part of the joy of this book, and series, that you can be along for the ride on some really atrocious events, but you can still empathise with the folks in the situations and understand why they're doing the things they're doing - and so it is here. The Wolves have pushed humanity into a kill-or-be-killed corner - forced to silence those whom are unaware that they could be drawing a xenocidal eye to their activities and thus, by association, to anyone in their vicinity.
We spend a significant portion of the book with de Ruyter, and although Mr Reynolds' signature time- and character-hopping mechanics are present in this book, they're a lot less of a feature in the way that this particular story unfolds. It's a fabulous story, and I really appreciated the obvious improvements in character-growth that are on display here. I think there were complaints about two-dimensional characters in earlier books (I think, especially, Chasm City) but there's a lot of latitude given here for the reader to understand why pig-headed characters are that way, and to see, if minds are changed, why. I have to admit that I wasn't entirely onboard with the way one of the main characters re-entered the narrative, they seemed a little less comfortable in their own skin than the last time we met them, but that may just be because I'm back-to-back reading a book from 2003 with a book from 2021 - the author has had a long time with that character in his head doing things that we weren't privy to over the intervening 18ish years.
It's honestly hard to say more about anything else that happens without falling straight into spoiler-land, but I do want to say some of those things so that future-me remembers what I read and why I enjoyed it so much. This book is very close to five-stars I think so I recommend that, if you've not read Inhibitor Phase, you should depart forthwith and read it now because, here be spoilers (not kidding, I'm going to say stuff in the next paragraph that will suck to know ahead of time):
TL: Ooof. What a story! Inhibitor Phase is, well, to borrow a portion of Mr Reynolds' blog:
...the book takes place in the Revelation Space universe and is largely set in the years after ABSOLUTION GAP, my 2003 novel. It's not intended as a sequel to that book, but merely another entry in the mosaic of books and stories which illuminate a larger future history. That said, it does have connective tissue with some of the other novels, although I've scrupled as carefully as I can to make the book function as a standalone title - a single book which tells a complete tale in its own right and can be read as "just" an isolated story.
It's a much shorter novel than some of its predecessors - a mere 170,000 words, against 275,000 for ABSOLUTION GAP - but there is (I hope) a lot in it, including action set in five different solar systems, and an implied narrative taking in about eight hundred years of future history. Along the way we'll visit some locales that we've seen before, but at different timeframes, and we'll also explore some new corners of the RS universe.
As mentioned above, I disagree about the stand-aloneness, you could read it and it would work, but a) knowledge of "the story so far" really endows plot events with the weight they deserve to be interpreted with, and b) there is a lot of callback to prior places and events that really hit home a lot more if you've spent time with those people and places. I think it's also worth mentioning that these callbacks are not done with kitsch or in a garish eye-winking pantomime ostentatiousness that intimates "we know what's going on, don't we dedicated-fans". Things are mostly just mentioned in passing, and there are several characters who make appearances that are more significant if you've lived their backstory with them.
I've been on a Revelation Space bender this year, reading everything available in this order and, despite the frequent jarring starts to these books, I was once again surprised with where we joined this story. It begins with a gentleman by the name of Miguel de Ruyter waking up from reefersleep, kind of, and it's a useful way to ease into the story because it's a well known phenomenon of reefersleep that one has to claw one's way back to both consciousness and mental-consistency with reality, such as it was when getting into the casket anyway. We wade into currency, along with Miguel, as he remembers who he is, and what murderous mission he's on, and why. It's part of the joy of this book, and series, that you can be along for the ride on some really atrocious events, but you can still empathise with the folks in the situations and understand why they're doing the things they're doing - and so it is here. The Wolves have pushed humanity into a kill-or-be-killed corner - forced to silence those whom are unaware that they could be drawing a xenocidal eye to their activities and thus, by association, to anyone in their vicinity.
We spend a significant portion of the book with de Ruyter, and although Mr Reynolds' signature time- and character-hopping mechanics are present in this book, they're a lot less of a feature in the way that this particular story unfolds. It's a fabulous story, and I really appreciated the obvious improvements in character-growth that are on display here. I think there were complaints about two-dimensional characters in earlier books (I think, especially, Chasm City) but there's a lot of latitude given here for the reader to understand why pig-headed characters are that way, and to see, if minds are changed, why. I have to admit that I wasn't entirely onboard with the way one of the main characters re-entered the narrative, they seemed a little less comfortable in their own skin than the last time we met them, but that may just be because I'm back-to-back reading a book from 2003 with a book from 2021 - the author has had a long time with that character in his head doing things that we weren't privy to over the intervening 18ish years.
It's honestly hard to say more about anything else that happens without falling straight into spoiler-land, but I do want to say some of those things so that future-me remembers what I read and why I enjoyed it so much. This book is very close to five-stars I think so I recommend that, if you've not read Inhibitor Phase, you should depart forthwith and read it now because, here be spoilers (not kidding, I'm going to say stuff in the next paragraph that will suck to know ahead of time):
pilebythebed's review
3.0
Alastair Reynolds burst onto the science fiction world with his debut novel Revelation Space back in 2000. This book became the first in what would be called the Revelation Space series which included the sequels Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap, the adjacent book Chasm City along with a bunch of short stories and his Prefect books (Aurora Rising and Elysium Fire) set in an earlier time. That series introduced a storied and complex universe, complete with massive structures, inscrutable aliens and an existential threat to humanity.
It is some time after the events of the Revelation Space trilogy, and the Inhibitors, also known as wolves, have all but wiped out humanity. Living a hand to mouth existence on a small out of the way rock is one of the last vestiges of human civilisation led by a man called Miguel de Ruyter. But Miguel is not all that he seems and soon he is hijacked and taken on a quest to save the universe from the Inhibitors. Along the way he will face ridiculously painful challenges, find out who he really is, gather allies (some of whom will be familiar to series fans) and make some peace with his past.
It is always a risk revisiting or rebooting old franchises. The question is whether to go somewhere new or just play on greatest hits. In Inhibitor Phase, Reynolds takes the latter route, perhaps hoping that readers are keen to remember the earlier series through a new book rather than perhaps reading them again. As such he takes his protagonist (who has strong links to the characters of the original books and ends up aligning himself with some of them) back to locations from earlier books – dispatches from the long ago Martian war, the Rust Belt, Chasm City and the mainly water planet of Ararat. While this is helpful for readers who may only vaguely remember the original series, Inhibitor Phase fails to really deliver anything new. Even its structure feels old fashioned – go on a seemingly impossible quest to get a macguffin, go on a couple of side quests related to the macguffin, go on another quest to use macguffin. All of this spiced up with big Reynolds-style galactic set pieces, eldritch weapons, life threatening situations and opportunities for side characters to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
It has been a long time between Revelation Space books and there have been plenty of other space operas since that have clearly been influenced by them (including some by Reynolds himself). And while they were indeed revelatory at the time, revisiting them through Inhibitor Phase unfortunately reveals more of their cracks and ponderousness rather than celebrating their achievement.
It is some time after the events of the Revelation Space trilogy, and the Inhibitors, also known as wolves, have all but wiped out humanity. Living a hand to mouth existence on a small out of the way rock is one of the last vestiges of human civilisation led by a man called Miguel de Ruyter. But Miguel is not all that he seems and soon he is hijacked and taken on a quest to save the universe from the Inhibitors. Along the way he will face ridiculously painful challenges, find out who he really is, gather allies (some of whom will be familiar to series fans) and make some peace with his past.
It is always a risk revisiting or rebooting old franchises. The question is whether to go somewhere new or just play on greatest hits. In Inhibitor Phase, Reynolds takes the latter route, perhaps hoping that readers are keen to remember the earlier series through a new book rather than perhaps reading them again. As such he takes his protagonist (who has strong links to the characters of the original books and ends up aligning himself with some of them) back to locations from earlier books – dispatches from the long ago Martian war, the Rust Belt, Chasm City and the mainly water planet of Ararat. While this is helpful for readers who may only vaguely remember the original series, Inhibitor Phase fails to really deliver anything new. Even its structure feels old fashioned – go on a seemingly impossible quest to get a macguffin, go on a couple of side quests related to the macguffin, go on another quest to use macguffin. All of this spiced up with big Reynolds-style galactic set pieces, eldritch weapons, life threatening situations and opportunities for side characters to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
It has been a long time between Revelation Space books and there have been plenty of other space operas since that have clearly been influenced by them (including some by Reynolds himself). And while they were indeed revelatory at the time, revisiting them through Inhibitor Phase unfortunately reveals more of their cracks and ponderousness rather than celebrating their achievement.
elzabetg's review against another edition
3.0
Genberally I look forward to a new Alastair Reynolds book like I look forward to Christmas. I know it's going to be a bit of work to get through but I will generally enjoy it and have good memories.
This did not happen with Inhibitor Phase. I have no idea how they got to the ending. The most interesting characters were Pinky and Probably Rose. I wanted to know a lot more about Probably Rose and once I realized who Pinky was I was excited but the rest of them left me wanting a big way. Miguel de Ruyter/spoiler was tired and annoying. Glass was bossy and annoying. I just couldn't muster any sympathy for either of them. There were other things but when I can't get into the main characters AT ALL it doesn't bode well for the rest of the book.
As usual in a Reynolds/Revelation Space Universe book there are decades of travel in the ubiquitous lighthuggers and reefersleep caskets, planets weird and familiar, episodes of bloody violence and near magical medical restoration (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."~ Arthur C. Clark), and, of course the Wolves/Inhibitors, bad guys who cannot be defeated without the Deus ex Machina our erstwhile embattled heroes must find (after of course finding the magical macguffin that will unlock said D-ex-M), unlock and release--after of course avoiding the necessarily odd alien guards of previously mentioned D-ex-M through methods both clever and blackmail-ey. As you can see by the time it was over I was just tired.
I have the feeling I am going to need to re-read this book just to see if I can muster more enthusiasm for the RSUniverse.
John Lee is a fantastic narrator. He always does right by these books. As far as I am concerned he is the voice of Revelation Space.
Story: 2.5 stars
Narrator: 5 stars
Total: 3.5 stars
This did not happen with Inhibitor Phase. I have no idea how they got to the ending. The most interesting characters were Pinky and Probably Rose. I wanted to know a lot more about Probably Rose and once I realized who Pinky was I was excited but the rest of them left me wanting a big way. Miguel de Ruyter/spoiler was tired and annoying. Glass was bossy and annoying. I just couldn't muster any sympathy for either of them. There were other things but when I can't get into the main characters AT ALL it doesn't bode well for the rest of the book.
As usual in a Reynolds/Revelation Space Universe book there are decades of travel in the ubiquitous lighthuggers and reefersleep caskets, planets weird and familiar, episodes of bloody violence and near magical medical restoration (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."~ Arthur C. Clark), and, of course the Wolves/Inhibitors, bad guys who cannot be defeated without the Deus ex Machina our erstwhile embattled heroes must find (after of course finding the magical macguffin that will unlock said D-ex-M), unlock and release--after of course avoiding the necessarily odd alien guards of previously mentioned D-ex-M through methods both clever and blackmail-ey. As you can see by the time it was over I was just tired.
I have the feeling I am going to need to re-read this book just to see if I can muster more enthusiasm for the RSUniverse.
John Lee is a fantastic narrator. He always does right by these books. As far as I am concerned he is the voice of Revelation Space.
Story: 2.5 stars
Narrator: 5 stars
Total: 3.5 stars
bagelman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
siriuschico's review against another edition
5.0
I spent a larger part of this year with Alastair Reynolds. I have read his Revelation Space series (the second time for his first two books), and I'm now finishing with Inhibitor Phase. I'm a bit exhausted and will leave sci-fi waters for a few months, but it was an exhilarating ride. And after that long time with Alastair, I have fallen into the rhythm. I could complain about his template interaction between formidable but haunted warrior (Neil or Warran) and mechanized femme fatal (Skade or Glass). Or I could complain about his deus ex machina, where solutions always fall from heaven. But I'm not going to do that.
I have already said that I enjoy Raynolds story-telling and Inhibitor space is no different. It contains an epic story about the future of humanity with few powerful characters and little nuggets of pure horror. So for me, five stars again - here you go Alastair, don't eat all in one go.
I have already said that I enjoy Raynolds story-telling and Inhibitor space is no different. It contains an epic story about the future of humanity with few powerful characters and little nuggets of pure horror. So for me, five stars again - here you go Alastair, don't eat all in one go.