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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Just as good as the first! I love these characters, this universe, and Reynolds’ ability to use genre fiction to tackle really tough questions about identity, morality, guilt and culpability. He is brilliant.
I really enjoyed The Prefect and so I felt justified in having relatively high expectations for this sequel. Unfortunately, this instalment didn't really add that much to the world or its characters in a story that while good on its own merits, didn't live up to its predecessor. If this had been a stand-alone book, I'd probably be considering a slightly higher rating.
Don't get me wrong though, this was still an enjoyable book. The characters were unique and believable, despite their easy fit into certain genre tropes. The story's core mystery was interesting and developed in an engaging way. The writing was solid and the added flashback scenes worked well with the main plot, so they rarely felt like they were a simple exposition tool that slowed everything down. All in all, it was an enjoyable read with creative set pieces and good, ol' fashioned detective work moving the story along in interesting ways.
However, there were a few issues. None of the characters seemed to get much development this time around, which while not necessarily a problem, accentuated the book's 'filler' vibe in terms of the series. The story wasn't nearly as captivating this time around either, with the antagonist and overall emergency not having nearly as much heft as the previous book. But probably my biggest gripe was the ending. The big 'twist' wasn't that exciting; the climax felt rushed, and we needed an anticlimactic infodump to clarify everything afterwards anyway.
I still enjoyed this book, but as a sequel, it didn't really add much to the series. I'll probably still grab the next book in hopes that it will actually progress the overarching storyline since those were still the aspects I cared about most so far. If you enjoyed [b:The Prefect|89195|The Prefect (Prefect Dreyfus Emergency, #1)|Alastair Reynolds|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327988786s/89195.jpg|3102565] for its characters and tense story, this will still scratch that itch. However, if you're thinking of picking this one up solely on the basis of continuing the 'Clockmaker' storyline, you can probably give this one a skip.
Don't get me wrong though, this was still an enjoyable book. The characters were unique and believable, despite their easy fit into certain genre tropes. The story's core mystery was interesting and developed in an engaging way. The writing was solid and the added flashback scenes worked well with the main plot, so they rarely felt like they were a simple exposition tool that slowed everything down. All in all, it was an enjoyable read with creative set pieces and good, ol' fashioned detective work moving the story along in interesting ways.
However, there were a few issues. None of the characters seemed to get much development this time around, which while not necessarily a problem, accentuated the book's 'filler' vibe in terms of the series. The story wasn't nearly as captivating this time around either, with the antagonist and overall emergency not having nearly as much heft as the previous book. But probably my biggest gripe was the ending. The big 'twist' wasn't that exciting; the climax felt rushed, and we needed an anticlimactic infodump to clarify everything afterwards anyway.
I still enjoyed this book, but as a sequel, it didn't really add much to the series. I'll probably still grab the next book in hopes that it will actually progress the overarching storyline since those were still the aspects I cared about most so far. If you enjoyed [b:The Prefect|89195|The Prefect (Prefect Dreyfus Emergency, #1)|Alastair Reynolds|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327988786s/89195.jpg|3102565] for its characters and tense story, this will still scratch that itch. However, if you're thinking of picking this one up solely on the basis of continuing the 'Clockmaker' storyline, you can probably give this one a skip.
Solid, although I enjoyed The Prefect more, as it was larger in scope. I also expected some of the events from the first instalment to have a more meaningful impact here. On the plus side, some characters were put to much better use.
The authorities in the Glitter Band are starting to worry; there one was death a couple of weeks ago that they have not be able to explain. Last week there were two more. This week there have been four. No one has been able to explain why, and the information that they have tried to elicit from the corpses themselves hasn't given any leads. The implants that link each citizen to each other and the state in a fluid form of democracy where citizens are consulted and vote on matters small and large, have gone rogue and killed their hosts. Are these just random failings of the implants, which is unheard of, or is there someone out there causing them to fail? Panoply realises that they have a problem on their hands, one that seems to be growing exponentially and they have no idea who will be next to die.
The secrecy surrounding the deaths is high as they cannot risk society finding out that there is a killer on the loose. Inspector Dreyfus is brought urgently up to speed on the cases so far and those that are happening as the investigation tries to develop leads. To add to their woes, Devon Garlin, a member of the elite from Chasm City, is raising the political game by questioning the authority of the prefects and society with the aim of driving wedges between the habitats; somehow he seems to know about the mysterious deaths of the people too. What was a worrying situation is fast getting out of control...
Set in the Revelation Space universe this is a fast-paced sci-fi detective thriller is full of twists and turns and Dreyfus and his team try to work out who is doing the killing. The tech in the futuristic world is quite spectacular and Reynolds still manages to make it sound completely plausible. The secrets are revealed a little bit at a time as the story races to its fairly dramatic conclusion. However, it did feel like the ending unravelled a little too much rather than being neatly terminated, but that might be because there is more to come in a subsequent book; I hope so. Another stunning book from one of the masters of science fiction.
The secrecy surrounding the deaths is high as they cannot risk society finding out that there is a killer on the loose. Inspector Dreyfus is brought urgently up to speed on the cases so far and those that are happening as the investigation tries to develop leads. To add to their woes, Devon Garlin, a member of the elite from Chasm City, is raising the political game by questioning the authority of the prefects and society with the aim of driving wedges between the habitats; somehow he seems to know about the mysterious deaths of the people too. What was a worrying situation is fast getting out of control...
Set in the Revelation Space universe this is a fast-paced sci-fi detective thriller is full of twists and turns and Dreyfus and his team try to work out who is doing the killing. The tech in the futuristic world is quite spectacular and Reynolds still manages to make it sound completely plausible. The secrets are revealed a little bit at a time as the story races to its fairly dramatic conclusion. However, it did feel like the ending unravelled a little too much rather than being neatly terminated, but that might be because there is more to come in a subsequent book; I hope so. Another stunning book from one of the masters of science fiction.
I love the way Reynolds paints his universes. The creativity, the diversity, the sheer ingenuity. In Elysium Fire, however, I feel like the plot meandered a little too far. Though it came back with resounding finality and great echoes of the big plot points throughout, it was a long road there. It certainly won't deter me from reading more of Reynolds' works, but I'd say this wasn't my favorite.
I kinda wish I had read the book rather than listened to the audiobook. It would have been fine except that I was trying to listen to it later in the evening after I had come home from work and I kept falling asleep with the earphones on.
I also did not like the voice of this particular narrator so just 3 stars from me this time.
Otherwise, the story was great. I loved The Prefect and this sequel was just as good. At some point though I will need to re-read it so that I can enjoy it more....and stop listening to audiobooks when I am too tired.
I also did not like the voice of this particular narrator so just 3 stars from me this time.
Otherwise, the story was great. I loved The Prefect and this sequel was just as good. At some point though I will need to re-read it so that I can enjoy it more....and stop listening to audiobooks when I am too tired.
I reread The Prefect in preparation for Elysium Fire.
It is good to be back in Yellow Stone orbit.
Elysium Fire takes a more strait forward path through the glitter band than The Prefect, but still delivers a captivation tale.
I did feel like I was given too much information and not enough was left for the investigators to figure out.
Make sure to read The Prefect first. Reynolds doesn't spend much time on recaps.
It is good to be back in Yellow Stone orbit.
Elysium Fire takes a more strait forward path through the glitter band than The Prefect, but still delivers a captivation tale.
I did feel like I was given too much information and not enough was left for the investigators to figure out.
Make sure to read The Prefect first. Reynolds doesn't spend much time on recaps.
I think I was so disappointed in this follow-up to The Prefect because the last Alastair Reynolds I read (written with Stephen Baxter), The Medusa Chronicles, is one of my all-time favourite SF books.
The Glitter Band is one of the most intriguing High Concepts in contemporary SF. Together with the Panoply, it reminds me of the Special Circumstances unit in the Culture sequence by Iain Banks – and the associated moral ambiguity and socio-political complexity.
I just felt that the rather humdrum murder mystery at the heart of Elysium Fire, while tangentially linked to one of the founding families of the Glitter Belt, does not delve deeply enough into this wonderfully strange universe (especially considering companion novels like Chasm City.)
Having said that, this is quite an easy read. The tension does ratchet up somewhat towards the end, though curiously the Prefects’ instruments of law and order, the whiphounds, tend to take centre stage moreso than any of the human (or hyperpig) characters, and also elicit more reader sympathy. I wonder if this is a side-effect of us readers always being more interested in the robots in SF.
Will there be another instalment? We’re still no closer to resolving the standoff between Aurora and the Clockmaker, while the Panoply is in a much more precarious position than ever before. So the answer is probably, make that definitely, yes.
The Glitter Band is one of the most intriguing High Concepts in contemporary SF. Together with the Panoply, it reminds me of the Special Circumstances unit in the Culture sequence by Iain Banks – and the associated moral ambiguity and socio-political complexity.
I just felt that the rather humdrum murder mystery at the heart of Elysium Fire, while tangentially linked to one of the founding families of the Glitter Belt, does not delve deeply enough into this wonderfully strange universe (especially considering companion novels like Chasm City.)
Having said that, this is quite an easy read. The tension does ratchet up somewhat towards the end, though curiously the Prefects’ instruments of law and order, the whiphounds, tend to take centre stage moreso than any of the human (or hyperpig) characters, and also elicit more reader sympathy. I wonder if this is a side-effect of us readers always being more interested in the robots in SF.
Will there be another instalment? We’re still no closer to resolving the standoff between Aurora and the Clockmaker, while the Panoply is in a much more precarious position than ever before. So the answer is probably, make that definitely, yes.
Oh, Alastair, my dude. I do still love you but this book is not your finest hour. I’ve — I’ve got some issues with this, is what I’m saying.
Okay, so. First issue: we’ve recently had the dubious pleasure, in Reynolds’s work, of watching a man lose his faith in democracy book by book. Reynolds created a “perfectly democratic” society, and for a long time had almost no interest in it — his earlier books focus on various other elements of his universe, or on what happens after this society crashes and burns. And then comes his Dreyfuss thing (we’ll get to that), and now he is interested in his perfect democracy — except it’s less and less perfect, the more he writes about it. In this book, he more or less destroys it. The democracy, like the cake, is a lie! It’s pretty obvious he can’t believe in a huge group of people voting and managing to steer a society well for any length of time, and it’s pretty obvious — I’m pointing here at the entire world, but at Brexit and Trump in particular — why.
So that is kind of interesting, although I think, um, he’s milked all of whatever remained of the interest out of it in this book. Which is unfortunate, because I gather from the numbering and labeling scheme of this book that he’s going to stay on his Dreyfuss bullshit for a while, and wow I wish he would not. Dreyfuss is everything that a Reynolds character, once upon a time, was not: generic, bland, and nearly personalityless. His main character traits are that he is wise (good at patterns and with intuition!) and tired (so, so tired). His main motivation is Justice. His main sorrow is his refrigerated wife (such sorrow, so much guilt, he had to refrigerate her himself for the Good of Society, o woe, o wife, o life!). I — seriously, this is not the best Reynolds has. Not even close. I could hit a dozen of Dreyfuss from where I’m sitting, and that would be in books on *my* shelves, and I hate this character. But he’s ubiquitous. And so, so very done before. Reynolds can — or once could — do better.
Beyond that, the plot of this book is — honestly pretty basic. I saw where it was going a looooong time before we got there, and spent most of the second half of the book going, yes, yes, can we speed this up? Unfortunately, the plot’s simplicity gave me plenty of time to appreciate the other problem with this Dreyfuss affair Reynolds has got going on: Dreyfuss is Wise and Right and the Designated Survivor, because he’s the main character. Which means that the women around him get to be mostly either wrong or dead. It’s not a great look, and while I wouldn’t normally expect better from hard SF, I do expect better from Reynolds.
I just — I just want this book not to be the new Reynolds. I want him to get over this and move on. I mean, if there’s another Dreyfuss book, I’ll read it, because I’ve read everything else Reynolds has written, and I still have hope. But I very much would like him to return to his better form. This is just a blah procedural mystery novel in space clothes.
Okay, so. First issue: we’ve recently had the dubious pleasure, in Reynolds’s work, of watching a man lose his faith in democracy book by book. Reynolds created a “perfectly democratic” society, and for a long time had almost no interest in it — his earlier books focus on various other elements of his universe, or on what happens after this society crashes and burns. And then comes his Dreyfuss thing (we’ll get to that), and now he is interested in his perfect democracy — except it’s less and less perfect, the more he writes about it. In this book, he more or less destroys it. The democracy, like the cake, is a lie! It’s pretty obvious he can’t believe in a huge group of people voting and managing to steer a society well for any length of time, and it’s pretty obvious — I’m pointing here at the entire world, but at Brexit and Trump in particular — why.
So that is kind of interesting, although I think, um, he’s milked all of whatever remained of the interest out of it in this book. Which is unfortunate, because I gather from the numbering and labeling scheme of this book that he’s going to stay on his Dreyfuss bullshit for a while, and wow I wish he would not. Dreyfuss is everything that a Reynolds character, once upon a time, was not: generic, bland, and nearly personalityless. His main character traits are that he is wise (good at patterns and with intuition!) and tired (so, so tired). His main motivation is Justice. His main sorrow is his refrigerated wife (such sorrow, so much guilt, he had to refrigerate her himself for the Good of Society, o woe, o wife, o life!). I — seriously, this is not the best Reynolds has. Not even close. I could hit a dozen of Dreyfuss from where I’m sitting, and that would be in books on *my* shelves, and I hate this character. But he’s ubiquitous. And so, so very done before. Reynolds can — or once could — do better.
Beyond that, the plot of this book is — honestly pretty basic. I saw where it was going a looooong time before we got there, and spent most of the second half of the book going, yes, yes, can we speed this up? Unfortunately, the plot’s simplicity gave me plenty of time to appreciate the other problem with this Dreyfuss affair Reynolds has got going on: Dreyfuss is Wise and Right and the Designated Survivor, because he’s the main character. Which means that the women around him get to be mostly either wrong or dead. It’s not a great look, and while I wouldn’t normally expect better from hard SF, I do expect better from Reynolds.
I just — I just want this book not to be the new Reynolds. I want him to get over this and move on. I mean, if there’s another Dreyfuss book, I’ll read it, because I’ve read everything else Reynolds has written, and I still have hope. But I very much would like him to return to his better form. This is just a blah procedural mystery novel in space clothes.