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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Good, but not great.
A good read, but not as good as The Prefect/Aurora Rising. Still quite enjoyable. Can't wait for Dreyfus to deal with the Aurora/Clockmaker battle. Or the the Aurora/Clockmaker/Voi war...??
A good read, but not as good as The Prefect/Aurora Rising. Still quite enjoyable. Can't wait for Dreyfus to deal with the Aurora/Clockmaker battle. Or the the Aurora/Clockmaker/Voi war...??
dark
mysterious
fast-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
It took me a long time to read this book, but only because we had a baby ! It was a good read, as expected!
Another of my favourite authors, Reynolds writes complex, adult science fiction. Entertaining, intricate, great characters, interesting premises. Keeps you reading and increases the pace.
Hopefully it won't take another decade for the next Prefect novel.
A flawless follow-up to hands-down one of the best books ever written in sci-fi. If you ever read the first book, originally titled "The Prefect", you need to read this book. And don't forget, they both tie into the world of Revelation Space and the books that follow in that series as well.
My daughter and I chose books for each other at the library and this was the result. I'm not sure I would have chosen this on my own. I realize this is the second book in a series, but that did not affect the story in a large way for me. This universe is very interesting, but I found the book to be far more of a police procedural than I prefer. It took quite a while for me to get involved as I found the character development somewhat stilted. In fact, I stopped reading the book for over a week once I arrived at the third act because something else was just more interesting. Once I picked it back up, I found the ending to be actually quite good. I just wished I enjoyed the journey more.
Enjoyed:
+ Interesting mystery in unique technological setting (especially liked the whiphounds)
+ Generally enjoyed company of some characters (particularly Jane Aumonier and Panoply as a whole)
+ Intrigued by series-spanning AI war and breakaway republics plotline
Didn't Enjoy:
- Plot dragged by the end as all the key pieces of information about the mystery were revealed too early on — mystery itself a little too simple and wrapped up too tidily.
- Thalia Ng suddenly stopped being the main character just as things were getting interesting; Dreyfus felt far too much like a macho lone wolf detective stereotype; I found Sparver uncompelling as a viewpoint character. In general most characters felt a little two-dimensional, and new Panoply agents were introduced barely long enough for me to remember their names.
On the whole: An enjoyable, fun sci-fi mystery that didn't ultimately feel as though it broke new ground.
+ Interesting mystery in unique technological setting (especially liked the whiphounds)
+ Generally enjoyed company of some characters (particularly Jane Aumonier and Panoply as a whole)
+ Intrigued by series-spanning AI war and breakaway republics plotline
Didn't Enjoy:
- Plot dragged by the end as all the key pieces of information about the mystery were revealed too early on — mystery itself a little too simple and wrapped up too tidily.
- Thalia Ng suddenly stopped being the main character just as things were getting interesting; Dreyfus felt far too much like a macho lone wolf detective stereotype; I found Sparver uncompelling as a viewpoint character. In general most characters felt a little two-dimensional, and new Panoply agents were introduced barely long enough for me to remember their names.
On the whole: An enjoyable, fun sci-fi mystery that didn't ultimately feel as though it broke new ground.
Another overall enjoyable sf police procedural. Felt a bit uninteresting due to being kinda small-scale when compared to other RS universe stories. The mystery was alright but the stakes didn't feel too big and some things didn't really make sense due to the nature of the setting. I wish it didn't try to be so standalone. Nice ending. 5/10
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes