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pigsflew's review against another edition
4.0
This wasn't the first book I read of the Revelation Space sequence--I started with Redemption Ark, the third of the series. The thing that struck me as I was going through this novel was just how much thought Reynolds put into his vision of the future, how many things he seemed to have planned for in this first book. It seems as though in his universe, nothing is meaningless; nothing forgotten. Additionally, the limitation on this space opera of the speed of light and therefore the passage of incredible gaps of time play well into the psychologies and psychoses of his characters. Revelation Space is not the best of its series, but it is an incredible introduction.
subparcupcake's review
3.0
I went back and forth between three and four stars for this. The good... The writing style, story, and characters all appealed to me and drew me in. The bad... The technology was WAY over my head. While it didn't hinder my enjoyment once I accepted that was just the way it was going to be, it did prevent me from fully comprehending / appreciating the ending. All in all, I just can't say more than "I liked it", so three stars it is.
jaxxduece's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
motyatucker's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
stuffedonion's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
anchaliel's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
komali_2's review
3.0
An imaginative and realistic sci-fi. If you needed something to replace the gap in your technological imagination that the departure of Star Trek created, this is it. You won't find jelly-bean buttons, but you will find plausible quantum-vaccuum energy sources, city-sized spaceships cloaked in hyperdiamond, and artful manipulation of DNA.
That being said, Alastair Reynolds makes some plot and character choices that are really goddamn aggravating. Sometimes, motives are *totally* out of touch, especially in the later books in the series. At the ending of the book, there is at least resolution, but there are times in getting there that you'll wonder, "what in the hell was this character thinking?" Humans may have found a way to travel at 99% lightspeed, but in Alastair Reynold's world, they haven't gotten much smarter.
Actually, some of the characters *are* really smart in fun ways, which is why I recommend it. It's fun to read about someone that understands particle physics enough to completely reprogram a 3 kilometer long spaceship as its flying through interstellar space at just about the same speed as a photon. I'll never be that smart, so instead I'll live vicariously through hot Russian space triumverates.
Book's long and could use another round of trim the fat editing, but you're gonna find that in most modern sci fi. Read it, get caught up in the series, it's inevitable.
That being said, Alastair Reynolds makes some plot and character choices that are really goddamn aggravating. Sometimes, motives are *totally* out of touch, especially in the later books in the series. At the ending of the book, there is at least resolution, but there are times in getting there that you'll wonder, "what in the hell was this character thinking?" Humans may have found a way to travel at 99% lightspeed, but in Alastair Reynold's world, they haven't gotten much smarter.
Actually, some of the characters *are* really smart in fun ways, which is why I recommend it. It's fun to read about someone that understands particle physics enough to completely reprogram a 3 kilometer long spaceship as its flying through interstellar space at just about the same speed as a photon. I'll never be that smart, so instead I'll live vicariously through hot Russian space triumverates.
Book's long and could use another round of trim the fat editing, but you're gonna find that in most modern sci fi. Read it, get caught up in the series, it's inevitable.
being_b's review
4.0
This is a well-plotted book full of excellent ideas in a truly mind-blowing universe. It suffers from a pedestrian writing style, a lot of repetition, and a male/female romantic relationship straight out of the Golden Age of SF. Fortunately, there's not much romance, the redundant bits are skippable, and I'd rather have pedestrian writing with good ideas than lambent prose around an empty core.
As I read, I kept marveling at the internal consistency of the science and how the world-building followed so logically from the scientific phenomena the author described. It seemed that the author would have to be a working physicist to hold all the necessary information in his head and work out the various implications so thoroughly. Then I finished the book, did some googling, and was pleased to be right. It's a delight to see a scientist's mind at work (the breadth and depth of knowledge, the flexibility and daring to follow an idea to its logical conclusion) outside of the strictures of academia.
As I read, I kept marveling at the internal consistency of the science and how the world-building followed so logically from the scientific phenomena the author described. It seemed that the author would have to be a working physicist to hold all the necessary information in his head and work out the various implications so thoroughly. Then I finished the book, did some googling, and was pleased to be right. It's a delight to see a scientist's mind at work (the breadth and depth of knowledge, the flexibility and daring to follow an idea to its logical conclusion) outside of the strictures of academia.
beer_matt's review against another edition
3.0
Hard sci-fi, I liked bits of it, just overly long. The ending was a bit deus ex machina (literally....), it did pick up the pace towards the end. I liked the transhumanism themes and the echoes of cyberpunk but the epic alien apocalyptic agenda wasn't foreshadowed at all.
joshhall13's review against another edition
Tried 4 times. I give up. This narrator killed this book. He's just awful. This book may be better in physical format.