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A review by julcoh
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
5.0
Hard science fiction on an awesome scale. I haven't adventured into a world so complex and intertwined since James Clavell's Shogun.
Reynolds' use of a technology he calls "reefersleep", cryogenically freezing someone for indefinite periods, allows the main story trunks of this novel to span several hundreds of years. The history and backstories range over millions and sometimes billions of years into the past and future.
I thought the character building was, although probably the weakest part of the book, fairly good at least later in the story. What makes it worth reading is the speculation on technology, aliens, and AI. There are Alpha, Beta, and Gamma level AIs in the book, with corresponding levels of sentience. The comparisons between differing models of consciousness of the several alien species, humans, and AIs are refreshing and interesting to read.
This is hard science fiction at its finest, and technologies are described to the delight of my inner engineer. I need to read the next in the series.
Reynolds' use of a technology he calls "reefersleep", cryogenically freezing someone for indefinite periods, allows the main story trunks of this novel to span several hundreds of years. The history and backstories range over millions and sometimes billions of years into the past and future.
I thought the character building was, although probably the weakest part of the book, fairly good at least later in the story. What makes it worth reading is the speculation on technology, aliens, and AI. There are Alpha, Beta, and Gamma level AIs in the book, with corresponding levels of sentience. The comparisons between differing models of consciousness of the several alien species, humans, and AIs are refreshing and interesting to read.
This is hard science fiction at its finest, and technologies are described to the delight of my inner engineer. I need to read the next in the series.