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Title: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds ISBN: 0-441-00942-5 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.77 (80 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Moody and surreal post-cyberpunk space opera
Comment: If Arthur C. Clarke and Bruce Sterling were forced to collaborate while locked in an ill-lit Gothic cathedral, "Relelation Space," Alastair Reynolds' first novel, just might be the result.
"Revelation Space" is a big, gripping novel that bristles with feverish detail, lavish alien settings, and an arsenal of ingenius Big Ideas. Reynolds' highly stylized cosmological detective story is conceptually fascinating and becomingly moody; the author whisks readers from the ruinous, "Blade Runner"-like urban wilderness of Chasm City to the vertiginous, rat-infested corridors of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity, revealing a future history as interesting and plausible as that of Ken MacLeod ("The Stone Canal," "The Cassini Division") and Peter F. Hamilton's sprawling Night's Dawn sequence ("The Reality Dysfunction," "The Neutronium Alchemist," "The Naked God").
Reynolds' novel is weighed down by some ponderous factional infighting (however sleekly integrated), and the characters never manage to achieve the sort of full-bodied "Turing compliance" possessed by the artificial intelligences that populate his story. Nevertheless, "Revelation Space" succeeds. Sophisticated and gritty, Reynolds' vision of a not-too-implausible far-future is an excellent effort that infuses "space opera" with the reckless surrealism of vintage cyberpunk.
Rating: 4
Summary: It ain't over till the space lady sings
Comment: Alistair Reynolds' sf-debut is first and foremost a fresh instance of the space opera genre. Space, time and species galore, in other words, and enjoyably so. Secondly the novel can be categorised as hard science fiction; Reynolds manages to ground his fantasies in believable science.
The story soars over space and time, telling us about scientist Dan Sylveste's obsessive interest in the ancient race of the Amarantin. Almost a million years ago a stellar event whiped them out of existence, and Sylveste is rather destined to find out why. His central storyline is interwoven with the exotic crew of the giant spaceship Infinity, ex-soldier Ana Kouri and some cloudy puppeteering forces that remain largely unseen.
Revelation Space is a debut, and a promising one at that. There are flaws, though. I feel that the story could have been told in almost half of the pages it takes Reynolds to do so. Furthermore the sheer scope of the plot makes it hard to keep all lines in the head.
But these are minor flaws. Revelation Space might not be a pageturner, but it does offer a gripping plot that keeps on satisfying a curious mind. Do not be surprised. Revelation Space ain't over till the space lady sings.
Rating: 5
Summary: amazing and absorbing
Comment: I take issue with those who say that Reynolds can't write or is unimaginative. It's amazing writing, and one of the most creative books I've read in some time. The style is highly literate (even if your vocab is large you may learn a word or two). And every page contains at least one technology, circumstance, or invention so fascinating and unexpected that you'll have to stop and read the section over again.
Yes, Reynolds does use semicolons when he should be using commas, dashes, or periods. It's a stylistic choice, though. Anyone who can string a sentence together as well as this guy certainly knows punctuation protocol. Think of his semicolon usage as a far-future convention. A forthcoming change in 'the rules.' It's a pretty flexible little mark anyway, and people love to take license with it.
His writing is definitely on par with that of Dan Simmons--it's just colder. The story demands it. Revelation Space is a lonely, dark, and chilling book. The characters are fully developed and complicated people, but the tone of the book is such that most of them have some kind of a defensive wall around themselves. Not so different from modern society, a lot of the time. Here, it's taken to the extreme, as the plot revolves around deception and hidden agendas.
This book is tight. And very, very complex. I put Reynolds up there with Simmons and Robert Charles Wilson--writers whose authorial abilities are as interesting as the stories themselves.
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Title: Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds ISBN: 0441010644 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 27 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan ISBN: 0345457684 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds ISBN: 044101058X Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Golden Age by John C. Wright ISBN: 0812579844 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson ISBN: 0812545249 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 17 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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