Revelation Space

Alastair Reynolds, "The Prefect"

2009-07-16 · in Books, Revelation Space · 122 words

On either side, Thalia saw the tapering stalks of the Museum of Cybernetics, each structure rising at least a hundred metres into the air, each surmounted by a smooth blue-grey sphere, each sphere marked with a symbol from the hallowed history of information processing. There was the ampersand, which had once symbolised a primitive form of abstraction. There was an ever-tumbling hourglass, still the universal symbol for an active computational process. There was the apple with a chunk missing, which (so Thalia had been led to believe) commemorated the suicidal poisoning of the info-theorist Turing himself.

The Prefects are the Demarchist police force; this is a satisfying whodunnit set in the Revelation Space universe, tying neatly into the established storyline.

ISBN 0575082186.

Alastair Reynolds, "Galactic North"

2008-07-30 · in Books, Revelation Space · 57 words

Short stories in the Revelation Space universe. They're all good; I particularly liked A Spy in Europa, which I'd read before, and the title story that expands on the previous novel's twist ending.

I will admit to being disappointed that it didn't have lots of little ships and a swarm of asteroids on the cover.

ISBN 0575079843.

Alastair Reynolds, "Absolution Gap"

2008-07-30 · in Books, Revelation Space · 54 words

I'm glad I read this, because a few months later when somebody asked whether any SF stories featured giant moving cathedrals I was able to direct them to it. Also because it's got Scorpio in it, and because it's really good, but I wasn't expecting anything less from Reynolds at this point.

ISBN 0575075570.

Alastair Reynolds, "Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days"

2008-02-22 · in Books, Revelation Space · 50 words

Two novellas (for the price of one; upbeat endings not included) in the Revelation Space universe. The second was the one that grabbed me, since it's an exploration of the Pattern Jugglers, who're thoroughly interesting but have otherwise had rather short shrift in the series to this point.

ISBN 0575075163.

Alastair Reynolds, "Redemption Ark"

2007-11-24 · in Books, Revelation Space · 65 words

The return of Volyova, Khouri and the Nostalgia for Infinity. This book pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the series: graceful (well, OK, not so much in this case) decline and downfall of thriving civilisations. I'm still impressed by Reynolds' ability to pack vast numbers of interesting characters into a hard SF story; I particularly liked Scorpio in this one.

ISBN 0575073845.

Alastair Reynolds, "Chasm City"

2007-11-11 · in Books, Revelation Space · 17 words

Same universe, completely different cast of characters. Still a superb bit of writing; recommended reading.

ISBN 0575073659.

Alastair Reynolds, "Revelation Space"

2007-10-22 · in Books, Revelation Space · 70 words

Right, this is what space opera is meant to be like: an interesting universe (no FTL; widespread bioengineering; lots of different cultures separated by space and time), compelling characters, Gibsonesque converging storylines, and a sensible helping of Actual Science underneath it all. Extremely good stuff -- one of the best SF books I've read.

This is one of those series that manages to get better as it progresses, too...

ISBN 0441009425.