Alastair Reynolds (what to read?)

[idiwa]

I read Chasm City about a year ago based on a friend's recommendation and I really enjoyed it. At the time I was told it was a stand alone book but part of the Revelation Space series.

So I fancy reading another one but I've no idea what to go for. I liked the sort of Deus Ex augmented stuff going on in Chasm City is the rest of the Revelation Space based on this too? with people becoming immortal due to tech?

Out of Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap or The Perfect whats the next step? Since Chasm City came after Revelation Space, do I just ignore Rev Space and go to Redemption Ark?

Cheers.

[Spacehost]

Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap are a chronological trilogy with a single narrative arc, so start with Revelation Space.

[footle]

Chasm city kind of fits in, but is separate.

Basically if you liked chasm city, you'll like the other three. After that the only series is posedion's children.

[idiwa]

Cheers guys! Good stuff

[Silent Runner]

Forum favourite 'Pushing Ice' is a stand alone book and is fantastic.

[Nick R]

I liked the sort of Deus Ex augmented stuff going on in Chasm City is the rest of the Revelation Space based on this too? with people becoming immortal due to tech?

You might like the short story collection Zima Blue, which is unrelated to the Revelation Space universe but contains a few stories about that sort of thing. Those stories generally take a quite different approach to the subject than the the Revelation Space series does, though. (The one entitled "Understanding Space and Time", for example... )

[Flub]

Didn't one of his short stories explain the rather odd end to Absolution gap? I presumed he'd follow up on that scenario since you could easily get another book out of it but he never has.

[idiwa]

Forum favourite 'Pushing Ice' is a stand alone book and is fantastic.

Yeah I did a google Rllmuk search and it pulled up Smitty talking about Pushing Ice in the main sci-fi thread.

Cheers to Nick R too.

[Spacehost]

Didn't one of his short stories explain the rather odd end to Absolution gap? I presumed he'd follow up on that scenario since you could easily get another book out of it but he never has.

I believe Galactic North touches on it, yeah.

[Padaxes]

Get stuck in asap , the Revelation Space books are fantastic!

Proper hard sci fi with mind boggling scale.

[PK]

They're such amazing books, I love the way he writes and how terrifying he makes the sheer size of space feel. Although

I really didn't like the end of Absolution Gap. I was expecting a build up to something, at least, but it just fades out with a couple of sentences essentially saying "oh and we beat the Inhibitors at some point". I suppose maybe the point he's making is how infinitely insignificant the conflict was in the grand scale of the universe - that would tie in with the underlying theme of the books - but it was really unsatisfying.

(Absolution Gap spoiler)

The Prefect is also worth reading, it's a standalone detective story set in the Revelation Space universe but hundreds of years before the events of the other books.

Also:

http://voxish.tripod.com/id17.html

Q: Are you going to write any more RS stuff?

A: Yes. I'd quite like to do a sequel or two to The Prefect, and of course there is scope for standalone novels in the universe.

Hurrah!

[Harsin]

House of Suns is the best thing he's written by a country mile.

But I'd recommend starting with Pushing Ice as it's probably his most accessible novel and eases you slowly into the sci-fi craziness.

[winky]

Redemption Ark is probably my favourite of the series but I enjoyed The Prefect for the timing of its setting. I have never really enjoyed Absolution Gap but may try reading it for a third time and see if I can get it.

Galactic North was a fantastic set of stories to read after reading the Revelation Space arc; but I don't know if I would want to read it before I had read through that arc as it could kill a bit of the mystique of the series.

[idiwa]

Revelation Space is just £1.99 for Kindle on Amazon atm.

[idiwa]

Should have posted this at the time. I battered through Revelation Space in a couple of days after I started this topic and it was fantastic. I think I actually benefitted from reading Chasm City first, it seemed to explain the culture and set up a lot more. The one thing that I didn't like was the last act of the book.

The trip to (and into) Cerberus by Dan Sylveste just seemed to go on for way too long. It just felt a bit dragged out and jarred with the rest of the pacing of the book. But apart from that it was the shit!

Just started reading Pushing Ice last night.

[Captain Novaforce]

Redemption Ark is probably my favourite of the series but I enjoyed The Prefect for the timing of its setting. I have never really enjoyed Absolution Gap but may try reading it for a third time and see if I can get it.

Galactic North was a fantastic set of stories to read after reading the Revelation Space arc; but I don't know if I would want to read it before I had read through that arc as it could kill a bit of the mystique of the series.

I'm a bit hesitant about reading Absolution Gap due to negative comments in here and tempted to dive into Galactic North. Should I stick out absolution to get the most out of it?

[Spacehost]

It's still got bits that are great. I really enjoyed it.

[Harsin]

If it had been a standalone novel it would have been fine, as the supposed conclusion of a trilogy not so much.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I'd echo the above. It was a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy as the first two had been so good and set up a potentially grandstanding finale... but it wasn't bad per se. In some ways it probably suffers from Stephen King-itis - the set up is so good that the denouement can never match expectations. Worth reading though, especially if you've already Revelation Space and Redemption Ark.

[Silent Runner]

This thread reminded me the second part of Poseidon’s Children is out so I picked it up over the weekend. I read the first few chapters and it’s very good. It’s moved on a good bit from where the first book ended but the universe is still very familiar. Enjoyable so far.

[Danster]

I've got it sitting on my Kindle waiting, taunting me... But I keep skipping past it for Terry Pratchett, Conn Iggulden and Jon Ronson...! I really want to read it too

[idiwa]

I finished Pushing Ice last week and really enjoyed it, but there's one thing I'm not that clear on.

Spoilers for obvious reasons!

The Congress of the Lindblad Ring want to honour Bella Lind and refer to her as the benefactor and (I can't remember the exact words) Lind is responsible for humanity getting its shit together.

In the first third of the novel when its realised that Janus is going at a fair clip and not just pootling along on its way to the Spican structure I was expecting for Bella Lind and Co to set up a new world that became the The Congress of the Lindblad Ring and thus humanity goes on to do crazy shit.

Instead Bell and Co head off on their own wee adventure and blah blah blah and she discovers the cube and gets all the lodown from Chromis. So I get that the Congress has sent these millions of cubes out some 18k years previous and that one has found Bella due to their whacked out light speed joy ride.

What I don't get is why Bella was so significant? Was it just down to the CNN ident where she came across as ultra courageous chasing after Janus and this somehow jump started all the stuff like the Thai EVA suits?

Sorry If I've missed something major that explains Bella's legacy.

[Captain Novaforce]

Love that timeline, details the sheer insane weight of galactic time that Reynolds excels at.

[PK]

I finished Pushing Ice last week and really enjoyed it, but there's one thing I'm not that clear on.

Spoilers for obvious reasons!

As far as I remember that isn't really satisfactorily explained. There's one throwaway bit of dialogue when she gets the message back in time from the Lindblad Ring woman in which she's told "You were the inspiration which kick-started our golden age of exploration" or some such shite, but other than that there's no direct explanation of it.

[Danster]

Pushing Ice

Wasn't she sending back regular messages, knowing she wouldn't get a reply? My memory is hazy about this....

But if she was, I can imagine that gripping the whole planet, enough to kickstart interest in long distance space exploration.

[Flub]

I'm going to read that again. I'd forgotten how good it was

[idiwa]

As far as I remember that isn't really satisfactorily explained. There's one throwaway bit of dialogue when she gets the message back in time from the Lindblad Ring woman in which she's told "You were the inspiration which kick-started our golden age of exploration" or some such shite, but other than that there's no direct explanation of it.

Cheers PK, glad to know I didn't miss anything obvious.

[And]

So I finished absolution gap.

What the fuck?

I mean, what the actual fuck? What happened? Worst ending ever.

[Flub]

You need to switch authors for a bit to wash the taste away. Try Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein.

[And]

I'm reading The end of Mr Y.

And the big judge dredd compendium I've got on my iPad.