Any other Alastair Reynolds fans here?

[Vertigo]

I read Century Rain just recently, and very much enjoyed it, except parts of the ending were too 'nice' I felt. As JoJo999 mentioned, the concept of how things came to be the way they are was pretty much glossed over, but it was a very good story nonetheless.

Was just wondering how would people say this book stacks up with his other books? I am interested to read some other of his novels now and am curious as to peoples thoughts.

It was a long time ago that I read Century Rain and I really don't remember it too well. Most of the discussion here has been regarding the Revelation Space series which I think are great but from my memory I think you will find them considerably heavier going than Century Rain. He is working with a much, much broader canvas and so there is a lot of information to take in. Wiki actually has 5 separate pages on the RS universe (as well as one for each book) covering The RS Universe, Characters, Factions, Locations and Technology, which sort says it all really!

75 pages into Redeemption Ark, struggling slightly but that could be due to this being my first real foray into science fiction.

Nixie as stated above you have indeed jumped into the middle of the series. I would recommend you try Chasm City first or possibly The Prefect (I've not read it but it has been suggested a good first RS book). They are both stand alones. That said, though I personally do love Reynolds books, I'm not sure they are the best intro books to SF; they can be quite heavy going. Now this is just my suggestion (everyone will have their own preference) but for someone coming from a Fantasy background and looking to try SF I think I would recommend Justina Robson's Quantum Gravity series (first book is Keeping It Real). I think they are brilliant; they deal with some serious issues of humanity without getting bogged down in it. They have elements of both fantasy and SF but primarily SF. They have a kick ass sexy heroine, without actually being as corny as that sounds. And they are a great, racy read. Another cross-over book might be Tad Williams' the War of the Flowers; though I personally didn't like that as much, it is a familiar name to Fantasy readers.

 

[nixie]

In my defence I was given the book. Feel rather stupid, I'd never start a fantasy book without checking if it was part of a series.

 

[clovis-man]

In my defence I was given the book. Feel rather stupid, I'd never start a fantasy book without checking if it was part of a series.

Well, hang onto it! It's well worthwhile once you get immersed in the Revelation Space universe. In my volunteer job at the Friends Of The Library bookstore, I take care of the SF & F section. We've had a copy of Absolution Gap sitting by itself on the shelf for months. I keep hoping some hardy soul will come in who's just finished the first two novels in the series and is hot to buy our copy. What do you think the odds are?..............

 

[Southern Geologist]

I'm not an Alastair Reynolds fan yet but I'd like to find out if I will be. Any suggestions on which book/series I should start on?

 

[AE35Unit]

I'm not an Alastair Reynolds fan yet but I'd like to find out if I will be. Any suggestions on which book/series I should start on?

Try Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days. Its two novellas in one book. For me Diamond Dogs gives a good intro to the author!

 

[J-Sun]

I'm not an Alastair Reynolds fan yet but I'd like to find out if I will be. Any suggestions on which book/series I should start on?

Most of this thread serves to answer that question. As I've probably said somewhere in it, I'd recommend Galactic North (except don't read the last story until later). Zima Blue might be an even better recommendation but I finally got my copy for Christmas and haven't actually read it yet. Diamond/Turquoise might not be a bad way to go but there are only the two stories and each does distinct but more adventurous things than the average Galactic North story which might make them better to a given reader but might make them worse. It's a riskier start, IMO. Galactic North has several stories that paint a broader picture and provide more opportunities for you to see what Reynolds can get up to.

---

Coincidentally enough, I've just finished reading Redemption Ark. My very slow, laborious reading of Alastair Reynolds goes like so:

2008-08-30 Galactic North
While not pure white light, I enjoyed this collection of Revelation Space stories a lot.

2008-11-08 Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days
Ditto.

2009-07-07 Revelation Space
It took me two tries to get through this first Revelation Space novel. It ended up being okay.

2011-04-28 Chasm City
I didn't like this Revelation-Space-but-not-exactly-part-of-the-trilogy novel much at all. This is the one Reynolds book I've already taken back to the used bookstore though more may ultimately follow.

2012-06-19 Pushing Ice
I simultaneously hated this non-Revelation Space novel and liked it a lot. By far the most divergently ambivalent of Reynolds' books to me.

2013-01-07 Redemption Ark
This was better than Chasm City, less extreme on both ends than Pushing Ice, maybe marginally better than Revelation Space in many ways but worse in others. Either way - fairly disappointing in the end. After quickly enjoying the collections, I seem to have entered a pattern where it takes me at least a year to recharge my Reynolds batteries and have the energy to try the next 600-800 page tome, despite having all these books sitting around for years. I can't get into the details but in the bedrock of it all, the Inhibitor concept, turns out to be kind of dumb in this one. Above and amidst that, there's actually a pretty good story in here of a couple of interesting people zipping across the galaxy with their gaggles of more or less interesting companions on a collision course of misunderstandings and mortal combat. And above and amidst that is a ludicrously long and verbose tale that isn't really worth it. Where Revelation Space started very poorly, this book's problems are mostly in the middle and end - the middle where a couple of characters are incredibly obtuse for extended periods and we have three successive "deus ex machina" moves between p.352-416 and the end where, after having a single inexplicable elision on p.426 but otherwise spelling out every possible thing from p.1-674, often twice or more (for instance, what it's like for a servitor to generate an ambient field to a receptive viewer or all the ways the Inhibitors might have obliterated all life rather than just some life) we suddenly skip past the ending and narrate the last 20 pages mostly in retrospect. So it doesn't turn out to be an actual elision but it sure does result in a "slogging through molasses until skating over ice and going off the cliff" feeling to the grand finale.

I'm also struck by how much of this is lifted from Greg Bear's Forge/Anvil books (noisy humans smacked by machines), from Dark Star (which is really funny in a way that is bad for the Reynolds books, what with the frozen captain and the argumentative bombs), and from Star Trek: First Contact (weird chick head in machine body).

Again, kind of questionable writing taste in places, too. The awe-inspiring super weapon from hell is described once as a "blunderbuss" - which is pretty anticlimactically comical - before he settles on repeatedly describing it as a "bugle" - which is just pathetic. That's where you need Chapman marching across the solar system saying, "Stop it. You had a nice space opera going here but it's got quite silly."

I'm still looking forward to my collection and I'll eventually finish the RS trilogy (sooner than a year because I'm sick of it having it sitting there, but not today as I'd originally planned because, again, the Reynolds batteries have been drained. I did idiotically pick up House of Suns in a used hardcover for a mere four bucks but, if it and/or Absolution Gap don't blow me away, I think that'll be it for me and Reynolds novels (a Reynolds wrap ), though I think I'll still be looking forward to his stories.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Thanks to the both of you for recommendations. I'll look into those. Meanwhile, any suggestions on which of the two novel series I should start with?

And by the way, J-Sun, I didn't want to read through the entire thread due to a risk of spoilers from fans well-acquainted with his work, hence my decision to pose a question at the end of it.

 

[J-Sun]

Thanks to the both of you for recommendations. I'll look into those. Meanwhile, any suggestions on which of the two novel series I should start with?

Well, I haven't finished the one or started the other but, FWIW, the Revelation Space trilogy has seven books in it and is an epic-scale space opera set mostly about 500-600 years in the future, though the whole storyline starts earlier and goes much, much further out. And the core trilogy is nominally complete. Blue Remembered Earth (I forget the actual series name) is projected to be just the three books and is supposed to be nearer-future and (relatively) smaller scale and, while still with a space element, is supposed to be less operatic. RS gets a little overly experimental in its "science" and part of the idea of BRE is that it's supposed to hew a little closer to a harder SF line. And it's, of course, just started. Both seem to have gotten good reviews though I gather that, from the nature of the history of both SF and Reynolds, BRE can't be considered as exciting as RS by as many. If that's a fair summation, maybe it'll help you decide based on which appeals to you more.

And by the way, J-Sun, I didn't want to read through the entire thread due to a risk of spoilers from fans well-acquainted with his work, hence my decision to pose a question at the end of it.

Ah, I see. I can certainly sympathize with the concern but there aren't generally supposed to be spoilers in any threads unless it's kind of obvious that there will be from the title. Any spoilers in non-spoiler threads should be protected by 'spoiler' tags

Spoiler

like so

(if you highlight the "blank" space you can easily read "like so"). AFAIK, it's safe to read this thread.

 

[Velocius quam lucem]

I am grateful for Alastair Reynolds and his work. I'm not crazy about many of the modern SF writers, but AR carries across some of the fascination that people like A.C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury created. I'm also glad to see that quite a few folks liked "The Prefect" since it was recommended to me and I really enjoyed it. There are some critiques out there that bash The Prefect a bit, and my guess is they they didn't have the perseverance or the scientific awareness to see it through. AR was a Physicist and tends to write fairly hard Science Fiction. But I like that. He does tend to use mystery and/or detective style plots, but that isn't a bad thing if it's done well. And I believe he does it well. I've also read Revelation Space, Chasm City, Century Rain, Absolution Gap, Redemption Arc, and I'm currently two thirds through Blue Remembered Earth. My only concern is that he gets a bit long winded here and there, but he always comes out, and back to keep the story moving. AR is alright in my book.

 

[clovis-man]

AR was a Physicist and tends to write fairly hard Science Fiction.

Astronomy actually. But a great deal of physics is incorporated in that discipline and he makes good use of it in describing the various phenomema associatated with space travel, etc.

 

[AE35Unit]

Lets say astrophysicist. Same line as Brian Cox

 

[Velocius quam lucem]

Lets say astrophysicist.

Sorry - That's what I meant to say - astrophysicist.