Alistair Reynolds

[chorlton]

My book shelf looks similar to iansales I'd only add that while also enjoying Century Rain, I thought it had a different 'flavour' from most of his other work so wouldn't recommend it as a starting point. It isn't the vast space opera that his other work is.

If you like Peter F Hamilton when you should be fine with Reynolds.

 

[biodroid]

Excellent, I am going thru Century Rain and is a bit confusing and slow going (only 30 pages in). Does it pick and become more coherent?

 

[Fried Egg]

My book shelf looks similar to iansales I'd only add that while also enjoying Century Rain, I thought it had a different 'flavour' from most of his other work so wouldn't recommend it as a starting point. It isn't the vast space opera that his other work is.

That "Century Rain" actually sounds more interesting than his other work; I'm not overly keen on space opera. I might give that a try.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

I hadn't really picked up anything by this author before (dunno why, just never got round to it) and picked up "Galatic North" from the library as I've been in the mood for short stories & anthologies recently. I haven't had any exposure to the RS universe before and I don't think you need to. I found his writing style easy to read and the stories have been quite entertaining (if a tad on the predictable side) so I'll try and pick up some more when I see them.

I don't think the Banks comparison helps as I find their styles very different, with Banks being much more difficult (for me) to read and came across as quite turgid and heavy going to get through to the meat of the story. Having said that, I've only tried The Algebraist but it didn't grab me. Peter F. Hamilton is more like Reynolds in terms of style I guess.

 

[Rodders]

Looking very much foreward to Teminal World. That said, i still need to read Pushing Ice and A Thousand Suns. (I have them both in hardback at home, but never got around to reading them.)

 

[gully_foyle]

I'm not a huge fan, I don't think he is a patch on Banks. But for my money Century Rain was a very good read, and had the best character development of any of his books.

 

[iansales]

I wasn't too keen on Century Rain - enjoyed it, but didn't think it was among his best. Likewise, House of Suns and Pushing Ice. The Prefect, however, I thought very good. And Absolution Gap was also very good.

 

[Rodders]

Yes, i'm with you on this Ian. Century Rain just didn't gel for me at all.

 

[clovis-man]

Coming into this late, I have to say that Banks and Reynolds are my two favorite SF authors today. I won't try to compare them, but each has his own appeal for me. Peter Hamilton, not so much. Still getting acquainted with Neal Asher's work.

I found Century Rain to be his weakest effort. I liked it, but wouldn't rate it with his other titles. I very much enjoyed The Prefect. House of Suns is in my "to be read" pile. It would have been nice for me to have read the stories in Galactic North before starting all his other works. A good introduction into the Revelation Space universe and the conjoiner/demarchist dichotomy. But now I guess I'll just have to read them all again. I hate it when that happens.

 

[Connavar]

Can i read The Prefect without having read any book in the series except book 1 ?

The setting sound more interesting than the space opera stuff that was too slow for me in Revelation Space book.

Only time i enjoyed that book was when the story was set in Chasm City. So i think ideas,story wise no problem just too much slow space opera for me.

 

[Ursa major]

Can i read The Prefect without having read any book in the series except book 1 ?

The Prefect is set in the "Glitter Band", i.e. before the arrival of the melding plague (which plays a part in all of the other revelation space books).


So the answer, Conn, is yes you can (even before "book 1").


.

 

[clovis-man]

Can i read The Prefect without having read any book in the series except book 1 ?

The setting sound more interesting than the space opera stuff that was too slow for me in Revelation Space book.

Only time i enjoyed that book was when the story was set in Chasm City. So i think ideas,story wise no problem just too much slow space opera for me.

Conn, Ursa is correct re the chronology. However, it's still a space opera.

But it's a very, very good space opera. Just so you know.

 

[Ursa major]

On the other hand, the prefect of the title (and his team) are detectives/police of a sort, so it isn't really that similar to the main Revelation Space trilogy.

 

[Connavar]

How is the story settting wise ? It doesnt stay in a ship where people sleep like RS.....

I thought the cop in "Glitter Band" kind of story would stay away from space travels kind of story.

 

[Hypnos164]

Pretty much all the action takes place on a single Glitter Band habitat

Its my favourite Reynolds so far, in part because its focused on a single place/time rather than trying to encompass 4+ Billion years.

 

[Connavar]

Pretty much all the action takes place on a single Glitter Band habitat

Its my favourite Reynolds so far, in part because its focused on a single place/time rather than trying to encompass 4+ Billion years.

See that looks like exactly the kind of sf i want to read.

RS book 1 was interesting when it was a single planet,place. Lost me with the hole through space,time.....

 

[Hypnos164]

I like Reynolds epic scope and refusal to "hand wave" relativity away but it does make the RS books hard work sometimes.

To me there are a lot of paralells between RS and Erikson in style - the epic scope, the amount of "history" in the background and the way that the sequence of events is not always 100% clear at the time but often resolves with later information (and then shifts meaning again as further revelations are made).

Given that you aren't a fan of that kind of "epic" fantasy I can see how RS wouldn't be to your taste.

 

[Connavar]

Nothing wrong with epic scope if I like the writing, AR writing doesnt bother me half as much as Erikson did.

Its just the Space Opera elements I'm allergic to. Had it been only regular Hard SF no problem at all.

 

[AE35Unit]

Well i was in the library looking for some AR to read and they only had 3 novels. I haven't read any of his works and wanted a standalone. I looked at House of Suns but the blurb mentioned it continuing the Revelation Space thread so I put it back Instead I picked up The Prefect which seems to be a standalone. (Fantastic Fiction has House of Suns as a standalone and The Prefect as part of the RS universe!)
So which is right?

 

[Hypnos164]

House of Suns is totally stand alone - nothing to do with Revelation Space.

The Prefect is a stand alone novel set in the Revelation Space universe but taking place some time before any of the "current" events in the main trilogy.