House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds

[gully_foyle]

In the past I've been a bit lukewarm about some of his books, particulary those of the Revelation Space line. I had a bit of trouble caring about his characters.

But Century Rain stood out for me because the characters were refreshingly different, particularly Wendell Floyd. And now I've just finished House of Suns and it was excellent. Written on a cosmological timescale and with a sense of wry humour (until everything goes pear shaped) not present in his earlier books, this is Reynolds at the most enjoyable that old Gully has seen him.

However, I kind of expected something to come of the running joke with all the Gentian Line names, but it didn't.

So two questions. First is who else enjoyed this one? And the second is, should Al have his own forum in the Author's section by now? Anyone support this motion?

 

[Rodders]

I'd definately support Alastair's own section on these forums. I've yet to read House of Suns, but i've very much enjoyed all of his works so far. (Especially the Revelation Space books.)

 

[clovis-man]

The rules by which an author joins the chrons pantheon are as rigorous as they are arcane. Suffice to say that Mr. Reynolds has not jumped through all the hoops yet.

But there is a thread on his work that isn't so old as to have grown mold yet:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/50493-any-other-alastair-reynolds-fans-here.html

 

[J Riff]

I tried Revelation Space and had to skip thru it. The characters dint grab me nuther Gully. But very interesting science, the astrophysicist in him cannot be denied, and the Greenfly are pretty scary.
Anyone thinking of writing modern deep-space sciFi should have a look at his work.

 

[Megidolaon]

I recently finish House of Sun and loved it.
And just now I heard of his contract for 10 books in 10 years, I REALLY hope there will be more of this setting.

There is just unbelievable potential there, 6 million years of spacefaring.

As for Revelation Space, I didn't like anyone either at first. It takes a while but the characters will definitely grow on you. I found them quite interesting and could sympathize with them after a couple of hundred pages.

 

[holland]

Well, I found Revelation Space was pretty dull, but I loved House of Suns!

I don't feel like continuing with the Rev Space universe, but I'm open to suggestions for other books by Mr. Reynolds

 

[ralphkern]

Pushing Ice - One of my fave BDO books.

Blue Remembered Earth - A great start to his new (well not new anymore) trilogy, a luke warm sequel though... but looking forwards to book three.

 

[Glitch]

I second Pushing Ice.

 

[Dave]

I've just read House of Suns, based upon recommendations on this forum. I liked it, but it didn't make me want to rush out and buy the rest of his back catalogue as some other authors have. I agree about the timescales involved. It was an epic story sweeping through time. He even expanded the original long history he presented when he introduced the early First Machines. However, it was too long for me. This is personal taste, but I like a book I can finish within a few days. If I hadn't taken this away on holiday, then I'd probably have still been reading it now. I also found the change between the voices of Purslane and Campion difficult to follow, and wasn't quite sure who was which. The spirit of the skies was literally a bit of a deus ex machina to the plot. However, the hard science fiction ideas were great i.e. stardams, and the space battles were believable i.e. in 3D (or 4D) and relativistic.

 

[AndrewT]

Well, I found Revelation Space was pretty dull, but I loved House of Suns!

I don't feel like continuing with the Rev Space universe, but I'm open to suggestions for other books by Mr. Reynolds

You REALLY should read Chasm City before the RS trilogy. I did by pure chance and I realized as I got to Redemption Ark (book two) that if I had not done so I would have missed a whole bunch of catches. I won't give you too many spoilers but if you hadn't read Chasm City you would not realize there is something very unique about Mr H! As soon as Zebra says "I am going to introduce you to my boss" I was like OHHH (lightbulb). All I will say is that H is a very unique person whose conversations allude to details from Chasm City.

It's a shame that Reynolds never mentions Chasm City as a prerequisite. It really is like Hobbit before LOTR.

 

[holland]

I actually read Chasm City since I posted that more than 4 years ago and I loved it. It's on a completely different level for me compared to Revelation Space. But I just don't feel like reading Redemption Ark, and I don't think I will any time soon.

And it's interesting, I'm looking at the Revelation Space universe Wikipedia page and it does list CC as book 2, between RS and RA, but I'm 100% sure it wasn't like that a couple of years ago when I was reading it.