I'm Getting into Alastair Reynolds...

[Big Orange]

I've recently bought Revelation Space and after putting off for a few weeks I've properly got into it, and I find Reynolds to be a bit more po-faced and grounded than Banks, with the wit and dark comedy not really there, although he is as similarily imaginative as Banks and Revelation Space is comparable in content to Banks' underrated non-Culture novels like The Algebraist and Against a Dark Background.

I find Baxter a bit too dry and Gibson a bit too pulpy, however I'm starting to feel like Alastair Reynolds' line of novels are worth a pop.

[Hagbard Celine]

Revelation space is a good trilogy, especially Redemption ark, but I agree that he could use a bit more humour injected, the differences between the ultras and other humans could have been exploited more in the giggles direction.

Having said that, the man has some great ideas and themes going on, so it's definitely an enjoyable jaunt through the stars.


Hope you have a good time with those, give us your views on them when you finish.

[Hilarity Unit]

I'd agree with the above. I also find he tends to leave a few too many lose ends for my liking but the scope & imagination of the books more than makes up for it. His House Of Suns is out in pbk soon so I'm looking forward to that.

[rac]

Moved to off-topic.

[Deep Black]

Revelation Space is on my shelf still awaiting attention

[rac]

Revelation Space is on my shelf still awaiting attention

I think I've read half of that- but found it hard going. I may return to it sometime...

[edash]

Only read Revelation: Space. Found it a chore to get through. Yes there were some great ideas in there but I found the prose too dry, didn't care about any of the central characters and struggled through to the end. Haven't read any more of his novels since, but I did read one of his short stories, Zima Blue, and thought it was excellent.

[Champagne Socialist]

I really enjoyed revelation space.
I liked the fact that the universe felt big, old & lived in. It wasn't all handily spelt out in a 'ooh look how cool a universe this is, see how much I've developed it & by the way here's a handy A-Z ofeverything so you feel comfortable'. Very good & very much appreciated. Lots of mystery.

However... (it was bound to be there) the rest of the trilogy goes progressively downhill.

You quickly get used to thestyle and the other novels don't take you by nearly as much of a surprise. Book 3 is notmuch more than a rant against institutionalized religion, and there are so many missed opportunities. I'm at work so I have to be quick.

Read Revelation Space. Enjoy for the great book it is, but forget that he wrote anything else, you'll be happier

[Big Orange]

In Revelation Space, as in The Algebraist, FTL along the lines of warp or hyperdrive has not been attained by human space travellers (making the passing of the time on ships going at light speed much slower than from where they left and their destinations), and while The Algebraist has wormholes to cut corners (making the Mercatoria as similarily oppressive as another wormhole dependent faction, the Gou'ald Empire) I heard that attempts at FTL in Alastair Reynold's universe leads to nasty side effects that I haven't come across yet in Revelation Space (I'm up to page 280, so don't blow it please). However Revelation Space has some similarities with Matter in that an oppressive militeristic regime has uncovered the ancient ruins of a dead alien civilization, but then both books have some similarities to Raiders of the Lost Ark in general (Matter copied the opening of the Ark and Revelation Space has it's version of the map room).

[Halmyre]

I read 'Chasm City' last year, and enjoyed it so much that I'm now looking out for his books at the library. So far I've also read the collection 'Galactic North', and the first in the trilogy 'Revelation Space'. Just started on 'Redemption Ark', and it's shaping up nicely. Not sure his future is one I would want to live in, however!

[Champagne Socialist]

Oh No. Chasm city was the worst of the lot.
I had the ending figured out half way through the second chapter.
It may be an aspect of the particular writing device he uses.
It worked to great effect in RS, don't worry Big O there'll be no spoilers without warnings, but having read that, and then imediately reading the next RS Novel I could get my hands on CC, it just didn't hold it together. Certainly the ending wasn't a patch on UoW.

There are some great characters, and lots of shiny cool stuff.

Come on Hal, who wouldn't want to be a conjoiner!
Now let me into your head....

[Attitude Adjuster]

I bought Revelation Space and Chasm City some years ago (I was running out of books and I liked the covers) and enjoyed them. I thought it'd be nice to have a universe to follow like the Culture or Foundation series but like them not having to read them in a particular order. I came across his email address somewhere (either in the back of one of his books or on the internet) so I wrote to say I'd read them and enjoyed them - nothing more. I got a very nice but VERY LONG email back saying thank you, what he was doing at work at the moment (he wasn't and may still not be a full time writer) what he was writing at the time being and what his plans for the future were. He said he was only going to do one more in that particular universe (and I think there were a few short stories too). I was a bit disappointed about this. It's only since seeing this topic I've realised I haven't bought any of his books since.

[Attitude Adjuster]

Oh No. Chasm city was the worst of the lot.
I had the ending figured out half way through the second chapter.
It may be an aspect of the particular writing device he uses.
It worked to great effect in RS, don't worry Big O there'll be no spoilers without warnings, but having read that, and then imediately reading the next RS Novel I could get my hands on CC, it just didn't hold it together. Certainly the ending wasn't a patch on UoW.

There are some great characters, and lots of shiny cool stuff.

Come on Hal, who wouldn't want to be a conjoiner!
Now let me into your head....


Do you know I couldn't remember a thing about CC so I've just been to look at the back cover and it's still a little hazy, but yes, UoW really shocked me at the end - it even affected me for a few days - while I don't remember the same happening with CC. Had I guessed the ending?? Dunno.

[Big Orange]

I wonder if he could write for Doctor Who like fellow Welshman, Russell T. Davies.

[Deep Black]

Revelation Space will be next up for me...

[Big Orange]

I'm almost halfway through Redemption Ark and the Conjoiners are pretty similar to the Borg.

[edash]

(he wasn't and may still not be a full time writer)

Full time writer as of a few years back.

[Hagbard Celine]

i'm almost halfway through redemption ark and the conjoiners are pretty similar to the borg.


lol

[Halmyre]

Just finished Absolution Gap and feel the ending was a bit unsatisfying, but it won't stop me reading the rest of Reynold's output. Now started on Gary Gibson's Stealing Light, which is, as someone else pointed out, a bit 'pulpy'. It's fun identifying all his influences, however.

[Champagne Socialist]

so I wrote to say I'd read them and enjoyed them - nothing more. I got a very nice but VERY LONG email back saying thank you, what he was doing at work at the moment (he wasn't and may still not be a full time writer) what he was writing at the time being and what his plans for the future were. He said he was only going to do one more in that particular universe (and I think there were a few short stories too). I was a bit disappointed about this. It's only since seeing this topic I've realised I haven't bought any of his books since.

sounds like a publishers boilerplate fan-mail response. Template to cover almost all eventualities.

[Deep Black]

I'm about 100 pages into "Revelation Space", liking it so far. I like books that have many story threads going at once. It has the effect of wanting to get on throught he book quicker to find what happens next to each bit of the story

[Big Orange]

Hmmm, it seems like Skade has turned pretty much into the Borg Queen from First Contact and Voyager.

[Champagne Socialist]

don't say I didn't warn you.

(Quick, someone, who's borg?)

[Deep Black]

Finished Alastair Reynolds - Revelation Space. Not bad, I quite enjoyed it in the main, though the ending didn't come to much (I know the series continues, but from people have said, I've already read the best).

I liked the start more, with it's different characters & time frames. I felt it didn't do as well once everyone had met up in the story though.

Many of the Characters were made out to be nasty / vicious people, but they didn't do much to warrent the threats. I'd like to have seen a bit more mindless violence from time to time to make the threats more believable. Those that were killed of tended to go in sudden / dull ways.

[Big Orange]

I haven't detected any objective drop in quality with Revelation Space, it has proved to be a solid read so-far and I find the setting intriguing, with no FTL and the Milky Way all but essentially conquered by a machine race of unspeakable evil aeons ago.

[Hilarity Unit]

Finished Alastair Reynolds - Revelation Space. Not bad, I quite enjoyed it in the main, though the ending didn't come to much (I know the series continues, but from people have said, I've already read the best).

I'd recommend Chasm City next. It is set in the same spacetime of RS (slightly before actually) and more of a noir detective thriller than a space opera.

[ChrisC]

Alistair Reynolds is great. Read Century Rain that's a nice light hearted read.

[Champagne Socialist]

I haven't detected any objective drop in quality with Revelation Space, it has proved to be a solid read so-far and I find the setting intriguing, with no FTL and the Milky Way all but essentially conquered by a machine race of unspeakable evil aeons ago.

Revelation Space, as a novel, is excellent.
You will appreciate 'the drop' in following novels.

RS as a universe creating/setting piece of fiction is superlative.
It is also utterly wasted by Chasm City and the remainder of the trilogy.
I haven't yet read pushing ice or any of the other books set within that universe, and it may be some time till I do, because the disappointment of the novels that followed such a superb beginning was so vast.

[Big Orange]

When I typed Revelation Space I also meant Redemption Ark, with the story threads flowing wonderfully from RS in RA, although I expect the quality crash in Absolute Gap but that's expected of second sequels. The best examples of disappointing second sequels that are relatively recent are Spiderman 3 and PotC: At World's End.

[phazedout]

I met and interviwed (and thanks again ed ashby for giving me a room to kip in) Alistair in 2007 (august) and have to say that email probably was written by him pesonally, he's a really nice bloke and quite friendly.

you can catch the interview at phazecast (www.phazecast.com) currently on hiatus but the old casts are still there.
Phaze
on the "I must go and make some foods now, I is hungry phaze and half awake post nap" ID

[Deep Black]

Well he must be doing something right, check this out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/22/alastair-reynolds-million-pound-deal

[Big Orange]

I've finished Redemption Ark, I thought the epilogue was great but the final battle referenced off screen was a bit rubbish. Some the editing and pacing was worse than Matter supposedly had, but a good and solid read none the less. The Inhibitors do seem evil for the sake of evil.

[Big Orange]

I've recently finished Absolution Gap, Reynold's weakest novel to date, albiet not unenjoyable. The striding cathedrals are something straight out of Warhammer 40, 000, with Quaiche and Grelier making for interesting villains.

[Big Orange]

Cash 4 Gold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNipeP4HvQ) anyone?!

[Deep Black]

But I don't have any gold

[Big Orange]

Oh, the plug post from a spam bot has been deleted. :(

Anyhoo I quite enjoyed Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days and I'm starting to get into The Prefect.

[Mr. Adequate]

I`ve been looking for something new to sink my teeth into, I think I`ve found it. Thanks.

[Big Orange]

OK, I'm over halfway through The Prefect Aurora is the closest thing we have to what a mass murdering Culture Mind would be like and it seems like Alastair Reynolds has seen The Night of the Dead and played FEAR both too much.

[Big Orange]

OK, I've wrapped up The Prefect and now commenced on reading Chasm City.

[Halmyre]

Just started Century Rain and really enjoying it - nice blend of noir-ish detective story, hard SF, alternative history. Makes me want to keep reading, always a good sign.

[The_Kat]

Hi i'm a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, read all his books. Like was aid earlier on some very good high brow concepts, darker then Bank's work but good despite that.


Just finished Absolution Gap and feel the ending was a bit unsatisfying, but it won't stop me reading the rest of Reynold's output.

Yeah, i think he sometimes falls into the trap of not wanting to go down the deus ex machina route that some of his contemporaries are often accused of (Peter F Hamilton i don't agree i love him to!) meaning that his endings sometimes seem lacking or to well sign posted. His newer work seems to not suffer as much from this. The House of suns is brillaint as is Centuary Rain, where a Pushing Ice (although very good) kinds of ends and feels more of a first part to a series. The prefect is a well contained story set in the revelation space universe, i remember really enjoying that but can't seem to recall the ending.

[Big Orange]

The Prefect is better paced and edited than Matter, but as with Matter the ending is a little too abrubt, and somewhat similar:

*SPOILER*
The Clockmaker is a very similar plot device to the Iln machine (although there is more plot build-up and foreboding), and tyl Loesp and Gaffney are slightly weak villains and pawns for alien overlords, even if their motives are fairly believable. Also Gaffney escaping from custody was a contrived moment, especially after he was outed as a dangerous traitor (even when receiving medical treatment, he would've had a guard, surely?). I found the backstory for the ill fated American colony on Yellowstone quite funny. And Aurora was a truly vile supervillain, she was as omnicidal as the Inhibitors, but with far less wisdom and excuse.
*SPOILER*

[Big Orange]

rac, wasn't the asshole you kicked out of this thread called Ray Gold or are I'm being paranoid, and imagining things? Somebody called Ray Gold was raising hell over at Stardestroyer.Net by spamming completely inappropriate pictures of school girls...

Anyway I've wrapped up Chasm City, can't be bothered for a indepth review, but I liked it as much as Redemption Ark and almost as much as The Prefect. Next up on my Reynolds' list, Galactic North (but not for quite a while).

[Champagne Socialist]

The local Borders is shutting down, I nipped in hoping to pick up diamond days and turquise dogs (or whatever its called) in the 70% discount sale.
All the good stuff was gone, no Banks, no Reynolds, Dick, Moon, Simmon, nothing... there was a whole shelf of Kevin J Anderson though. Funny that.

[Big Orange]

Is Kevin J. Anderson the Uwe Boll of the fictional novel world?

[Mr. Adequate]

I read a few of his Dune prequels when they first started showing up years ago. I found them to be pretty good.

I have not read any of his original stuff, is it not very good?

[Big Orange]

Dune is the orginal and best, and I've seen quickly read through KJA novels down the library; very dense but very derivative (he even wrote a alien faction know as Ildiran Empire!).

And back to better novelists, I found Chasm City very similar to Use of Weapons in that the protagonist was a very evil villain:

*SPOILER* Sky Hausmann, really the main character, was a space colonist who was part of flotilla of generation ships where he starts off as a naive, easily scared child and in his adult years slowly makes his transition to the Dark Side. He ends up dumping the sleeper pods out into space on the final leg of the centuries long voyage to a remote jungle world (named Sky's Edge in his "honour"), pretty much firing the first shots of a long, grinding war between the descendents of the generation ships' passangers and crew. *SPOILER*

[Mr. Adequate]

Well I received Revelation Space as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend and started reading it this morning. I`m 30 pages in and enjoying it so far but there seems to be alot of jumping backwards and forwards in time to different characters etc. who at the moment seem unrelated, though I`m sure that is probably just building up to something. Does the book continue in this fashion all the way through?

[Deep Black]

The time jumping thing calmes down after a while

[Thrikodithanam]

I got quite into him for a spell, I read Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Chasm City, Century Rain and a few short stories here and there.

Fairly good space-romps, but they ultimately left me a bit cold. They sort of feel like what people who don't like sci-fi think sci-fi is like.... all space battles and rayguns and very little in the way of likeable characters, let alone any kind of real emotion in the narrative.

I've almost completely forgotten the plots though, so I might give them another whirl at some point..... seems unlikely in the near future though, as I have about 35 unread books on the shelves crying out to me.

[Deep Black]

Telll me about it, I've got over 100 books in waiting. No time for re-reads here

[edash]

The rate you're getting through them lately you'll have that lot read by the end of the year.

I've over 130 here myself, and that's only the dead tree ones.

[Deep Black]

Yeah I've been on a decent book run at the moment, I go through stages of "read, read, read" & "read, pause, do something else".

At the moment I can't get enough :)

That said I'm not very fast & probably avarage about 1 or 2, maybe 3 (depending on length) a month.

[Thrikodithanam]

The rate you're getting through them lately you'll have that lot read by the end of the year..

Yeah, but if he's anything like me, he'll probably buy a lot more too!

No matter how fast I read 'em, they just seem to keep piling up...

Sounds like we read at a similar rate of books though... I reckon I average about 30-35 a year.

[Deep Black]

Ohhh yeah, read 1 buy 2 :) The pile gets ever bigger
Maybe 25 a year for me (depends on length)

[edash]

Yeah I've been on a decent book run at the moment, I go through stages of "read, read, read" & "read, pause, do something else".

At the moment I can't get enough :)

That said I'm not very fast & probably avarage about 1 or 2, maybe 3 (depending on length) a month.

And there's hardly much demand for driving lessons in this weather.

I try to average 3 or 4 a month, but I include shorter works like novellas. Did quite well last year, got through 58. Which I reckon is about twice as many as I bought. If I carry on at that rate I should be caught up in about 10 years.

[Deep Black]

And there's hardly much demand for driving lessons in this weather
Sadly yes, my diary is rather depleated at the moment. :(
I do like being at home though :)

[Mr. Adequate]

Revelation Space is excellent. I have 100 pages to go and I just picked up the two sequels from Waterstones. Im looking forward to them too.

[Champagne Socialist]

Having been so enthused by RevSpace, and increasingly disapointed by each of its sequels in succession (I can sort of forgive Chasm City a bit as it was his first book and had some great scenes, was just far to predictable), should I risk turquoise dogs and diamond days, Pushing Ice, the prefect et al... that is the question.

[Deep Black]

I think the "increasingly dissapointed" thing is quite common from what I hear/read. Still he still got that massive deal so someone muct love him.

Hopefully he'll be at the SFX Weekender (which I'm going to)

[BeckyH]

I liked both The Prefect and House of Suns. I'd say keep going.

[Mr. Adequate]

I'm so glad I found this thread, thanks Big Orange.

I just finished reading Revelation Space last night and whilst I found the first 50-100 pages a little tedious I soon after became hooked. This book is excellent. I loved the ending too.

I have just started Redemption Ark this afternoon and I'm loving it too so far.

[Deep Black]

Was looking forward to seeing Al at the SFX Weekender Feb 5-6th, but sadly he's now not there

[Big Orange]

I'm so glad I found this thread, thanks Big Orange.

You're welcome.

I perhaps read more than average for my demograph, but I go through phases of not reading books, and besides TV, movies, work, YouTube, talk forums, and video games often distract my attention.

[charismatic megafauna]

Just finished Revelation Space, and I must say it further solidifies my already vast admiration for what IMB accomplishes in his SF. While RS is brimming with ideas and techno-babble, it is virtually devoid of anything resembling humor or wit. And the writing itself too often leaves one feeling as if they are swimming in molasses, the word turgid comes to mind. I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to read more Reynolds.

[Deep Black]

Well many people say it's one of his best so if you weren't overly enamored with that one...

I enjoyed it & plan to read more sometime

[Flashman]

I've read Absolution Gap, Chasm City, Revelation Space & Redemption Ark. I enjoyed them all. I'm with CM though as far as the lack of humour & wit. I much prefer IMB books.
BTW Hyperion was a good call DS. Hooked up front and a very enjoyable read. Thanks.

[praghmatic]

I like Reynolds a lot -- enjoyed the Revelation Space sequels more than some here seem to have. He gets into some of his best Operatic character stuff in the last two books: Clavain, Skade (much better and more interesting than the Borg Queen, IMHO, hehe), and of course Scorpio the...uh...hyperpig! (Seriously, he gets bonus points from me for making the whole uplifted-pigs thing seem credible, scary, and sad all at once somehow.)

Granted he's rather grimmer than Banks in a certain sense, and his characterizations are often not as good.

Things I like:
- the thick-layered gothic atmosphere (I'm kindof a picky horror fan too, so that's nice to get folded into my scifi - more efficient that way!)
- that he manages to rev up full-blown multiplanetary space opera plots with neither FTL drive (well, except for a couple of very crazy dangerous experiments) nor wormholes. This means the action may stretch out for decades and more, as characters are forced to take long bets trying to outwit one another. That feels a bit more like what it would probably be like if such space operatic intrigue were ever to occur. And the whole lighthuggers and Ultras setup is just kinda cool and creepy.
- his aliens, with the exception of the extinct Avian ones in RS, are mostly *very* alien, which I like.
- So, on a more general level, I agree with Champagne Socialist that
"[Reynold's] universe [feels] big, old & lived in...[not] all handily spelt out in a 'ooh look how cool a universe this is, see how much I've developed it & by the way here's a handy A-Z of everything so you feel comfortable'. Very good & very much appreciated. Lots of mystery," but tend to disagree about the dropoff in quality.

My main gripes would be: the Cathedrals plotline in AG, I will admit, gets a bit tiresome; and in the standalone Pushing Ice: the main character conflict that animates the plot seemed contrived to me -- but then we got to meet the Musk Dogs (wonderfully icky), so it was all worth it.

Haven't tried the Prefect yet.

[hrm, I wanted to format this post a bit, but all the buttons in the advanced interface are dead for me...maybe I need to reboot Firefox or something]

[Nostalgia for Infinity]

Oh No. Chasm city was the worst of the lot.
I had the ending figured out half way through the second chapter.
It may be an aspect of the particular writing device he uses.
It worked to great effect in RS, don't worry Big O there'll be no spoilers without warnings, but having read that, and then imediately reading the next RS Novel I could get my hands on CC, it just didn't hold it together. Certainly the ending wasn't a patch on UoW.

There are some great characters, and lots of shiny cool stuff.

Come on Hal, who wouldn't want to be a conjoiner!
Now let me into your head....

I thought Chasm City was fantastic.

The main plotline was good, but not great, but the Sky Haussman/generation ship plotline was absolutely amazing and redeemed any flaws in the rest of the book.

Haussmann is easily one of the greatest villains in SF, as far as I'm concerned, the sequences involving him were brilliant, and it makes perfect sense that someone in his situation would feel absolute rage at being a servant for the super-wealthy, who sleep comfortably oblivious over such a long journey while his friends and family live and die aboard a starship just to get them there safely.

As for the comment a few pages back about Absolution Gap being a rant against organized religion -- I disagree. I thought the set-up to the Hela cult was extremely well-thought-out and plausible, especially the lengths they went to in order to keep the "miracle" in view. The ending left a lot to be desired, but I didn't find fault with most of the book, and I didn't think AR was making any parallels to current religions because he pinned things on an indoctrinal virus, not "real" religious faith. It was echoes of Chasm City and the Sky Haussman cults.

In any case, as is obvious by my handle here, I'm a big fan of Reynolds. I personally think it's impossible to compare him to Banks, because they work completely different territory and the tone of their books is so different.

Reynolds, as others have noted, doesn't really do humor, his dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, and his characters are not especially well-developed. (Although he is improving in that area.) But...I have not read any other SF that even comes close to the Big Ideas in the Revelation Space universe, and in my opinion no other SF writer is able to set such an addictively dark tone. It's not just about the noir elements and the often-grotesque ways technology is put to use -- it's also about AR's amazing ability to make you feel the vast distances, "inky blackness" and intense feeling of loneliness between the stars.

Banks, by contrast, is a master of dialogue, extremely adept at characterization, and for my money he's only surpassed by writers like David Mitchell and Arthur Phillips in terms of making a reader laugh out loud in genre fiction settings. I'm talking King Tard the Seventeenth and that cannibal dude from Consider Phlebas...great stuff. I also feel Banks excels at creating journeys and exotic locales that are just a hell of a lot of fun to read about. Vavatch Orbital is a great example.

So yeah...I view it as apples and oranges. They're both great writers and they're both SF greats, but in very different ways.

[Nostalgia for Infinity]

Just finished Revelation Space, and I must say it further solidifies my already vast admiration for what IMB accomplishes in his SF. While RS is brimming with ideas and techno-babble, it is virtually devoid of anything resembling humor or wit. And the writing itself too often leaves one feeling as if they are swimming in molasses, the word turgid comes to mind. I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to read more Reynolds.

The problem is the expository dialogue and the long info-dumps.

But there are flashes of brilliance in his early prose -- there's a scene in RS where he describes a malfunction with one of the "suits" that made me stop, re-read it, and crease the page so I could enjoy it again.

Where he excels is in the moody, extremely dark descriptions of his starships and space itself. As others have said, the Nostalgia for Infinity is probably the creepiest, most horrific ship in SF, and Reynolds demonstrates an ability to do it again and again -- in the short stories Dilation Sleep and Nightengale, in Chasm City's "ghost ship" sequences, in the Silver Wings of Morning from House of Suns, etc.

I suppose it all comes down to how much you enjoy that kind of dark, almost depressing tone. RS is not a universe centered around a wishful, far-future utopia or post-scarcity-society -- it's a universe heavy on moral ambiguity, injustice and often perverse use of technology. I find that refreshing.

[KaitsuL]

Nostalgia for Infinity, I pretty much agree on your posts! Though IMB is one of my definite favourites (why else would I pop up here...), I must say that I enjoy Reynolds (and Asher, Stross, Harlan etc) as well. Imho they all tend to come up with great plots and settings. I probably overdosed on Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein when I was younger, so now I'm stuck...

Chasm City is how I stumbled into revelation space, loved it.

[Deep Black]

Hi there,

When you say "stuck", do you mean "stuck with loving SF" or "stuck for something else to read"?

Good little list you posted there by the way :)

[KaitsuL]

Hi Deep Black & thx!

The first option, and not minding at all... Today, I got a copy of 487 pp "Terminal World", right now trying to figure out how to find some time for reading it during the weekend :-)

[praghmatic]

...I enjoy Reynolds (and Asher, Stross, Harlan etc) as well.

I'd love to hear a bit more about those three. I'm not familiar with their work. How does it compare to IMB and Reynolds?

Thanks.

[Deep Black]

Of the 3 Neal Asher is probably the most similar Banks & Reynolds. Lots of fun across the Polity Universe at various different times in it's chronology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Asher

Harlan Ellison is more "old school" has written various TV stuff & short stories, along with a few novels. He's pretty angry & writes some crazy stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison
& a 90 min documentry about him here:
http://www.wisevid.com/play?v=2t_ft5g86Adb

Charles Stross is the most "hard SF" of the 3 but has also done fantasy & thriller-ish stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stross

[praghmatic]

Thanks, Deep Black.

Oh, that Harlan. 8^) I figured it was a last name. Yeah, sometimes his stories are a little too....voice-y for me. (Stephen King sometimes has a similar problem.) But what a voice! He writes some great, and scary, stuff.

On rather a different note, I've also started enjoying Bujold's Vorkosigan yarns. Fans of IMB's humor might especially want to check them out.

Bujold backs up the levity with some underlying serious themes and a lot of clever plotting. And what a central character! If I'm in the right mood, they ring my space opera chimes quite well.

[Solipsist Mercenary]

***Probably some spoilers about Century Rain here***

Ok, wrong place to say what I'm about to, but...

I see that there are quite a few folks here that like Alistair Reynolds, and (I mentioned this earlier somewhere else) I've only read Century Rain, and, to tell the truth, I hated it. I may be wrong on some details, I hope that I'll be set right gently, I'm not out to offend.

Mostly because:

People living in orbit, in space stations, without using computers.

And was this the book where the people living in orbit, in space stations, without using computers, substituted putting notes in capsules running through a vacuum tube system (without computers to route them) for email and IM?

The whole ***BIG MYSTERY*** of the "Slashers" and the "Threshers" made me want to, well, sic a Chairmaker on the author when it was finally revealed.

I really, really, disliked this book. Don't know if it was representative of Mr. Reynolds' work or not.

-sm

[Deep Black]

I've not read that one, I think our Mr Orange is the most Reynolds read chap on here...


On rather a different note, I've also started enjoying Bujold's Vorkosigan yarns. Fans of IMB's humor might especially want to check them out.
Reading Shards of Honour now, not bad.

[KaitsuL]

Harlan Ellison is more "old school" has written various TV stuff & short stories, along with a few novels. He's pretty angry & writes some crazy stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison
& a 90 min documentry about him here:
http://www.wisevid.com/play?v=2t_ft5g86Adb



Actually, I was referring to Thomas Harlan and his Sixth Sun series, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Harlan and http://www.throneworld.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Concordance

If I try to characterize it with three words: solid sci fi :cool:...

Think I've also read all Reynolds' books (besides "Terminal World", which I got a copy of the other day). Now, I try n o t to read boring books, so that should provide you with a hint :D

[Flashman]

In any case, as is obvious by my handle here, I'm a big fan of Reynolds. I personally think it's impossible to compare him to Banks, because they work completely different territory and the tone of their books is so different.


And I came so close to taking that name myself. Except I couldn't recall it at the time and was champing at the bit to register. My favourite fictional ship to date, scary, truly awe inspiring and a great name.

Agree with everything you said about Reynolds and Banks.

[Deep Black]

Actually, I was referring to Thomas Harlan and his Sixth Sun series
Ahh, that explains wny you'd apparently used a christian name there too :D

[Big Orange]

I'm ploughing through Galactic North at the moment. I've also purchased Terminal World; it has pretty nifty cover artwork reminiscant of the 1980s and 1990s:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/827/terminalworldcrop.jpg (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/terminalworldcrop.jpg/)

[Big Orange]

I'm well into Terminal World now, past the 150 page mark, a bit staid although it would make an excellent anime.

[Deep Black]

Did you get the free SFX book?

[Champagne Socialist]

I read The Prefect.
AR may know science, but his Civil Engineering is only just passable.

[Big Orange]

Please explain the engineering/structural discrepancies to an ignoramus like me who doesn’t enjoy long division. I'm willing to bet it's to do with those computer museum towers within the sausage shaped habitat, right?

[BeckyH]

Look, these are folks who can travel all the way around the galaxy. They just tell the machines what to do, and they make it work.

[Champagne Socialist]

The whole structural integrity, cutting through main supporting members, increased moments and stresses, how that would affect the structure, how it would fail, and NO ONE NOTICING while it's happening.
There would have been groaning from metal fatigue, you'd be able to feel the physical twang (technical term) as the tension members were first overloaded then suddenly released. The bubble at the top would have been wobbling all over the place as the equilibrium of forces shifted.
meh

[Hilarity Unit]

I've also purchased Terminal World; it has pretty nifty cover artwork reminiscant of the 1980s and 1990s
Unfortunately the cover is the best bit - will be the last hdbk Reynolds book I buy for a long while

[Big Orange]

Hmmmm, Terminal World is soft sci-fi dressed up as dieselpunk fantasy, but I've made it as far as page 351 with little hassel (and I'm reading through two other big books).

[Big Orange]

That's Terminal World out the way, what's the best Reynolds novel I can read next?

[Alistair]

I enjoyed Zima Blue. Have you read Galatic North, continues on from RS, RA, AG.

[Hatchling]

Read Revelation Space, and Redemption Ark, just started Absolution Gap. A little bit slow-going so far, but so were the other two initially - then *bam* all of a sudden they were brilliant and I couldn't put them down. Hope the trend continues here!

House of Suns changed my life though, no joke :o

[Alistair]

When I started reading AG, I thought WTF is this really related to RA, it is just keep reading. When I read a Reynolds book its like a short and long term memory arriving. The long term one is slow with lots of extra fluff, the short one quick and of the now.

House of suns - in what way did it change your life? Was it the poeple, or the THING?

[Hatchling]

Yeah found that with RA too, especially because there was a fairly big gap (no pun intended) between when I finished RS and that, but you have to stick him out and then all of a sudden everything comes flooding back and it all makes sense.

Changed my life in that I bloody loved it to within an inch of its' life. So many different aspects/characters and yet all came together beautifully. It's now the book I recommend to non-sci-fi fans to get them into it... the Abigail story just draws you in and eases you into the book gently.

Probably sound like a luvvie, but I'm not bothered, think he's brilliant :)

[Deep Black]

I've got House of Suns sitting on the shelf, maybe I'll move it up in the reading order. I though Revelation Space was ok, but not brilliant

[Flashman]

House of Suns now added to my Xmas list. Looks like my kind of book.:)

[Hatchling]

Yes yes yes, this is all very pleasing to me :D

Bear with it Deep Black, very fractured at the beginning but I promise it does make sense in the end!

[Deep Black]

I'll report back...

[Flashman]

Half way through the House of Suns and a big thumbs up here. Gets off to a good start - drops back - then accelerates nicely. I like the characters, the plot so far and the humour. Very enjoyable book.

[Deep Black]

I'm about 200 pages in myself, pretty good so far.

Not sure about the alternating first person narative, Alastair even seems to get mixed up at one point himself.
Also the sense of scale isn't comming across quite right yet, for a race who live for billions of years they don't seem to act any differently from us.

[Flashman]

Yes that alternative first person catches me out continually and the "business" breakfasts are a bit familiar. I think there's reasons for the lack of change - to do with memory reloads and being "on ice" for long period of time.

[Hatchling]

Glad to see everyone is giving House of Suns a go :)

Recommended it to a (real-life) friend recently and they loved it. Whilst discussing it though, that thing happened where the other person starts talking about how brilliant the ending is and you realise you've forgotten how it actually... um... ends, oops. So am planning to re-read at some point to refresh my memory (no pun intended).

Anyway, just finished Absolution Gap, third book in the Revelation Space trilogy. Without wanting to give anything away - took a good few hundred pages to get into, and sadly he does spread himself a little thin in parts, conjuring up more elements than are strictly necessary/helpful. Glad I stuck with it though as vast sections are exquisitely written, and there are some truly magnificent scenes. Some delightfully gruesome new characters, and a healthy dose of trusted old ones too. Quite sad it's all over to be honest... sob...

[Deep Black]

Finished "House of Suns" this morning, pretty good, though I did find the ending a bit odd.
Over all I think I liked it more than Revelation Space.
Thanks for the recommendation Hatchling

[Hatchling]

Glad you liked it Deep.

Maybe that's why my brain didn't bother remembering the end then!

Just finished Children of Dune, to summise, quite good, glad I finished it, but I'm definitely not in a hurry to buy any of the others now. Bit too much in-depth fictional philosophy and drug-induced first-person musing.

So now it's back to ploughing through some Brian Greene... ug ug.

[Flashman]

Finished "House of Suns" this morning, pretty good, though I did find the ending a bit odd.
Over all I think I liked it more than Revelation Space.
Thanks for the recommendation Hatchling

I finished last night. Agree with all your comment except I couldn't find the ending. Did they forget to print it?
Excellent book though.

[Deep Black]

Can't quite tell if you're joking or not?
How did your book finish?

[Flashman]

"Glassman" giving C a hand to retrieve P from H before he had to be on his way. Maybe I'm just an old romantic and expected more. Mind you having said that I had serious doubts about that relationship.

[Deep Black]

Yep that was the rather "odd" ending I refered to as well.
Bit of a damp squib after all the event leading up to it, almost like the start of a sequal novel rather than the ending of the book in question.

I often find that though. A good book often dissapoints with it's conclusion / climax. TMH has also suffered from that problem on occation

[Big Orange]

Alastair Reynolds has been chosen to bang out a Doctor Who novel, Harvest of Time (http://approachingpavonis.blogspot.com/2011/07/harvest-of-time.html#comments).

[Champagne Socialist]

might get some rigour to a drw story for a change then

[Myrelingues]

Revelation Space is good. But the following books are just too lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng !

[praghmatic]

Reynolds writing Who. Now that's a fun idea - great matchup with his gothic sensibility. He should try writing for show itself!

[Myrelingues]

Revelation Space is better than Algebraist.

[Deep Black]

Slightly random comment, no?

[praghmatic]

I love them both.

It perhaps makes some sense to compare them, b/c Alg seems - so far - to be Banks' what-if-there-was-no-FTL epic. But to me they both have huge strengths that are fairly different. Two rather well-realized universes.

For example, I think that the Nostalgia for Infinity (from RS) has one of the best ship names ever, AND is one of the most astonishingly vivid and complex (& creepy) ships ever realized in the genre. The sly tip of the hat to Dark Star only enhances :)

And as I indicated in another thread, I feel similarly enthusiastic about the Dwellers (from Alg) as a believably complex, and wonderfully, hilariously odd, advanced alien civilization.