For DragonGoddess' SF release challenge, April 2007.

RELEASE NOTES:

On the book exchange shelf at work.

Series alert: this is #3 in the Revelation Space trilogy, and you should have read the previous two before reading this one.

Alastair Reynolds is a powerful and brilliant writer. The first book of his I read was 'Revelation Space,' and it just about stunned me. When I finally recovered, I was thrilled to find that there was more to come. His books are fairly long, which is fine with me because that gives him room to create plots that are intense, complex, wildly imaginative but fully logical, perfectly paced, and (to me, anyway), hugely satisfying. He's also a master at letting you see carefully gauged amounts of the picture, then surprising you completely as he reveals new aspects.

As you can guess, I'm a big fan of all his books. What I like best about this one, besides the smashing conclusion of the trilogy, is his creation of some of the most convincing and memorable visual images on a fictional world I've ever read. They've locked themselves into my brain for years, and I hope they stay for many more to come.

Media mail to TomHl for the NPR VBB
Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

This book arrived today, as part of a trade arranged through JudySlump612's Superluminal (maybe I should say Lighthugger) VBB. I started reading Revelation Space just a few days ago, so expect to get to this one after I have acquired and read the other books in the series. That may take a while. Thanks, Judy.

I finally obtained a copy of Redemption Ark, so I now have enough of Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space books on my bx shelf to make the following list interesting…

ALASTAIR REYNOLDS’ REVELATION SPACE
2000) Revelation Space (1 of 3)
2001) Chasm City
2002) Redemption Ark (2 of 3)
2003) Absolution Gap (3 of 3)
2003) Diamond Dogs / Turquoise Days (2 novellas)
2006) Galactic North (collection)
2007) The Prefect

I found this book quite a bit more readable than the prior two novels of the trilogy set in the fantastically complex Revelation Space universe. Finally, I think Reynolds was able to establish some characters (Rashmika, Quaiche, Scorpio) whose limited perspectives and actions reveal the universe around them naturally, and gradually expose concepts that way. So much more intriguing than omnisciently unrolling concept after endless concept directly to the reader! And of course, none of those characters finish as they understand themselves to be from the beginning. For me, Rashmika and the theological city-states of Hela were the most fascinating, and the greatest puzzle was how the earlier-in-time parallel plot threads combine and lead to that world.

At the very end, unfortunately Reynolds throws in some additional unexplored concepts, that I'm sure pave the way for follow up novels. But it is possible to basically ignore them, with an attitude of "Well, yeah, his universe is full of that kind of stuff".

As much as I enjoyed this one, I'm not sure this book really justifies wading through the thousands of pages that came before. But I am now glad to have read it.