Revelation Space
Ratings222
Average rating3.9
I stopped and started this one a couple of times, but I found the beginning to be really confusing, and I didn't really connect with the characters either so I didn't find the middle or ending to be all that impactful either. Which is a shame, because I like some of the author's other books!
Mind blowing – I’m still seriously thinking about this book. It was clearly a long journey, brightened with several very impressive ideas. Perhaps this is the great merit of Revelation Space, that of bringing an almost infinite succession of impressive ideas in stunning and richly detailed and imaginative scenarios. If I keep thinking about the book, even after it’s finished, I think it’s a quality to be noticed.
However, the book is also marked by the author’s truncated writing. For me it was clear that Reynolds likes to “show and not tell”, which seems like an interesting idea (and very overvalued these days). However, Speculative Fiction books (such as Fantasy and Science Fiction) still depend a little on a more traditional approach, just when the book brings so many innovative ideas. For many and over again I saw myself rereading some excerpts and wondering if I had lost something in the middle of the way.
Some readers complained that the author is long-winded and that the book could be smaller in relation to the number of pages. I don’t consider this a problem at all. However, the author could have been a little clearer and more direct in presenting some of his ideas, but I understand that it is a matter of style.
3.5 rounded up!
Some really interesting ideas and concepts but as a sci-fi noob was just sometimes overwhelming to my poor brain!
This book was an excellent read for me. It has a good mix of mystery, hard SF/space opera, amazing tech, astronomy, with a dash of horror mixed in with the addition of a very scary plague. It took me a while to get into the book, as it starts off slowly with a few different story-lines that eventually merge into one at the end. But once momentum gets going, it moves fast.
The first story-line involves Dan Sylveste, who is an archaeologist excavating ruins on a planet. The ruins were left by a mysterious alien race called the Amarantin. Another story-line centers around Ultras (humans that modify themselves with cybernetic upgrades to “improve” themselves). These Ultras are tracking down Sylveste because they think that Sylveste has the knowledge to help their captain, who is stricken with the Melding Plague, which attacks both human and cybernetic components. The last story-line is about an assassin who has been hired to assassinate Sylveste. These story-lines converge into one and it ultimately revolves around the mysterious Amarantin race and what happened to them.
Highly recommended for fans of hard SF/space opera.
I'm a bit torn on this one. On one hand I enjoyed it - the action was nicely paced and there are some interesting sci-fi concepts to be found. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, Mr. Reynolds presents an intriguing (and unsettling) solution to the Fermi Paradox which has piqued my interest for book 2, which I'll probably read...
But on the other hand, the characters are 2-dimensional and the dialogue is stunted and rather heavy on exposition. It also falls for that weird sci-fi trope where characters call each other by their surname. Who does that in real life?!
It never gets unbearable though and I enjoyed the book regardless. Alastair Reynolds is no Iain M Banks or even Peter F Hamilton. But he scratches a sci-fi itch, if that is what you're after.
Excellent hard scifi space opera that has a Joy Division reference and a Fast Show joke :-)
yo im an alien ur an alien those people flied and died the suns a computer whatever
A Cosmo/anthropological mystery spanning hundreds of millions of years. Fascinating story and characters.
I've been wanting to dig into the Revelation Space for a while so I finally did it with this first installment. This is truly a great book with extremely good ideas.
I really dig it but somehow I had the feeling that some of the characters were painfully annoying (Volyova specially) and were almost ruining the satisfying atmosphere set in the story.
Am ezitat mult între 4 și 5, dar totuși am rămas la 4 pentru că uneori a trebuit să trag de mine ca să citesc în continuare (mi-a luat 5 zile, pt mine e mult).
În rezumat, caroseria (worldbuilding, background, tehnologie, fizică, astronomie, originalitate exterioară) este senzațională, de 5/5, dar motorul (povestea în sine - destul de SF-generică dacă o despoi de brizbrizuri) e mediocru 3,5, maxim 4/5 și nici cu transmisia nu stă prea bine (personaje și dialoguri, maxim 3/5). Per ansamblu o carte foarte bună totuși (dar nu ”amazing”, povestea o voi uita în câteva săptămâni) și care merită citită.
3.4 stars.
This is an important book in Science Fiction. More specifically, hard-SF. Overall, the story is quite interesting with somewhat interesting characters. The events within the story are also interesting.
So why only 3.4 stars?
Revelation Space was slow. Plodding. Really didn't even start to get going until about 3/4 of the way through the book. Stuff happens, but you have no way of knowing the significance. The characters are... not likable. Not a group of individuals I could find myself identifying with. They're all clearly driven, but mostly their drive doesn't make a lot of sense. And later, you find out that their motivation is almost universally driven by factors you don't learn until the final pages of the book, and those external motivations are essentially alien, hence the reason that little of it seems to make sense.
So, while I'm glad I've read this one, I don't find myself eager to get on to the sequel Redempton Ark (or prequel Chasm City). As I get older, I find that there are tons of books out there that are incredibly awesome. All the way through. That are both deep and fun. Or fast and fun. Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, The Martian, Ender's Game, the Bobiverse, etc. Do you have time for plodding? I wish the originality of ideas and the universe descripted here were presented... better.
If you've read them, please let me know what you think about other Revelation Space books. More of the same, or does it get better?
Executive Summary: An interesting story that I found too confusing and full of unlikable characters leaving me a bit disappointed.Audio book: I like John Lee as a reader for space opera. He has a good voice for it in my opinion. I've listened to some [a:Peter F. Hamilton 25375 Peter F. Hamilton https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg] he narrated as well. He does a few accents and voices, but nothing really special to add to the story and make it a must listen.That said, this isn't a book I think that works very well in Audio. There is a lot going on and I found myself a bit lost, especially with the names of characters. I wonder if I might have liked the book more if I had read it rather than reading it.Full ReviewI'm not a big sci-fi reader. More than your average person probably, but I'd guess I probably read 2 or 3 fantasy books for every sci-fi one.[b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377707689s/18007564.jpg 21825181] put me in a sci-fi mood though, and I wanted some fun space opera to scratch the itch. After reading [a:Peter F. Hamilton 25375 Peter F. Hamilton https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg]'s Commonwealth Saga, I had several people telling me I should really check out this series.As it happens, audible had a big sci-fi book sale, and I was able to pick this one up, so the timing seemed perfect. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to expectations.It's not bad, and I'd consider reading another Reynolds book in the future, just not anytime soon. I found it really confusing at the start. I'm not sure if that's entirely the story's fault (it sort of feels like he means for you to be confused) or the fact that I did it in audio, but I'm not a big fan of stories where the author tries to confuse you.Eventually though I got my bearings, and there was some cool stuff going on that I wanted to find out more about. However, I found all of his characters unlikable. I prefer character-driven stories. Great characters can carry a weak story a lot better than weak characters can carry a great story for me.That isn't to say Mr. Hamilton's characters are weak or undeveloped. I just didn't like them. The worst thing an author can do for me is make me not care what happens to the characters. I didn't exactly hate his characters either. If I did, at least I could have rooted for them to meet some sticky end. No, mostly I found myself indifferent.To me this is a book that had a lot of potential that just failed in execution for me. Other people may like the characters more, or maybe aren't as put off by reading a book where you don't feel like you have someone/thing to cheer for. Maybe I'll try one of his stand alone's next, but for now I need a break not only from Mr. Reynolds, but Sci-Fi in general.
As always, Reynolds puts the science back in science fiction, passes the Bechdel test like a champ, and does some strange things with semi colons
Very good book with many different characters and time frames that manges to make it an effortless read.
Buying the 2 700 page sequels so it must have done its job.
Definitely one of the top 5 science fiction books I've encountered. The author did jump back and forth a lot between the three different plotlines, but it eventually became comprehensible.
I enjoyed the book. The end got a little trippy, but there was lots of plot twists and it constantly made me want to continue reading.
3 1/2 stars
Full review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-of-revelation-space.html