Revenger

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.

** I was given a review copy by NetGalley **

I am a great fan of Alastair Reynolds' books, and I have read most of his work. This book is written in a different style and is set in a new universe.

The story is a fast paced science fiction adventure. The action is set in a decayed planetary system - possibly in the distant future- where the inhabitants live in the Congregation - a swarm of thousands of artificial habitats and planetoids . Civilisation has risen and collapsed many times, and technology is barely understood - a weird mix of alien and human. The dating system of the story is such that it appears to be set in the 18th century - and the writing style gives more than a hat-tip to the likes of Alexander Kent and the naval sea adventures of that time on Earth.

We follow the adventures of young Arafura (Fura) Ness as she absconds with her sister from the boring safety of life on Mazarile, to join the crew of Captain Rackamore, on his decrepit solar sailed spaceship, to hunt for technological treasure from lost civilisations. Along the way we encounter alien beings, nefarious pirates, treachery, and violence, but also friendship.

This is a coming-of-age story as Fura matures from a young girl into a strong and determined woman as she sets out to find her sister who has been kidnapped by pirates.

The pace, and the relative shortness of the book, means that the characters are only lightly sketched out. Similarly the universe of Revenger remains tantalisingly vague, with hints of something bigger happening outside of the scope of the story. Perhaps this is just an introduction to further adventures in this strange cosmological environment.

I feel another story coming soon!

This is such a frustrating book. I loved the world building, but I hated all the characters. The protagonist's character development was just bizarre. Dialogues were terrible. Everything that happened was just so disgustingly... convenient and unbelievable. And for a non-YA book it was damned YA-ish. I hear this writer has other books that are more about the world building and less character-centric. I might try one of those.

Props for the Judd/Poldark reference though.