Revelation Space
by Alastair Reynolds
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alastair ReynoldsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-05-28
ISBN: 0441009425
Number of pages: 592
Publisher: Ace
Book Reviews of Revelation Space
Book Review: Hard science fiction, great first novel, not for beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a stunning first novel. The sweep of the story covers millions of years, but mainly focuses on a few decades about 500 years in our future. It's genuine space opera but Reynolds tempers it by respecting the light speed limit and showing how certain kinds of technology might actually make humans more vulnerable, instead of stronger.
I'm going to spare the plot synopsis and write a bit about what I liked (and what some others might not like). Reynolds is extremely good at what he does. I happen to enjoy his style, but as you can see from some of the other reviews, not everyone does.
Science is the strong point, as you might expect from a working physicist. Nothing derails a science fiction novel for me like bad science, or a lack of imagination in how technology will progress and affect human lives. This novel has no lack of ambition or cleverness in imagining a future technology where microscopic self-replicating/-repairing machines give humans incredible power over their environment (though that power is easily turned against them), and the ability to manipulate spacetime gives them incredibly powerful spaceships that can approach the speed of light (just how the drive technology came about is explained in the first sequel, Redemption Ark). Humanity has spread across multiple systems and adapated to various new niches: inhabiting only interstellar spaceships running trade routes, living in habitats orbiting Earth-like planets, living in hollowed out comets, or domed settlements on hostile planets. Many have implanted machines that augment and accelerate consciousness. There is no faster than light travel. At least one professional reviewer was disappointed by this and felt it made the story too drawn out and required too much backstory to make the separate plot threads come together at the end. I disagree - I greatly enjoyed Reynolds's faithful treatment of interstellar travel and how it would affect the plans of ambitious and powerful players. (And it's made very, very clear that the dozens or hundreds of years it requires for events to play out on an interstellar scale are just an eyeblink compared to galactic history's span, which is actually relevant to the plot.)
Humans in this universe are just as factionalized as we are now, with some of them embracing mind-melding communal thought, others adopting radical alterations to appearance and ethics, and yet others living relatively austere lives in colonies. We only glimpse a handful of characters, but there is a sense of true diversity in the wider sphere of human expansion. Some have complained that there was no clear hero, no protagonist. It's a valid observation but I think it was a valid choice by the author. The characters are complex. Most of them have done evil and good. One of Reynolds's themes is that with greatly expanded mobility, machine-enhanced cognition, and extremely long lifespans (compared to now) humans can and do reinvent themselves, sometimes more than once. The character Ilia Volyova initially seems evil and destructive. Perhaps she is capable of evil, but we find out that she is not that simple, and there is the possibility that she might save many of her fellow humans from doom. Other people have complained that the characters don't have enough depth or realism to make us care. I think it's slightly different: they weren't intended to be very likeable people. However, what they are doing is very interesting, and there is enough personality to each character to be able to tell them apart.
One other complaint is the plotting - people feel like there are too many jumps forward and backward in time, to different planets and characters. There are a lot of those, and it takes careful attention to keep things straight. I personally feel the effort pays off.
It's not an easy read - it's not that kind of space opera - but it's a rewarding read if you're the right audience for it. If you like reading about advanced technology and epic events, baffling alien mysteries and flawed but compelling people - go for it. If, on the other hand, you thought Coyote by Allen Steele was a great novel, you will not enjoy this.
Summary of Revelation Space
Alastair Reynolds's critically acclaimed debut has redefined the space opera with a staggering journey across vast gulfs of time and space to confront the very nature of reality itself.
Alastair Reynolds's first novel is "hard" SF on an epic scale, crammed with technological marvels and immensities. Its events take place over a relatively short period, but have roots a billion years old--when the Dawn War ravaged our galaxy.
Sylveste is the only man ever to return alive and sane from a Shroud, an enclave in space protected by awesome gravity-warping defenses: "a folding a billion times less severe should have required more energy than was stored in the entire rest-mass of the galaxy." Now an intuition he doesn't understand makes him explore the dead world Resurgam, whose birdlike natives long ago tripped some booby trap that made their own sun erupt in a deadly flare.
Meanwhile, the vast, decaying lightship Nostalgia for Infinity is coming for Sylveste, whose dead father (in AI simulation) could perhaps help the Captain, frozen near absolute zero yet still suffering monstrous transformation by nanotech plague. Most of Infinity's tiny crew have hidden agendas--Khouri the reluctant contract assassin believes she must kill Sylveste to save humanity--and there are two bodiless stowaways, one no longer human and one never human. Shocking truths emerge from bluff, betrayal, and ingenious lies.
The trail leads to a neutron star where an orbiting alien construct has defenses to challenge the Infinity's planet-wrecking superweapons.
At the heart of this artifact, the final revelations detonate--most satisfyingly. Dense with information and incident, this longish novel has no surplus fat and seems almost too short. A sparkling SF debut. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
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