….if you’re into science fiction that is. He writes space opera with hard SF edges and it’s this world of technological possibilities that lift the stories out of the doldrums. Most of the plots are fairly conventional: saving the world/s, on the run from baddies, finding love in a scattered universe and so on, set against some broader brush backdrops of what it means to be human across an unthinkable stretch of time, and whether humanity deserves to be saved.
Reynolds writes well and the books are a rollicking good read. I love the settings for his novels and the fact that all of his books that I’ve read so far are set within the same version of the universe, although within different time periods and from the perspective of different groups inhabiting that universe (ultras, conjoiners, baseline humans, clones – although I’m still waiting for a story from the point of view of the hyperpigs).
For me, though, it’s mainly about the hardware. I like the gadgets, the nano-technology, the exoskeletons and implants, the impossible half-living architecture of Chasm City, the habitats, the sculpting of human physiology.
I’ve just finished reading ‘House of Suns’ and ‘The Prefect’ – both good. If you’re new to his books I’d probably start with Chasm City, though, to establish the strangeness of the universe Reynolds is writing about.
I’m not sure I’d want to live in that universe – but I’d sure as hell like to visit it.
Alastair Reynolds is by far my favorite currently-writing science fiction author. I’ve read everything of his I could get my hands on. I recently finished House of Suns, and while I liked it a great deal I did have some issues with it. For one thing, I didn’t like the flashback technique used to explain the background of the lines throughout the book. I’m not sure how I would have preferred it, but those parts seemed more of an irritation between chapters of the real story. I also have difficulty accepting the essentially unchanged physiology and psychology of the humans through 6 million years time. Still, I have to give the man credit for coming up with such imaginative characters and stories.
I agree that Chasm City is a good place to start, but for those who like to read things in chronological story order The Prefect takes place in the Glitter Band earlier than Chasm City, and there’s a short story (“The Great Wall of Mars”, in one of his collections) that establishes Nevil Clavain and the beginning of the Conjoiners that is helpful to read before the rest of the Revelation Space novels.
I agree about House of Suns and I felt there were a number of annoying loose ends not tied up by the last page. The Prefect was great for giving a feel for the Glitter Band pre-plague. And yes, the Great Wall of Mars gave a good insight into the interior world of the Conjoiners. I’m sure one of his short stories revealed that a living Conjoiner brain forms the basis of every lighthugger’s conjoiner drive, which I thought of in The Prefect when a conjoiner drive smashed into a habitat.