Alastair Reynolds -'Revelation Space'

Alastair Reynolds was recommended by a new friend at work, based upon my liking for history, archaeology and hard science fiction.  It definitely delivers on all three of these fronts.  For those of you familiar with your film history this book is a bit of a Sergio Leone.  It is a good read, but it is has elements of the good, the bad and the ugly.  Like the movie of that name, it was worth my time though.

The ugly part could have been fixed by a decent editor or publisher.  The book changes the perspective the action occurs from in a clumsy and crude manner.  You have jumps in perspective and time that are not separated cleanly to give you a chance to mop your forehead and wipe off the sweat.  A new line can be a switch that throws you for six.  This is a visual editing thing and has nothing to do with the writing, but when you do write about something complicated in its temporal and geographical structure you really want it to work.

The bad part is something I would lay at the writers feet.  The characters are a bit flat.  They do not drag you into the their view, you do not feel their pain, you do not wince when their hands are separated from their bodies (sorry, giving some of the action away).  Character development is lacking as well, even though the events cover a considerable time.

But the good.  This book has some brilliant ideas in it.  I am not saying they are all the authors, but he has blended together some great sci-fi concepts that really are on a galaxy shaping level in a believable and smart way.  There is what is essentially high end nano technology, explorations of consciousness and identity,  interstellar space craft limited to light speed with the crew held in suspended animation, aliens and space based archaeology abound.  There is a computer like no computer like I have seen before.

Now, if this writer could create characters like the one portrayed by Mr Eastwood, he would be the hottest thing since a gamma ray burst,  as it is he is more in planetary nebula territory.  Sorry about the horrible metaphor if you are not an astronomer, if you are, suffer.  Read this if you like weird new ideas on a vast scope that explore the limits what we might be able to know or do.  If your reading needs people you can identify with, give it a miss. As a reference the David Brin Uplift trilogy did the same kind of thing, but he did a superb job with his cast.  I loved that trilogy.