Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds, Ace Books, 2002
Part of the author's Revelation Space series, this book is set approximately 600 years from now, after mankind has started to spread throughout the galaxy.
Human activities have attracted the attention of the Inhibitors, alien machines whose mission seems to be the elimination of all intelligent life. They have come to the star Delta Pavonis, home to the planet Resurgam, populated by over 200,000 people. The Inhibitors start to systematically take apart the system's gas giant, plus several of its moons, in order to build an immense device of unknown capability (imagine if Jupiter and several of its moons were systematically taken apart, and a growing alien device could be seen every night in the sky). What ever it is, it's not good for the people of Resurgam.
An attempt is made to evacuate the people of Resurgam, a few hundred at a time, onto a ship called Nostalgia for Infinity, to take them to another system. Years ago, the ship's captain, John Brannigan, became a victim of the Melding Plague. He was put into cryogenic sleep to try to slow the effects of the plague; it did not work for long. Now, Captain Brannigan has become the ship.
The ship also contains a number of huge cache weapons, some of which can be measured in kilometers. They are the only thing which can possibly stop the Inhibitors; they are not called "hell-class weapons" for nothing. Several factions want those weapons for their own purposes, including a renegade named Clavain. The weapons themselves may have other ideas. If the Inhibitors are not stopped now, it won't take long, in cosmic terms, for them to find Earth.
This is a wonderful piece of writing. Normally, I would look at a 700-page paperback book and say No Thanks; not when Alastair Reynolds is the author. He does a fine job from start to finish, writing on a grand millions-of-years scale. For those who like mind-blowing storytelling, this is very much recommended.
Showing posts with label reynolds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reynolds. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, Alastair Reynolds, Ace Books, 2005
The first of these two novellas, set in the author's "Revelation Space" universe, is about an alien tower, obviously part of a long-dead civilization, on a desolate planet. Decomposed bodies and body parts around the base show that extreme care is a very good idea. A man named Childe assembles a group of people to explore the tower from the inside, including Richard Swift, an old friend, and Doctor Trintingnant. The doctor is famous, or infamous, for removing organs or limbs from people, and replacing them with their artificial equivalent, not always with the patient's consent. Therefore, he experimented on his only willing patient, himself.
The tower consists of a series of rooms. Entrance to the next room is gained by solving a very high-level mathematical puzzle. After a while, the tower begins to impose a time limit on the decision-making process. After retreating from one disastrous room, where one member is killed, and several limbs are chopped off (happily replaced by the doctor), the rest of the group says no more. Childe and Swift determine that artificial limbs and organs are less prone to attack by the tower than organic, so they have Dr. T turn them into something like an artificial greyhound dog, and return to the tower. In examining the bodies around the base of the tower, the doctor determines that, genetically, they all come from the same person. The question is also raised as to how Childe knew just what sort of people would be needed to explore the tower, if, as he claims, this is his first visit.
The second story takes place on Turquoise, a planet whose ocean is inhabited by Pattern Jugglers, a one-celled aquatic organism capable of recording the memories of any being who joins their collective consciousness. Naqi Okpik is among those studying the Jugglers, until Mina, her sister, becomes part of the Juggler consciousness.
One day, an interstellar trading vessel stops by for a visit, a once-in-a-lifetime event for the isolated people of Turquoise. One of the ship's crew, a man named Weir, is acting very strangely. During a tour of the Juggler research station, the rest of the crew attacks, and takes over the station. It seems that many years before, a despot named Ormozd visited the planet, and was absorbed by the Pattern Jugglers. The intention of the attackers is to "download" Ormozd's memories from the Jugglers, and place them into several different people. This is what Weir has come to stop. He takes a boat into a node of Jugglers, with Naqi in hot pursuit. He carries with him a "bomb" to destroy the Jugglers' memory storage capability, and also to destroy the memories of everyone ever absorbed by the Jugglers, including Mina, Naqi's sister.
This is another first-rate piece of writing from Reynolds. It would be a good idea to read any of his "Revelation Space" books first. These novellas are interesting, very well done and highly recommended.
The first of these two novellas, set in the author's "Revelation Space" universe, is about an alien tower, obviously part of a long-dead civilization, on a desolate planet. Decomposed bodies and body parts around the base show that extreme care is a very good idea. A man named Childe assembles a group of people to explore the tower from the inside, including Richard Swift, an old friend, and Doctor Trintingnant. The doctor is famous, or infamous, for removing organs or limbs from people, and replacing them with their artificial equivalent, not always with the patient's consent. Therefore, he experimented on his only willing patient, himself.
The tower consists of a series of rooms. Entrance to the next room is gained by solving a very high-level mathematical puzzle. After a while, the tower begins to impose a time limit on the decision-making process. After retreating from one disastrous room, where one member is killed, and several limbs are chopped off (happily replaced by the doctor), the rest of the group says no more. Childe and Swift determine that artificial limbs and organs are less prone to attack by the tower than organic, so they have Dr. T turn them into something like an artificial greyhound dog, and return to the tower. In examining the bodies around the base of the tower, the doctor determines that, genetically, they all come from the same person. The question is also raised as to how Childe knew just what sort of people would be needed to explore the tower, if, as he claims, this is his first visit.
The second story takes place on Turquoise, a planet whose ocean is inhabited by Pattern Jugglers, a one-celled aquatic organism capable of recording the memories of any being who joins their collective consciousness. Naqi Okpik is among those studying the Jugglers, until Mina, her sister, becomes part of the Juggler consciousness.
One day, an interstellar trading vessel stops by for a visit, a once-in-a-lifetime event for the isolated people of Turquoise. One of the ship's crew, a man named Weir, is acting very strangely. During a tour of the Juggler research station, the rest of the crew attacks, and takes over the station. It seems that many years before, a despot named Ormozd visited the planet, and was absorbed by the Pattern Jugglers. The intention of the attackers is to "download" Ormozd's memories from the Jugglers, and place them into several different people. This is what Weir has come to stop. He takes a boat into a node of Jugglers, with Naqi in hot pursuit. He carries with him a "bomb" to destroy the Jugglers' memory storage capability, and also to destroy the memories of everyone ever absorbed by the Jugglers, including Mina, Naqi's sister.
This is another first-rate piece of writing from Reynolds. It would be a good idea to read any of his "Revelation Space" books first. These novellas are interesting, very well done and highly recommended.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Revelation Space Trilogy
Revelation Space Trilogy (Revelation Space, Chasm City, Absolution Gap), Alastair Reynolds, Ace Books
Set several hundred years from now, the first book, Revelation Space, is about an archaeologist named Dan Silvestre. He is convinced that the destruction of a spacefaring race called the Amarantin on a backwater planet called Resurgam a millennia ago should be of utmost importance to humanity. It has to do with the reason that mankind, as of yet, has found a lot fewer live spacefaring civilizations, and therefore, more dead civilizations, than predicted by the mathematical models. It also involves an artificial planet orbiting a neutron star, which really isn't a neutron star, in Resurgam's solar system.
The second book, Chasm City, is about Tanner Mirabel, an ex-soldier who is chasing a man named Argent Reivich for a bit of promised revenge. Chasm City is a domed city built around a gas-spewing chasm on an otherwise inhospitable planet. Several years previously, the city was hit by the Melding Plague. Affecting nanomachines, which are everywhere (in buildings and people), it caused them to react and change in all sorts of strange and unpredictable ways. At random moments, Mirabel has very detailed visions, due to a designer virus, about a man named Sky Haussmann, an important part of a mission to colonize that system several hundred years previously. Depending on who one believes, Haussmann deserved the religion that has grown up around him since then, or he deserved his death by crucifixion.
Absolution Gap, the third book, is about the Inhibitors, self-replicating machinery whose purpose is to destroy all civilizations reaching a certain level of sentience. The Inhibitors have come to a backwater planet called Ararat, where a man named Clavain, and a genetically modified pig named Scorpio have led a ragtag group of refugees. Also, on an ice-covered moon called Hela, a man has created an entire religion, including mobile cathedrals, around the tendency of its gas-giant parent planet (which isn't really a planet), to occasionally disappear.
Separately, these books are excellent. Collectively, they constitute a wonderful piece of writing. Not only is this series full of first-rate storytelling and character development, there is also plenty of mind-blowing space opera. It is hard to believe that Revelation Space, the first of this trilogy, is the author's first published novel, it's that good. This is very much worth reading.
Set several hundred years from now, the first book, Revelation Space, is about an archaeologist named Dan Silvestre. He is convinced that the destruction of a spacefaring race called the Amarantin on a backwater planet called Resurgam a millennia ago should be of utmost importance to humanity. It has to do with the reason that mankind, as of yet, has found a lot fewer live spacefaring civilizations, and therefore, more dead civilizations, than predicted by the mathematical models. It also involves an artificial planet orbiting a neutron star, which really isn't a neutron star, in Resurgam's solar system.
The second book, Chasm City, is about Tanner Mirabel, an ex-soldier who is chasing a man named Argent Reivich for a bit of promised revenge. Chasm City is a domed city built around a gas-spewing chasm on an otherwise inhospitable planet. Several years previously, the city was hit by the Melding Plague. Affecting nanomachines, which are everywhere (in buildings and people), it caused them to react and change in all sorts of strange and unpredictable ways. At random moments, Mirabel has very detailed visions, due to a designer virus, about a man named Sky Haussmann, an important part of a mission to colonize that system several hundred years previously. Depending on who one believes, Haussmann deserved the religion that has grown up around him since then, or he deserved his death by crucifixion.
Absolution Gap, the third book, is about the Inhibitors, self-replicating machinery whose purpose is to destroy all civilizations reaching a certain level of sentience. The Inhibitors have come to a backwater planet called Ararat, where a man named Clavain, and a genetically modified pig named Scorpio have led a ragtag group of refugees. Also, on an ice-covered moon called Hela, a man has created an entire religion, including mobile cathedrals, around the tendency of its gas-giant parent planet (which isn't really a planet), to occasionally disappear.
Separately, these books are excellent. Collectively, they constitute a wonderful piece of writing. Not only is this series full of first-rate storytelling and character development, there is also plenty of mind-blowing space opera. It is hard to believe that Revelation Space, the first of this trilogy, is the author's first published novel, it's that good. This is very much worth reading.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The Earth War
The Earth War, Mack Reynolds, Pyramid Books, 1963
In the middle of the next century, America has become a very caste- and occupation-conscious society. To keep the Cold War, now institutionalized as the Frigid Fracas, from destroying all of humanity, all weapons developed after 1900 are banned. Fracases, all of which are now televised, are now restricted to battles between unions and corporations. The fracases, along with large supplies of tranquilizers, are intended as the newest version of bread and circuses; everyone gets a lifetime pension from the date of birth, so something is needed to keep them occupied and quiet.
This is the story of Major Joe Mauser, a rising star in Category Military, about the only category where caste-jumping is possible. Joe feels his star isn't rising fast enough, so Freddy Solingen, from Category Communications, shows Joe how to get his name and face before the public. Joe has fallen for an Upper caste woman named Nadine Haer, so a more equal caste status is needed.
The future social speculation is by far the best part of this book. This is a short, easy to read story that actually has a few things to say.
In the middle of the next century, America has become a very caste- and occupation-conscious society. To keep the Cold War, now institutionalized as the Frigid Fracas, from destroying all of humanity, all weapons developed after 1900 are banned. Fracases, all of which are now televised, are now restricted to battles between unions and corporations. The fracases, along with large supplies of tranquilizers, are intended as the newest version of bread and circuses; everyone gets a lifetime pension from the date of birth, so something is needed to keep them occupied and quiet.
This is the story of Major Joe Mauser, a rising star in Category Military, about the only category where caste-jumping is possible. Joe feels his star isn't rising fast enough, so Freddy Solingen, from Category Communications, shows Joe how to get his name and face before the public. Joe has fallen for an Upper caste woman named Nadine Haer, so a more equal caste status is needed.
The future social speculation is by far the best part of this book. This is a short, easy to read story that actually has a few things to say.
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