- Paperback: 560 pages
- Publisher: GOLLANCZ; New edition edition (2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1857987489
- ISBN-13: 978-1857987485
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 12.8 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #186,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very uneven, though entertaining,
By R. Sundquist (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Revelation Space (Mass Market Paperback)
I am conflicted by this book. On the one hand, Reynolds brilliantly imagines far-future human societies (like the genetically modified space-faring Ultras), giant, intelligent spaceships (like the miles-long Nostalgia For Infinity, partially taken over by a virus that feeds on computers), ancient alien races, and all the necessary technology to make these believable. In the hands of a better writer, the components - the content - of this book would be downright incredible.However, Reynolds is not a good writer. His characters exist merely to move the story forward. I don't think any of the main three could seriously be called "heroes". It doesn't matter to me that they're all working against each other at certain times, but none of them ever seems real enough. Sylveste is a slightly egomaniacal scientist obsessed with uncovering the mystery of the disappearance of a race of aliens thousands of years ago. Ana Khouri is a mercenary hired by a mysterious stranger to kill Sylveste. Volyova is the commander (sort of) of a giant starship (mentioned above) that is also searching for Sylveste, because she needs his help. Beyond that, they are interchangeable. Only their motivations differ - they speak in the exact same voice, and their actions are hardly distinctive. You wouldn't recognize these characters if you happened to meet them anywhere else; they're just plot devices, and that is incredibly irritating. The book takes about 200 pages too much in getting its plot worked out. It's very long, and I'm not sure how much of that length is really essential to the whole. Reynolds spends a lot of time with flashbacks - not important ones, just brief ones to tell you what a character was doing ten minutes before he/she was doing something else. Utterly superfluous. Another problem is his consistent use of passive sentences - even when there was intense action going on, it didn't feel intense. Instead of writing "Khouri walked down the hall", Reynolds writes "Khouri WAS walking down the hall." The overuse of the passive voice robs the story of immediacy and action. Overall, I enjoyed this book, though on an entirely conceptual level. It was a painful chore to read (you have to make it to the last few pages before he explains the specifics of his plot), and I don't think I'll bother with the sequels.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent concepts, enjoyable story,
By
This review is from: Revelation Space (Mass Market Paperback)
I was highly pleased when I finished reading 'Revelation Space' - not blown away, but very happy I took the time to read through this.Many reviewers pointed out flat characters and a messy storyline. Maybe I've read more than my share of bad SF, but I found it was the case on neither account. The characters of Sylveste, Pascale, Khouri and Volyova can never truly be assigned a stereotype, and they sometimes acted in irrational ways that I found perfectly consistent with their backgrounds. The story does take time to evolve, but when it does, it poses a clever and interesting enigma that is satisfactorly unravelled at the end. Storytelling-wise, this is not an earth-shattering novel; but it's a fine yarn. It reminded me of Clark's 'Rendezvous with Rama', in that much of the suspense and interest of the story lies in a mysterious alien artifact. This artifact generates a genuine sense of wonder and satisfaction at the originality of the concept. Throughout the novel, Reynolds has sewn incredible concepts of far-future technology. These are too numerous to recount, but the descriptions of the strange life aboard the ship Nostalgia for Infinity was very satisfying in a 'Golden Age of SF' sense. Also of great interest are the (rare) aliens that populate Reynolds' universe: their evolution, motives and forms are quite refreshing and truly alien. It might be a mistake to pick up this book hoping for a strong character-driven story. The characters are stronger than most SF novels, but they DO act in ways that further the plot instead of making absolute sense. But if you're interested in a genuinely original take on the future of mankind, as well as a thought-provoking reflection on life in the Universe, you could do much worse than pick up this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Started very well, but lost momentum,
By
This review is from: Revelation Space (Mass Market Paperback)
The first three hundred pages of this book are excellent and feature some brilliant narrative descriptions. Reynolds captures the feel of a dark, gothic future-world with ease, creating the sort of atmosphere reminiscent of 'Blade Runner' - that is, steam coming up from the vents, big advertisements featuring Asian geishas, and giant street based markets. Reynolds' focuses on three characters - Khouri, a mercenary; Sylveste, a scientist; and Volyova, a mystery woman on board an enormous ship of devastating power. The characters are dealt with separately, and it is only until they come together that the book starts to lose its hold on the reader. The action thereafter becomes stationary and the narrative momentum really slows down, especially so in pages 300-400, and the climax is slightly underwhelming given the extensive build up towards it. It's a well written book from a guy who obviously knows his stuff and knows it well. He writes like a scientist who's swallowed a dictionary. If you have either a) a limited vocabulary or b) no knowledge of science, chemistry or physics, this might be a bit of a hard nut to crack for you.
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