The Well Of Stars by Robert Reed

It's quite a while since I read this but when I saw that it had no reviews I thought I should write something.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it was the first Robert Reed book that I read and I went straight out and bought everything else he'd written... unfortunately it is by far his best book. (Although "Marrow" is pretty good too - and should probably be read before this one).

"The Well of Stars", like "Marrow", is set on an enormous spherical ship of unknown origin. It was discovered by humans and is now host to a multitude of different species who all live within their own specially engineered habitats. The ship is commanded (well... not exactly commanded... but...) by a group of Captains, two of whom: Washen and Pamir, are the story's main characters. Set in the far-future, the humans in the novel are effectively immortal, with the ability to repair almost any injury. We follow these human characters through thousands of years that for them seem to pass more like a few months.
The plot is concerned with the Great Ship's journey towards, and then through, a section of space known as "the Inkwell". The Inkwell is a cloudy, mysterious nebula about which there appear to be a number of worrying myths and stories. Upon receiving communication from the Inwell the Captains have to decide how much they should trust the inhabitants of this murky region of space.

I have read somewhere else a criticism of Reed's characterisations, and I'd like to counter it because I find his characters highly believable and well-drawn. There is a slight coldness to them, but that, for me anyway, seems fitting to the environment they inhabit, and anyway it's part of the reason I like them - I can't stand hyper-emotive characters. There's a pragmatism to Washen in particular that I think is highly admirable.

The book's ending is something of an anti-climax, but Reed's skill at evoking and sustaining the grand concept of a Jupiter-sized ship populated by a plethora of species is a delight, and I'd recommend it for that reason alone.

There's something open-ended about the book's resolution and I hope that means that he is going to write another in the series. Reed writes in a way that combines vast cosmic wonder with believable small-scale interaction and that is something fairly rare in SF at the moment. So, despite its flaws "The Well of Stars" is well worth the read.