[FicusFan]

Originally posted by Erfael
Earlier I gave it my I-Really-Didn't-Like-This-Book Stamp.

I think there are so many things I did like in the book that I would like to revise that to give it a FicusFan-Ambivalence Stamp. Even though this book didn't thrill me, it was his first book, and I look forward to reading Chasm City and hoping that some of this book's shortcomings are addressed.

Oh my, :o You can use it, because I don't need it. :)

But I have been ambivalent lately about not being able to really like books that had some good stuff in them.:(

That said, I would have to say that so far (page 300+) I like RS. :D

I am unable to read with anything approaching my normal speed, and so I have no idea when I will finish this sucker, but I like it. I don't find his characters or his dialog (this far into the book) to be bad, or even really weak. I don't have trouble figuring out what is in character for most of them, and so far have not found anything to be really out of character.

I think Pascale is a minor character and not really worthy of anymore ink. Of course my assessment could change depending on the last 200+ pages of the book.

I think Dan Sylveste is the sleazebag that his hatchet job bio makes him out to be. He is a self-absorbed genius. He doesn't care in the beginning about the lives of the diggers, just the great discovery he is making. I think his wedding is a political alliance between him and Pascale's father. I think he cares about her to some extent because she is interested in him, even if it is to 'destroy' his reputation. I think he expects attention and worship and will take whatever he can get. I also think he has a bit of Stockholm syndrome going on, even though Pascale is not his captor, she is the one he sees regularly.

I like Volyova and find her a totally believable character. I think that none of the people on the ship trust each other, but there is a MAD (mutually assured destruction) standoff to Volyova/Sajaki's relationship.

I think Sajaki goes to sleep knowing that Volyova won't try to kill him 1.) because she doesn't know what happened on his trip to the Jugglers - what secret powers/weapons/sensors he has from them in play, waiting for her to make a bad move, - he seems to build up the mystery, which may be for nothing, but she doesn't know that and can't take that chance; and 2.) because he is injecting her with something that could be forcing her to be loyal and even deferential to him. He on the other hand knows that she has all the systems and the weapons wired and would be really difficult to get her out of the ship, and find and deactivate any surprise she might leave behind.

Hegazi seems to be more clerical than bloodthirsty and is not a threat to either, he will go with the winner (of course I could be wrong, he could be pulling the strings). The two other crew, Sudjic and Kjarval, are expendable (and they know it), and seem not to have the power or knowledge to be a threat by themselves. They also seem to align themselves to the stronger power, and perhaps fight among themselves, as Sudjic did with Khouri.

I like Khouri and think she is interesting, and perhaps the one who really hasn’t picked a path yet. Her past assassinations were all of people who asked for it. She probably started out believing in her side of the war at Sky Edge. She has fallen in with thieves and murderers, and although she has killed and can be a hard case, she has not really gone over to the dark side yet. She is still trying to find her way, to do what needs to be done (as she sees it) with the minimum of nastiness. Not sure if she is going to be able to keep her hands clean.

I think Mademoiselle and Sun Stealer are mysteries and are (so far) deliberately left spare.

What I find is that this is pretty standard for Space Opera. Do you guys read Space Opera (not being a wise-ass, but asking a serious question), if so was there one that you thought was real Space Opera, but managed to develop the characters fully ? If the characters were developed fully here, the book would run to several tomes. Now maybe you don't agree with his doing Space Opera, and would have preferred a more focused book on fewer characters, but for what it is, its not bad in terms of characters.

I also really like his worlds, ships, and stations, the strange aliens, the technologies, and the overall star civilization he has described. I really like the idea of the plague, and how technology still escapes from control, even when the people are extremely powerful. I almost think the Captain with his plague and his growing into the ship is a tip of the hat to Peter Hamilton, and his sentient machines in the Night’s Dawn Space Opera. I think what I will remember from this book is these items, more than the specific characters.

Some of the items that bug me so far are the length of the description of the battles, not because they shouldn't be there, but just because it is one of the least interesting parts of the story for me. The other is his description of the stars, and space in general, when it becomes part of the story. Again for me it is a personal yawner.

[Rob B]

Originally posted by Erfael
That said, I really, REALLY like the world that Reynolds has created. Every time we leave the characters to talk about Chasm City or the history of the galaxy or something of that sort, I find things very interesting.
I have to agree here. This is one of the things I enjoy most about great Science Fiction, particularly Space Opera, the grand scale of things, the epic feel of the universe the author presents. Which I think, is a bit of the feeling I get in great Epic Fantasy, the vast sprawl of life, strangeness, and diversity on display.

With the backhistory of the Dawn War, I kept comparing Revelation Space to Hamilton's Fallen Dragon particularly the story-within-a-story that permates much of Hamilton's novel. I did like Hamilton's novel a bit more, but that takes NOTHING away from Reynolds novel. I didn't think the characterization was as bad as some here thought. Granted, Pascale was barely there and the novel was more of an Big Idea/Epic novel than one focused on characters.

Like Ficus, it seemed to take me a while to read this one, too. A bit slow in the beginning, but the plot really picked up after 100 pages or so.

One of the only things I had a tough time grasping during the early part of the novel, was why Volyava and her crew were so intent on stopping Dan Sylveste.

I thought Khouri's character was one of the more believable ones, here reactions and actions seemed pretty genuine.

This novel, at least the Winged culture Reynolds presented had a bit in common with what Walter Hunt presented in an early book club book, The Dark Wing.

The Sun Stealer was a bit of a conundrum, at times it seemed all powerful, but others, barely noticeable. Did it really have a bodily existence or was it more of a spirit-like being that could manifest itself physically?

Overall, I really enjoyed it. And if Hobbit, who rarely steers me wrong, and others suggest that Chasm City is better, well, I'll be reading that one too.

[FicusFan]

Oh My, I am finally finished. Yah.....:D

I think it took me 11 days. Some days I could only read a few pages and then I needed to stop.


I still liked the book overall, but thought the ending was not done real well. The problems started when Dan and Pascale went on board the big ship with the others. It seemed that AR thought that if he had mentioned something earlier on then all he had to do was join it to something else -- without doing any work of linking or leaving clues. Like The Amarantin were on the first planet, they had a group called the Bannished and suddenly from space the narrator is calling Cerebus, Amarantin technology. Where was the link (at that point -before anyone had explored it) ? I got real tired of all the characters getting filled in on the details of the story, but leaving us out. I thought that Sajaki died much too easily, and was much too meek at the end.

I also have a real hard time believing a small group that was small enough to be bannished was able to go off and go from kites to space travel. Who englobed their city back on Resurgam and why ? Is that explained in one of the later books ? I get the killer Inhibitor mechanism, but the globe within a globe within a globe is a bit of overkill.

I also had to laugh when he described Hades as a computer, with basically the ability to time travel. When he was describing something about going around the sun, all I could think of was Star Trek, and then all that to get ... Hal (it had a name and it thought) ?

Finally the start of the book had the story jumping around in the time line. I have no sense of why or what happened when in the beginning of the story. The only thing I am focusing on is the ending. I will have to go back and actually look at the dates and the actions to see if there is any reason for the backward chronology.

I totally missed that the captain was the one pulling the strings.

I have Chasm City and will try to read that soon. I just ordered Redemption Ark from the UK, where it is out in paper.

[LordBalthazar]

Oops. Wrong thread.

[FicusFan]

I am confused about your post. You talk about Morgan and Altered Carbon, and cyber-punk. Did you really mean to post that to Revelation Space, thread (space opera) ?

[LordBalthazar]

I am confused about your post. You talk about Morgan and Altered Carbon, and cyber-punk. Did you really mean to post that to Revelation Space, thread (space opera) ?

Aaah, damnit!

[psikeyhackr]

I am only 4 years and some months late for this parade but I don't see why that should stop me from raining on it.

I bought this book about a year ago along with some others that were well rated on some SF sites. I deliberately selected authors I had never read. Those that I read as a kid have been dying off.

I developed a policy long ago that if a book can't interest me in 20 to 50 pages I give up assuming the rest is a waste of time. This book confirms my policy. I quit on it and put it on a shelf but a few months ago someone I have communicated with on a message board recommended it so I decided to try and force myself.

I am at page 456 and haven't read any in 3 weeks. I have reread two other books since then. This book has only one character that I can almost care about and she is a soldier assassin. The rest I could happily shoot if they were real. I am very plot oriented and scenes and characters are there to support the plot so lots of detail that adds atmosphere for some people just gets in the way to me. So to have lots of detail that says nothing is a bore.

I still don't know what the punch line is of this book but I'll finish it some day.

Books like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Robinson's Mars series have something meaningful to say about the real world, politics, economic, exploitation of resources and use of technology. These books that make artificial intelligence and nanotechnology into virtual magic just don't cut it. The Adolescence of P-1 and The Two Faces of Tomorrow are better at portraying the possibility of AI in my opinion.

psik