I was a bit hesitant at first, namely due to my attachment to older Sci-Fi authors, but Mr. Reynolds has certainly changed my opinion. It’s not that I don’t mind reading new authors, I just find much of the stuff being written is garbage. Rehashed or reiterated ideas and concepts touched on by previous works.
Revelation Space was well paced, and I found many of the twists a turns easy enough to figure out, but without ending up flippant over obvious foreshadowing. I found myself really enjoying the sub plots, the history of certain characters or worlds & events, and Reynolds’ enjoyment he gets from writing about the science of his universe.
He managed to wrap particularly curious concepts around some well crafted paragraphs. It’s a rare feat, at least as far as I am concerned, given that so many writers lately take this approach of “I have written it so you, the reader, should already know what it is I have mentioned.” It’s a classic affair with Sci-Fi. Reynolds did this, but he was sure to explain, perhaps not immediately, what he meant by words specific to the world he created. Few authors can really do that well without confusing the fuck out of the reader. Too often I have been left by newer authors wondering what the fuck it is they just mentioned, and how I was supposed to just magically know what was meant. It’s like watching Star Trek some nights on TV, “Oh the phase inverter! Of coooourse! That was my next guess…”
I have decided to stick with the Revelation Space (RS) series for now. Five books exist in Reynolds’ universe, bound by the rules he set forth. Three of these novels specifically deal with a greater story arc you are introduced to by Revelation Space. The other two books, from what I gather, are stand alone novellas.
Next up is Chasm City, book two of RS. Although I am quietly mulling a re-read of Asimov’s Foundation.
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