This contains spoilers! Be warned!
Redemption Ark is the third installment of the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. First things first, I have covered my thoughts on Revelation Space, the first novel of the series. The second novel, Chasm City, considered a stand-alone novel of the main Revelation Space story arc, has also been covered here.
Redemption Ark is definitely well crafted. We find ourselves learning about a need, a desperate need, for some old military equipment we were introduced to in the first novel — the Hell Class weapons. These things are badass, and we’ve seen what they can do. The story is effectively about the pursuit of these weapons, and soon enough we’re on a roller-coaster ride between the stars. We’re dutifully returned some old characters, older and perhaps a bit more weary given the future time frames involved, and some new characters who aptly represent a good effort by Reynolds to make believable.
I find somemost science fiction glosses over the delivery of good character building and focuses too strongly on the strange or remarkable technology that piqued the author’s mind. It’s not like I need 60-pages to explain how neat some robot or spaceship is. But Reynolds seems to have learned much from Chasm City. One well developed character is Nevil Clavain. He’s a war-hardened mastermind, and one of the oldest Conjoiners. Clavain’s character was well rounded, as we always seem to get good solid glimpses of the past, and yet he strives to grow even given all the crappy circumstances of his life. Plus he still has some parries that may surprise the reader. We’re genuinely empathic to his cause, and his difficult decisions in Redemption Ark. Truth be told, he’s a badass grandfather archetype most people would love to have as a relative!
Reynolds always seems to have tricks up his sleeve with characters. Some who should have died, haven’t — or maybe they have. You get a sense of how engrossing Reynolds can be, in that we’re really never far from original characters from Revelation Space — it’s made more awesome by how he does this. There’s growth, between the novels, that he sets up well for some of these characters.
Space battles are complex. Yet they were artfully explained in this novel. I suppose you could say his writing style is one that is very patient yet has a strong undercurrent of very complex science without being too boring. It’s quite a knack to try to explain to the reader just how vast space is, and just how complicated things can get when you are dealing with relativistic speeds. Nor would the reader like to see things like, “The space ship fired some lasers, pew pew.” Given these encounters, the urgency of the main story arc is aptly enhanced by these particular passages. This patience, noteworthy when it comes to explaining the world around the characters, is fused effectively with dialogue and challenges the reader’s imagination.
This novel was quite fun, and had excellent pacing as far as I am concerned. I never felt he remained too long on one of the many sub-plots, and never lost sight of the main story arc. Suffice it to say he learned much from writing Chasm City.
Next up Absolution Gap.
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