I first read Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space shortly first publication in the early 2000s. I recently re-read it, not least because I found a lovely new edition of the book in the SF Masterworks series. More significantly I picked it up again because I remembered the book's grand sweeping space opera. Reading the book again however I had my own revelation. While I had remembered the space opera, I had forgotten how well the book is constructed as a novel and how brilliantly Reynolds ties his narrative threads and characters together.
The book begins in a number of very different places. Reynolds has a background in astrophysics. His novels are constrained by the science he understands with a number of logical extensions. So while the story's are set in our galaxy, and begin many thousands of light years apart, characters and timelines are not always coincident.
As we gradually learn, our galaxy was once host to many thousands of advances civilisations. In the distant past a massive war ended many of those civilisations and a group of aliens known as the Inhibitators evolved who decided to stop any future civilisation becoming galactic. The book opens with an archaeologist, Dan Sylveste, on a planet called Resurgam. Sylveste is excavating the extensive ruins of a huge, but long extinct civilisation that appeared to come to an abrupt and inexplicable end.
Elsewhere, aboard the spaceship Nostalgia for Infinity, its crew are struggling with the capture of their captain by the melding plague, something that features heavily in follow up novels by Reynolds. The crew are trying to get to Sylveste whom they think can heal their captain.
Finally, Ana Khouri, a former mercenary has been hired to assassinated Sylveste by a wealthy, but nameless figure, for unknown reasons.
Over time we learn that all these strands are connected. Khouri is hired to work as a arnaments officer with the Nostalgia for Infinity's alien super weapons and the entire crew heads to Resurgam with their different reasons for contacting Sylveste. In doing so they trigger the inhibitor device that destroyed Resurgam's ancient culture, and is now becoming aware of humanity.
The ending is typical of Reynolds' grand solar system wide set pieces, but it never really looses the human story. All his characters are well drawn individuals, and their way that the book ends neatly ties up the various strands of the stories while leaving the reader wanting much more. The much more appears in the excellent follow ups set in Revelation Space.
I'm not surprised that Revelation Space has joined the SF Masterworks pantheon. It is a remarkable example of a genre, and in hindsight, it's first publication marked a new period for print science fiction. It really ought to be made into a big budget TV series.
Related Reviews
Reynolds – Redemption Ark
Reynolds - House of Suns
Reynolds - Galactic North
Reynolds - Century Rain
Reynolds - Revenger
Reynolds - Blue Remembered Earth
Reynolds - The Prefect
Reynolds - Pushing Ice
No comments:
Post a Comment