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Revelation Space

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Revelation Space

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself.

With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason. And if that reason is uncovered, the universe - and reality itself - could be irrevocably altered.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2008 Tantor Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Robotics
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Critic reviews

"One of the best books of the year." ( Science Fiction Chronicle)
"Ferociously intelligent and imbued with a chilling logic - it may really be like this Out There." (Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Light of Other Days)
All stars
Most relevant
Revelation space is one of many books I've read in dead tree format, and have revisited in audiobook form. Usually it's a very rewarding experience, and I loved this book when I read it so had high hopes for the more immersive medium of audio.

However this is the second Alastair Reynolds book I've listened to, and I just can't face any more of them as John Lee's narration ruins them. His pacing... is... terrible.

That's only the second time in years of audible membership a narrator has spoiled the experience, but a bitterly disappointing one as I was looking forwards to making my way through Reynold's back catalogue.

Good book, terrible reader

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Where to start?
This is a book of some complexity and enormous scale. It ranges from the sub-atomic to unbelievably large rents in space-time. From petty human conflicts to the fate of humanity. It's a BIG book, in all senses of the word. Humans have spread out into space using huge sub-light starships called lighthuggers. No hyperspace here. Time is not circumvented, in fact, it is material to the sequence of events. The main characters are well fleshed-out and believable. The "scenery" of the tale is for the most part well-described too.
The tale twists and turns and delights, but sometimes almost gets lost in the minutiae of the descriptions. This is my basic reason for not giving it five stars. I love intricate tales as well as more basic science fiction fare, but sometimes you can be a little too verbose. This is a personal opinion and others would be right to disagree with my thoughts on the matter.
Suffice to say, that I have already bought two other books from this author, set in the same universe, and will be starting one of them as soon as I finish this review.

Final thoughts on the matter?
A good solid read. You will not be disappointed.
Buy it!

An interesting insight into a possible future

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Alistair Reynolds is a true master storyteller, never get tired of listening to his works and this is no exception.

love it

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Any additional comments?

There are some books that have very simple/predictable plot lines. You can casually listen to these on the move and not miss anything if you get distracted. By contrast Revelation Space requires listening effort, but is worth it. I initially listened too casually and about one and half hours in I had to accept that I did not really know what was going on, so... I started again. I am glad I did.The narration is very good, but you need to pay attention, particularly in the first third of the book, the scenes switch with no warning. In the end I enjoyed this aspect.Interesting story, good science and original.

You just need to pay attention

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I had forgotten how much fun Space Opera can be. Even though it was released in 2000 this novel has not really aged at all. BDOs, dead alien civilisations and some hints of the end times for humans...

Narration was good but the narrators attempts at accents for each character got a bit muddled at times.

Give me that old time Space Opera

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