Redemption Ark

After I read the authors Revelation Space, I was conflicted as to whether to proceed to Chasm City, which is listed a volume two of a series. Revelation Space was maybe the hardest science fiction work Ive read in the last ten years (maybe some Charles Stross works approach it), and the complexity was a little over the top. However, Id already purchased the first three volumes, so I read Chasm City and was very pleasantly surprised.

While Chasm City is set in the same universe as Revelation Space, it was far more approachable and enjoyable, in my opinion. Part of this may have been the underlying familiarity provided by the earlier book, but it was also definitely less reliant upon an underlying knowledge of quantum mechanics.

In any case, Redemption Ark is technically book three of the series, but actually reads much closer to a sequel of Revelation Space. Chasm City is almost a stand alone novel, with little connection to either the first or third books. You could read Redemption Ark immediately after Revelation Space, and in fact, may benefit by doing so, as there are many story lines that flow seamlessly between the two. Chasm City is a good story, but it can be read any time.

As in Revelation Space, Redemption Ark is replete with rock hard science fiction. The author goes to great pains to explain the physics behind many of his far future technology, though not to the detriment of the story, as I felt occurred in Revelation Space. If you enjoy space opera and hard science fiction, this will be right in your wheelhouse

As a professional scientist I read a lot of sci-fi just to see how the fiction writers are doing. Mr. Reynolds has created, in books 1-3 at least, a credible long-term drama between worlds and technologies. Much of the action is really classic fiction – romance, jealousy, greed, power, prejudice, twists of fate – but against the background of strange worlds and stranger technologies. One technology (slight spoiler alert) which appears in other sic-fi as well is the ability to electronically store the complete persona of a human being and install that persona in a machine/robot along with all memories, feelings, emotions, abilities, etc. This ability to store and re-animate “selves” creates massive opportunities for moral dilemmas. If you like sic-fi and have a lot of time to read a huge series, go for it.

Redemption Ark is an entertaining book, but lacks the appeal and mystery of the first book in the trilogy, Revelation Space.
If you were somehow captured by the narrative of the first book, Redemption Ark will be a pleasant page turner. The characters are interesting enough and mostly drive the plot which is rather thin, in comparison with the beginning of the series. Sometimes you feel hat you are merely reading the setup to something more promising somewhere down the road.
I fundamentally like the universe Reynolds has created and the way he handles the integration of technology in human affairs, not slacking on character building, which is frequently the weakness in most sci-fi novels. I would recommend this reading if you want to complete the trilogy. I am now somewhere in the middle of the last book and I enjoy the integrated experience of the full saga, which on the overall I would give a four star rating at this point.

This is actually the third book in the series and begins to tie the first two books (Revelation Space and Chasm City) into a cohesive universe with a number of fleshed out characters that feel alive.

The author continues the by-now-familiar narrative structure of three separate threads that slowly merge together as you progress through the book.

At this point in the series the author’s previous history involved in the space programs begins to shine as he describes how humanity might achieve extreme levels of acceleration and the pitfalls and dangers associated with tampering with the forces of inertia.

This has been my favorite book in the series so far and left me unable to wait to start the next one.

Good but even better having read Galactic North first. That was the advice of someone who took note of my complaint about trying Revelation Space three times and discarding it each time. So I read Galactic North and it was about the best sci-fi I’ve ever read, more new ideas in a few pages than entire series by other authors, even Alastair Reynolds himself. Everything revealed in the 2000 pages of the RS series is introduced in short stories in Galactic North, and the medium forces Reynolds to get right to the action in each story. Then I started Revelation Space again a couple weeks ago, and just now finished the series finale, Absolution Gap, which suffers from many 1 and 2-star reviews. Those reviewers would have benefited from reading Galactic North first as the ending which they all hated made perfect sense to me. Too late for them but not for new readers. Seriously, not only is Galactic North better than any book in the series, it also clues you in to what’s going on as you read.

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