I just finished Galactic North the other day, and am now looking forward to reading The Prefect. It’s nice to be once again reminded why I enjoyed reading his Revelation Space series. A few of the stories in here I’d read before (was The Great Wall of Mars in Interzone?) but I still enjoyed them second time around. The story Galactic North seemed a bit disjointed, but I still enjoyed the big space and huge breadths of time. All of it: huge Gothic spaceships, weapons like dangerous beasts lurching in cathedral caches, borge-like ultras, nano-plagues and … more stuff with Conjoiners in it, please, Alastair!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Galactic North
I just finished Galactic North the other day, and am now looking forward to reading The Prefect. It’s nice to be once again reminded why I enjoyed reading his Revelation Space series. A few of the stories in here I’d read before (was The Great Wall of Mars in Interzone?) but I still enjoyed them second time around. The story Galactic North seemed a bit disjointed, but I still enjoyed the big space and huge breadths of time. All of it: huge Gothic spaceships, weapons like dangerous beasts lurching in cathedral caches, borge-like ultras, nano-plagues and … more stuff with Conjoiners in it, please, Alastair!
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If you liked "Chasm City" you will enjoy "The Prefect". I don't want to spoil any details, but some of your wishes (borge-like ultras, nano-plagues and … more stuff with Conjoiners in it) will come true. And it definitly ends the small but noticeable downward trend of "Absolution Gap". God, I just love the Revelation Space and I so hope he isn't finished with it yet.
Anyway, I finished "Pushing Ice" some weeks ago and can only recommend that one too, especially for everyone who enjoys Rama-like first-contact settings.
I'll certainly have a crack at that too.
I second that - Pushing Ice is good. I also enjoyed Galactic North and like the Revelation Space universe in general - it's dark, edgy and there's an excellent understated horror element running through the stories.
I love Alastair's short fiction - both this and Zima Blue re great reads. Not so keen on his longer stuff - Pushing Ice is the best I've read although I'm not into his Revelation Space novels :(
It was Reynold's Revelation space series that got me back into buying Sci-Fi books.
But I thought they got progressively worse as the series went on. Killing off characters just as they got interesting and brining in new one that seemed almost worthless to the story.
I thought Redemption Arc was pants. The Deuce Ex at the end was enough for me and I've never bought another one of his books.
I though Chasm city was his best work. That and the first Revelation Space. The others always felt rushed at the end.
It was a disappointment because the first few I read were so bloody good.
I've read Pushing Ice in 2006 and I can also tell it's just great! It's one of the few books I've read in english, couldn't wait for it to be translated.
Pushing Ice and The Prefect for me were a great way to get back into some cracking SciFi having spent an age reading Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy. I think I appreciated Galactic North purely for helping me to fill in a lot of RS universe gaps in my mind.
If you haven't read the Novellas Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days then I would go for that one too. TD's mix of gore and mathematical puzzles really pushed my (not so)inner-geek!
(at risk of being sycophant: currently doing entire run by your good self, up to Brass Man, Mr Crane is awesome!)
Great Wall wasn't in Interzone as far as I know, but was in a Dozois Year's Best.
Blue Tyson, I've just done a search on The Great Wall of Mars. It was published in Spectrum SF issue 1.
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