David Sven's Reviews > Revelation Space

This is a lot how I imagine Peter F Hamilton would read like if he never got sidetracked and had a manageable number of story arcs, with half the word count. Alistair Reynolds delivers a ripper that is part space opera part cyberpunk and a touch of horror. I’m guessing this is what you would call “hard scifi” – I’m not too sure because it lacks the poor and often cartoony characterization and bland prose style that has been my normal(though limited) experience with hard scifi – Yeah, I’m looking at you Asimov... and Niven, don’t you be ducking and trying to hide your three legged, two headed sock muppet - I’ve already seen it.

The story throws us into a post human civilization in the 26th century where the development of near light speed travel has seen humanity spread out through the galaxy. Humans have further diverged as advances in nanotechnology and cybernetics sees some groups of humans swapping out body parts for integrated machinery and implants. Some, like the Conjoiners, have even changed out brain cells for nanotech cells to the extent where eventually the limitations of the brain’s processing power is transcended. And then there are those who have gone the whole hog and uploaded themselves into machinery, transitioning from thinking organisms to sentient software. The inner space battles in this book are just as intense as the physical fights.

The first half of the book was a little slow and it took me a bit to get oriented in the Universe Reynolds has created – but coming into the second half the plot was flying at light speed and it was hard to put down.

The star of the show for me, and arguably what kept me on the hook through the first half of the story was the Nostalgia for Infinity - a “lighthugger” ie a spaceship capable of travelling at near light speed. The Nostalgia for Infinity is a centuries old, four kilometer long generation ship. Once it held hundreds of thousands of travelers in cryosleep, but now it is crewed by a mere handful of militaristic types consisting of three Ultra’s,( ie part human part machine chimerics (cyborgs?) who have designed themselves for the rigours of living in deep space) as well as a couple of extras who the Ultra’s have usually kidnapped and subjugated with “loyalty implants.” And then there is the Captain - who is something else again, an extreme chimeric that could only be called human in the loosest sense of the word - One scary dude.

Apart from the crew, the spaceship itself is pretty cool. I liked the janitor-rats. Rodents genetically engineered with biochemical receptors attuned to receive instructions from the ship. Then there’s the gunnery with planet slagging weapons, controlled by neural interface with a gunnery officer. And then there are places that even the Ultra’s fear to tread - Places where the dead speak or where viruses have taken over the machinery. Fascinating and intriguing.

But, as scary as the Nostlgia for Infinity and it’s cyborg crew are, there things a lot worse out there. Alien things - Things that have been lying dormant for hundreds of millenia. Some secrets are best left buried. Some things just aren’t meant to be dug up.

Surprisingly enjoyable given the slow start.


4 stars