Chasm City

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Named one of the best novels of the year by both Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle, Alastair Reynolds's debut Revelation Space redefined the space opera. With Chasm City, Reynolds invites you to reenter the bizarre universe of his imagination as he redefines Hell.

The once-utopian Chasm City - a domed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet - has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or computerized. Now, with the entire city corrupted---from the people to the very buildings they inhabit---only the most wretched sort of existence remains. For security operative Tanner Mirabel, it is the landscape of nightmares through which he searches for a lowlife postmortal killer. But the stakes are raised when his search brings him face to face with a centuries-old atrocity that history would rather forget.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Consistently startling.... Reynolds remains one of the hottest...SF writers around." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great Character Development, Narration

This book can sort of be viewed as an introduction to the Revelation Space series universe. It is a self-contained novel in it's own rite, and has very interesting action scenes interspersed with a psychological space drama. I highly recommend this book for it's writing, content, and narration.

Prequel as to Revelation Space or after Redemption

The main character is dynamic and emotional and tough. Bruce Willis as John McLain from Die Hard. The best part of the story is when you learn who setup Hospital Idlewyld. Remember their names or experience a moment of clarity when you read them in the RS Trilogy.

Of course, the narration is some of the best out there. John Lee narrates the entire collection from Alastair Reynolds and for good reason. His variety of voices is second to none, and that's why he does RS. so many characters from various heritages and even *species.*

Lastly, there is no downtime in the story. It's a barrage of action that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Flashbacks to Sky Hausmann tend to be slower but for good reason. The level of detail that is depicted through these dreams are what makes the ending so powerful. Enjoy!

I'm glad I found this author.

Excellent science fiction! Well thought out and paints an interesting story. I like John Lee's narration. I am now off to book three in this series!

Grand

Really good SciFi with a mystery element, starts out simpler than Revelation Space but gets more complicated towards the end. If you have read and liked the Expanse then this ought to appeal to you too.
It's SciFi on a grand scale, both in space and time, exactly the way I like it. The world building is really good and the characters interesting and surprisingly likable considering their actions. The story shifts gears and scenery a few times, most of the time it's suspenseful and engaging. But not only that, Reynolds has a way with words, and a way with sentences even. And lucky for me, this thing was chock full of sentences.
I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
P.S. There are multiple possible reading orders for the series.

Awesome story, great character building

Just a great book narrated by great narrator. Definitely suggest giving it a listen although it’s long it’s worth it.

Masterful Story, Phenomenal Narration!

Mr. Reynolds is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! He has a way of drawing you in and laying down a heck of a good world for you to immerse yourself in. Good, flushed out characters with a nice amount of detail to even side pieces so that they don't end up being 'the man', or 'the bartender'. I appreciate learning a little bit about people even if they are only around for a few minutes, makes the story that much better to lose myself in.
The world is well thought out and interesting enough to really stoke the imagination. Good plots that are always structured in a way to keep you wanting to press on, rather than knowing the end in the first few chapters. No rinse and repeat nonsense from him.
And Mr. Lee is a wonderful Narrator, with a rich mix of voices and accents to differentiate the characters. I appreciate that most of all, there is nothing worse than a monotone! I never find myself wondering who is speaking.
10/10 Highly Recommend this series.

Very atmospheric

It has been a while since I took iPod out of my car into home to listen to a book. Chasm City was the book which gripped me so much that I did that.

This was my first "read" of Reynolds and quite a pleasant one! I am great fan of darker, atmospheric and realistic (as far as we can imagine it today) science fiction which covers not only science and technology but also human aspect of future. This book has it all! Story is very atmospheric and surrounding, settings and tech are not completely whacked out like in some sf fantasy books and there is a lot of human aspect and emotions, unlike some dry classics like Rama or Ringworld.

The Narrator is very adequate. In Revelation Space - which I listen to now - John Lee has the annoying habit to start a sentence with much intonation and trail out from there, becoming silenter and silenter - this was complained about by some in reviews to RS. Well, it is not present here! John Lee is really much better in this one IMHO.

Rolled Gold

The best Alastair Reynolds book I have heard at Audible. Human colonized worlds, futuristic space travel and the twists – turns in the plot left me feeling like a pretzel. Just add salt and I’m ready to be dropped in a bag of Rolled Gold.

A sci-fi must-read

This book is fantastic. for anyone that loves science fiction particularly hard science fiction this book is amazing. I couldn't recommend more. it's a great follow-up to Revelation space. excellent prequel explains a little bit more about the world. the universe this author has created is amazing in its depth. I love it. will continue reading.

Unexpectedly different

So coming here after Revelation Space, this book offers achingly little evidence of being part of the same series and when it finally does, only vague implications. That being said, it was a great story and enjoyable experience. Reynolds has a habit of providing the reader bits of information and evidence here and there to implicate certain things, and never actually specifying end conclusions. This can be frustrating, but in this book there is enough evidence eventually to form credible theory on what the author was trying to say.
On the narration - there is no chapter announcements, and literally zero pause from one scene on this side of the galaxy to another hundreds of light years distant. I became very familiar with the 30-second rewind trying to figure out what just happened with the perceived story skipage.