House of Suns

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.

Not only are Campion and Purslane late for their 30-second reunion but they have also brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line, and there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them and why---before their ancient line is wiped out of existence forever.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

My overall favorite of the genre

I'm a huge fan of Reynolds, but House Of Sun's is my absolute favorite of his. I've also read many sci-fi classics over the years and in my opinion, House Of Sun's easily stands among them.

Absolutely fantastic world building and excellently paced, I just wish it was as long as some of his other titles.

One of the best I’ve ever read/heard

Wow! All I can say is wow. The scope and magnitude of this story is immense. Reynolds knows his stuff, from a technical, scientific perspective but he also tells a killer story.

One of my favorite elements of science fiction is the ability of the writer to reach inside me and find that switch in my brain that turns on my imagination and makes me dream. And dream in colors beyond my limited visual acuity. This book does that. Just, wow!

Outstanding

Anyone interested in any combination of astrophysics, relativity, cosmology, or scifi should absolutely read this book.

Great story!

I enjoyed the setting and the story. The cast of characters was large, and it was sometimes difficult to tell who the narrator was speaking as. Still an excellent read!

Best modern standalone scifi novel

The best standalone scifi novel since the turn of the century. Great performance by the narrator as well.

fantastic!

Whenever I am in a slump and need a good science fiction story this is the book I turned to. I love all of the characters I love the way the world is built. It is just a perfect science fiction story and the narrator does a fantastic job of everyone's voices. I just absolutely love this world.

Simply amazing

This didn't feel like 18 hours at all. I was listening at 1.25 speed and it felt more like 50, in the best way. At the final few chapters I was wrecked by emotions until the very end, keeping me up late into the night until the hinted at conclusion where I could only exclaim: "WHAT A BOOK"

Masterful, Mr. Reynolds. Masterful. I know to which author my next two credits are awarded.

What a book...

A Particularly good story

Reynolds influence in contemporary science fiction is laudable continuing the tradition of hope for the human condition in light of our growing observations of reality and how little we understand of it. After primary physics and causality sciences we struggle to separate believe from knowledge. House of Sun is a worthy contemplation and thoughtful adventure,

One of my most enjoyed Sci-fi books

This was the first book I listend to by Alastair Reynolds, and afterwards became a big fan of his. I have listened to many more of his novels, since first listening to this book, and for me this one still stands as his best book.

I must confess that I almost gave up on the book a few chapters in. The only reason I didn't DNF it, luckily, was because I didn't have another book in mind to switch to at the time. The issue I took with it was that it seemed as if it was going to be more of a high fantasy book than science fiction. I wasn't familiar with Reynold's at the time, so I didn't trust that I'd connect with the story, but within a few more pages after the point I wanted to switch books, I was hooked.

It leans a little heavier into fantasy, and is less hard science fiction than some of his other books, but the story is strong, and ultimately I didn't care. Also true to Reynolds style, the story still has big science fiction concepts woven into it, in this case, that of very large time scales.

I wish he'd write a follow up to this one.

Finely detailed and captivating universe . Too bad it's a standalone, I would love to read more

A masterpiece. Worthy of a universe of its own. A truly masterful book. The reader nailed it.