Pushing Ice

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it.

The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It's some kind of machine - and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away. The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission, she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny - for Janus has more surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[Reynolds is] a genius for big-concept SF and fans of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Larry Niven's Ringworld will love this novel." ( Publishers Weekly

Narration is rough

The story is good and I liked it overall but felt a little drawn out. The narration made it challenging. The narrator sounds like a British William Shatner.

I loved this book!

I love stories about interstellar travel and deep space. This was such a fantastic story and told in a realistic fashion. Great performance by John Lee.

Great story, beautiful language

Would you consider the audio edition of Pushing Ice to be better than the print version?

I only know this audio version.

What other book might you compare Pushing Ice to and why?

The Rama of course, but The Dreaming Void also comes to mind, in terms of how expansive the story becomes, and how mysterious.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

What a nuanced reading!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

One level of the story is about a friendship between two competitive women that endures. It inspires one to think what is friendship, how important is friendship in my life, do i feel loyalty toward my friend? Loyalty of what kind?

Any additional comments?

This is a book worth while listening to.

One of the best SciFi stories I've come across!

Would you consider the audio edition of Pushing Ice to be better than the print version?

No, an audiobook and a hardcopy are two different things with different usage

What did you like best about this story?

"Pushing ice" is my first book from A. Reynolds. I was impressed by the story, author's accuracy to technical details on such a level at the same time I did not lose the sense during the progress. Everything a small scientist inside me needs to feel alive!!!

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

John is a very good narrator, I appreciate his efforts to do his work on a high professional level

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story certainly has a wow-effect, maybe because it's been so long time from the time I've read a book like this before discovering "Pushing Ice".

Any additional comments?

Great story and a high-quality book! Highly recommended!!!

Amazing

This book is amazing! A plethora of Hard science fiction concepts. If only it could have been longer

great book, poor narration

I loved the story, and hope Reynolds will make this a series.
I wish Audible would have chosen a different narrator. This one was sooooo annoying. I barely got through listening to the whole book because of it.

OK at first but then...

The original concept was pretty interesting, but it never got fully developed, at least before I gave up. Things would be developing along nicely, and then all of a sudden it would be ages later and there were all sorts of stuff that just went away, with only a cursory mention.

It went on this way for so long, I finally gave up after about 2/3's of the way through.

Pushing Ice uphill

Would you recommend Pushing Ice to your friends? Why or why not?

I would probably only recommend this to existing Alistair Reynolds fans, as it is not his best story (in my opinion), and although it introduces some existing ideas it concentrates too much on a rather unbelieveable rivalry between 2 women. The tension between the 2 women is labourer for most of the book and only drives an interesting development in the last 3rd of the novel.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

John Lee is always good, and he can make even stilted conversation between blandly drawn characters seem worth a listen

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but I was glad I persevered. The last 3rd is interesting and much more the Alistair reynolds style that I enjoy.

Great hard-core sic-fi!

What did you love best about Pushing Ice?

This is a very compelling, intriguing story about people who seem very real. Also, Star Trek influence, although small, gave it a little more pzaz.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's hard to name one character as the most interesting. They are all very well fleshed-out and interesting.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I thing there's very little Alastair Reynolds could have done to get this novel even better. It's as good as it gets!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, no, no! This is the kind of novel, separated into book (internal books) that you need to pause for a bit and digest what you've just read.

Any additional comments?

It was very pleasing to find such a competent hardcore SF writer.

Excellent, as usual

What made the experience of listening to Pushing Ice the most enjoyable?

As usual with this author, you can never be sure whether the main characters are going to survive the book. He also pays attention to factions form and interact with each other. Plus, there's so much that never gets explained to the reader/listener, since the characters never figure it out.

What other book might you compare Pushing Ice to and why?

It brings to mind what I think of as the "arbitrary quest" books of Simak (such as Destiny Doll), but is far superior to them. I can't think of anything that's similar in both quality and ideas.

Which character – as performed by John Lee – was your favorite?

Svetlana.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No. I was interested, but not emotionally invested in it.