Redemption Ark

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Late in the 26th century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors---alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons---and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them. But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes---and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Reynolds confirms his place among the leaders of the hard-science space-opera renaissance." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)
"The best of the new breed of space opera. Wild action on a grand scale spans well-imagined and developed worlds." ( The Denver Post)

The Truth is out there.

I read the book a while ago . Great book back then. even better book having somebody read it to you.

Such a great story

The narrator for the series is fantastic. The story is epic. This book is great!

Another amazing Book

This is another amazing installment in the series, not much point recommending the third book since if you are at this point you are all ready invested.

Simply brilliant...well worth reading...

Another amazing book in this series with well developed characters, a brilliant plot, and outstanding science fiction

Good, not great

Love the series and the bigger themes in this book were great. Something happens, I think,when stories span light years without being able to travel faster than light. Reynolds skips months and years which you probably have to do to hold a story together, but it's harder to suspend belief when he does that.

continues great series

great book. great series. not standalone. epic. makes me want to live forever and have Adventures across the Galaxy too.

Solid story and excellent narration

Redemption Ark is played out in the same universe of Revelation Space but you don't need to read the Revelation Space first. It is another classic book from Alastair Raynolds that will keep you entertained right through to the end. This is a story of humanity in the near feature and reasons why alines and other species are hard to find. Very plausible and engaging with excellent ending.

The story keeps getting better!

The author brings together a variety of story events, and almost all work well in creating a gripping and interesting story, even with visible elements conveying story glimpses for the author. I enjoyed the world building quite a bit.

Makes Haste Slowly

I liked Redemption Ark's depth and ambition. The universe felt real with different factions, cultures, problems, priorities. Characters like the relentless Skade and her pragmatic opponent Clevain were memorably vivid. Drifting, damaged spaceships, a concealed headquarters in a hollow asteroid, Chasm City, an interstellar chase, and the colony planet Resurgam were outstanding and striking settings.

However, I did think the story a bit longer than it needed to be. Particularly when the story spent more time on background scenes and a space race than it did on what I reasonably thought was the point of reaching the haunted, plague ship Nostalgia for Infinity. Spending time on minor characters when larger issues were shortchanged felt a bit odd. For the author Alastair Reynolds, the journey really is greater than the destination.

don't listen to the negative reciews

this book, and the subsequent novels that follow, are masterfully written stories rich in both detail and imagination. if you've read Peter F. Hamilton and enjoyed him (and who hasn't) then you'll love Alistair Reynolds. they're cut from the same cloth. but what separates them is Reynolds is/ was an actual scientist who one day began writing fiction. his prior career is glaringly and beautifully obvious when describing the processes and grandeur of the universe. he brings the science to science fiction. the story takes a while to unfold - slow burn- and the characters and timeline are exposed to the listener slowly. other negative comments say the story is too difficult to follow due to the lacking of space between changing story arcs, to which i say, "maybe audio books aren't for you" i listen 80% of the time in the car and i have had zero issues with "paying attention" or "difficulty understanding the narration" - as other neg. reviwes have stated. if you're listening to the story and you know the characters , then a pause between changing arcs isn't required, you'll know the scene has changed just by the ppl being discussed. as for the story itself, as a sci-fi fan its hard to dislike it. Reynolds builds not just worlds, but an entire universe - much in the same fashion as Hamilton. equally rich in history / culture as well as innovation and advanced concepts. even if you end up not liking this book- which i would ask you" why do you even bother reading sci-fi?"?- its still orders of magnitude better than the radio. happy listening.