Revelation Space

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself.

With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason. And if that reason is uncovered, the universe - and reality itself - could be irrevocably altered.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"One of the best books of the year." ( Science Fiction Chronicle)
"Ferociously intelligent and imbued with a chilling logic - it may really be like this Out There." (Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Light of Other Days)

Difficult start, incredible finish.

Took the first 3 hours of listening to get into it. I actually stopped early on because I was so confused and bored. The accents were a struggle to get past, and the transitions between characters were not always obvious.

But I came back to it and I'm glad I did. At about the 3 hour mark the accents became comprehensible, and the story started to pick up and take shape. From this point it became better and better. The end is incredibly creative. It's both mind blowing and carefully crafted.

It was worth sticking with, but I wouldn't blame anyone turned off by the beginning.

Amazing Space Opera

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. This is a fun, complex, thought-provoking novel.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ilia Volyova. Her perfectly-timed sarcastic comments often made me snicker out loud. And the close friendship she develops with Khouri throughout the story is my favorite.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

His voice is amazing, deep and thoughtful, and lends weight to the story.

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

I laughed, I cried, I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen. I was hooked after the first couple of paragraphs and found myself listening to it whenever I got a chance.

Any additional comments?

Revelation Space is an excellent opening to a sprawling space opera. The world and the characters are complex and often thrilling. I've listened to two other books in the series besides this one, and man, it just keeps getting better. The science is relatively sound and well-explained without being boring, and the fiction is amazing. I enjoyed every moment of this novel.

Meh story, bad narrator

Narrator has an odd way of speaking, starting loud and growing quieter on each sentence. This means that you have to turn the volume up to hear the end of the sentence but the beginning is too loud. The volume difference is almost comical, with the end of every sentence being so quiet, if the sentence is long enough it will reduce to a whisper. This doesn't seem to be a recording artifact but the actual performance of the voice actor. The story is merely OK, the narrator will irritate you.

After reading, and listening

to the entire series so far, I'm impressed, I initially felt this novel was out of place. It felt like I was missing a piece of the story. I was it came later, which was difficult the first pass through, but well worth getting through the first few in the series. Coming back and listening to it again gives you more perspective on the story, though there still felt like it was giving too little depth to some areas, and far too much in others. A good read, if you're willing to commit to the series.

intricate and well done

this is one of the most complicated well thought-out intricate plots. I would suggest this book.

Not a light beach read

Complex, challenging read. Alastair Reynold's writing style reminded me a lot of Peter F. Hamilton's books. I was very frustrated at the start, but I pushed through it. It helps to read an overview of the plot if you feel you are lost. The story is complex and confusing until you start to recognize the various subplots and characters. The book contains three main timelines that eventually merge through space travel. I enjoyed the tech and I thought the narrator did a great job, but be warned that this is not a light beach read. One fellow reviewer called it "A worthwhile slog through the fog". I could not say it better.

Good but complex and sometimes hard to follow

Would you try another book from Alastair Reynolds and/or John Lee?

Yes

Could you see Revelation Space being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes / Unk

Any additional comments?

While the story and reading were both good, it would have been VERY helpful if the scene breaks were actually indicated in some fashion instead of running them together and leaving the listener to figure it out after several lines. I'm sure it was obvious in the printed book, and it really detracts from the story line.

Can't blame the author or reader, guess I'd have to ding the director?

Good story but required extra concentration

Really good story, however had to re-listen to sections to keep track of who/what happens.

interesting story, difficult performance

The concept and gritty sci-fi was unteresting but the performance made it very VERY hard to follow. Especially between scenes. There is a much to short paus between location changes (which where many times per chapter) so I rarely knew where in the galaxy i was and the voice acting had such subtle differences so they were no help to knowing.
The story itself touched deeply on the Fermi paradox and on cybernetic intellectual challenges, both concepts that are very dear to me. This drudgey kind of sci-fi reminded me just a touch about Mass Effect 3.

hard to hear narrator and mediocre story writing

narrator has wide volume range, making many words very hard to hear. story is slow, confusing, and repetitive. the author seems to agree as the characters will often give or explain large portions of exposition via dialogue, especially at the end