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)

Good book, solid science fiction.

Story was great, science was solid, narrator could use some work. Narration switched between yelling and whispering.

One of the Most Intriguing Books I've Listened to

I've listened to a ton of audiobooks here and right now I can't say many had me more enthralled than this one. This is a true case of the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts.

While the story was interesting it was not different than a lot of other sci fi. Also it takes a lot to get used to the way the story hops around from time period to time period, person to person. I found myself having to check Wikipedia just to sort things out.

The narrator is fairly deadpan in his reading. While he is clear and crisp if he was reading other books I would not have been impressed.

But with that being said I could hardly stop listening. Maybe it was the style of the writing, which is very detailed. You can clearly see in your mind the color and textures of the world being created. Maybe it was the universe the author invented, which is filled with layer upon layer of history. Maybe it was all of this in combination with a narrator who did not seem so much performing a story as seemingly recounting events that recently happened.

I can't say any one thing is what made this story so good, but working together it really made for an interesting listen. I immediately went and bought the next two in the series (already flying through 2). Now to pick a few friends to convince to pick up Revelation Space.

good story, terrible recording

interesting story if a bit long winded.

The recording is terrible though. Quiet and muddled voice with no gap when switching scenes.

Pay attention to this one!

Really really really good. This is one of the better stories I have listened to for a long time. Characters are well developed and very interesting, eccentric, strange and just alien enough to remind you they are people, but people living thousands of years from now.
The story is expensive, masses in It's scope some elements spanning millions of years I loved it from about page 100 on. For some reason I just was not carried away by the story until then, it was somewhat mundane and difficult to follow. The narration was hard to follow as well. While I love the variations in voice between each character but they were just hard enough to understand to make it difficult to listen in the car. I suggest a quieter location for listening to this book. This is the reason why I gave the book four stars for narration.
Once the stage was said, the book became quite the page turner. I had a hard time setting it down. I got lost in the expanse of the writers imagination and the method by which it was illustrated. Frankly I cannot wait to start the second book, I hope you have the same experience.

Audio editing poor, but great story and narration

Several other reviews mention the difficulty in following this book, as the audio editors put no break between different sections within the chapters. While this makes it difficult to follow at times, it is possible to enjoy the wonderful story and excellent voice acting

Confusing start - but getting very good quick

Any additional comments?

Very entertaining SciFi saga. This is my first Alastair Reynolds book but I am looking forward to the next books in the series.

The beginning was very confusing. This is supose to be the first book in a series but it seems to be missing an intro piece explaining the evolution of humanity up to the 25th century. At first I was confused about all the colonies mentioned, the different human groups and such. To make it even more

Starts Great, Midway Collapses

Started out great but then there was a turning point when characters started behaving out of character. As the story progressed there were more and more plot holes and even a deus-ex-machina.

Good read

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

yes, It is a good sci-fi book.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot builds up as the book proceeds.

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

Ilya, the weapons expert.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

no

Any additional comments?

Slow start for the first 1/3 to half of the book, then it started picking up.

Sience Fiction at the best

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

YES, you will so enjoyed this story you will have to read several of this set.

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

Feeling to the people in this story.

Confusing narration

No pause between shifts in scenes within a chapter led to many backups. Muddled accents.