The Prefect

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus. But then his investigation uncovers something far more serious than mass slaughter---a covert plot by an enigmatic entity who seeks nothing less than total control of the Glitter Band. Before long, the Panoply detectives are fighting against something worse than tyranny, in a struggle that will lead to more devastation and more death. And Dreyfus will discover that to save what is precious, you may have to destroy it.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A fascinating hybrid of space opera, police procedural and character study.... This is solid British SF adventure, evoking echoes of le Carre and Sayers with a liberal dash of Doctor Who." ( Publishers Weekly)

A Stellar Prequel to Revelation Space

Any additional comments?

For my money, it doesn't get any better than Alastair Reynolds. He has become the master of hard Science Fiction, particularly his Revelation Space series. This book serves as a prequel to the events of both Chasm City and The Revelation Space Trilogy. The Prefect is, at its heart, a police procedural yet it functions as a vital piece of the overall story that plays out through the four other Revelation Space novels. The book is written as well as any mystery out there and it's easily one of the best Science Fiction novels of 2007. As for the narration - I admit that I strongly disliked John Noble as the narrator at first, particularly his plethora of regional English, Welsh, and Scottish accents but having now listened to a half dozen of his narrations of Reynold's works he's grown on me and I've come to enjoy his narration.

An Enjoyable Alastair Reynolds Escape!

This was recommended to me and it wasn't a disappointment. Interesting story with minimal unnecessary over dramatization! John Lee is as steady and amazing as ever! I would recommend to anyone looking for something simple and enjoyable!

Believable science and very well written.

I am not a science guy, (English major), but I have become a complete science fiction nerd thanks to Alistair Reynolds. The future he writes about is hopeful and entirely plausible given what we know of the physical world today. In tandem with John Lee's reading this book was a great ride. I read "Pushing Ice" before this one and it's the same high quality read. Give it a shot.

Mind boggling scifi with great characters

Would you consider the audio edition of The Prefect to be better than the print version?

Yes, John Lee add a lot to the experience of the reading. I got addicted to his reading style.

What other book might you compare The Prefect to and why?

It's half way between Blade Runner (the dark atmosphere, the internal struggle among the prefects) and some Phil Dicks' novel (the three stigmata of Palmer Eldrich)

Which scene was your favorite?

The final confrontation

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

Yes, Alastair Reynolds is always welcomed

great audio book

fast paced with great character development. great author. I greatly enjoyed this book! highly recommended!

Great Story, Not His Best, But Solid

I have enjoyed all but one of Alastair Reynolds' books (Absolution Gap being the one exception). If you have liked any of his other books, you will enjoy this one, too. You almost always feel you're there in his stories, this is no exception -- you imagine you are on this not so alien world, along for the adventure.

John Lee does an excellent job, as always. One of my favorite narrators.

Happy listening!

A great detective story.

This book does a great job of telling more about the glitter band pre-plague. It was an extremely enjoyable book.

A Stellar Experience About A Possible Future That I Hope Never Happens!

This a great story that paints a future for mankind that still revels in chaos no matter how technology has grown to make beautiful possibilities. Mankind will always be irresponsible and erroneous according to Reynolds. I’ve enjoyed and been highly enthralled by everything he’s written with John Lee as the narrator. It’s a perfect combo and the main reason I keep Audible. The Prefect is no different. It is at once an action sci fi tale and a story about the ruinous ways mankind manipulates and abuses future tech. It’s a murder mystery in some regards. It’s a thrill to behold the vision Reynolds portrays in the seemingly unique yet diverse Glitter Band. You’ll get your hi-fi weaponry, your strange and grand scale events. You’ll be amazed at the ways in which an advanced future can be more terrifying than what we’d hope we could achieve with more knowledge. It’s a story that has some heart to it but not so much that it becomes a drama laced with cool visuals. The ideas are big and without spoiling anything, it’s the idea of the scarab that scares me the most. This was well worth the purchase, well worth the time to listen to and it has me racing to start the next book. I hope to return to this world many times over through future books in the series. This is the start to something great that will be nearly impossible to adapt to the screen because it’s that huge and that special that I believe it can only ever be a book without losing its purpose. Don’t wait for a movie, read or listen to this book!

Space Sherlock

This had a similar feel to Chasm City - an unfolding mystery from the point of view of a gruff but likable protagonist. Reynolds is obviously a fan of old detective novels and does a great job deploying an old plot device into his well-developed universe.

If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes and hard sci-fi, this is the novel for you.

Great choice of narrator in John Lee, too.

Very impressive story, plot and performance.

This is just a great story. The main character being an anchor for the reader, while everything else is spinning out of control in interesting, but mostly macabre and value challenging ways.

The writer takes us to a future hopefully humanity will do what is needed to avoid. Can we save ourselves from the stupidity of our own race?
The main character and his partner become our heroes, our hope...