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)

Adding depth and complexity

This book occurs before many of the previous books in the series (pre-plague). It fleshes out some of the prior characters and plot points, while again bringing a host of newly imagined possibilities to this future — specifically, a slice of the lifestyles that made up the Glitter Band. Typically engrossing and tinged with issues of species survival….

Good solid SciFi

I am finding Alastair Reynolds to be a pretty reliable author for hard science fiction. This is a good story, told within an imaginative framework of far future humanity that doesn't seem too improbable, with lots of interesting and appealing characters. I was in it to the end. This is a good choice in this genre.

John Lee is always disappointing, but seemed more adept for this book than others I've heard him massacre. I actually forgot that it was him doing the narration - which is a very good thing.

Interesting plot, fantastic story, meh narration

Where does The Prefect rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I only have a handful of Sci-Fi to rank it with and I would put this at about the mid point... if I could ignore the narration, I could give it better marks.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Prefect?

Whip-Hound revenge.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narration was the sticking point for me on this audiobook. Lee gives very little life to most of the characters and his accent lends itself to about two-three variations. His pauses between between words became predictable and were kept between characters. It really became annoying.

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

Annoyance at times... but again, due to the narration. Not sure why people enjoy Lee so much. But I have not heard any of his other work... maybe it is just me.

Any additional comments?

The Prefect is a great sci-fi story. The tech is really inventive. The plot is unique. Some of the character interaction is a little bit unbelievable and at times brings what should be a climatic pace down to a crawl. I attribute this partly to the narration.

A Mysterious Epic Space Opera

This book is amazing, the entirety of the book is based around multiple mysterious entities and events that take form in the Glitter Band. In a very distant future where death can be suspended by digital copies, thousands of space stations each very different from the next all being guarded and regulated by Prefects. These Prefects have the power to uphold justice and order but have limited powers. They face an extinction level event that would wipe out the entire Glitter Band.

This story I found starts out somewhat slow with an investigation, being new to space opera and audible in general i found it somewhat taxing. However soon things begun to unravel turning this book into one of my favorites yet. If you enjoy mysteries, science fiction or crime fighting this great book packs it all into one exciting adventure.

slow to start

This book is slow to start, but with perserverance finshes well. Worth a read if you like the subject matter.

Good Til The End

First, I am a fan of Reynolds and I like John Lee's narration. I have listened to almost everything he's done and Lee's narrated, until Reynold's came up with "Blue Remembered Earth" and its sequel. The former, I despised. I did not bother with the latter.
"The Prefect" is a very good example of Reynold's writing, and included good characterization, effortless descriptive power and able fostering of my desire "to know what comes next". John Lee did well with it.. I have read it twice and listened to it, once. The ending did not ring my chimes, but it was alright. The rest of it was very good to excellent.
It helps if one is familiar with the setting which Reynold's created over several novels to place the story in. But, even those who are not familiar with that setting will enjoy this work, I think.

A random pick and a good find

The narrator John Lee did it for me. Listening to the James Clavell books - including Shogun - where he narrates lead me to this book. John Lee is fantastic.

This book is a great read. A good story and good characters. An interesting idea and worrying if we ever get there!

A bit of detective and a bit of Sci Fi. I listen to a lot of Michael Connolly and Ian Rankin and love the underdog but clever detective - Dreyfus here is the same, but set in a a completely different scenario to what I usually read.

I really enjoyed it and could not stop.

A good piece in the Revelation Universe

If you haven't read Alistair Reynolds before, then don't start here. Start with House of Suns or Revelation Space. If you have and want to dive deeper into the culture of the Glitter Band, then this is your book. It's a fantastic detective story in that universe.

fast paced story

I return to this recording about once a year because it is so well crafted.

SciFi detective drama

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

I would recommend this to any frequent reader of Sci Fi. I would also recommend that people read this if they are thinking about reading Reynold's Revelation Space series. I think it creates the setting better so that Revelation Space and the others would be easier to follow. I loved those books, too.

What did you like best about this story?

Reynolds creates a different solar system in the distant future and then uncovers a riveting murder mystery in it. His uses of the environments he created was amazing.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were many interesting scenes so I have a hard time picking one. The Prefect's interactions with the Spider (augmented human) were all interesting. His interrogations of beta and alpha artificial intelligences were cool. His characters called Ultras are cool. The whiphound was a great invention. Each habitat in the Glitter Band was creative. I liked those so much I toyed with the idea of trying to write my own sci fi so that I could create other Glitter Band habitats. That isn't my gig, though, so I hope some other, real authors pick up that thread.

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

I listened to this book in 2 hour chunks. John Lee's voice becomes so comfortable in my head that I start needing a fix every now and then.

Any additional comments?

Great science fiction overall. Alastair Reynolds should team up with some Japanese artists and write a series of Manga with hyperpigs as the protagonists.