House of Suns Audiobook By Alastair Reynolds cover art

House of Suns

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House of Suns

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.

Not only are Campion and Purslane late for their 30-second reunion but they have also brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line, and there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them and why---before their ancient line is wiped out of existence forever.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera
Epic Scope • Thought-provoking Ideas • Clear Enunciation • Well-developed Characters • Original Concepts

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This is the second Reynolds novel I've purchased and I am now placing him at the top of my SF reading list along with Peter F. Hamilton. This book moves along at a fast pace and does a good job explaining complex physics in a way that even a complete novice to anything scientific (me) can understand. John Lee is fantastic again (of course). At first I couldn't follow which character was telling the story (Campion or Purslane) but it didn't bother me and as I got into the story I had no problem figuring out who was speaking. All his other characters had distinct accents and I think Lee made the voices for the two main characters the same for a very good reason. All in all, an enjoyable read that left me wishing that the story went on longer. I will definitely keep reading Reynolds' books.

Reynolds one of my faves

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Some have said that this book is long and does not go anywhere. I disagree. The book's mysteries are given up nicely as the journey progresses and the end has a lessen for man kind. I not only enjoyed the journey I liked the ending. It took a while for me to get used to the idea that someone can live a million years. Even if most of the time was spent in stasis. Think of the possibilities!

Loved it!

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Reynolds has established himself as one of the pre-eminent contemporary science fiction writers. More so than most of his fellow authors, Reynolds manages to push the boundaries of the genre in new directions. House of Suns begins as a typical sci-fi story with cloned copies of a progenitor line traveling the galaxy in light speed vessels with a periodic reunion to swap experiences and memories. Initially, the story begins along a sinister track with unknown forces out to destroy the line for unknown reasons. Gradually the tale evolves to a more complex endeavor that unearths machine intelligence, past atrocities, and secret societies. The ending also resolves a mystery that is developed early in the tale.
What sets House of Suns apart from other stories is the extreme futuristic setting. Typical sci-fi stories propose scientific progress as an exponential process, such that even a couple of hundred or at most a thousand years is more than enough to reach a pinnacle with a plateau effect. Reynolds places this tale, more than 6 million years in the future. Even the beginning of the clone line was begun well after our present time. Given the relativistic limitations that are preserved, 6 million years of action is not experienced, but the temporal dissonance of the story is palpable and is similar to explaining calculus to students learning to count. Buckle up, the ride is exhilarating.

A slight departure for Reynolds

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This is my second favorite novel by Reynolds behind Pushing Ice. Although the concepts are pretty far out there, the characters and story are central in this novel (rather than the science-speak in the Revelation Space series). I have not read/listened to the 'prequel' novella "Thousandth Night" (in "One Million AD") but i don't think that's required for this story to make sense.

Although Reynolds is considered a 'hard science fiction' author, he doesn't focus on how each of his concepts is mathematically possible which actually enhanced the story for me. Too much of that gets in the way of telling the story in my opinion, it is FICTION after all. This is a stand alone novel that any futurist/sci-fi fan will enjoy.

Oh and John Lee, as always, does a fantastic job.

As good as Pushing Ice, which was a GREAT story

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This book is well written from all perspectives. The author explores the consequences of being stuck with the speed of light. Without warp drives or wormholes, how could humanity make a society that spans the galaxy work? Now add some good characters, a mystery, and an epic battle of survival. This is science fiction firing on all cylinders. It isn't the greatest thing every written, but is the best science fiction I've listened to in years. If you are on the fence about whether this is the book for you, my recommendation is a big thumbs up.

This is one of the best space operas ever written

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This story is so intriguing, I think it will appeal to people who normally don't listen to sci-fi. Great tale of humanity and morality. It's SO original! Highly recommended.

Not just great sci-fi

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I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The creativity, imagination, multi-level plot and pure vastness of time periods contained within such a well-controlled neatly packaged story is something like I’ve only briefly caught glimpses of in other books I love. Alastair has a seat at the head table with the other greats such as Asimov, Clark, etc. in my opinion.
I will continue on with only this author in my navigational console for the foreseeable future. I’ll send word back through a worm hole.
10/10

Unprecedented Temporal Scope

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It took half the book to really get me to that "I'll just listen till the end of the chapter...." mania. It's a fascinating concept, reasonably well explained, but we are expected to believe some very far fetched ideas. At the same time all the futuristic wonders are occurring, the characters seem to be stuck with very ordinary, not terribly enlightened (nor overtly intelligent) personalities. It was interesting, a somewhat slow start, and the ending was a bit...I don't know...abrupt? Sort of like the ideas just ran out. I didn't hate it, but not on par with my normal reads. I like usually Jon Lee, but some of the character changes were not very distinguishable in this book..

Pretty Weird

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The book takes it's time getting up to speed but it is worth the wait.

Slow start. Hang in there.

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A space murder mystery who done it. I found myself caught between boredom and interest and interest one out in the end. While I wouldn't recommend this over some other books, it was definitely worth a listen and I'm glad I finished it.

Slow but worth a listen

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