Absolution Gap

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The Inhibitors were designed to eliminate any life-form reaching a certain level of intelligence - and they've targeted humanity. War veteran Clavain and a ragtag group of refugees have fled into hiding. Their leadership is faltering, and their situation is growing more desperate.

But their little colony has just received an unexpected visitor: an avenging angel with the power to lead mankind to safety - or draw down its darkest enemy. And as she leads them to an apparently insignificant moon light-years away, it begins to dawn on Clavain and his companions that to beat one enemy, it may be necessary to forge an alliance with something much worse.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

Solid narration and engaging story

I found this the be the best work by this narrator in the series so far.

The story structure feels very formulaic by this point in the series, but I nonetheless found it to be an engaging and enjoyable listen.

Outstanding SCIFI

It has been over 4 years since I first read Absolution Gap, and its predecessors Chasm City and my favorite of the trilogy - Revelation Space. I wanted to read Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days and simply did not remember enough about the world Alastair Reynolds had created, beyond that I really enjoyed the series.

The universe that Alastair Reynolds created in this trilogy ending in Absolution Gap is complex and interesting. First, any reader considering this series should read them sequentially and without break. This series is set far in the future and spans many years and many worlds. These books are hard-core detailed and complex SCIFI set in a fractious universe. Humanity has diverged into many varied cultures and faces aliens bent on destroying all life. If you have not read Alastair Reynolds before, you are in for a treat, it is hard-core SCIFI filled with science, math, engineering, and wonderful characters, heroes, and evil villains.

The story of Absolution Gap switches back and forth across three different time frames in the distant future, with the characters, timelines, and action converging in the third, with a fourth culminating period captured in an epilogue. My favorite sections of the book involved Clavain and Scorpio, but I always enjoy good books when the author surprises me and Alastair Reynolds does that in this book. I listened to the audio version for the second time, and the storyline is so complex, I think I actually enjoyed listening to this book more the second time. John Lee is one of my favorite narrators and his performance in Absolution Gap was simply outstanding. Absolution Gap is a great SCIFI novel. Not as good as Revelation Space but still excellent. With a narration at a solid 5 stars., this book is probably about 4.6 stars rounded up.

World beyond our minds eye

Fascinating work. It's details sometime get boring but, later they help the mind's picture what and where you are and how it should feel. Each of this group gets you to a point of frustration then in just phrase or chapter change ......BANG you hooked and can't wait for the next word or sentence or chapter.... you must not stop it won't let you go.

gripping

Love the complexity of cultures explored, the difficulty of the decisions, the variety of characters. Some long plot lines are advanced in this one, some stories wrapped up. I felt a little too overtly manipulated by the late addition of a new player, both deus ex machina and motivation for more books. Still, I find these hugely immersive, and Im sure to push ahead!

Alastair Reynolds does it again

Quickly becoming one of my all time favorite authors when it comes to science fiction, Alastair Reynolds weaves a story of impressive scale and wondrous adventure. spanning well over one hundred years, Absolution Gap brings the Revelations Space saga to an extremely satisfying conclusion. I only hope this isn't the last book in the saga as while it ends beautifully I feel like the story could continue without any issue.

Truly remarkable, a joy and a privilege to read!

An incredible mix of hard SF, gripping action, clever and dynamic characters, and way out-of-the-box thinking. Also impressed that the author has enough faith in his readers not to spoon feed elements. I haven't been this excited about a series since starting the Foundation saga. Would give it 6 stars if I could. BRAVO!!

Mr Pink!

Holy ****, I love Scorpio so much. All my favorite characters keep dieing! Why Alastair!

One UK's best Sci Fi writers works magic again

Read. This. Series! Or listen. Narration is great. And author Alistair Reynolds writes everything I wish PFH had the talent to write. I wish I had picked this series first. Absolution Gap has been the best book so far!

So, look, if you want child-like reading/listening with cliche characters and cardboard conversations all held together by teenage het boy pin up fantasy, go with Peter F. Hamilton - he'll serve you up an imperial ass ton of hot garbage that will actually retard your ability rationally see the world.

But, if you want an epic space opera with characters that are alive, and if you want real science & speculation, Reynolds delivers all this and more.

Do you want male characters that are more than comical alpha male satire or female characters that aren't just auto-ambulatory flesh lights (like you'll find in Peter F. Hamilton's alt-right space fantasies,) Reynolds has got you covered. His characters have depth & emotional range & a uniqueness unto themselves.

Sentience thrives & life dares to step outside zero sum thinking - machines are both miraculous and menace. Old tropes and truisms only come out of character's mouths as one might expect in real life - as it should be when writing believable characters. Humans, if anything, are intergalactically famous for being trite - so true, yes, but - so humanity & all life in the universe is capable of so much more! Alistair Reynolds shows you this over epochs of space time. Not every story arc ends happy - there are wins & losses - friends die - some rise from the ashes through technology - but there are still Newtonian laws in place on the macro scale - there are limitations even to technological golden ages.

If you can manage to have an attention span longer than the half life of a fruit fly (and look, I'm actually ADHD, debilitatingly so - so, it's not hard, these books are compelling,) put in the effort on the first books and the first bits of this novel - and I promise you will find it all to be worthwhile & thrilling.

Wtf happened to Clevain’s voice?

They completely switched Clevain’s voice with some shitty Texas accent and now the entire story is really hard to listen to… FFS. Figure it out.

Best ever?

I am sci-fi fan and I must say that this story is a candidate for all time high on my list.
Creative ideas and emotional characters help the already sound story along in an epic manner.

Note that Redemption Ark really should be read first.