House of Suns

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

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

Enjoyed greatly

After listening to three other Alastair Reynolds books I'd have to say I enjoyed this one the most. I was a bit skeptical about the idea of shatterlings when I read the summary before listening and wondered if the idea was too complex to support a good story line. It was a bit confusing at first, but then came together very nicely. It really made me think about the passage of deep time. I also think narrator John Lee does a great job.

Entertaining and Moving Space Opera

God-like human clones ("shatterlings"), mysterious machine people, countless galactic meta-civilizations rising and falling ("turnover"), 200,000 year reunions, memory and data "troves" millions of years old, near-speed of light interstellar travel in near-sentient spaceships, macro wars and micro wars, star-dams and wormholes, homunculus weapons and gamma canons, an addicting sinister fantasy "game," and more, all playing key roles in Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns, his page-turning space opera story of charming incestuous romance, Byzantine intrigue, appalling treachery, ferocious revenge, desperate pursuit, and fitting karma. Reynolds' first-person narrators, Abigail, Purslane, and Campion, are appealing, his machine person Hesperus charismatic. Neat themes about memory (repressed, recovered, or shared) and the curiosity, bravery, cruelty, glory, and futility of human nature and endeavor. An appropriate climax and a satisfying resolution.

John Lee's reading of the novel is excellent, clear and nuanced and savory, with effective use of different pitches and accents (to make it easier to differentiate the various cloned Shatterlings and machine people from each other). Some listeners have said that it is not easy to tell Campion and Purslane narrating their alternate chapters, but if you can't catch Lee's slightly more growly Campion and subtly more feminine Pursulane, you can just wait for one of them to say the other's name or keep in mind which one narrated the previous chapter, and it's not difficult to follow.

In conclusion, listening to Reynolds' novel read by Lee was by turns entertaining, awe-inspiring, humorous, exciting, thought-provoking, and moving.

A bit confusing

It took me a while (I'm a bit slow sometimes, especially with intermittent listening) to realize that the first person narrative changed characters every chapter. The voices are not greatly different, so I was confused by the narrative and character names. Once I realized that the first person changed chapter-by-chapter, things began to make more sense.

This book covers vast expanses of time and space - millions of years, millions of light years. Ships the size of cities; people with lifespans measured in millions of years. The story was very engaging at times, very drawn out and, dare I say, boring at other times. I found the interrogation of the four prisoners and the "funeral scene" particularly long and boring, unnecessary to the storyline. These sections could have been almost entirely eliminated without harming the story. I almost quit listening entirely during the funeral portion because it was long and pointless.

Overall, I'd have to say I liked the book because of the ideas and concepts presented. However, I had little emotional connection with the characters.

I found the narrator John Lee easy to listen to, though I wish his voice characterizations had more "personality". Most of the characters sounded very much alike in tone, tenor, pacing. There were a few who had different accents, which helped, but the main characters were too similar for me, especially early in the book before I picked up on the subtle differences.

I probably will not be seeking more Alastair Reynolds books anytime soon.

vast time and distance.

a story of grand time scales. the dialogue was overly formal. but I think that's the authors style. you get used to it. vast time and distance. and an overly formal cast of characters.

Best sci fi I've read in years

I prefer more dry sci fi like Asimov or Greg Egan and this nailed it. The book spans millions of years and focuses more on events than emotions and wastes no time on action military scenes. The gradual build up and reveal of the puzzle provides room for gradual character expression and a sense of attachment to grow.