Redemption Ark

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Late in the 26th century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors---alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons---and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them. But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes---and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Reynolds confirms his place among the leaders of the hard-science space-opera renaissance." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)
"The best of the new breed of space opera. Wild action on a grand scale spans well-imagined and developed worlds." ( The Denver Post)

Stick with this series!

I've gotten the three books in this series as well as Chasm City, a stand alone novel in the same universe. When reading these reviews, I notice many negative comments, and I actually, at one point, probably written the same.
However, after quitting the first book, and focusing on books by other "british space opera" writers such as Peter Hamilton and Richard K. Morgan, I went back to give it another try.
I think what makes these books great is probably the same thing that turns some listeners off. The mythology of the universe is so deep, that until you are familiar with it, it is overwhelming with the references to the different factions, planets, aliens, etc.
But once that familiarity is gained, the stories are so rich, that I am disappointed that I have finished.
And as far as the narrator goes, it seems as though people either love or hate John Lee. But he is incredibly talented with a unique style and once you get use to him, his narration is addicting.

84 out of 100.

I really liked Revelation Space, Chasm City, and even The Prefect. This is a small step backwards. I still think his best work is Pushing Ice, or House of Suns.

Dissapointing, a missed opportunity :-((

I was looking forward to enjoying this book, I listened to a sample and concluded that the narrator had a nice clear voice, and the blurb seemed interesting.
Sadly I've given up on it.
This narrator reads the words totally deadpan, his punctuation is virtually non-existent, he moves from one storyline (or viewpoint) with barely a pause for breath, so one is constantly lurching from one storyline thread to another, having lost the plot, and this is a fairly complex book.
What i'm talking about here is the audiobook equivelant of a book printer using different fonts, italics, bold typeface etc to differentiate between storylines etc, as an aid to clarity and comprehension.
Some narrators go to the other extreme, trying to give every character his or her (or it's) own voice, and this can be irritating too, (check out Larry Niven's "Protector" for an example of what I mean), whereas for an example of best practice, check out WWW.Wake, by Robert J Sawyer, a model of clarity.
This is a missed opportunity because I guess that this book is unlikely to be re-recorded in a more sympathetic reading, so I'll never get to hear it or the rest of the series, (or indeed anything else by this narrator).

AUDOOBOOK PRODUCERS PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!

Very Disappointing After "Chasm City"

I loved "Chasm City." The characters were fascinating, the plot dilemma very original, and the world-building exhilarating and unique. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this novel--in fact, I returned it for my credit back under Audible's excellent guarantee policy.

Any compelling sense of suspense failed to hook me, and I didn't care about any of the characters. Scenes seemed to drift back and forth and eventually I just lost interest entirely, alas. I had hoped for a new trilogy to absorb me, but this is not it. More and more frequently I am of the opinion that we need more stand-alone novels and fewer serializations that leave readers stunned, bored, or dismayed after having their hopes lifted by the original and then dashed.

Fermi Paradox as SF Fable

This is book two in the main sequence of the Revelation Space series. I found that I was much more engaged with the story and characters in this novel compared to my level of interest in REVELATION SPACE. Many of the story elements that were introduced in the first book are given meaning here. This is grand scale Space Opera, on a level with Olaf Stapledon and Stephen Baxter. Humanity is starting to branch into political factions that resemble different species. In many ways Reynolds reminds me of Larry Niven, especially in the way he throws out big ideas. It is a book full of ideas and that is its strong suit. This was a fun book to listen to, and even though the situations had nothing to do with reality, I found myself reveling along with the author; rooting him on to see what he would come up with next.

I have heard it said that Reynolds was trying to tell a meaningful story without resorting to the usual worn out Science Fiction trappings such as Faster than Light travel, and tractor beams. In this he is not entirely successful. His slower than light ships do require certain plot constraints that FTL stories neatly avoid. The time-scales for the story are necessarily lifetimes long. To do this he must, of course, include longevity and hibernation technology to insure his characters live long enough to see the end. There is a nice use of Time Travel that becomes a critical plot element. Of course steller evolution plays a big part in Revelation Space, as indeed the very idea of evolution of intelligent life. This is so central to the story that if you are not already familiar with the Fermi Paradox you will be by the end of this book. So it seems that Reynolds has traded one SF trope for another. All just tools in the story teller’s kit.

John Lee is again the narrator for Reynolds. To my ear Lee is much more in sync with the text in this book than in the previous novel. I do think that here he had better characters to work with, and his voice is as soothing as ever. His voice is so sonorous that at times I found myself tuning the story out and listening to John Lee almost as I would listen to music. And that is a danger for this book, for, like all the Alastair Reynolds books I have encountered so far, it does require an attentive listener. This book is much better than REVELATION SPACE but does ot reach the level of excellence of CHASM CITY.

Get's old

Someone needs to tell the author and editor that after you spend 1/2 the book going all over the galaxy you can't spend the next 1/2 the book just sitting inside a ship doing procedural stuff! First 1/2 was interesting, second 1/2 was very boring.
Characters were very 1 dimensional and the way they handled situations was very naive given the level of technology they are supposed to have.
I wouldn't recommend this book.

Oh my god

What happened. I’ve read everything Reynolds’s has written except Absolution Gap. This book was so boring. I thought I liked his work but now I just don’t know. 80% of this book is details that have nothing to do with the plot, character development or world building.

Be warned.

Take A Sip Of Some Excellent Hard Sci-Fi

In the distant future, humans are locked in a desperate civil war for control of the Universe. Ah, but there is a third entity who is lurking in the outer realms of space with plans of hunting down and killing all humans. They are ruthless, relentless and should be feared.

I enjoyed Alastair Reynolds’ “Chasm City” and decided to listen to his Revelation Space Series. I hated book one, “Revelation Space”, and quickly abandoned my plan. After several months of healing from the bad listen, I decided to fire up “Redemption Ark” and learned that resistance is futile. I will lower my shields and be assimilated by this Hard Sci-Fi series.

It's good but a minor niggle

If you could sum up Redemption Ark in three words, what would they be?

Alastair Reynolds writes a great tale. He's a former physicist and tries hard to keep his yarn consistent with the universe we inhabit... except in one thing. For some reason, he thinks the flow of time increases in a gravitational well... of course it does exactly the opposite (time slows.) It's a weird error and not even necessary as a plot device - so maybe it's better he sticks to writing. :)

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

JL's performance is excellent - far better than it was in Revelation Space

Well worth the time

Reynolds is a good writer and Lee is a good narrator. The story and content is well above average. The curious thing is that the author presents some of the most radical concepts and themes almost as mundane life in the 28th Century descriptions.