Revelation Space

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself.

With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason. And if that reason is uncovered, the universe - and reality itself - could be irrevocably altered.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"One of the best books of the year." ( Science Fiction Chronicle)
"Ferociously intelligent and imbued with a chilling logic - it may really be like this Out There." (Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Light of Other Days)

😲 WOW!

Somewhat of a confusing start, but don't let that deter you, keep on listening and you'll get it and you won't want to stop!

Riveting sci-fi

With an evolving story that keeps you on your toes, and a number of innovative science fiction ideas, this is a great listen.
The narrator is okay, but the accents he gives his characters annoy more than they contribute, in my opinion.

Another great story ruined by John Lee

What didn’t you like about John Lee’s performance?

The performance by the narrator in this book is the same as every other performance I have head by John Lee, very monotone, no way to distinguish characters and no breaks/pauses between scene's or chapters.

One of the best epic space trilogies ever

Everything Alastair Reynolds has written is good, but this trilogy is essential. Such memorable characters, ships, and settings. Try Peter F Hamilton or Stephen R Donaldson (Gap series) if you like this one.

Great story...Poor audio

The story was great. Poor audio quality made listening difficult. Volume was very inconsistent. Setting volume to hear the quieter dialogue and the booming bass blows out the speakers.

this...(in 15 words)

was a very good book,book,book, book, book, book, book, book, book, book, book, done.

tough listen

very bad editing choices in this book. Out of about 100 audiobooks i own on audible this has by far been the toughest one to slough through. monotone narrator. no difference between characters voices. the worst accents i ever heard. no breaks between scenes at all. story is good not great. abit boring at times made much worse by the narrator. not to be mean but i just want you to know what this book is before u spend ur money on it

John Lee has some serious talent…

…for putting me to sleep. I’ve had to go back and listen to multiple chapters because his voice is so soothing and pleasant that I have fallen asleep. I started this book on a day when I had a 3hr drive so I was excited, but I’m literally almost done with it and I know I have no idea what’s going on. His voice fades into the background so completely that even while driving and having no other distractions, I zoned out. When his voice drops to lower pitches, I don’t hear anything but a pleasant droning.

Also, this book was edited to remove the pauses between breaks in the book. So you’ll be listening to one character and then suddenly it’s another perspective. That was not the narrator’s fault at all, likely an error in the editing department, but it made it very confusing to track.

I literally just went to the store and bought the physical book, because what I have heard has been captivating but I can’t for the life of me get around the performance.

Meh

Decent world building. Okay story, but felt like it didn’t hold together too well. I usually like both the author and narrator, but this wasn’t their best work. The characters were hard to distinguish. The biggest issue was editing. The plot switched among separate threads without any pause, so one sentence ended and the next began in a different setting with different characters. The lack of any sort of signal that the characters had changed made it hard to follow, especially given that the characters were hard to distinguish (at least for me - not distinct enough in their accents and speaking cadence). Overall, it was a difficult listen, and perhaps not worth the effort for a less-than-stellar story.

So big and so good.

I loved this book. It was my first from audible.com, and I was not only immediately sucked into the story, but I also really enjoyed the narration. Regardless of what other reviewers have said, I found the accents and dialects to be well done, unlike many contrived and corny variations. John Lee's voice acting is subtle and properly punctuated, without all the histrionics that usually ruin audiobooks. Moreover, although lengthy, Reynolds moved the plot along well while dipping into details that thoroughly paint just the right picture. The description and detail is vivid and expansive, and I frequently felt as though I was wandering the Nostalgia for Infinity spacecraft when some corridor or facility was described. The characters were compelling and interesting, and you really want to know each one's story as the plot thickens. And with no real "good guy," I still empathized with the various protagonists, wanting them each to succeed at their respective goal - even when it meant contradicting or conflicting with other characters' motivations. Really great. I'm suggesting it to all my SF fan friends, and moving on to Chasm City.