The Prefect

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus. But then his investigation uncovers something far more serious than mass slaughter---a covert plot by an enigmatic entity who seeks nothing less than total control of the Glitter Band. Before long, the Panoply detectives are fighting against something worse than tyranny, in a struggle that will lead to more devastation and more death. And Dreyfus will discover that to save what is precious, you may have to destroy it.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A fascinating hybrid of space opera, police procedural and character study.... This is solid British SF adventure, evoking echoes of le Carre and Sayers with a liberal dash of Doctor Who." ( Publishers Weekly)

A possible explanation for the melding plague?

Its Alastair Reynolds, and all his stuff is great for the most part, I like the way that Dreyfus has a Hyperpig as a partner or deputy Sparver is great and from listening to the other books he reminds me of Scorpio which is cool.

This is sorta a prequel to Chasm City because its before the Melding Plague, but this book was written after that book so if you like Reynolds stuff you probably already read that one - this is no problem because although this takes place before the Melding Plague its sorta a story of its own unlike the trilogy of Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap this book like Chasm City was a story that's just in the same universe as them, and Chasm City is the name of the city on the Planet or Moon named Yellowstone that the Glitter Band (latter re-named the rust belt) orbits a large gas giant with 10,000+ habitats.

The 10,000+ habitats are all self sufficient but all vote and that voting is policed by Panoply but they only insure fare voting, they dont care what else goes on inside the habitats - some are VT's or "Voluntarily Tyranny" where people actually want to be controlled, mostly this goes bad and there is nothing that can be done about it.

The good thing about this is that there are some technologies that are talked about in the other books but arent used anymore because of the Melding Plague, which is nice to see them used.

John Lee does a good job as usual but he really only has about 3-5 voices and mostly uses 2-3 of them at most - you have to get over this because its hard to follow because at times you can forget who is talking but thats OK because you figure it out pretty fast.

The end IMO hints at a possible explanation to the Melding Plague that is a large part of the other 4 books set in the universe, the Clockmaker and Aurora fighting it out, maybe after a time they combine forces and unwittingly create the Melding Plague?

A bit simple

The concept of this book was great. The narrator was good as well.

I found the characters a bit simple ...... The lead character was overly right all the time ... it got a bit annoying ..... The ending was abrupt that left me asking myself what just happened..... it ended so quickly ...

Even with my negative comments i did enjoy the book .. I guess I enjoyed it enough that I wanted it to be just that much better

Riveting to the end with a neat twist.

Great to bring together some of the key threads of other books into the whole picture. Also a nice change that the whole book is in such a short time period, not spread out over decades.

Somewhere in the Middle

Once you find your favorite sci-fi series, everything else is somewhere in the middle of being okay and so-so. You are always comparing them even though the story is different and not from the same author. “The Prefect” might be my new favorite sci-fi series that I want to keep track of. Maybe because the book is being read by one of the best narrators, John Lee. Or maybe I just need a new series to follow because most of my favorites have already ended or coming to an end. Whatever the case may happen to be, the first book is a few stars beyond being good, but not great.

You simply can't go wrong with these two.

Complex, yet refined.
Intelligent, yet accessibile.
Relaxing, yet terrifying.

No complaints and onto the sequel, Elysium Fire.

A creative and well paced SF story

If you're looking for a highly original premise, this is your book. I doubt I'll ever find a story with this many diverse concepts crammed into it again!

Fantastic big hearted well plotted

A new series for me and my first Alastair Reynolds—but not my last. Dreyfuss is my favorite sort of heroic main: smart, ironic, very very good at his job. John Lee’s narration was masterfully paced and gave terrific subtle characterizations.

DCC

what were you guys smoking when you wrote this one outside of the box I am loving it keep them coming thank you for letting me in your world

Great book all the way around

Great engaging story, space opera at its best. The narration was superb that action was fast paced without being frenetic. I would recommend.

Took Two Tries

The first time I started this story I got a bit lost in the universe he created, but the second time around I couldn't put it down. Wonderful book.