The Sword and Laser discussion

So what do you guys know about the other books? I've heard Chasm City is good but "gothic". The Revenger series is less hard sf, and more like Star Wars. He's also done a Doctor Who book.

I enjoyed Pushing Ice and Permafrost, giving them both 3 stars. I didn’t care for Revelation Space, a 2-Star read for me. That’s a decent ratio, and I have AR on order from the library.

Reynolds, yeah...I have a, well, not quite "love/hate" as I've read everything he's written, but definitely a "love/eyeroll." Large parts of his Revelation Space books are derivative of Niven. Then there's the need to do a grossout scene in every book. Still snapped 'em all up.

So, kinda recapping them:

* Revelation Space: The "Known Space" book Niven never wrote. Most derivative of his works. Pretty Nivenesque until the last part, which gets so far into the physics of a neutron star that even Niven would have bowed out.

* Chasm City: Violent SF adventure. Lots o' science. "Plot Twists" seen 200 pages off. RS universe standalone.

* Redemption Ark: The Inhibitors have come round and guess what, they want to kill everything! Zzzzz....but the forum lends itself to some good scientific storytelling. RS main sequence 2.

* Absolution Gap: A planet is there, except when it isn't. That's the main mystery. Reynolds sends up religion in a way that would make anyone not actively hostile to faith wonder what his issue is. Gets extra grotesque. RS main sequence 3.

* The Prefect/Aurora Rising: Mystery in space, set in the "Glitter Band" of satellites orbiting the planet with Chasm City. Pre-Inhibitors. Eventually part of a series within RS altho this wasn't true when it came out. Not a Duran Duran song. (The Prefect -fect -fect -fect -fect...)

Elysium Fire: Another Prefect book. Decent SF mystery. Loads of science. Major grossout scene with a space habitat destruction described in graphic detail.

* Inhibitor Phase: New release that puzzlingly continues the RS main sequence that appeared complete. Pretty good hard SF adventure. Includes the grossest scene yet in the RS universe.

* Pushing Ice: Did you love Olaf Stapledon's books? Then this derivative work may be for you. Hey, it isn't worse than the ending of Clarke's Rama series.

* Revenger series: YA featuring female space pirates using light sails. That's the best part. It doesn't make any actual sense but parts of it are great. The first book includes, natch, a completely unnecessary amputation.

* House of Suns: Really excellent work featuring "shatterlings" - clones of the same person - living on the edge of lightspeed and congregating every millennium or so. Vast scale. Probably his best work. Based on the novella Thousandth Night with some of the same characters but in different outcomes.

* Galactic North: Collection of shorts mainly for RS fans who already know the universe inside and out. Except for the truly excellent "Weather" which can be read stand alone.

I'll stop there, because I could go on (and ON and on.) If you would like my jaded opinion on any other of his works, feel free!

This was my first Reynolds book, and I loved it! Obvious next choice for me would be Elysium Fire, the other Dreyfus novel.

Tempted to try Revelation Space after that, but comparisons to Niven don't help me since I've not read any of his!

I also really enjoyed 'Terminal World' which is a kind of steampunk novel. Stand alone although set loosely in the RS universe.

I really didn't like the middle of Pushing Ice, which is kind of like Gilligan's Island, where Ginger and Mary Ann fight for control of the island. I read the first Revelation Space a while ago, but I have trouble remembering it. In my review, I said I was sorry a certain threat wasn't dealt with until a later novel (I assume), but it did have fun parts.

AndrewP wrote: "I also really enjoyed 'Terminal World' which is a kind of steampunk novel. Stand alone although set loosely in the RS universe."

Yeah, that could easily have been a trilogy. Reynolds said he'd told the whole story in one book. *shrug* Sure was a lot of reveals in the last 50 or so pages.

John (Taloni) wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "I also really enjoyed 'Terminal World' which is a kind of steampunk novel. Stand alone although set loosely in the RS universe."

Yeah, that could easily have been a trilogy. Reynol..."

Terminal World is the only Reynolds I’ve read. I enjoyed the world building but I found the ending a bit abrupt and unsatisfactory- like you say, there were a lot of reveals near the end. I can’t help but think it would have worked better as a trilogy.

My first Reynolds was House of Suns, which I really liked -- kind of a standalone relativistic space opera operating on vast scales of time & space.

I also adored the Revenger books -- quasi-Victorian space pirates solar sailing around a far-future reconstructed solar system littered with the inexplicable detritus of long-distant alien incursions, which seemed aimed laser-like directly at all of my interests.

I don't particularly care for the Inhibitor books. I liked this one, I need to read Elysium Fire. I loved House of Suns and the other story in that universe, Thousandth Night / Minla's Flowers.

I have read pretty much his hole oeuvre. I have enjoyed his books but there is a strongly nihilistic streak running through pretty much everything. I enjoy the batshit crazy cosmological mashup science.

His revenger books are dark YA which have the advantage of being shorter while still having the same over all feel.

I really enjoyed Poseidon's Children which has the benefit of elephants and generally being more hopeful than many of his other books.

Definitely in the tradition of Banks without the overarching structure of the Culture.

Having worked as a Space Scientist his earlier works have a veneer of credibility often lacking.

It looks like I read his short story "Troika" at one point and was fairly dismissive of it as "typical" and a "big dumb object" story. :D

"Zima Blue" was a pretty good episode of Love Death + Rockets, adapted from his short story about an artist in the future.

Iain wrote: "I have read pretty much his hole oeuvre."

Now I want to read an entire catalog of black hole stories.

There is also a Prefect Dreyfus short story available online at

https://www.gollancz.co.uk/news/2018/...

Ooo.

I've read and enjoyed most of his books, although I wasn't so keen on Terminal World for some reason. I recently finished Elysium Fire which I enjoyed.

But, given I'm also a fan of Doctor Who, I couldn't pass up that one. My review is here but the upshot is that it's a really good tie-in, but I suspect you have to be a fan of the Third Doctor and his era specifically to appreciate it. (Like any good tie-in, it builds on what's already there, and, in this case, that's the early '70s version of the show).

Mark wrote: "There is also a Prefect Dreyfus short story available online at

https://www.gollancz.co.uk/news/2018/..."

For those who are interested, the story is set right after Aurora Rising but before Elysium Fire.

I found it a nice bridge between the two, but I love that character so much I'd read a story about Dreyfus arranging his socks.

House of Suns is my favorite, but I enjoyed the "Revelation Space" Trilogy, the short stories, and Pushing Ice. The Revenger books were too YA for me, Reynolds/Asher/Banks are my holy trinity of "modern SF"