Customer Reviews

Deep Navigation

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

DEEP NAVIGATION offers a collection of short stories of Alastair Reynolds covering his entire career, including his first published story to the last published within the last year. It's a top pick for any Reynolds fan, and appears in a limited edition to boot, making this a certain, quick collector's item as well as a strong science fiction library addition.

Great collection, even if one or two stories have appeared in other publications you can not go wrong if you're an Alastair Reynolds reader or anyone looking for a thought provoking escape from an evolving superstar.

This book was a very nice selection of short stories from Alastair; several of which are earlier works (80s) of his. I have all of his books as part of my permanent collection, and this one will be a fine addition to that. The diversity of the stories is great, with a certain British twist to several of them. The only reason for 4 stars instead of five is that I did not find any of the stories truly 'original' of the author. But the book is very nice; I got the hardcover as always and it is sturdy with nice bond paper. Of the stories, I found the ones with Revelation Space relations to be the most exciting. But 'Stroboscopic' has an interesting premise given the limitations he artificially put into the story, and 'Tiger, Burning' as a thought provacative large-scale story. Highly recommended for all long-time fans, as well as anyone new to the author.

I've made a point of reading all of Reynolds' books, and have struggled for years to find a good way to introduce prospective readers to his work without forcing them to commit to a full-length novel. This collection provided an excellent entry-point, and I've loaned this book of short stories to two of my friends since purchasing it.

My only lament is that the short-story format doesn't allow a reader to see how well Reynolds sustains his narrative voice in a longer work. However, his originality and thoughtfulness still shine through. Many of these stories were new to me, and it reminded me why Alastair Reynolds has been one of my favorite authors ever since I discovered Revelation Space.

After being disappointed by Zima Blue and Other Stories, Deep Navigation has been a positive surprise. Most of the stories are based on original ideas - Nunivak Snowflakes, Stroboscopic, Byrd Land Six and On the Oodnadatta come to mind; some others take a look at old concepts with a new twist, like Viper or Soirée. Even though Reynolds is mostly a master of long story arcs (as seen in the Revelation Space universe), Fresco is probably his shortest story so far and a small gem as such. To be fair, there are small issues with some of the stories, where Fury would need a little more explanation of the main twist in the story since as written it does not seem really believable and I simply did not understand the main idea of The Receivers, which might be a problem on my side, though.
All in all, I can only recommend this short story collection, the more if you already are an Alastair Reynolds fan. You will not be disappointed.