Galactic North (Paperback)

~ (Author) "'You realise you might die down there,' said Warren..." (more)
Key Phrases: dilation sleep, chest armour, other worms, Van Ness, Colonel Jax, Melding Plague (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reynolds is one of sci-fi's brightest stars. (He) writes Big Science Fiction. Enormous spaceships travel though space that feels galactic in scale, a feat of depiction that is still noteworthy in the genre." -- Keith Brooke THE GUARDIAN

Product Description

Gathered here for the first time are Alastair Reynolds' stories and novelettes set in the universe of REVELATION SPACE, his first bestselling blockbuster. GALACTIC NORTH will include several brand-new stories and novelettes written specially for this collection.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (December 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575083123
• ISBN-13: 978-0575083127
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #365,052 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Future in Smaller Doses, April 27, 2008

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Galactic North (Hardcover)

Galactic North (2006) is a collection of SF stories set in the Revelation Space universe. It contains eight stories and an Afterword by the author.

Great Wall of Mars is a Conjoiner story about Nevil Clavain and Galiana in the home nest. Glacial relates another Clavain and Galiana tale about a failed outsystem colony. A Spy in Europa recounts a Demarchist tale about an enemy agent who gives his all. Weather describes the rescue of a Conjoiner from a pirate ship and how she returns the favor.

Dilation Sleep tells of a refugee from Yellowstone who operates on a crewmember with the Melding Plague. Grafenwalder's Bestiary features a collector of rare beasts in the Yellowstone Rust Belt. Nightingale is about a mission to retrieve a Sky Edge war criminal from a lost hospital ship. Galactic North takes a ramliner captain on a millennia long pursuit of a pirate ship.

These stories convey various short subjects within the RS milieu. It covers all the several technological/political groups found within the novels, but develops their characteristics in greater detail. Since the novels are packed with strange technologies and politics, this collection makes a great introduction to the longer works. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Reynolds fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of lightspeed ships, exotic technology and outsystem colonies.

-Arthur W. Jordin

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short stories set in the Revelation Space universe, June 7, 2007

By	Woofdog (Miami) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galactic North (Hardcover)

This review may contain spoilers.

This book presupposes some familiarity with the Revelation Space series, as some stories lose a lot of their meaning or significance if you don't understand persons or events referred to. Others depend much less on any familiarity with RS.

Along with the recent publication of The Prefect, Alistair Reynolds has begun publishing in the RS universe again. Stories here include background stories on Nevil Clavain, Felka, and Galiana, stories set in the Sol System, a story set on Yellowstone post-plague, one on Sky'e Edge, and a somewhat bizarre story which finally gives more than a name to Greenfly, (which was tossed into the very end of Absolution Gap with no explanation whatsoever, one of several defects in that title,) though the temporal telescoping in the last story reminds me more of something Poul Anderson might have written.

I wonder if Reynolds himself had decided on the origin of greenfly when Absolution Gap was published; the 4-page epilogue which substituted for actual resolution of that book gives few if any clues...

This is an enjoyable collection, well worth getting!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sprinkling of Gems, July 28, 2008

By	Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Galactic North (Paperback)

Although Reynolds is best know for his detailed, long and literate space operas, I found this collection of related tales quite satisfying. Think of a series of vignettes stringing into the future with occasional references to the past and that's the nature of this book. Each tale is a complete story in itself although knowing a little background is helpful.

Many of the stories are simply mysteries to be solved; others highlight a new direction for mankind or choices we will one day be forced to make. All of them draw the reader into the action and the characters until, at the end, a sort of surrealistic haze covers the landscape. He has gone beyond words and yet there they are, describing almost unimaginable creatures and events. Yet, after all is said and done, after all the smart matter, new intelligences, nanotech, discovery of the inner secrets of the universe, it is still the human relationship that excites and drives and makes us want to read more.

My Grade: A