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Alastair Reynolds

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Revelation Space Hardcover – June 1, 2001

by Alastair Reynolds (Author)

4.2 8,645 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Relevation Space: The Inhibitor Trilogy

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Convinced that solving the disappearance of the planet Amarantin's native race a million years earlier is vital to his own people's survival, Dan Silvester finds himself targeted when he learns that the truth could alter the fabric of the universe. A first novel.

Book 1 of 3

Relevation Space: The Inhibitor Trilogy
Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ace Hardcover
Publication date

June 1, 2001
Dimensions

6.58 x 1.44 x 9.2 inches
ISBN-10

9780441008353
ISBN-13

978-0441008353
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“The Jugglers offer the key, Doctor.” Sylveste was too shocked to interrupt. “It was explained to me,” Lascaille continued blithely. “While I was in Revelation Space.”
Highlighted by 129 Kindle readers
“The human capacity for grief. It just isn’t capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn’t just level off—it just gives up, resets itself to zero. Admit it. None of us feels a damn about these people.”
Highlighted by 115 Kindle readers
“I think I’ve reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level, if that’s what you mean.”
Highlighted by 93 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Alastair Reynolds's first novel is "hard" SF on an epic scale, crammed with technological marvels and immensities. Its events take place over a relatively short period, but have roots a billion years old--when the Dawn War ravaged our galaxy.

Sylveste is the only man ever to return alive and sane from a Shroud, an enclave in space protected by awesome gravity-warping defenses: "a folding a billion times less severe should have required more energy than was stored in the entire rest-mass of the galaxy." Now an intuition he doesn't understand makes him explore the dead world Resurgam, whose birdlike natives long ago tripped some booby trap that made their own sun erupt in a deadly flare.

Meanwhile, the vast, decaying lightship Nostalgia for Infinity is coming for Sylveste, whose dead father (in AI simulation) could perhaps help the Captain, frozen near absolute zero yet still suffering monstrous transformation by nanotech plague. Most of Infinity's tiny crew have hidden agendas--Khouri the reluctant contract assassin believes she must kill Sylveste to save humanity--and there are two bodiless stowaways, one no longer human and one never human. Shocking truths emerge from bluff, betrayal, and ingenious lies.

The trail leads to a neutron star where an orbiting alien construct has defenses to challenge the Infinity's planet-wrecking superweapons.

At the heart of this artifact, the final revelations detonate--most satisfyingly. Dense with information and incident, this longish novel has no surplus fat and seems almost too short. A sparkling SF debut. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly

This distant-past/far-future, hard sci-fi tour de force probes a galaxy-wide enigma: why does spacefaring humanity encounter so few remnants of intelligent life? Excavating the 900,000-year-old Amarantin civilization on its home world, Resurgam, archaeologist Dan Sylveste discovers evidence of a splinter cult that abandoned Resurgam for the stars but returned, only to be swallowed up by a mysterious cataclysm that destroyed all the Amarantins. Aboard the Nostalgia for Infinity, a vast light-hugger ship in interstellar space, the ominous Triumvirate of cyborg starfarers seeks Sylveste to heal its captain, afflicted by the deadly Melding Plague, which turns once-humans into their own semisentient spaceships. In Chasm City on the slum-ridden world of Yellowstone, assassin Ana Khouri joins the Nostalgia's crew intent on killing Sylveste. Clearly intoxicated by cutting-edge scientific research in bioengineering, space physics, cybernetics Reynolds spins a ravishingly inventive tale of intrigue. Hard SF addicts will applaud the author's talent for creating convincing alien beings and the often uneasy merging of human and machine intelligence, depicted here as nearly too frighteningly real for comfort. Others, however, may find these human-cybernetic hybrid characters chilling, dispassionate (except for their built-in drives toward revenge and murder) and foreboding. Reynolds's vision of a future dominated by artificial intelligence trembles with the ultimate cold of the dark between the stars.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0441008356
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace Hardcover (June 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780441008353
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441008353
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.58 x 1.44 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #236,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #313 in Colonization Science Fiction
- #6,016 in Science Fiction Adventures

Customer Reviews:
4.2 8,645 ratings

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Alastair Reynolds

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Alastair Reynolds was born in Wales in 1966. He has a Ph.D. in astronomy. From 1991 until 2007, he lived in The Netherlands, where he was employed by The European Space Agency as an astrophysicist. He is now a full-time writer.

Photo by Robert Day [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

8,645 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the story interesting and compelling. They describe the book as incredible, enjoyable, and fabulous to read. However, some readers find the pacing slow at times. Opinions are mixed on the character development, writing quality, and complexity. Some find the characters interesting and relatable, while others say they're unable to Muster empathy for them.

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Story quality Readability Originality Character development Writing quality Complexity Science content Pacing

222 customers mention "Story quality"172 positive50 negative

Customers find the story interesting, mind-bending, and entertaining. They say the concepts are compelling, the world-building is really interesting, and the book is imaginative. Readers also mention that the plotting is very good and the universe is well visualized.

"...were more than sufficient to drive the story forward and keep me hooked the whole time." Read more

"...Do not give up after the first 100 pages. It's a good story. It's good storytelling. It's good futuristic science...." Read more

"...i think that the author's plotting is very good and his "universe" is well visualized and logical...." Read more

"...Lots of science embedded in the plot; a complex, twisty story. Too busy? Overcomplicated? Maybe. Recommended anyway...." Read more

134 customers mention "Readability"126 positive8 negative

Customers find the book incredible, enjoyable, and fabulous to read. They also describe it as interesting, exceptional, and compelling. Readers mention it's one of the best science fiction novels recently written. However, some feel the book is unrewarding.

"...All in all, it was an enjoyable novel. It asked the kinds of questions I like to ask, and came up with reasonable answers to them...." Read more

"...If you're looking for a light, breezy, superficial, unrewarding read,...then buy another book.This one is deep...." Read more

"...best, while the third book is the weakest, although all three are worth reading...." Read more

"Good novel, strangely drops you into its world without preamble. Mystery race is dug up to explain their disappearance...." Read more

20 customers mention "Originality"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very original, creative, and breathtaking. They describe it as a true masterpiece and epic. Readers also mention that Reynolds is unique and a modern classic.

"...The predilection of a space opera.Just lovely." Read more

"...cyborg ship with its...crew / passengers...was simply wonderful; very original and certainly a lot of fun to read...." Read more

"...Hard SF relaxes me at night. For me, Reynolds is unique. I wanted to quit on his first, hung in there based on other reviews. Wow!..." Read more

"...It's creative in that it presents a universe alien to us, and the book presents it in a mostly believable way...." Read more

82 customers mention "Character development"45 positive37 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the character development. Some mention the characters are interesting, while others say they're likable and flat.

"...It's good storytelling. It's good futuristic science. Excellent character development...." Read more

"...First of all, the characters generally feel pretty flat and the motivations for each are hazy at best...." Read more

"...It's got mysterious alien artifacts, transhuman characters, and massive ships which are almost organisms in their own right...." Read more

"...is going on, lots of confusion with so many ideas and not enough description of characters and thier factions...." Read more

81 customers mention "Writing quality"46 positive35 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's well-written, compelling, and the author is adequate at his craft. However, others say the writing is cumbersome, has misspellings, typographical errors, and made-up words. They also mention the dialogue is often truly terrible.

"...starting points is that it shows the effects of relativity in a very clear and easily understood way, without actually going into the physics of it...." Read more

"...version of this book has quite a few formatting issues, and maybe a few typos...." Read more

"...the author's plotting is very good and his "universe" is well visualized and logical...." Read more

"...is a tough read, lots of vague descriptions, lots of not really being able to understand what is going on, lots of confusion with so many ideas and..." Read more

61 customers mention "Complexity"30 positive31 negative

Customers find the book complex, detailed, and confusing. They also say it makes perfect sense. However, some readers find the story tedious and hard to follow at times.

"...The details in this book and those that follow are inter-related, complex, and are a job to keep track of....which is what makes it an absolutely..." Read more

"...The structure makes the book a bit difficult to get into, but the author makes sure you never forget the important details. Definitely recommended." Read more

"...Lots of science embedded in the plot; a complex, twisty story. Too busy? Overcomplicated? Maybe. Recommended anyway...." Read more

"...This story, like others by Alastair Reynolds, is quite complicated; for example, he has a huge toolbox of future tech that he just throws at the..." Read more

29 customers mention "Science content"18 positive11 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the science content. Some mention it's excellent, cool, and intelligent. Others say there is confusion with so many ideas and not enough description.

"...Yet the book is so incredibly imaginative. Science is appealing, but technology is abused, and the story is Byzantine in its narrative complexity...." Read more

"...of all, the characters generally feel pretty flat and the motivations for each are hazy at best...." Read more

"...There are lot's of intriguing ideas, locations and advanced science and technology to keep it interesting...." Read more

"...The action is grounded in hard science and all the more believable for it - no FTL here, interstellar travel is done the hard way...." Read more

45 customers mention "Pacing"11 positive34 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book slow. They say it takes a long time to get into and that the story is bogged down by weak characterizations. Readers also mention errors abound, detracting significantly from a tedious story.

"...This one does that and more.For those starting, it starts off slow. It takes awhile...." Read more

"...and other 200 without losing any entertainment, it all gets particularly bad towards the end...." Read more

"...A couple of minor drawbacks:1. 99% of the time, the pacing is fantastic - makes it hard to put down the book...except the last 30 or 40..." Read more

"...from the context in which they were used, but it still slows down the flow of the book. And... EVERYONE talked like that. Seriously?..." Read more

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Hillary Slaughter

Awesome book and I’ve heard the series just gets better from here.

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2024

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this immensely. I love science-fiction, but primarily films and I wanted to find some book series that could scratch this itch. I heard that people struggle with the characters being unlikeable in this book and while I don’t think that’s untrue, I think it’s part of what makes them interesting. They aren’t the best written characters I’ve ever been introduced to, but with the hard sci-fi concepts and universe they were more than sufficient to drive the story forward and keep me hooked the whole time.

3 people found this helpful

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Robert Gamble

A lot of buildup and a rushed ending.. nevertheless a very good story.

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2009

Verified Purchase

First and foremost, this novel rewards those who stick it out. There's a big idea at the center of it and the story is built around the Fermi Paradox (which in a nutshell asks why the galaxy isn't teeming with thousands of interstellar civilizations - or in other words, why can't we easily find them).

It takes awhile to begin to understand what the novel's about however, and it's not helped by the way the author starts from three separate points of view in three different time periods, all of which come together about midway through the book. Additionally, there are numerous references to other events even further back in the past, which have a huge impact on the future. Even though I don't require plots to be extremely straightforward, I feared I'd be lost or forget crucial information when it was necessary. Fortunately, the author 'summarizes' a lot, and does so in relatively natural ways (usually characters talking to each other). One nice thing about the three different starting points is that it shows the effects of relativity in a very clear and easily understood way, without actually going into the physics of it. For someone who understands the basics of relativity, and how velocity can affect time, it's well done, but if someone doesn't understand relativity they might be a bit confused.

One thing the author did which always drives me a bit nuts, is to have a character suddenly understand a lot more than the reader, but the reader is still left in the dark. One character, at one point obviously gets let in on a major revelation but the reader doesn't hear the explanation related. This character later tells another character, and again the explanation is not directly relayed to the reader. I understand that the author wanted to make a big reveal later, but this kind of thing annoys me to no end. Fortunately, the book itself was good enough to overcome this problem.

The 'revelation' at the end does tie the main story up quite neatly, although there are certainly one or two fringe loose ends. It even makes things characters do earlier in the book have a bit more context. It's clever but not really mind blowing.

The writing style is well done, pretty straightforward (except for the jumps in time), and evocative. The characterizations are pretty good but somewhat on the 'generic' side. The universe appears to be an interesting one, but that's not really the point of the novel. The author probably knows his universe inside and out, but only tells us the bits important for the novel itself, and I like that style a lot (certainly more than the 'Gotta make sure the reader understands everything about the universe even if they only need to understand 1% of it for the plot to make sense' method that other writers use).

All in all, it was an enjoyable novel. It asked the kinds of questions I like to ask, and came up with reasonable answers to them. The structure makes the book a bit difficult to get into, but the author makes sure you never forget the important details. Definitely recommended.

14 people found this helpful

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Walther

Bravo! Deep, hard, far reaching Sci-Fi that makes you think hard

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

I have purchased and given this book and those that follow later in the Revelation Space universe,...to many friends as gifts.

If you're looking for a light, breezy, superficial, unrewarding read,...then buy another book.
This one is deep. So deep, I've had to read it 3 times (voluntarily) to make sure I got everything that shows up later. Aw heck! I read the entire series 3 times. The details in this book and those that follow are inter-related, complex, and are a job to keep track of....which is what makes it an absolutely fun book to read. Hard Sci-Fi.
Dense, highly conceptual, strange and wonderful concepts and ways of thinking.
I enjoy books that make me think or make me say "Wow!". This one does that and more.

For those starting, it starts off slow. It takes awhile. You need to let yourself become immersed in it slowly. Do not give up after the first 100 pages. It's a good story. It's good storytelling. It's good futuristic science. Excellent character development.
I won't rehash the story, just to say that this book is a very good start for the author. It goes from a very good book to a WOW book when read in the context of the series.

Thank you Mr. Reynolds. I'd be even more thankful if you kept playing in this universe even more than the books that you published after this. Some details of the Dawn War. Even more about the space-faring Atamians and conflict with the traditional ones. The Wolves. This is a big playground with a lot that one could play with.

4 people found this helpful

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Alexander A. F.

Ya van varios libros que compro y llegan dañados

Reviewed in Mexico on January 1, 2024

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Seguramente el libro sera una gran obra como todo lo de Reynolds, en sí la calificación va para el pésimo servicio de Amazon. Pago para que los libros sean nuevos y en buen estado, pero ya van varios que vienen sin plástico, con las esquinas dañadas y la portada y contraportada rasgada.

Pésimo de Amazon

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Salomao Salim Neto

Very good in many aspects.

Reviewed in Brazil on January 22, 2023

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Very good in many aspects. I’m no expert but i consider it well written, well paced, and good hard scifi.

Pascal

Excellent book, looking forward to reading the sequel

Reviewed in Canada on December 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

This was my first Alastair Reynolds book and I sure wasn't disappointed! Everything about the book is interesting and had me hooked up through and through. It is also well written and has shown me that Reynolds is an author to follow. If I only had a single complaint, I'd say it was the ending. Not that it was bad, it was pretty good, however I think it could have used a dozen more pages for it. As it is now, the ending feels a bit more crammed and is detailed in a faster pace than the rest of the book. This, however, wasn't all that bad and isn't worthy of knocking one star off.

I'm looking forward to reading more in this universe!

PHILIPPE VILON

Une excellente surprise

Reviewed in France on July 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

D autres livres d Alastair Reynolds sont des histoires un peu hâtive avec toutes les quelques pages une phrase ou un fragment de phrase qui laisse deviner une compréhension du monde riche et nouvelle.Dans ce roman les proportions sont inversées : nous allons de surprise en surprise, belles et déroutantes.Le mélange du pire et du meilleur ,la découverte inespérée de filons d or pur est un des grands bonheurs de la SF.VONNEGUT et P K DICK il y a 40 ans étaient des petits auteurs pas chers ,pas connus.

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Tom

Revelation Space

Reviewed in Australia on December 8, 2023

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Alastair Reynolds delivers a truly superaltive work of science fiction. Definitely a five star read.

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