CHASM CITY by Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by John Lee
A Revelation Space novel. Not on the main sequence

Death is Back On the Menu

It has been years since I have come across a new work of hard Science Fiction that was as satisfying as CHASM CITY. This novel is chock full of scientific concepts that are used in ingenious ways; and what is more, the characterization is well fleshed out. First Alistair Reynolds creates a whole new culture set on a far away colony world then he introduces aberrations in technology that have altered humanity. There are no good guys here. This is a tale told of the seedy underworld of society. After learning a little about how the world works Reynolds starts revealing the back story of the protagonist. And everything is not as it seems; in fact everything is far stranger, and psychologically devious, than I could have imagined.  I listened to this novel twice in-a-row because I wanted to track the convoluted story with the map in my head from the first go-round. Reynolds has written a story that rewards the careful listener.

John Lee has a great voice for this book. His slight English accent fits since the author is also English. I realized about half-way through that the dialog, which is quite gritty in some scenes, is smoothed by the dulcet tones of John Lee. Some of the characters could have benefited from a more sarcastic delivery, such as that of Todd McLaren in ALTERED CARBON, but now I would not want top trade John Lee for anyone. He has become the voice of Revelation Space for me. Lee is adept at multiple voices, given each character their own particular accent, immediately recognizable, and enunciated. This is an overall great audiobook, ripe for repeat soundings.