REVELATION SPACE, Revelation Space 1 by Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by John Lee

Gadget Fiction

Extensive Compendium Technological Marvels

This is book one in the main sequence of the Revelation Space series. Based on listener recommendations I postponed listening until after first hearing CHASM CITY. And it was a good thing I did or I would have never gotten around to Chasm City. This book has many of the same elements, many of the same political machinations, the same level of fantastic technology, but none of the spark of genius, none of the psychological surprises of Chasm City that make it so fantastic. Sure there are glimpses of what Reynolds is capable of but, on its own, this book does not inspire. What this book does offer is an extensive compendium of advanced technological marvels. It hearkens me back to some of the Science Fiction of old where the gadget was the thing. I would compare this to Herman Melville’s MOBY DICK. But before you think this is a glowing recommendation, please read on. My assessment of Moby Dick is this: It is an exciting 70 page revenge novella imbedded in a tedious 400 page Maritime encyclopedia. Revelation space is a seventy megabyte (70 MB) short story encased in a one gigabyte (1GB) speculative fiction catalog of ideas. It has the scant characterization one would expect from a short story, and also like a short story, has great ideas that make it worthwhile. One thing I can say in its defense: This book, like any Hard Science Fiction stripped of story and characters, is still a fascinating exploration into scientific speculation, while Epic Fantasy stripped of the same is just so much double double toil and trouble. All in all it is a interesting book, but more for the ideas than for the characterization or for the story.

John Lee, who is much better reading Chasm City, is here less engaging. His smooth voice never seems to impart any sense of urgency to the experience, and this book does need some inspired help. He does have a wonderful sonorous voice that is never tiring, so he makes it pleasant to plod through the litany of technological wonders hour after hour. My chief complaint for him is that some of his women sound more masculine than his men. Maybe I am being too critical of the novel REVELATION SPACE because I see enough potential here to hear the series out to the end, and Chasm City shows how good this series can be. I guess that I am just a sucker for a gadget story.