Absolution Gap (Revelation Space)

Its rare that I post a book review but having just finished Absolution Gap I felt compelled to do so. My biggest complement to Reynolds is his ability to describe his physical universe in the smallest detail. That's what I come to hard sci-fi for, those details. My biggest complaint is his total inability to describe action scenes. This has been a problem (for me) throughout the entire series but none so much as in this book. When an entire planet mobilizes to seize an orbiting ship and that ship and its crew successfully defend themselves, I'm looking for more than a paragraph that skims over the details. We've been treated to thousands of pages of description of the hull defenses of these ships, finally there's an all out assault up close, and we get a 'and people fought and died honorably and cowardly. the end.' description. In the future Mr. Reynolds I want to see a chapter of combat description per giant thing you've built up in our minds. We get thousands of pages perfectly elaborating on the Inhibitors with /just/ enough information to make us think something great is building up and literally nothing ever happens. Humans are saved in the last 4 pages by a race who is 'expert at stealth' and we've never seen them in any previous story (or even in this one). Oh, and whats with the names? They call themselves 'The NestBuilders'. Come ON man. Why is it that in Sci-Fi alien races have to name themselves based on things they like to do? At least the Inhibitors sound cool. And at least its semi believable that egotistic human factions would call themselves something like Ultras or Conjoiners. But who would say: you know what I like doing Gork? NestBuilding? Yeah! Me Too! Lets call ourselves that and then transfer our simulated minds into singularity and populate the Brane Universes! ^5! Not only that, but he then in the last 2 pages establishes a replacement nano machine for the Inhibitors. But, see, these are different, because they're tougher and they're GREEN. Looks like the party is over for Humanity. Again. Oh, and they're called GreenFlys. Green. Flys. What are the two things they do? They fly and make things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GREEN! Really a half-as$ book imo. Great character development. Totally obvious plot tools used to get us to an ending that absolutely does not matter. The ending is so non-existent it is literally offensive. Why would you spend so much time establishing Vasko as the new leader of the human survivors and make him an accidental but legitimate threat to the aging and relucant to step down leaders, a nicely achieved nuance only to then eject the character from the story. And not as a plot point. He's just gone. 'And Vasko was in the room too'. This is one of those stories that I wish a character would wake up on the first page of the next book and say, omg, you won't believe the terrible dream I had! and we can just start over from there. I would actually

It seems like many readers don't really like Absolution Gap. I see a lot of complaining about the plot, the characters, etc. I must confess: I didn't see any of it. Here I'll try to explain what I thought, and also some interesting connections that my (perhaps over-imaginative) mind made between this volume and another science fiction work. Please note there may be spoilers. Ye be warned! One "problem" others rant about is the shift in the focus of the plot and the ending. In my mind, the two are related. First of all, you have to think of the IDEA of the whole book. The overriding themes that it seemed Reynolds wanted us to "get" were the importance of time and perspective. Since this book takes place over a longer period of time (barring Chasm City), individual events are given less attention, and rightly so. In the grand scheme of things, where do they stand? And I think that's the idea Reynolds wants us to come away with in the end. One reader (no offense, you just made an arguing point) said that the Inhibitors were explained away in 4 pages. That's the whole idea! They are just a blip in the galactic stream of time. And humanity? We're just another blip who happens to be arrogant enough to think that we can mess with the equilibrium of the universe. In that mode of thinking, we deserve what we get. That's what I thought at the end, anyway. Another thing people mentioned was the characters~that they seemed totally different. Character shift is what MAKES a good book (in this case, a good series). Khouri is maternal b/c she's a mom. That tends to happen, you know. Was everyone feeling super patient with the Captain's sullen silence? Nooo. Besides, the theme of TIME comes in here again. People change over time. NOTE: HERE COMES A DIGRESSION~PPL WHO HAVEN'T READ WHAT I'M TALIKING ABOUT, I'M SORRY! I noticed some interesting parallels between this final volume of the trilogy and the 1st two books of the Hyperion Cantos (haven't read the second two), Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion. The religious aspect, mysterious church with a charismatic (Well, yeah, the Shrike is) leader, and the savior child. One very striking parallel was between Morwenna and when Moneta/Mnemnosyne *becomes* the Shrike, all scything blades. Digression is over. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. Bottom Line: Don't be dismayed. Take to heart the big themes and look at the big-universal-level scale. Most of all, have fun!

I am giving Alastair Reynolds' "Absolution Gap" highest honors merely for the quality of the writing, which is on par with China Mieville's. However, as others have noted elsewhere, there are major problems with the characters and the final resolution that will leave readers begging for more (or perhaps wishing that they had stopped with "Redemption Ark"). For example I was puzzled by the substantial changes in character seen in Neil Clavain, Ana Khouri, and especially, Scorpio, Clavain's sidekick, though a long-lost character from "Revelation Space" makes an unexpectedly welcome return here. Still, despite my concerns, I have to congratulate Alastair Reynolds for writing what is unquestionably the finest space opera saga I have seen in recent memory, composed in four big books, which will easily draw comparisons to work by the likes of Dan Simmons, Gene Wolfe and J. R. R. Tolkien. Clavain returns from self-imposed exile on a tropical isle on the planet Ararat, rejoining the human colony settled by refugees from the lighthugger Nostalgia for Infinity, which is now led by his human-pig hybrid sidekick Scorpio. Eventually Scorpio will lead tens of thousands aboard the Nostalgia of Infinity on a deep-space quest to a world mentioned by a mere infant, the brilliant offspring of Ana Khouri. Meanwhile light years and decades in the future, a young girl, Rashmika Els, probes the mysteries behind the unexpected disappearance of the alien scuttlers, the extinct, once prevalent, life-form on Hela, the air-less satellite of the gas giant Heliodora. Hela has become a remote human outpost ruled by a messianic religious figure Horris Quaiche. To his credit, Reynold deftly weaves plot twists and turns, which bring both major plot threads to a rapid, if somewhat unsatisfying, conclusion. And a conclusion which doesn't resolve neatly the conflict between the Inhibitors ("Wolves") and humanity, raising more questions than it answers. Still, despite its flaws, "Absolution Gap" must be regarded as one of the finest science fiction novels published last year.

Haunting. From the opening of Revelation Space to the last sentence of Absolution Gap, I couldn't put this stuff down. The last twist in the series was wonderfully inevitable...just like the heat death of the universe. And that is where I think others have had difficulties dealing with this series. As the Greeks said, tragedy is the highest art form. Classic literature is reborn here as the hubris of humanity is time and again the agent of destruction. I do not want to spoil anything for any potential readers, but I find the imagery oily and organic. There are scenes and personal conflicts here that were unique in my experience. For the first time in decades these books plumbed the darker portions of my own psyche. The characters are wonderfully human; frail, stupid, arrogant, intelligent, and indestructible all at once. If you have any doubt at all about this series, start with his two novellas; Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days. This is a wonderful introduction to the Melding Plague and the Pattern Jugglers as well as other common elements to this universe. I can understand why some people might not be able to keep up with the narrative, but I would not change a word of these tomes. My only hope is that there is more coming from this master of science fiction.

Best series I have read in a long time. First off there are 4 books in the series so stop saying it is a trilogy. Secondly, there are not always easy answers or easy endings, sometimes people die who maybe shouldn't, some plots don't get developed to their full extent; but that is why this series is so good! Books 1 & 2 have almost nothing in comon with each other, then they merge stories in book 3. There are questions left unanswered throughout the series. And, in perhaps the best twist the identy of the bridge builder is just perfectly set up and revealed. I just wish there were more than 4 books because the universe that is created in this series is loaded with possibility. There are enough ideas here for 10 books. And because there is no one character that has to carry the whole series you get used to the idea of many good characters in a complex universe. Great series and a fitting ending that leaves as many questions as it does answers. One more thing: P-I-G-S...I-N...S-P-A-C-E....