Comments on Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Experience: Alastair Reynolds "Chasm City" and "Revelation Spa...

I had the same experience with Stephenson stuff. I...

2009-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

I had the same experience with Stephenson stuff. I have a suspicion that patience in his case is rewarded - just need a lot of time to ease into it.

Ayn Rand is what current world is heading to... weird.

I've read just about every word by Reynolds. Didn'...

2009-03-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

I've read just about every word by Reynolds. Didn't skim a bit. Not, like say, Stephenson who I will never read again. By the last quarter of Cryptonomicon I was reading maybe 2 sentences a page. I'd rather read Ayn Rand.

Wow, can't wait to sink teeth into the last Revela...

2008-11-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

Wow, can't wait to sink teeth into the last Revelation Space series novels!

I've actually read all his books, save The Prefect...

2008-11-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

I've actually read all his books, save The Prefect, which I'm currently reading, and I'll just state now, that the books are fantastic.

In reply to Anonymous, I take another example of an author who rambles on and on in his work, yet has come up with one of the biggest franchises to date. J R R Tolkein, and his habit of taking 4 pages just to describe the dirt under Frodo's nails (Perhaps not true, but just an example).

The Revelation Space universe is epic in its scale, so you have to look at everything in the big picture. Saying a Lighthugger was big, sleek and has lots of guns simply just does not do it justice.

On a technical note, Lighthuggers *cannot* destroy star systems, not even with all those Hell Class weapons aboard the main ship of the story. Yes, a Lighthugger has the potential to depopulate a planet from Orbit, but it's weaponry is not sufficient to fully penetrate the crust and destabilize a planet's core, causing it to tear itself apart or simply blow up like Alderaan Vs Death Star.

On a finishing note, I wouldn't give up on his books. I agree that his first two are a little slow going, but later novels are just amazing and help to explain things that perhaps readers didn't understand from previous books. They happen to have a faster pace also. With these books, the level of detail is necessary for our minds to picture Reynolds' universe in full detail, but think of only the big picture, otherwise you'll get lost in the details and find the book unenjoyable ;)

Modern writers should learn from the pulp era mast...

2008-11-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Modern writers should learn from the pulp era masters, where (even though they were paid by the word, and paid peanuts) a typical sf pulp would have a complete novel, two novellas, and 4 short stories in it!!

I just finished the second book....and I'm complet...

2008-11-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

I just finished the second book....and I'm completely torn by this series.

The mind simultaneously exults and cringes at the scale of this tale.
The ideas and insight into humanity and the universe at large is just incredible…and reminds me of the feelings that I had as a kid reading the Heechee saga long long ago.

However – and it is a big however – the author truly must be getting paid by the word.
Apparently Reynolds never met a paragraph he didn’t like.

As someone who has read 20-30 novels a year for the past 35 years, I have never ever skimmed so much in my life.

If two paragraphs would set the proper mood and space, Reynolds decides that what is really needed is two PAGES to do the same…..and unfortunately, this is my worst personal hell…..mind-bending ideas and fast-paced execution – broken up by ungodly amounts of extraneous fluff that completely break the flow of the novel.

Each 700 page novel could easily have been edited down by 200 pages or more, to make it tighter and improve the pacing. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the editors allowed this level of rambling prose…..quite like an erudite, interesting friend who got drunk and couldn’t quite get his point across without vast amounts of irrelevant babbling.