by Alastair Reynolds
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Product Description
A spectacular, large-scale space opera - the ultimate galaxy-spanning adventure
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Reynolds at his absolute best, 2008-11-07
The House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds reconfirms his status as the preeminent writer (equalled perhaps only by Iain M. Banks) of our age.
Unlike him, I am a poor writer and wont go into plot summaries here and will leave that to other reviewers.
What I can say is that after reading every other Reynolds novel, I could not wait for House of Suns to be released in the US and ordered this from the UK. It absolutely did not disappoint. It is an epic science fiction novel, a meditation on what it means to be human and a love story.
My only complaint about House of Suns is that now I am not sure when I shall have another Reynolds book to read. :(
Alastair, if you read your reviews on Amazon for some reason...please continue your explorations of the House of Suns universe!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Not Free SF Reader, 2008-09-14
Perhaps Reynolds' least successful novel. That, however, is relative, as it is still better than most.
There are two plot strands in this novel, one showing the young Abigail and how the technology and decision to scatter thousands of clones of a particular person across the galaxy to explore and periodically reunite. Functionally immortal and able to travel at almost the speed of light these travels cover large distances and huge amounts of time, such that being 'late for a reunion' can be measured in decades.
The second and more important is far in the future, and a particular pair of Shatterlings from one particular origin - The Gentian Line. They have a big problem, as they are ambushed at their latest gathering, and need to find out why. This part is where Reynolds runs into trouble a little, and is a bit bloated - his penchant for mysteries perhaps getting away with him, drawing out an interrogation and gathering and scene setting middle section of the book too much, without the sharply delineated characters to make this a bit more interesting. They are all clones, after all.
Although this is a different milieu to Revelation Space - you get a bit of this horror feel with the sectioning interrogation.
Once you are past that, you get a space chase that gets a little bit Edmond Hamilton perhaps. Then you have the good, wild Reynolds, strange entities, enigmatic machine life, and astronomical revelations. This does redeem the draggy middle as it ups the ante.
Call this one a 3.75, a fine start, a fine end, but just a bit above average middle.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Expansive, Mystic, and a Motive Force, 2008-08-26
I had been in a post Patrick O'Brian slump. Read all his books and was at a loss where to go to next; he's a hard act to follow. I couldn't get traction with any books I picked up. Somehow I ventured to the SciFi section at the bookstore; hadn't read the genre for years. So I picked up Revelation Space because it had decent reviews on the jacket but I think mostly because it had a cool cover illustration. Eight Reynolds books later, the reality is setting in that I've only got a few pages left with nowhere else to go until his next book. I couldn't wait for this one in the U.S. so ordered from the U.K.
I accidentally discovered what I think is the best SciFi writer out there and House of Suns is an evolutionary step in his expansive ideas while still keeping the DNA thread of House of Reynolds. I love ideas with action and I think the writing genius of Reynolds is that most descriptive narratives are quickly and closely tied to relevant action which creates a force of momentum. Furthermore, his creations sound and feel so right they don't need much, if any, long winded back ground explanations that lead nowhere; the pitfall of many SciFi writers. House of Suns is not as tight in this regard as say, The Prefect, but it's not meant to be and it all works beautifully with very minor exceptions. (like an elephant who may just blow himself up? This character could have been edited out but I'm happy to give Reynolds some room to add some color and test the waters for future work.) Alternating first person narrative intrigued me and the ending leaves us with a new launching point to what will hopefully be an intergalactic epic.
Many years ago I left a monastery in India and realized I'd never look at my life or the stars the same. After reading Alastair Reynolds, you'd be hard pressed to look at your life or the stars the same as well.
Get this book, strap in, and read it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
As good as Revelation Space--no CGI needed., 2008-08-25
The word that best captures reading Reynold's writing is, 'relief.' His writing is clear, but not cold; it's lyrical, but not flowery; it's as emotional as it is logical. Alastair Reynolds has the ability to describe complex action simply and to build alien scenery effortlessly.
Reynolds' writing talent goes back to his university years--he has talked about having to take chemistry twice because he was doing so much writing. And, while Reynolds had a substantial career as an astrophysicist, his basic processing is as much verbal as it is numeric/scientific. Lucky for us, his efforts to understand hard science taught him to create film with words--his writing is like movies. The impression is of watching Industrial-Light-and-Magic-type special effects; descriptions of cities, gardens, three-dimensional action sequences involving multiply detailed spaceships, exobiological creatures, and large scale astronomical phenomena are so clear that it's as if we walk among them. (Or dodge them at extralight speeds, as the case may be.)
Which isn't to say that this is an action-movie brought to life, with nothing else to offer: House of Suns works on an emotional level as well--it isn't boring or mean or technical, except in service of a very compelling story. This is good stuff, and well worth the wait.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Classic Renyolds space opera. Superb!, 2008-06-07
First off, let my just say that any fan of Reynolds will love this book. This is what makes A.R. so special. Its vast scale and huge timespan combined with a clear and interesting vision about the evolution of human societies over time. And its all presented in a good pace and with a interesting story, with characters you will care about. In short, its never boring. Quite the contrary. As with all really good books, its over all too soon, and you are just sad you can never again read it for the first time.
Buy it. You will not regret it.
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