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Blue Remembered Earth Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,465 listener ratings
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Critically acclaimed author Alastair Reynolds holds a well-deserved place ''among the leaders of the hard-science space opera renaissance'' (Publishers Weekly). In Blue Remembered Earth, Geoffrey Akinya wants nothing more than to study the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But when his space-explorer grandmother dies, secrets come to light and Geoffrey is dispatched to the Moon to protect the family name- and prevent an impending catastrophe.
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"A great piece of Hard SF that keeps 'inside the lines' of the usual Space Opera tech tropes: no FTL or post-scarcity, transhuman society here, just perfectly plausible science your high school Physics teacher would approve. The magic comes in the human element of a family unraveling a long-held secret from the recently deceased family matriarch. Nowhere are our allies closer or enemies as ruthless as in our own families, and Reynolds' protagonists find themselves squaring off with their own cousins as rivals for her legacy. Everyone's motivations are perfectly justified, and the reasonableness of it all perhaps contributes to the underwhelming notion of stakes in the story's conflicts. "Blue Remembered Earth" reminded me in many ways of Kim Stanley Robinson's "2312" more than Reynold's other work; the entire scope of the setting is within the solar system, where human settlements are pioneering along. The time scales are measured in decades and single lifetimes, and not the cosmic epochs and multi-system societies of Reynold's "Revelation Space" series. Another unique aspect of the book was the twist of placing global dominance not in Euro- or American-centric cultures, or even a Chinese one, but instead in a post-climate change Africa, where a new renaissance has taken place. Swahili is the new English. Pervasive internet access and surveillance grant telepresence in 'proxy' robotic bodies, as well as a nearly crime-free society. Some readers may be surprised that only 3 times in the book, and all of those in the final third of the story, is there any violent action. The story follows a rather civil quest along several stops that illustrate humanity's interplanetary spread. It is at its strongest when the environments are the most exotic; Mars' 'Evolvarium' or the undersea city of the Panspermian Initiative. The worldbuilding in Reynold's near future is quite imaginative, with many original ideas. However, I did find the action and suspense sequences weaker than expected. I understand the forthcoming books of the trilogy will follow the future history begun here for another 10,000 years, and I look forward to seeing what Reynolds does with the larger canvas."
— SciFi (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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Critically acclaimed author Alastair Reynolds holds a well-deserved place “among the leaders of the hard-science space opera renaissance” Publishers Weekly.
Blue Remembered Earth Listener Reviews
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scott, 7/28/2022
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" Not as good as his previous works, Chasm City universe etc... "
— Peter, 2/14/2014 -
" Read my share of technical papers, as part of the day job. Concise, spare expositions that have data, assumptions, analysis and conclusions, all within the 7 page length limit. And I'll admit, sometimes my mind has wandered, placing these in stories fleshed with human participants and human emotions. One way to find more meaning in the cool things that science makes.I'm back in that place, listening to the audiobook version of Blue Remembered Earth. Lots of cool stuff --- golem personalities, next generation 'internet', a puzzle that spreads pieces on the Moon, Mars, Mercury, the Kuiper belt. A well-developed backstory - Africa ascendant, elephants and whales, a truly inscrutable matriarch, a single-family solar system spanning conglomerate. And yet I am still adding my own elements to the story, sure sign that I am not entirely engaged (view spoiler)[--- such as: what if there were more to the cousins other than following the protagonists through the puzzle, they are business executives after all, and what if Geoffrey had a personal passion or love other than his scientific research of elephants, and his sister had a more complex relationship with Jitendra, and so on (hide spoiler)]. Granted this is the first of a series, and Reynolds will be building on these basic elements to expand into, hopefully, more interesting plot threads. But my expectations were based on the marvelous achievement of House of Suns, and instead find a piece that hearkens back to the earlier Revelation Space.Despite all of my reservations, this is still a cut above the typical SF fare that I'll probably still want to read the next book. There's enough here, a mustard seed perhaps, but a good next effort can certainly do wonders to re-engaging this series. "
— Ric, 2/10/2014 -
" Another typical Reynolds book. This one meandered a bit in the middle, but picked up again at the end. Pretty much back to what you'd expect and much better than than Terminal World. "
— Mark, 2/8/2014 -
" Just finished reading this. 505 pages, all good. IT is time (according to my reading wishes) for Alastair to write/publish the second book in this fascinating series. "
— Alan, 2/6/2014 -
" Halfway through now and hooked by the slightly dysfunctional Akinya family. I didn't realize that this was the start of a series when I started but it does explain some of the slightly excessive explanations of the family links. Despite this I'm still hooked! "
— Tim, 2/5/2014 -
" Great characters, a fun mystery, cool science. "
— Levi, 2/3/2014 -
" Started way too slowly. Only my past experience with other Alistair Reynolds books kept me reading. It was a slow burn. "
— Nateolson, 2/2/2014 -
" Excellent Science Fiction. I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series. "
— Jeremy, 1/17/2014 -
" excellent start to a new space opera series "
— David, 11/13/2013 -
" Excellent sci-fi with the scientific knowledge of an astrophysicist. A robust accounting of life one hundred abd fifty yers in the future with Africa as the dominant power structure on Earth and a settled Mars and Moon. I loved it. "
— Jude, 11/8/2013 -
" I was surprised to find the first half of this book to be really slow, and a bit boring in stretches, as normally I'm hooked on Reynolds' stories from page one. However the second half of this book is much better and it becomes a really engaging and fascinating Sci Fi story. "
— Jim, 2/21/2013 -
" I enjoy reading anything by Reynolds, but I don't think this was his best work. "
— Allen, 8/17/2012
About Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Reynolds is a bestselling author and has been awarded the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, along with being shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award. He was born in Barry, South Wales, and studied at Newcastle and St. Andrew’s Universities to ultimately earn a PhD in astronomy. A former astrophysicist for the European Space Agency, he lives in the Netherlands, near Leiden.
About Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is a Ghanaian-born British actor who has appeared on stage, screen, and television. A graduate of the Guildford School of Acting, he won a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.