Late in the twenty-sixth century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors—alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons—and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them. But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes—and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether.
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"I read this book this weekend, and I must say that it was fairly interesting. Although it mostly serves as a stopping point before the next book (Absolution Gap), there are still plenty of exciting moments, and cool uses of nano-tech etc to make the book interesting. Conjoiners are featured heavily in this book, so if you are of the opinion that the "singularity" will result in the death of those transending, no need to read on."
— Tirant (4 out of 5 stars)
Reynolds confirms his place among the leaders of the hard-science space-opera renaissance.
— Publishers Weekly Starred Review“Reynolds takes quests for vengeance and redemption and places them on a galactic stage.”
— Locus“Reynolds confirms his place among the leaders of the hard-science space-opera renaissance.”
— Publishers Weekly“Despite a quite intricate plot, skilled narrative technique and well-developed characters make this a novel most readers will find absorbing and comprehensible.”
— Booklist“If you like hard SF…with fast-paced action and hard-boiled characters…you’re in for a great ride.”
— SF Site" Space ships, space battles, decent science written into good story; this was always going to be five stars. "
— Jason, 2/9/2014" I liked this sequel more than I thought I would. I found it much easier to follow than Revelation Space - most likely because I was already familiar with the various factions. "
— Bob, 2/4/2014" After loving the first one in this series (Revelation Space), I was kind of underwhelmed with #2. There are some great setpieces and battlescenes, and tons of cool sci-fi stuff along the way, but everything takes waaaay long to set up. I guess I'm always unhappy when I find myself wishing for a book to be over already, rather than being sad when approaching the last pages. Obviously, this being the middle in a trilogy makes it the dreaded "transitional" novel, so I know there would be no resolution to anything, but I just couldn't get into it as much as Revelation Space (which was really good). Also, there is a major conflict in the end that gets hyped and built up for about 550 pages, only to occur off-screen! I mean, you're gonna make me stick through the boring buildup for that long, and when I get to the payoff, I learn about "the big thing" from characters talking about the aftermath? I haven't felt this let down since I found out that Petsmart doesn't sell gremlins. "
— Andreas, 1/30/2014" A strong followup to Revelation Space, with lots of interesting characters heading to an inevitable collision. "
— Shannon, 1/24/2014" story pacing is spot on. Maybe suffers from a bit of uncaring about some of the characters but a really enjoyable read. "
— James, 1/19/2014" Back in his main universe and wrapping everything up. What can i say, I liked it - even the slightly debatable ending. "
— Ms, 1/3/2014" Book 2 of the Revelation Space is really solid. I loved the character development and tight plot - a chase that covers a lot of ground. Reynolds' science background (astronomy PhD) shines with plausible and interesting future tech. "
— Dirkfabian, 12/18/2013" A good second entry with stronger characters but I think I slightly preferred the first book. "
— Rob, 12/12/2013" great story. AR's imagination is really big. seems a bit long-winded sometimes esp in the 1st half. but will definitely return to absolution gap soonish. "
— Kellzzz, 12/5/2013" "...men who think they have right on their side are always the most dangerous sort." "
— Falbs, 11/24/2013" the series kinda looses steam after you find out what the "baddies" are, great mystery and build up until that point though. Revelation Space and Chasm City are great. "
— Clayton, 11/9/2013" Not as good as Revelation Space, but a good one. "
— Mike, 10/10/2013" It was a good read, but I was ready for it to end....I'll hold off before starting #3... "
— Daryl, 7/10/2013" Quite pseudo-scientific. I enjoyed it. "
— Mary, 7/4/2013" I loved this series. This man has become one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I am stoked about reading the rest of his work. He's a genius. Plus, I'm pretty sure he actually is a genius. "
— Josh, 6/22/2013" Another excellent entry in the series. Must have more. "
— Jon, 5/29/2013" Really nice continuation of the series, kept me turning the pages. If you like "space operas," you'll love it. "
— Danny, 4/26/2013" I liked this one even better than Revelation Space. Fun hard sci-fi on a huge scale. "
— Chris, 10/13/2012" An awesome sequel to Revelation Space. This continues the saga in a grand style. "
— Jason, 7/22/2012" The final novel of the epic trilogy, Reynolds neatly wraps up the series with a bow. Although the ending leaves the universe relatively boring and uninteresting for further exploration, the ride up until the end is exceptional. "
— James, 7/5/2012" Good but not great. Ending was weak. "
— Keith, 5/13/2012" A rather excellent piece of science fiction, even if it did trail off at the end (a problem I've found with a few of Reynolds's books). Excellent world building, some nasty characters that you could tell where properly nasty and effective jumping around the universe. "
— Billy, 1/14/2012" It's my favorite kind of sci-fi, but man the rumors were true: Reynolds leaves a ton to exposition, and he's not so great with character development. He makes me wish Cormac MaCarthy wrote sci-fi. "
— Bernie, 12/28/2011" Even though this is the middle book, it looses nothing. Unbelievably good book, I love the scope and sense of the vast which Reynolds holds. "
— Joshua, 8/14/2011" A great continuation of the story, but actually a more well developed and likable book. "
— Jay, 7/11/2011" Good Read. I plan on reading the next book. "
— George, 5/31/2011" A good follow up to Revelation Space introducing some more interesting (or weird) characters, more interesting scientific concepts and an intriguing story. "
— Daniel, 5/20/2011" Great sequel to "Revelation Space". I now want implants in my brain. "
— Alvaro, 4/28/2011" Good book in the trilogy but overly long I think. The only way I could get through this is as a audiobook. "
— Smitty, 4/27/2011" Great book. Can't wait to read the last novel in this series. But I must, as it is on order. However, that is tangential to this review. Exciting space combat and a rousing, even moving ending, were the highlights of this novel. "
— Justin, 2/10/2011" Lot of sci-fi terms which I need time to read up on. Otherwise, the plot moves at the pace of its central machine characters. "
— Luv, 1/17/2011" I love Alastair Reynolds's worlds, but I always find the bleak and mysterious beginnings more compelling than the conclusions. However, the near light speed vehicle chase most of the second half is devoted too is still mindbendingly fun. "
— Cameron, 1/2/2011" lagged a bit in the middle (ha I made a relativity joke!).<br/># "
— Julia, 12/3/2010" The final novel of the epic trilogy, Reynolds neatly wraps up the series with a bow. Although the ending leaves the universe relatively boring and uninteresting for further exploration, the ride up until the end is exceptional. "
— James, 11/27/2010" I wished that I had read book 1 and book 2. must look for further books by this author. "
— Dennis, 10/11/2010" I've enjoyed each book in this series even more than the previous one! <br/>The motives of the Wolves (Inhibitors) seems a bit odd, but we'll see where it goes in the next book... "
— Gendou, 9/18/2010Alastair 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.
John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is an accomplished stage actor and has written and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.