Terminal World Audiobook

" One would think, in a sci-fi adventure, involving many chase scenes and travel sequences through an ever-changing landscape constantly fraught with danger for a ragtag group of protagonists, that it would not be possible for a story to be stuffy and dry. And yet it is in this book. The premise is fascinating, a far future (on Mars) where technology works to a varying degree depending on location, and human lifespans are much shorter. (Or the Martian year is longer. People are also way taller.) I felt a little gypped based the back cover of this - Spearpoint is NOT the last city. There are several of them, controlled by 3 different factions. I do like the space elevator concept. I liked the concept of Quillan - a human/machine hybrid adapted to live in an area where no machines could thrive. However, he was ostensibly the narrator but not all that into sharing thoughts, knowledge, or feelings, AND he was not at all curious about the world around him. The characters also kept circling around to the same locations - like a low budget tv show with limited funds for set building. Every time characters spoke with one another, the dialogue scenes went ON and ON and ON. Great swathes of dialogue with no forward momentum, plotwise or in regards to character development. I felt like vast sections of this book could have been edited much more effectively. I think this would have been much better as a short story or a novella - maybe something a quarter of the length. It felt like the author was trying to make arbitrary word counts, or was perhaps being paid by the word. I listened to this in audiobook format. If I had read this as a regular book, I would have done a lot of skimming. As it is, one disk (out of 15) had a bunch of errors so I had to skip it - and I could not tell that I had missed anything in the story. Not good. I REALLY enjoyed House of Suns, so this was disappointing. I got the feeling that the author was much more comfortable telling a story against the vast backdrop & infinite worlds of space, and felt confined with a setting of only one planet, and then only one section of one planet. "

" An exciting adventure-style story set in a world divided into "zones" where certain technology can only work within certain zones and people can only cross between zones by using special drugs. An interesting story combined with an interesting world to tell it in. "

" Interesting world, great characters good story. "

" Not quite a good IMO as his other books, but then again, I'm not a huge fan of steam punk. Still, quite good. "

" I'm not really a fan of space operas, so this book was a nice departure from his other writing. The only reason I didn't give it 4 stars is that it had this tendency to explain things. What it really needed was a good editor to cut that stuff out. "

" I was really disappointed with this book. It was not nearly in the same class as the other books by Alastair Reynolds. "

" Another in a great line of books by the British author. The only truly disappointing fact about the book is that so far it seems to be a one-off. I'd very much like to see where this particular universe leads.. "

" Rough start, ended strong. "

" A fascinating read. Loved every word. So much to think about and ponder. It has airships, so what's not to like. My first Alistair Reynolds novel and thoroughly satisfied and wanting more. "

" The ending was a little woolly, but I enjoyed the ride. It would have been nice to read a proper explanation of the 'zones', though... Steph Bennion "

" Cool setting with lots of potential but ultimately fell flat. The characters were just okay and the story just dragged on without much happening. This book could've been half its length. "

" A lot of reading with very little payoff. "

" It's a novel set mostly on airships in a far-future, post apocalyptic Earth. Fast-moving and imaginative. The tech/sci underpinnings are intriguing and sufficiently well developed. And Reynolds' characters are rich and interesting and really believable, an all-too rare attribute in sci-fi. "

" Picked up another book from one of my favorite authors. Not bad, but not real good either. Imaginative and original. It seems to me it was written as a movie script. "

" Epic in scope, and not short on magnificent ideas, but unfortunately the pacing is rather uneven, and I never managed to connect to any of the characters. I do see what Mr Reynolds was aiming for, and I applaud him for it, but unfortunately it doesn't quite manage to live up to his ambitions. "

" Some odd pacing at times, but generally an excellent SteamPunk adventure. "

" Picked up another book from one of my favorite authors. Not bad, but not real good either. Imaginative and original. It seems to me it was written as a movie script. "

" Disappointing book by one of the greats of science fiction. I felt like I was reading a book he wrote in his teens. "

" Promising start, but then sags badly and ends inconclusively. Which makes me concerned that there might be a sequel or even a trilogy in the works. It's the first Reynolds book that I haven't liked - more blimp opera than space opera with a passive, repetitive protagonist. "

" Excellent setting, ideas, and mood, but I had a hard time caring about the characters "

" Good read - seems like he decided to put a far-future hard science gloss on steampunk. "

" Part fantasy, part sci-fi, interesting characters living in a very different world. "