One of the big contributing factors to this novel’s success is the atmosphere that Reynolds injects into his Revelation Space books. Lumea Orașului abisului este însă foarte bine dezvoltată și destul de coerentă, conținând detalii tehnice, dar și altele ce dau veridicitate (etnografie, mitologie, religie etc. Chasm City is also a dual story, as Mirabel is infected with an engineered virus shortly before departing for Yellowstone, which starts giving him flashbacks to the life of his home planet’s founder: Sky Hausmann, a captain aboard a fleet of five sleeper/generational starships launched from Earth on a journey which will take centuries. The use of low-tech also resembles the post-fossil fuel future society of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl.

How has this man changed to warrant his continued life and the final chapters describing him in terms of the redeemed anti-hero? The more inventive method Reynolds uses is an "indoctrinal virus"—which is pretty much what it sounds like. This whole sub-genre was pioneered by William Gibson in Neuromancer, but Reynolds has put a new spin by subjecting his cyberpunk world to the corroding influence of the Melding Plague. This comes primarily from the Melding Plague that has attacked the Glitter Band of 10,000 space orbitals that inhabit the Epsilon Eridani system.Their experiences have helped us shape this document in a manner designed to minimise the shock of cultural adjustment. G. Ballard’s The Crystal World and The Drowned World, along with elements of the dying earth riot of plant-life profusion of Brian Aldiss’ Hothouse. I give it TWO STARS for further delving into the Revelation Space world, and for being well-written at a sentence-by-sentence level, but needs much editing and plot-tightening to become a truly engaging novel. He begins as an ambitious but sympathetic young man, but through various events he starts to make decisions that take him to the dark side, as he morphs into a power-hungry individual who seeks to take over the starships and destroy his rivals. on one hand, mirabel knows all about implants, and on the other, he’s out there asking the Sexy Zebra Woman who is obviously augmented and saved his ass, “excuse me if it’s rude to ask, but did you always look like this?

In spite of the crime fiction influence the sci-fi aspect of the story is thankfully the strongest element. in the end, i could ramble on about this book’s faults for ages, but how much you enjoy this book will probably depend on how much you will appreciate the last fifth of the book, and how you interpret the true themes and mirabel’s journey as a character. Chasm City (2001) is the fourth Alastair Reynolds book I’ve read in his REVELATION SPACE series, though it is a stand-alone and a much better book. Chasm City is a 2001 novel by author Alastair Reynolds, set in the Revelation Space universe and standalone within the Revelation space series. I didn't think we'd find anyone that good again after Banks died, but then I read the Inhibitor Series and was immediately sucked into Reynolds' story telling and world building in very much the same way.More than raising (and offering some answers to) these questions, Reynolds provides an action-packed story in the process. independant island in and of itself, regardless (or in spite) of the fact that they are headed to the same destination. Normally that sort of thing doesn't sit well with me but it works much better in a dark context than in a humorous or other lighter context.

Tanner also seems to be infected by neural virus, invented by religious fanatics, reproducing in his mind the unofficial version of deeds of long time ago executed hero and despot Sky Hausmann, who brought the humankind to inhabit that part of the galaxy. Too many damned words that contributes little to the reader's understanding of the world, its history, etc. Also, the generation ship race seemed a bit unrealistic - why would it matter which generation ship reached Sky's Edge first - a big planet ain't going to feel full if tens of thousands of such ships arrive at an empty world, let along a handful.

It is very long, and I confess that I have had my patience tested by this and other "space opera" adventures that are long on incident and short on substance; I somehow tend to find them totally awesome and totally boring at the same time (which is probably why I gravitate toward Miéville, who loves layering his books with meaty philosophical and political concepts. In lesser hands this sort of skipping back and forth along the timeline can cause a lot of confusion for the readers, but kudos to Mr. And what makes Chasm City (the book) so excellent is that the sci-fi noir experience doesn't end at the rim of Chasm City (the city). Reynolds uses some inventive methods, or at least clever twists on older methods, for revealing both the characters' pasts and the history of the worlds in which the story is set.