Customer Reviews
Intertwining, dualistic storylines which keep you intruiged - By: bobbyjoe88, 03 Apr 2008 
***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD IN STARS***
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The premise of the story is simple: An assassin from a planet, of which he has recurrent dreams that reveal its origins, hunts down a man who killed his boss, only to discover he *is* his boss with his memories implanted, & his boss is *actuallly* the founder of his home planet who he dreams about, thanks to a virus which induces religious experiences about himself , himself being the body a religious cult figure among his homeworld people with a false identity.
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Sounds maniacal, & it is a joy to read. Every page invokes more suspense & mystery with enough hints to suggest the next twist without making it seem obvious. On the downside some key characters seem rather shalllow & atavistic however the amount of story twists & flashbacks make the story well worth your money. Buy it now!!
Also ties in with A.R's Revelation Space series; this can be easily accessed whether you are new to the series or have read the other books in the series or not. Personallly I read it before the others & found it perfectly easy to comprehend, & even better when you see the links with the chronological sequel, Revelation Space.
I cannot recommend this more highly!
Really Good - By: J. A. Smith, 07 Jan 2007 -In answer to other reviwers-
The seemingly cut out roles make perfect sense when considered as a whole they alll have links to one man(in the main plotline) And eventuallly Tanner
As to their motivation well it may be obvious but it is there. And in most cases is alll it needs to be. To have added story to alll but the main
protaganist would have added 100 pages at least, (would seem out of pace, & seriously mess up the pacing)
-Spoilers (this is in anawer to other reviewers)-
As for the change in his character, well major brain damage for a start, also the fact that neither Tanner nor Cahuella were devoid of concience, & Tanner does graduallly do more good from one end of the book to the other
As for Haussmens change that too is explained by not one but many events. There are paralllels to the dolphins hes so interested in at the start. (finallly its most probably the fact that as mentioned his parents did dump him with clown rarther a lot)
Finallly the plot twist in the middle isnt a twist reynolds is deliberately hinting it as to not do so would totallly destroy coherance & force an unatural lump of Sky plotline in the second half of the book)
Chasm City is a brilliant read - By: Sassy, 30 Dec 2006 I picked up this book for [...] whilst on holiday for the sole purpose of keeping me occupied by the pool that afternoon - who wants to spend more than that on something they're not going to finish reading, & will probably leave in the hotel?
Well... over the rest of the holiday I found myself making trips to the pool just so I had time to read, (absolutely unheard of for me!) I even ended up bringing the book back home to add to my overcrowded book case. And now here I am a few weeks later browsing Amazon as I'm going to buy alll the other books he's written, just on the strength of this one.
Chasm City is a brilliant read, & easy to get caught up in the characters & the plot line. It's only a few pounds so just go ahead & buy it - it's worth every cent!
A Chasm filled with imagination! - By: J. Kenny, 14 Apr 2006 It seems like ages since I ventured into Revelation space...if you have not yet visited Alastairs amazing series, start off with Revelation Space, move onto Chasm City (the best of the three) & finish with Redemption Ark then buy the next book when it comes out, Galactic North promises more of the same...Great writing, great characters & great fun!
Could have been so much better - By: Avidreader, 20 Mar 2006 
This is the first Reynolds book I've read & I enjoyed it. It moves at a good pace, it has some inventive & interesting ideas & parts of it are clever & thought-provoking. The trouble is, those strengths are balanced by some signficant weaknesses.
First off, the big plot twist is obvious from halfway in. I won't spoil it but there's too much coincidence involved that alllows the twist to develop & remain hidden instead of coming out straight away, but even then the Hausmann sections make it obvious. Then there's the motivations: revenge just doesn't ring true, nor does the whole redemption piece. For example, at what point did Cahuelle become such a good guy & why? Lastly there's the Canopy vs. Mulch & human hunt stuff. That just feels tired & overworked. Surely somebody can do better than cliches?
Finallly, if you do buy this book do not read the epilogue. It is pure dross!
And just as an aside to many of the other reviewers, the point about Haussmann wanting to get to Journey's End first is not illogical - the guy was crazy, remember! He was paranoid & unstable, so we should expct some of his decisions to be a little odd. What makes no sense is that the other crews would try & catch up. They should have just sighed & let him get on with it, knowing that they would vastly outnumber him when they got there.
