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Redemption Ark (Gollancz S.F.)

By: Alastair Reynolds
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 0575073845
ISBN-13: 9780575073845
Released: 08 May 2003
RRP: £7.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Entertaining but Weak - By: N. S. Haq, 25 Sep 2007
Redemption Ark is a somewhat entertaining story that follows on thr narrative from Revelation Space with both new & returning characters. Several concurrent plot threads finallly unite in the last 100 pages, but since there are so many plot aspects to resolve, it feels a little thin. Numerous minor logical flaws exist throughout the book, but the main one is the reason behind inhibitors attack which reduces the effect of the book.

Despite minor flaws, its a quite riveting read for anyone having read Reynold's previous books, or anyone new to him.
Second part of the Inhibitors trilogy - By: Raul Leite, 06 Nov 2006
Right, this is 70 odd years after the first book, & the machines are coming back again. Only three characters from the previous book are an integral part of the story, with the writer focusing the main plot on the Conjoiners, an important piece of the whole puzzle that is the Inhibitor saga.

As usual, mr. Reynolds' universe is vast, complex, & rich, with a good measure of forethought in the numerous races & cultures that populate this side of the Galaxy. We get answers to some fo the questions posed in the previous book, & enough questions to keep on to the next instalment.

The only downside was the ending, after building the story to a crescendo for 95% of the book, the end felt not rushed, but cut. Maybe during the writing & editing process someone noted how long the story was becoming & decided to cut the climax, we get treated to an "afterwards" as the characters explain what happened in the battle against the Inhibitors... it deflates the story as a whole, & even the ambitious & lifting end doesn't make up for the lack of several scenes or chapters.

All in alll, a good sequel & a must for anyone interested in the universe created by Mr. Reynolds.
A revelation! - 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!
Good sequel, but it missed the best bits out! - By: Steve, 01 Mar 2005
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This is a direct follow on from Revelation Space & involves storylines from Chasm City, so you do need to have read those before this.
Technicallly this book is superior to the other two in almost every respect - the depth of characters is better, the plot line has less holes, the move from story thread to thread is smoother..............and yet Reynolds has still muffed the writing in two important areas - the end is a quick, neat wrap up indicative of a looming publication deadline & for some unknown reason, Reynolds doesn't like fight scenes. We have a two big battles where the righteous army made up of humans & hyper-pigs takes a huge Ultra space ship in each & yet the first one is entirely glossed over with the story restarting after the event, & the second describes only the initial assault on the ship & again jumps forward to a point where the ship is already taken. Very odd.
But the story is compelling, hard Sci-fi.

The hive-mind humans callled Conjoiners are at war with the Demarchists & winning comfortably. But information from a deep space exploration vessel has the Inner Sanctum of the Conjoiners scared. An alien menace, out to destroy alll human life, is on its way & they cannot be stopped. The only way forward is to go to the Resurgam system, recover some long lost Doomsday weapons & flee into deep space.
However, Clavain, the Conjoiners best war leader thinks that alll humans should benefit from the Doomsday weapons as a defence against the aliens & therefore decides to steal a ship in an effort to warn the other factions & set about recovering the weapons.
Meanwhile, at Resurgam, an Ultra light-hugger, badly infected with the melding plague, already has recovered the Doomsday weapons & the two remaining crew have realised that the aliens are going to "sterilise" Resurgam to kill alll life on it. Should they risk using the doomsday weapons on the aliens or try to evacuate the planet & run?
Their hands are forced at the approach of Clavains army & the aliens unstoppable progress.

There are still a few holes in the plot, where normal logic seems to escape the lead characters - Clavain believes he MAY be the father of Felka for near on 400 years. Take a DNA test & sort it out!
Also, Clavain insists in taking the weapons off Volyova & leaving her in the lurch, when she wants to use them against the same aliens that Clavain claims he wants them for. Why does he not join forces with her? These are irritation points but they don't the enjoyment of the story.

If you liked Revelation Space, you will enjoy Redemption Ark.

Back on form ý but still flawed. - By: dogbarkssome, 27 Jan 2005
First off, despite any explanatory cover blurb, please be aware that Redemption Ark is Alistair Reynolds 3rd novel, & your enjoyment of it will depend largely on having read his previous 2 novels, as this is a direct sequel to Revelation Space, while also building on some characters introduced in Chasm City. Personallly I found that Revelation Space was a very encouraging debut, & dismissed the rough edges as merely a new author getting to grips with his craft, yet Chasm City - despite some good material - seemed to be a massive step backwards in quality, with Reynolds writing appearing rather ham fisted at times.

Reynolds strengths have always been in the big science fiction concepts, but what has previously let him down has been poor pacing & structure, with Chasm City being particularly guilty of employing glaring deus ex machina & having character's entirely lacking in logical motivation. The good news is that Redemption Ark is a return to form after the sloppy Chasm City, though the novel is still far from flawless.

Pacing is still a problem for Reynolds - Redemption Ark on the one hand feels too bloated at 650 pages, with the fairly slight background story of the Inhibitors being repeated over & over again, yet at the same time crucial moments in the story are glossed over. Two big set pieces come to mind especiallly, first the highjacking of a Lighthugger ship - supposedly something so outrageous no-one has ever attempted it before; Reynolds takes time to build up the situation & the assault crew to take over the ship - then simply cuts right past the action scene to show the ship having been captured without actuallly showing us how. Worse is the gutted climax, as after an interstellar chase sequence lasting at least one hundred pages Reynolds again cuts out the final confrontation between the forces of the defecting Clavain & his Conjoiner pursuers, instead opting to gloss over the events by jumping forward in time & offering a brief flashback synopsis. The impression given is that Reynolds got carried away overwriting this novel, then realised he was up against a deadline (or a word count) & franticallly hacked away chunks of the text - unfortunately the excised material sounds more interesting than some of what is left.

On the positive side Redemption Ark sees some of the best characterisation yet from Reynolds, with - for the most part - characters acting logicallly & with clear objectives & motivations. Unfortunately there is one character that doesn't quite convince in this area, & that's Clavain himself - the novel depends on a lot of it's action due to Clavain's defection from the hive-mind Conjoiners & his quest to capture the hell-class weapons of Volyova, but in both cases Clavain overreacts to an alarming degree. His defection that kicks the novel off seemingly comes out of nowhere, & is accompanied by a surprising amount of violence towards his erstwhile friends, while his determination to capture the hell-class weapons is slightly confusing - both he & Volyova want to use the weapons to destroy the humanity-culling Inhibitor machines, but rather than offering his assistance in a peaceful manner he comes in alll guns blazing. Without Clavain's actions there wouldn't be much of a novel here, but he doesn't always convince.

The only other real problem with Redemption Ark is the traditional one shared by middle books of trilogies - the set-up has already occurred, & nothing is resolved at the novels end: if you want the climax you'll have to read Absolution Gap as well. Despite it's construction flaws Chasm City did at least offer some new locations & environments compared to Revelation Space - by contrast Redemption Ark contents itself to play with the established characters & setting, so Reynolds is unable to generate any 'sense of wonder' here.

Still, while these annoying little flaws stop Reynolds from being as good an author as he continuallly promises to be, Redemption Ark is a generallly enjoyable hard-sf space opera, & a distinct improvement on Chasm City. To put it simply, if you enjoyed Revelation Space & wanted to find out what happened to the characters next, Redemption Ark will be for you.