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Allison Hurd's Reviews > Revelation Space
Revelation Space (Revelation Space #1)
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Well I'm glad I can say I've read Reynolds now, so that I don't have to rush out and repeat the experience.
This was bloviated. If you'd just taken out the similes that didn't work, we'd have chopped out probably 50 pages. And, for something with too many words already, there's nothing like the worldbuilding or character development I would expect.
CONTENT WARNING:(view spoiler)
Things that were cool:
-The central fixation on the shroud. This felt very like Hyperion to me in that the point of curiosity felt distinctly alarming but mesmerizing. I did want to know what was going on.
Some things I didn't like:
-Writing. One of the similes that really stood out to me was one where he said "like in poker, you never play your best card first." Listen, I am no card shark, but I'm pretty sure the family of card games with "best card first" opportunities is called rummy. Another one was where he spent about 2 pages saying how something was like playing with Lego, but not to describe the sensation of building--no, this was about the cleaning up after. TWO PAGES. And no, this was not plot related, this was, I believe, meant to showcase character depth.
-Characters. I don't understand the Triumverate. To be a crew for a long time that is that hostile and also that loyal doesn't work. Even with space magic it doesn't work. The whole thing about Calvin and Dan seemed essentially unimportant. It was a cool-to-one-man thing. The women had all the personalities of a kitchen sponge.
-Plot. We spend so much time staring at this godsdamned world for that to be the answer. You know that scene in Holy Grail where Lancelot is running at the tower for like 5 minutes? This book is like that, but without the joke.
-Ending. REALLY?! What, was "and it was all a dream" too exotic sounding? It had to be (view spoiler) That was what I'd been anticipating for like 400 pages.
-Worldbuilding. There's magic bird planet, anarchoscientist planet, gen ship and magical juggler planet. Whatever you're imagining is probably at least as detailed as this book got, unless you really wanted to fixate on a tiny part of magic bird planet. If hearing about the small oddity on magic bird planet for 500 pages sounds like a good time, do not even hesitate, buy this book immediately.
Unimpressed. I think there's a clear winner for me among the "great" "hard sci-fi" authors and I'm happy to have narrowed the field, and also confirmed, yet again, that "staple books" are more like staples in the sense that they are the cheapest, least impressive members of fasteners than they are essential to appreciate the depth of a genre.
This was bloviated. If you'd just taken out the similes that didn't work, we'd have chopped out probably 50 pages. And, for something with too many words already, there's nothing like the worldbuilding or character development I would expect.
CONTENT WARNING:(view spoiler)
Things that were cool:
-The central fixation on the shroud. This felt very like Hyperion to me in that the point of curiosity felt distinctly alarming but mesmerizing. I did want to know what was going on.
Some things I didn't like:
-Writing. One of the similes that really stood out to me was one where he said "like in poker, you never play your best card first." Listen, I am no card shark, but I'm pretty sure the family of card games with "best card first" opportunities is called rummy. Another one was where he spent about 2 pages saying how something was like playing with Lego, but not to describe the sensation of building--no, this was about the cleaning up after. TWO PAGES. And no, this was not plot related, this was, I believe, meant to showcase character depth.
-Characters. I don't understand the Triumverate. To be a crew for a long time that is that hostile and also that loyal doesn't work. Even with space magic it doesn't work. The whole thing about Calvin and Dan seemed essentially unimportant. It was a cool-to-one-man thing. The women had all the personalities of a kitchen sponge.
-Plot. We spend so much time staring at this godsdamned world for that to be the answer. You know that scene in Holy Grail where Lancelot is running at the tower for like 5 minutes? This book is like that, but without the joke.
-Ending. REALLY?! What, was "and it was all a dream" too exotic sounding? It had to be (view spoiler) That was what I'd been anticipating for like 400 pages.
-Worldbuilding. There's magic bird planet, anarchoscientist planet, gen ship and magical juggler planet. Whatever you're imagining is probably at least as detailed as this book got, unless you really wanted to fixate on a tiny part of magic bird planet. If hearing about the small oddity on magic bird planet for 500 pages sounds like a good time, do not even hesitate, buy this book immediately.
Unimpressed. I think there's a clear winner for me among the "great" "hard sci-fi" authors and I'm happy to have narrowed the field, and also confirmed, yet again, that "staple books" are more like staples in the sense that they are the cheapest, least impressive members of fasteners than they are essential to appreciate the depth of a genre.
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Reading Progress
April 17, 2024
–
Started Reading
April 17, 2024
– Shelved
April 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
scifi
April 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
man-author
April 23, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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Xinqi
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rated it 3 stars
Apr 28, 2024 07:33AM
I thought the same thing when I read this book! I hated it, it didn't make any sense
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"The women had all the personalities of a kitchen sponge."Not again! At least the CWs seem tolerable, this time around.
I tried reading this years ago, made it like� 50 pages? Maybe? And I was so bored and uninterested that I was sure it was my mood so I re-TBR’d it for another day. Methinks that day will never come.
Sorry just seeing these! Glad I'm not alone, Wen! Beth and Becky, I would encourage you both to deprioririze this one
Well now this makes me want to retry it sooner, just to get it off my TBR after a decade and have closure. LOL
Allison wrote: "Sorry just seeing these! Glad I'm not alone, Wen! Beth and Becky, I would encourage you both to deprioririze this one"Looks like you didn't have much appreciation for Pushing Ice, either. :D Unfortunately, Reynolds is an author whose ebooks went on sale frequently during a time that "a sale!" was all it took for me to buy on vague name recognition, so I have a few of his lurking in my library.
