A review by thisotherbookaccount
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
2.0
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There are broadly speaking three types of science fiction writers: the kind who writes about humanity through the lens of technology; the kind who writes about lasers and spaceships; the kind who just wants an excuse to write about technology. Alastair Reynolds, a former Research Astronomer, is the last two combined. He forgoes story, pacing and character in favour of scientific info-dumps and operatic space adventures.
Century Rain isn’t all about parallel universes, spaceships and wormholes, even though there are plenty of those to go around. There are two threads here: one, set in 1959, follows the investigation of a woman who dies under unusual circumstances; the other is set in the far future, where an archaeologist has to travel to an alternate Earth to retrieve a top secret item that could change the course of humanity.
It all sounds intriguing on paper, but Century Rain is also about 30% too long. If I can skip a few pages and still follow the story, then it is in need of some heavy editing. Once the stories merge, Reynolds immediately fails to juggle all the balls in the air. Instead, he falls back on what he’s most comfortable with: info-dumps about wormholes, spacetime and nano bots. His characters, too, are cardboard cutouts devoid of personalities, complete with stilted dialogues that feel transcribed, word for word, from overheard conversations. There’s even an unnecessary, unconvincing romantic subplot that serves no single narrative purpose — @lesliewwrites would be pleased.
For a book that features space battles its final act, it’s oddly free of excitement and intrigue. Every other page is devoted to clumsy world-building exposition, grinding the already sluggish story down to a halt. There’s a nugget of a good story here, but it’s buried beneath layers of technical jargons, bad characters and serviceable writing that neither awes nor inspires.
There are broadly speaking three types of science fiction writers: the kind who writes about humanity through the lens of technology; the kind who writes about lasers and spaceships; the kind who just wants an excuse to write about technology. Alastair Reynolds, a former Research Astronomer, is the last two combined. He forgoes story, pacing and character in favour of scientific info-dumps and operatic space adventures.
Century Rain isn’t all about parallel universes, spaceships and wormholes, even though there are plenty of those to go around. There are two threads here: one, set in 1959, follows the investigation of a woman who dies under unusual circumstances; the other is set in the far future, where an archaeologist has to travel to an alternate Earth to retrieve a top secret item that could change the course of humanity.
It all sounds intriguing on paper, but Century Rain is also about 30% too long. If I can skip a few pages and still follow the story, then it is in need of some heavy editing. Once the stories merge, Reynolds immediately fails to juggle all the balls in the air. Instead, he falls back on what he’s most comfortable with: info-dumps about wormholes, spacetime and nano bots. His characters, too, are cardboard cutouts devoid of personalities, complete with stilted dialogues that feel transcribed, word for word, from overheard conversations. There’s even an unnecessary, unconvincing romantic subplot that serves no single narrative purpose — @lesliewwrites would be pleased.
For a book that features space battles its final act, it’s oddly free of excitement and intrigue. Every other page is devoted to clumsy world-building exposition, grinding the already sluggish story down to a halt. There’s a nugget of a good story here, but it’s buried beneath layers of technical jargons, bad characters and serviceable writing that neither awes nor inspires.