A review by pauljacobson
Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds
4.0
This book follows soon after the first Tom Dreyfus story. By this time, you're more familiar with the main characters, so you can explore their personalities a little further through the story. The story focuses on a new crisis that grips the Glitter Band, with a seemingly unrelated side story.
The emphasis in this story seemed to be more on Dreyfus, his two deputies, and the Supreme Prefect, than the underlying crisis. It felt like a bit of a reverse of the first Tom Dreyfus story in this respect, and made this book a little more sentimental than the first.
I like how Reynolds' books are a little edgier than other popular sci-fi books that I've read (not exactly a fair representation of sci-fi generally, though). This one didn't feel as edgy. Still, I enjoyed the book and was a little surprised to see that I finished it in about five days.
The emphasis in this story seemed to be more on Dreyfus, his two deputies, and the Supreme Prefect, than the underlying crisis. It felt like a bit of a reverse of the first Tom Dreyfus story in this respect, and made this book a little more sentimental than the first.
I like how Reynolds' books are a little edgier than other popular sci-fi books that I've read (not exactly a fair representation of sci-fi generally, though). This one didn't feel as edgy. Still, I enjoyed the book and was a little surprised to see that I finished it in about five days.