A review by wyrmbergmalcolm
Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds by Alastair Reynolds
5.0
| Story Name: | Beyond the Aquila Rift |
| What is it about? | Following a warp-gate mishap a ship’s crew find themselves a bit further from home than expected. |
| Thoughts: | Full of an atmosphere of disquiet, this story can kept me guessing all the way through. Great world-building coupled with masterful storytelling, this was a joy to read. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | Fury |
| What is it about? | The Galactic Emperor is assassinated (sort of) and his chief of security embarks on a quest to find the ‘killer’. |
| Thoughts: | A fascinating procedural story, that has some fun and unexpected developments. Again, this features wonderful world building and a likable main character. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | In Babelsberg |
| What is it about? | A space probe returns to Earth and ends up as a celebrity doing the interview circuit. |
| Thoughts: | An interesting exploration as to how AI could not only take the stars from us, but also stardom. Noteworthy for it’s very odd talk show hosts… |
| Score: | Worth reading|
| Story Name: | Minla's Flowers |
| What is it about? | From the Merlin Universe, the story follows Merlin as he is forced to land on a planet with two warring factions. Spotting an oncoming disaster he is forced to guide the population’s development to reach the stars. |
| Thoughts: | This is the first I’ve read from this particular Universe and again praise the world building here. This also has the feel of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series to it. A cautionary tale on the dangers of meddling that takes quite a few unexpected turns, though I did see the ending coming. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | The Old Man And The Martian Sea |
| What is it about? | A girl runs away from home only to be reminded of how significant she can be. |
| Thoughts: | A gentle tale that has some interesting world-building behind it. It could have been a bit longer, perhaps, but a delight all the same. The unbroken innocence of it was also refreshing. |
| Score: | Worth reading|
| Story Name: | Diamond Dogs |
| What is it about? | A team set themselves against a mysterious spire chock-full of trap-filled rooms with puzzles to solve. |
| Thoughts: | From the Revelation Space Universe (though could be a stand-alone and be no different at all), this story actually references the film The Cube from which it was inspired. As the story progresses, it becomes less about the solving of the rooms, but more about the obsession behind solving them. Particularly as, unlike in The Cube they can leave at any time. Brilliantly described, I could visualise this as clearly as if I had watched it. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | The Great Wall Of Mars |
| What is it about? | Chronicling the beginning of the Conjoiners and their escape from extermination. |
| Thoughts: | Chronologically, this is currently the earliest Revelation Space story. Having yet to read the main stories yet, the significance of the named characters was lost on me until I did a bit of research into the story. A very satisfying origin story with some great set-pieces. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | The Last Log Of The Lachrimosa |
| What is it about? | This Revelation Space story follows a crew of Ultras as they explore a mysterious cave on an otherwise nondescript world. |
| Thoughts: | Sometimes, if a message says “Stay Out”, it’s perhaps best to do as it says. Told from two different POVs this gets less confusing as it goes along. Considering how alien-free this Universe is, this was a nice addition to it and features a satisfying ending. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | Weather |
| What is it about? | Another Revelation Space story where a crew of Ultras (space faring Cyborgs) pick up a stranded Conjoiner (think Star Trek’sBorg, but less hostile)against the better judgement of their captain. |
| Thoughts: | This turned out to be a somewhat surprising , yet compelling love story, of a sort. Great characters, strong themes, very enjoyable. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter |
| What is it about? | A story featuring a world within a world, where the population of a planet exist in a Victorian-era level of technology and society, but occasionally encounter things that fall from the sky giving hints that far more is going on. |
| Thoughts: | Not every story needs to be epic, far-reaching or grandiose for it the have a significant impact. This tale that follows a teenage girl as she encounters the benign and malevolent inhabitants of her world is very low-key compared to the other stories here. What’s more, it finishes just on the cusp of potential. However, there is joy in coming to your own conclusions as to how it will all play out. I would like to see more from this Universe. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | Sleepover |
| What is it about? | A man wakes on sea platform and finds himself in the middle of a battle over reality itself. |
| Thoughts: | This is a bit like a cross between The Matrix and Pacific Rim. I can’t tell you more than that. It’s a mind-bending concept that’s brilliant if you get it. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice |
| What is it about? | A guy on the run signs up to crew on a ship without asking too many questions. He finds himself apprentice to the ship’s surgeon working on the cyborg crew. However, he soon realises just what kind of ship he’s found himself on. |
| Thoughts: | This is visually rich with graphic body horror and intrigue. An old tale retold again, this time with body parts. Great fun. This also boasts a very satisfying ending. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | Thousandth Night |
| What is it about? | Cloned copies of a long-dead explorer gather together to share their experiences and memories of their travels. During one gathering, a mystery turns into a murder mystery leading to quite the showdown. |
| Thoughts: | A story epic in scale. Expertly told and very enjoyable. I love the concept of a traveller deliberately focusing on just sunsets for the thousands of years he travels just to irritate his cloned siblings. I also like the concept of them being all the same, so equally capable of being the potential perpetrator. |
| Score: | Buy the book for this story|
| Story Name: | Trauma Pod |
| What is it about? | A soldier wounded in battle is treated by a trauma pod, a mini-hospital designed to treat battle injuries during the battle. |
| Thoughts: | A fantastic story that focuses on a real practical use of technological advances on the battlefield. Every concept in here was inspired and totally believable as a technology that could come to pass. |
| Score: | Storytastic|
| Story Name: | Troika |
| What is it about? | A mysterious artefact appears in the middle of the Solar System. It also seems to be singing. |
| Thoughts: | A bit of an odd one told in two timelines. Avoid reading the author notes beforehand because they contain some significant spoilers. The story read fine, but not the best of the collection. Possibly because the ending was spoiled when I read the author notes, but also I think I wanted to know more. |
| Score: | Worth reading.|
| Story Name: | Vainglory |
| What is it about? | An artist is tracked down by a private investigator. Revelations are then had about a piece she did that caused the deaths of many people and the destruction of a moon. |
| Thoughts: | Told over two timelines, this read well enough but wasn’t as good as the others. There was no reason given as to the why and I think that’s bugging me. |
| Score: | Worth reading|
| Story Name: | The Water Thief |
| What is it about? | A robot operator, who remotely operates the tools of her trade, finds herself in a moral dilemma when she holds the life of a thief in her robot’s hands. |
| Thoughts: | Unlike most of Reynold’s optimistic futures, this one’s decidedly less so, yet also feels all the more real for it. That it’s based as a very near future story, possibly helps with that. |
| Score: | Worth reading|
| Story Name: | Zima Blue |
| What is it about? | A renowned artist, who specialises in painting increasingly more vast areas a specific shade of blue presents his final masterpiece, a work that not only disappoints his critics, but also places everything else he’s done into question. |
| Thoughts: | A fun story I can’t say much about. The notes are a bit spoilery. |
| Score: | Worth reading.
All in all, a great collection of stories. Not a duff one in the bunch. Some are perhaps a bit long, others could have been longer. The common theme is the fantastic world-building: there are so many Universes I would like to revisit and see more from. At 779 pages, this was quite a mammoth read, but well worth it.