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A review by yevolem
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
3.0
This was the second book published in the Revelation Space series and it's excluded from the trilogy, which is a reasonable decision, as it can entirely work as a standalone novel. Although there are connections with the other books, they aren't of much importance and mostly serve for series worldbuilding and trivia. As for the order you should read this, it may be better to read it after the first book, which would be the publication order. I almost always read series in publication order and perhaps I should have with this one as well. If you read this after the third book in the trilogy, it may feel like none of it's a surprise and everything is already known. I didn't particularly feel that way but others have.
As with Reynold's other books, I found this in severe need of hundreds of pages to be omitted, yet it reads quickly enough. His writing style continues to be both be fine overall, yet only moderately engaging at best, as most of the time I found myself oddly detached from everything that was happening. In some ways that was for the better because if I were more engaged I would've had less tolerance for the various events that occur that I found to be entirely ridiculous, which is quite a common feeling for me when I've read his books. I found the mystery and twists were foreshadowed early and often, but I don't know if that would be a common experience. I don't think this detracted from my overall enjoyment, but it's difficult to be confident about that.
A reductive and brief summary is: A guy has lost his memory then wanders around for many 100s of pages and then regains his memory. The End. It's very different from the other Revelation Space books, so don't expect a space opera, but rather more a mix of investigative mystery, revenge thriller, and tourism. These differences didn't matter to me and I liked it just as well as the other books in the series, although that isn't really praise. I read through my reviews of the trilogy and I'm certainly not as upset now as I was at the time. I'll read more Reynolds in the future and see how it goes, though mostly as group reads.
As with Reynold's other books, I found this in severe need of hundreds of pages to be omitted, yet it reads quickly enough. His writing style continues to be both be fine overall, yet only moderately engaging at best, as most of the time I found myself oddly detached from everything that was happening. In some ways that was for the better because if I were more engaged I would've had less tolerance for the various events that occur that I found to be entirely ridiculous, which is quite a common feeling for me when I've read his books. I found the mystery and twists were foreshadowed early and often, but I don't know if that would be a common experience. I don't think this detracted from my overall enjoyment, but it's difficult to be confident about that.
A reductive and brief summary is: A guy has lost his memory then wanders around for many 100s of pages and then regains his memory. The End. It's very different from the other Revelation Space books, so don't expect a space opera, but rather more a mix of investigative mystery, revenge thriller, and tourism. These differences didn't matter to me and I liked it just as well as the other books in the series, although that isn't really praise. I read through my reviews of the trilogy and I'm certainly not as upset now as I was at the time. I'll read more Reynolds in the future and see how it goes, though mostly as group reads.