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Revelation
Space (2000) |
Sub-category: Space Opera/Hard
Core SF
The plot: The Amarantin Race
were wiped out 900,000m years ago when their star flared just
as they appeared to be on the edge of discovering space flight.
In 2551, Dan Sylveste has just discovered a perfectly preserved
city from the Amaratin's on their home planet, Resurgam. However,
this doesn't interest the restless local's on the planet and
Sylveste is imprisoned during a violent uprising as the people
try to move beyond being merely an outpost investigating an
archeological curiosity. Elsewhere, Sylveste is needs to save
a Space Ship Captain who is slowly being consumed by a virus
which has infected the Captain's mechanical parts. Sylveste's
ruthlessness is matched by the crew of spaceship as they both
end up trying to prevent humanity from blundering into the
same path taken by the Amarantin's.
Comment: What a brilliant
debut for a first time author! Although just a little bit
weak at the beginning (like the first couple of chapters only),
the pace quickly picked up and consolidated into a solid,
racy plot. Personally, I found the plot, character development
and storytelling very reminiscent of Stephen Donaldson's brilliant
"The Gap" series (and to this day, it is hard to
reconcile those brilliant hard core SF books with the same
author who delivered us the psychologically angst-ridden Thomas
Convenant series...). Ergo, if you liked The Gap books, you
will enjoy Revelation Space. And if you have never read The
Gap books, then read this anyway as it is well-written and
brilliantly thought out hard core SF!
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