An interesting change of style for Reynolds
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It is the near future. The Earth has been devastated by the Nanocaust, rogue nanomachinery which has destroyed all life on Earth and plunged it into an Ice Age. Humanity is divided into two camps; The Threshers, who live in an orbital tangle of habitats around the earth called Tanglewood, and the Slashers, who change and augment their bodies with the nanomachinery which destroyed Earth.
The Slashers have delved deep into the galaxy, mainly due to their discovery of the hypernet, a network of stable wormholes left by some presumably vanished race.
Verity Auger is a Thresher archaeologist, studying the frozen ruins of Paris. When a student dies on a field trip she is given the chance to avoid a tribunal by going on a special mission. A hypernet portal has been discovered inside Phobos which leads to another Earth, an Earth where it is Nineteen Fifty-Nine and where World War II never happened, and which appears to be locked within a vast artificial sphere.
Meanwhile, on that Earth, in Paris, Floyd and Custine, two detectives-cum-jazz musicians, have been hired by a Msr Blanchard to investigate the murder of one of his tenants. Her name was Susan White and she turns out to be a Tanglewood agent who has the information that Verity was sent to collect.
It's good to see Reynolds moving away from his `Revelation Space' universe to try something new. Certainly, his descriptions of Paris in Nineteen Fifty-Nine are evocative and atmospheric and, without knowing what Paris was like in Nineteen Fifty-Nine, or indeed, in a Nineteen Fifty-Nine where the war never happened, it's hard to say how authentic it is.
Reynolds manages to do the `noir' style very well, and his wisecracking American detective, Wendell Floyd, is straight out of a Nineteen Forties movie. It's almost as if the author is lulling you into a false sense of security on this alternate Earth before bringing on the War Babies, genetically engineered troops designed to look like children and programmed to kill. The War Babies have been on E2 (as this Earth is termed) for at least twenty years and have grown old, but are still a deadly and terrifying force to contend with.
Without there having been a war (The German advance was repelled in 1940) scientific and social progress did not advance as it did. There are no rockets, atomic bombs, ballistic missiles or computers and even the musical scene is stagnant. Jazz is popular, but any `new' forms of music are discouraged by the establishment. Indeed, the Nazi ideal seems to be re-emerging in France where a political figure called `Chatelier' is on the rise while Hitler (now a feeble figure, wasted by disease) is taken out for walks through Paris by his few remaining elderly supporters.
Reynolds has not lost his touch and naughtily leaves a few questions unanswered.
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Interesting concept let down by the plot
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From the books I've read by Alastair Reynolds this is the best, However while the premises is interesting, as conflict between two groups trying to save an environmentally damaged earth and then discovering of a copy of the earth is original.
It is let down by the plotting, which at times does not make sense. While the ending is ridiculous in how they leave the hero?
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bit daft but still enjoyable
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I enjoyed this book but do think that the Revelation Space books are far better. The plot is just a bit, well, daft. The characters are great as always and the ideas regarding nanotechnology are really interesting. So I thought it was a bit of a shame they got a bit wasted on a poorish plot. Still a fun read though.
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Century Rain
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Alastair Reynolds best book yet, and finally one with a well-thought out ending! A thoroughly odd blend of detective novel and hard-core sci-fi thriller, setting it in the Fifties throws in a pleasantly different twist which he has obviously researched well (jazz lovers read on!). This is also a dark, twisted look at humanity struggling to reclaim Earth, re-introducing genocide, Facism and our sheer inablity to get along with one another. Reynolds has shown again his wide-ranging imagination, although I agree that he perhaps could distil some of the longer pieces of the story (the wormhole chase scene is somewhat protracted). Nevertheless, a very difficult book to put down. Thoroughly looking forward to Pushing Ice next!
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Mixed
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Definitely not like his other books, I agree with the reviewer who said the sections where they're travelling through the worm hole is incredibly boring but I still found the book quite enjoyable.
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