great book - more fantasy than hard science based speculative fiction
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I for one welcome "house of suns". Reynolds has wisely decided to develop as an author and try new genre's with different structure.
Whilst I have loved the first 4 revelation space novels, it can easily lull an author in reproducing the same novel repeatedly with name and place changes only.
In the prefect (essentially a detective story) and in house of suns (essentially a fantasy novel wrapped up in a SF shell) reynolds has been brave enough to try something new. With several years of experience in writing and with such obvious talent it is refreshing to see a change in his approach.
i particularly liked the symmetry created in changing the viewpoint of the novel every chapter. In some ways it reminds me of Iain Banks best works such as "use of weapons" (only not as good i'm afraid! - but then again what is!)
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More rip roaring invention from Reynolds
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Campion and Purslane are clones who have been travelling the galaxy for millenia. En route to a periodic reunion of their clone family they learn of an ambush which has devastated their numbers. This is the basis of a wildly twisting plot which culminates in a breakneck centuries long intergalactic chase.
This book is both familiar and a new development. It takes familiar elements in Reynolds work of huge near light speed starships, weapons of unimaginable power, suspended animation, intergalactic chases (a la Galactic North), adds in a twist of something that feels like Iain Banks, but then sets this in a different universe to that of Revelation Space, and builds the story around something as tiny as a love affair.
The most impressive thing about this novel is that Reynolds has created another self consistent yet wildly imaginative universe and based a well constructed story within it.
The book isn't perfect, it drags a little in the middle and maybe Reynolds overreaches himself in one or two inconvincing elements (the curators of the Vigilance ?), but those are minor quibbles, and I have to say highly recommended.
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Much of the same from Reynolds, a good addition to any library
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I eagerly purchased this book from Amazon the week it was released, and was not able to put this book down until today, when it was complete. I have been a fan of Reynolds for some time, and although this story was not set in the Revelation Space 'universe', it still contains enough mystery, characters and drama to keep a sci-fi fan enthralled until its climax.
Readers unfamiliar to Reynolds, or those who are impatient, may find the book slow to get going, only picking up around the middle of the book; however, those who have read his works previously should enjoy the delicate interplay of characters, the finely detailed background and even the flashback scenes. Give this book some time and you will be repaid in full.
Readers who are unimpressed with characters who are millions of years old, or yawn at unimaginable crimes and weapons, might find story tedious, but personally I found the characters quite different to Reynold's past characters, enough that when the action seemed to dip or the mysteries forgotten I was entirely wrapped up in the characters dealing with each other. It is possible, however, to get lost in the large number of very very large numbers, but focus on the characters and mysteries at hand and you'll soon get sucked back into the story.
All this said, I found the ending and the final plot reveals not as great as those in the Revelation Space novels, possibly because there are several books in that series and the plot hooks stretch back to previous books, possibly because I was distracted enough to consider what might be coming next. This book is still VERY GOOD, just not as GREAT as the Revelation Space novels. I would rate Pushing Ice, another of Reynold's one-shot stories, a bit better than this novel, but this is still a wonderful read, difficult to put down, and the cause of a few late nights :) If there were a 4.5 rating, I would definitely give it that!
If you are brand new to Alistair Reynolds, I wouldn't recommend this book, instead you should try 'Pushing Ice', a full-length novel, or 'Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Nights', two novellas collected in one volume. These will give you a fantastic introduction to the hard science stylings of Reynolds, then start with the first book in the Revelation Space series.
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A matter of taste.
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Just want to write a short review for those who have become fans of Reynold's sublime Space Operas----This is a new direction from most of his novels. Judging by the other reviews this change in tack (it's not realy THAT spectacular a change) is not to the taste of some-but very much to the tase of others. I add my voice to those who think "House of Suns" it is one of his best. The plotting is magnificently inventive (no change there!)Personally I found it almost impossible to put down and I like that in a book!The protagonists are fascinating and the writing at times surpasses that of his earlier work. If you want to read the cream of contemporary Sci-Fi--this is for you.
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Disappointed and discouraged.
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It seems that Mr. Reynolds has been sliding further and further away from the strengths he exhibited in Revelation Space and Chasm City. The vivid settings and characters of his early novels have given way to mushy contraptions in his later novels. I loved his short fiction and still do, but I have had an increasingly difficult time with his novel-length works.I just never was able to get interested enough in the characters or settings enough to cause me to want to plow through the light-years of chaff. I will still read his writings, but no longer order them from the UK in order to get them sooner. My ratings of his previous novels to help compare: Rev Sp 4.5*; Ch Cty 5* ; Red Ark 3.5* ; Abs Gap 3.5* ;Cent Rain 2.5* ;Pushing Ice 4* ;The Prefect 4*.Even though I was disappointed this time I don't think it indicates some kind of irrevocable decline in the quality of his writing.I simply wish he would stick more with the kind of character-driven and smaller-setting tale of a Chasm City that I liked so much than this latest tale, which is more to my mind like some sort of space opera-fantasy-romance jumble.
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