Part of the author's Revelation Space series, this book is set approximately 600 years from now, after mankind has started to spread throughout the galaxy.

Human activities have attracted the attention of the Inhibitors, alien machines whose mission seems to be the elimination of all intelligent life. They have come to the star Delta Pavonis, home to the planet Resurgam, populated by over 200,000 people. The Inhibitors start to systematically take apart the system's gas giant, plus several of its moons, in order to build an immense device of unknown capability (imagine if Jupiter and several of its moons were systematically taken apart, and a growing alien device could be seen every night in the sky). What ever it is, it's not good for the people of Resurgam.

An attempt is made to evacuate the people of Resurgam, a few hundred at a time, onto a ship called Nostalgia for Infinity, to take them to another system. Years ago, the ship's captain, John Brannigan, became a victim of the Melding Plague. He was put into cryogenic sleep to try to slow the effects of the plague; it did not work for long. Now, Captain Brannigan has become the ship.

The ship also contains a number of huge cache weapons, some of which can be measured in kilometers. They are the only thing which can possibly stop the Inhibitors; they are not called "hell-class weapons" for nothing. Several factions want those weapons for their own purposes, including a renegade named Clavain. The weapons themselves may have other ideas. If the Inhibitors are not stopped now, it won't take long, in cosmic terms, for them to find Earth.

This is a wonderful piece of writing. Normally, I would look at a 700-page paperback book and say No Thanks; not when Alastair Reynolds is the author. He does a fine job from start to finish, writing on a grand millions-of-years scale. For those who like mind-blowing storytelling, this is very much recommended. ( )

My Bookspotcentral review ( )

This was a great book if you are into space opera and high adventure between the stars. The book is long and is part of a triliogy in which each book is just as thick. definitley not lite reading but you might not notice the pages flying when the story picks. I'm ready for the next one to find out how clavins adventures end. m.a.c ( )

Wow, where do I start? This book was an incredible journey.

According to Reynolds' website, this is the second book of the Revelation Space series, with Chasm City being a separate, stand-alone novel you can read any time. However, I would strongly suggest reading it in between Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. There are people and happenings that you will understand better if you read Chasm City first.

In any case, Redemption Ark is the next piece of the story. The Conjoiners are seeking the hell-class weapons that were stolen by the Ultras and placed onboard Nostalgia for Infinity, their lighthugger vessel. Much more is explained about the Conjoiners and where they came from. One of the main characters, Nevil Clavain, is a conjoiner with some special history, being one of the first. When Galiana, the founder of the Conjoiners and Clavain's lover, returns from a deep space mission as the only surviving member of the expedition, the other Conjoiners find she's been infected by "the Wolf"--an ancient race of robots that are also known as the Inhibitors. Their sole mission is to seek out and repress the emergence of intelligent, space-faring life.

The Conjoiners are seeking their stolen hell-class weapons, and know that they are on board the Nostalgia for Infinity. They prepare to launch a mission to reclaim them with Clavain at the head. Clavain, after being introduced to some Conjoiner secrets and new technology, realizes that the other Conjoiners are preparing a mass exodus from human space and away from the Inhibitors, whom they know will be arriving soon. They plan on leaving without telling anyone, or even warning them of the dangers to come. Clavain immediately defects, realizing that the Conjoiners, or at least their current leadership, has evolved into something different than what they used to be. Clavain meets several other people on his way to turn himself and knowledge of the new Conjoiner technology of inertial suppression over to the authorities, but is captured by a man called 'H' (Sky Haussmann from the Chasm City story). H sends him on basically the same mission the Conjoiners would have, but to keep the weapons under the control of someone that would use them for the good of everyone.

At first I thought the Inhibitors were just a clone of Saberhagen's Berserkers, machines programmed to eliminate life where ever it is found, but as the story progressed I realized there were several key differences which made them unique. Reynolds explains the Fermi paradox (without calling it that) and how the Inhibitors are responsible for culling the emerging intelligent races throughout the universe. We also find the reason behind it--the galactic collision between our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy 13 billion years in the future.

Unfortunately, the Inhibitors have already arrived at Delta Pavonis, the system where the Nostalgia for Infinity is located. They destroy several uninhabited worlds for the raw materials to build a giant gravitational laser that will cause the star to burn the remaining planets of the Delta Pavonis system. Clavain is now in a much trickier situation, between the Inhibitors, the evacuation of 200,000 people from Resurgam, and the recapturing of the of the stolen hell-class weapons.

It was a fun ride, and Reynolds is a great science ficiton author. I didn't find any explanations of scientific things too far above my head nor so detailed that it wasn't fun to read. There was just enough explanation to make everything plausible. I find it hard to believe that others have rated this book anything under 3 stars. ( )

Why is intelligent life being extinguished in the Milky Way?

Picking up 50 years after where Revelation Space left, this fantastic hard science fiction novel (second of a trilogy) once again brings a cast of characters - some new and some from the first book - from light years apart (in time and space) and builds their story arcs until the collide and the climax of the book.

In the 26th century, humans have split into factions: the Conjoiners, with their augmented mental abilities and group mind capabilities; the Demarchists, who hate human augmentation of any kind and losing their war with the Conjoiners over control of the Yellowstone system (which they don't realize the Conjoiners may not want anymore); Ultras - cyborgs, that started out human - who pilot trade ships between the stars; and everyone else, who are mostly out for their own gain, survival, or both.

When centuries old Clavain learns that the Conjoiners have learned of the Inhibitors - semi-intelligent machines charged the suppression of intelligent life in the galaxy - is the source of all of the extinct civilizations on the brink of space travel for the last few hundred million years and that they plan to run and leave the rest of humanity to suffer the same fate, he defects from the Conjoiners and travels into the heart of the enemy looking for allies to help him recover a cache of Hell Weapons, stolen from the Conjoiners decades before, that are in the Delta Pavonis system on an Ultra lighthugger; weapons that the Conjoiners want back as well.

Meanwhile, 50 years after Revelation Space, in the Delta Pavonis system, the survivors of that same lighthugger are struggling to guide the colony of 200,000 living on Resurgam under a brutal authoritarian government towards their salvation from the Inhibitors, who have arrived in system after being alerted by the activities that brought Revelation Space to conclusion (I will leave out the details for those a book behind). The Inhibitors have begun to dismantle some moons in the system with the goal of building an extinction weapon.

Clavain's rag-tag army and the Conjoiners giving chase are heading to Resurgam unaware of the system's fate and their role in it. I am so looking forward to reading the conclusion in Absolution Gap (update: see my review for Absolution Gap to learn why my excitement became disappointment)! ( )