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extrapenguinIt's decent hard-ish SF space opera (yes, I know). The plot was good, but he didn't wrap it up well.
Revelation Space: Reynolds introduces two (two!!) awesome female viewpoint characters (Ilia Volyova, Ana Khouri) plus one annoying male one (Dan Sylveste, annoying entitled bore #1). Of the plot-important other characters, most are male. Works perfectly well on its own, closes introduced plot lines decently. Apparently considered 'ponderous' by SF critics.
Redemption Ark: Another awesome female viewpoint character!! (Skade) Back-to-back badassery and sisterhood with Ana and Ilia!! Then come two annoying viewpoint dudes (Nevil Clavain, annoying self-righteous bore, and Scorpio, annoying murderous pig - literally) and a meh-to-annoying female viewpoint character (Antoinette Bax, why didn't you ever speak to other women or, um, acquire a personality beyond "plucky-ish hero personality(TM)"?)
Absolution Gap: Two viewpoint guys (Quaiche and Grelier). I kind of liked Grelier. Rashmika Els is introduced; her POV is okay until the plot hits her. Then the archetypical whiny entitled dude, Vasko Malinin comes onstage. Ugh.
Honestly, I believe Revelation Space was the best one: all the plot lines are sort-of tied together enough to be a decent standalone. Redemption Ark was probably salvageable, but then came the guy who'd taken over the Mademoiselle's place and existed solely to cause the plot. I wanted a confrontation between Skade and the Nostalgia for Infinity's crew (...Khouri and Volyova). I wanted for Felka to be more than a plot trinket between Skade and Clavain. I wanted for Reynolds to realize that Skade and Volyova were much more engaging characters than his heroes. (Lesson #1 of fiction writing: It is probably a bad thing if I actively root for your antagonists' success.) Then there's the whole shit with Thorn and how Khouri just randomly crushes on him and he drives a wedge between her and Volyova and by this point I'm going RAGESMASH. And then my dear Ilia Volyova died and I was sad.
Absolution Gap featured Felka being thrown under a bus in the interim, Skade coming onstage then dying to remove Clavain from the picture. The Skade-Mademoiselle connection plotline was just dropped. And Khouri and Thorn have a kid, Aura, and though Thorn's been killed offscreen, too, Aura's plot and means of communication are ughh and Khouri stops existing as a character. Then suddenly, we're expected to see Scorpio as a Great Statesman and sorry, this makes no sense, though Vasko Malinin being a rival makes even less. Then Rashmika Els is Aura, and an undiscovered alien race shows up to save humanity from extinction because we resisted temptation and that happened as exposition in the epilogue. Seriously.
I may attempt a fannish rewrite where Skade does succeed with killing Clavain and Scorpio with her solar sails, then arrives before Antoinette and the rest of the survivors to bargain with Volyova. Thorn is written out entirely (or just to insignificance). Aura is Skade and Khouri's kid (she was made by a supercomputer neutron star, she can have two mothers if I say so). They go straight to Hela after evacuating Resurgam and doing a bit of studying there (no stopovers at Ararat or Yellowstone), Skade gets information from Khouri about the Mademoiselle and hey maybe the thing in my head isn't the Night Council and has a crisis of identity or something. The Hela bits before the arrival of the Nostalgia are the same, but after that, none of the adjusting Hela's rotation shit happens. That's dropped. Captain Brannigan can atone for himself in a way that actually improves someone's life. They let the shadowverse people through and the Inhibitors are pushed out enough for the human race to make a run for the Magellanic Clouds, where the Inhibitors are loth to roam.
Well, I guess Mr. Reynolds did something right, seeing as I'm so motivated to fix everything :P
Revelation Space: Reynolds introduces two (two!!) awesome female viewpoint characters (Ilia Volyova, Ana Khouri) plus one annoying male one (Dan Sylveste, annoying entitled bore #1). Of the plot-important other characters, most are male. Works perfectly well on its own, closes introduced plot lines decently. Apparently considered 'ponderous' by SF critics.
Redemption Ark: Another awesome female viewpoint character!! (Skade) Back-to-back badassery and sisterhood with Ana and Ilia!! Then come two annoying viewpoint dudes (Nevil Clavain, annoying self-righteous bore, and Scorpio, annoying murderous pig - literally) and a meh-to-annoying female viewpoint character (Antoinette Bax, why didn't you ever speak to other women or, um, acquire a personality beyond "plucky-ish hero personality(TM)"?)
Absolution Gap: Two viewpoint guys (Quaiche and Grelier). I kind of liked Grelier. Rashmika Els is introduced; her POV is okay until the plot hits her. Then the archetypical whiny entitled dude, Vasko Malinin comes onstage. Ugh.
Honestly, I believe Revelation Space was the best one: all the plot lines are sort-of tied together enough to be a decent standalone. Redemption Ark was probably salvageable, but then came the guy who'd taken over the Mademoiselle's place and existed solely to cause the plot. I wanted a confrontation between Skade and the Nostalgia for Infinity's crew (...Khouri and Volyova). I wanted for Felka to be more than a plot trinket between Skade and Clavain. I wanted for Reynolds to realize that Skade and Volyova were much more engaging characters than his heroes. (Lesson #1 of fiction writing: It is probably a bad thing if I actively root for your antagonists' success.) Then there's the whole shit with Thorn and how Khouri just randomly crushes on him and he drives a wedge between her and Volyova and by this point I'm going RAGESMASH. And then my dear Ilia Volyova died and I was sad.
Absolution Gap featured Felka being thrown under a bus in the interim, Skade coming onstage then dying to remove Clavain from the picture. The Skade-Mademoiselle connection plotline was just dropped. And Khouri and Thorn have a kid, Aura, and though Thorn's been killed offscreen, too, Aura's plot and means of communication are ughh and Khouri stops existing as a character. Then suddenly, we're expected to see Scorpio as a Great Statesman and sorry, this makes no sense, though Vasko Malinin being a rival makes even less. Then Rashmika Els is Aura, and an undiscovered alien race shows up to save humanity from extinction because we resisted temptation and that happened as exposition in the epilogue. Seriously.
I may attempt a fannish rewrite where Skade does succeed with killing Clavain and Scorpio with her solar sails, then arrives before Antoinette and the rest of the survivors to bargain with Volyova. Thorn is written out entirely (or just to insignificance). Aura is Skade and Khouri's kid (she was made by a supercomputer neutron star, she can have two mothers if I say so). They go straight to Hela after evacuating Resurgam and doing a bit of studying there (no stopovers at Ararat or Yellowstone), Skade gets information from Khouri about the Mademoiselle and hey maybe the thing in my head isn't the Night Council and has a crisis of identity or something. The Hela bits before the arrival of the Nostalgia are the same, but after that, none of the adjusting Hela's rotation shit happens. That's dropped. Captain Brannigan can atone for himself in a way that actually improves someone's life. They let the shadowverse people through and the Inhibitors are pushed out enough for the human race to make a run for the Magellanic Clouds, where the Inhibitors are loth to roam.
Well, I guess Mr. Reynolds did something right, seeing as I'm so motivated to fix everything :P