Galactic North (Gollancz S.F.) [Hardcover]

 

 

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Alastair Reynolds' previous novels and novellas in his signature Revelation Space universe have been almost unanimously excellent works, but at times the reader (or this one, at any rate) can feel that there's a lot going on that they're not in the loop on. Characters appear whose significance is initially unclear and their backstories remain resolutely unexplained, although frequently alluded to, whilst the ending to Absolution Gap was rather abrupt, to say the least. Galactic North, a collection of eight short stories set in the universe, finally fills in the blanks and finally allows the reader to fully appreciate the breadth of this author's imagination.

Things kick off with Great Wall of Mars. Two centuries from now, the cybernetically-altered Conjoiners have sealed themselves off inside a fortified region of Mars. The forces of humanity opposed to the Conjoiners, the Coalition, is planning a final all-out assault but have agreed to a last-ditch peace mission undertaken by Nevil Clavain and a Demarchist mediator, Sandra Voi. Needless to say, things go awry. Those familiar with the previous novels will have a big grin on their face as we meet characters such as Clavain, Galiana and Felka for the first time, and find out how they met and how they get out of the jam they find themselves in here.

Glacial picks up the story some decades later, as the Conjoiner refugees find themselves wandering from star to star at sub-lightspeeds searching for a new home. On an ice world they find a human habitation, one of the few successfully established by the USA's seedship programme, and evidence of a crime that took place many years earlier which Clavain dedicates himself to solving. Reynolds' skills at detective fiction (previously employed in Century Rain and Chasm City) are on full display here and the story is very well-told.

A Spy in Europa is a neat story of sabotage, revenge and severe hubris. It sets up one of the later stories in the collection and provides some background on the Demarchists, another of the major factions of the Revelation Space universe. The ending is absolutely stellar.

Weather is an absolute barnstormer of a story. Reynolds take on the difficulties of space combat carried out between ships maneuvering at hundreds of thousands of miles per second has always been superb, but gets its best demonstration in this story. We also get one of the biggest mysteries in the Revelation Space universe revealed in this story in a startling manner, but it's the somewhat tender relationship between the narrator and his Conjoiner charge which gives the story its heart.

Dialation Sleep is the oldest story in the collection and the style isn't quite as polished as Reynolds' later work, but it's still an intriguing story about love and the loss caused by years spent in interstellar travel.

Grafenwalder's Bestiary is a thoroughly twisted story that serves as a semi-sequel to both the novella Diamond Dogs (published seperately by Gollancz with Turqoise Days) and to the earlier story A Spy in Europa. It's an excellent story about a collector in search of the perfect creatures to put on display, but there are echoes of other authors and stories here, in particular George RR Martin's Haviland Tuf stories and his famous novella Sandkings, but the ending is brilliant, if horribly inevitable.

I thoroughly recommend not eating anything before reading Nightingale, a thoroughly sick and twisted story of genetic manipulation. The ending is horrendous, but there is no denying the macabre brilliance of the tale.

Galactic North gives the collection its name and the entire Revelation Space universe its spine. We start off in 2303 AD with a frantic attempt to repair a stricken starship before the story carries us forwards through centuries and then millennia as the war against the Inhibitors, the Melding Plague, the Pattern Jugglers and every other major event of the previous novels and stories plays out as the backdrop to a story of absolute obsession and we finally discover the nature of the new threat that emerged at the end of Absolution Gap. A spectacular story that rounds off the collection in style.

Galactic North (****½) is a superb collection of stories from one of our very best SF writers, and is thoroughly recommended to newcomers to Reynolds' work and veterens of his previous tales alike. It is published by Gollancz in the UK and will by released on 27 May by Ace Books in the USA.

Galactic North is a selection of short stories set in Reynolds' "Revelation Space" universe and as such adds welcome detail to the previous novels. The stories range from the (in Reynolds terms) near future with the early days of the Conjoiners, one of the competing streams of humanity which feature in the later novels, through stories which are contemparies of the novels, to the far distant (seriously far distant) future.

One of the particularly pleasing things about this collection is that the stories are not completely independent of each other. There are common themes, threads and characters between several of them.

The stand out stories are "Great Wall of Mars" about the early days of the Conjoiners, "Weather" which adds interesting technical detail, and "Grafenwalder's Bestiary" which seems to be set at the same time as Revelation Space. The weakest story in the collection is the titular Galactic North which is massively ambitious but over reaches itself.

My complaint about the collection is simply that I don't think the short story is the right medium for Reynolds. The joys of his novels are their breadth and wealth of detail. The short story simply doesn't give him a broad enough canvas.

So recommended, but if you haven't read any Reynolds before, start with the novels.

Great short stories written with Reynold's usual style.
For fans of his earlier work, returning to some of the characters and the RS setting was great - I smiled when I saw Clavain's name and enjoyed the additional information about the origins of the conjoiners.
While some of the stories are clearly targeted at RS fans, there is enough in here to keep readers who are new to Reynolds happy and hopefully tempt them to buy his earlier books. Which they should. Immediately.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of Revelation Space history
A pretty good collection of short stories and novellas taking place in Revelation Space, which includes Chasm City, Yellowstone, the Glitter Band (and Rust Belt), the Melding... Read more

Published 4 months ago by M-I-K-E 2theD

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! A modern sci-fi author who can do short stories.
I admit it; I'm a Reynolds addict. It is so rare to find a modern sci-fi author of Reynolds calibre capable of penning short stories (or perhaps the publishers shy away from... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Willy Eckerslike

4.0 out of 5 stars Revelation Space Compass
Alastair Reynolds presents eight stories from his Revelation Space universe. They are a good introduction to this universe and some of its defining early history. Read more

Published 8 months ago by John M. Ford

3.0 out of 5 stars Something of a Revelation
Galactic North is redolent of some of the best space opera from the 50s and 60s. Reynolds's nicely-honed baroque pulp fiction is brimming with inventiveness and is grandiose in... Read more

Published 19 months ago by sft

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too sure
This is first Reynolds book I have read and to be honest I was not all that keen, some of the subjects were a little too macabre for my taste, I suppose being an old SF reader I... Read more

Published on 19 Aug 2009 by mog43

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Reynolds winner
As the title suggests this is another excellent book by Mr Reynolds. Safe to say that if you enjoy his other books you will enjoy this collection. Read more

Published on 22 Feb 2009 by kenpat

3.0 out of 5 stars The building blocks of Revelation Space
The short story format isn't where Alastair Reynolds can be seen at his best. The stories in the Galactic North collection all feel like minor episodes in his Revelation Space... Read more

Published on 20 Mar 2008 by Keris Nine

5.0 out of 5 stars Another amazing Reynolds outing to revelation space
Sometimes there are authors that make you stop and think...Alastair Reynolds is one of those.

If you believe all should begin and end with magic wands and happily... Read more

Published on 10 July 2007 by Book Crazy

2.0 out of 5 stars Unimaginative
Reynolds is sometimes capable of writing evocative baroque science fiction.

He is unfortunately very weak with characters and his plot-lines are unimaginative, if... Read more

Published on 24 Jan 2007 by Dust

5.0 out of 5 stars A few great and some ok stories
If you feel the Alastair Reynolds revelation space series was a fantastic read, you have to buy this book. Read more

Published on 2 Jan 2007 by Book wizard

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