The Recollection
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From the tense opening, in which gambler and failed artist Ed Rico is about to be tortured for incurring gambling debts, to the poignant, epiphanal epilogue, Powell escorts us through a series of brilliantly realised set-pieces. In the near future, hundreds of mysterious arches appear over Earth, leading to planets light years distant. When his brother Verne vanishes through an arch, Rico, stricken with guilt over his affair with his brother's wife, follows in an attempt to locate Verne and atone. What he discovers is a future human diaspora threatened by a sentient gestalt mind spreading through the inhabited universe and turning all life into machine code and an alien race which needs his help to defeat the threat. Powell's second novel is not only impeccably structured, with a series of cliff-hangers, but beautifully balanced between big ideas and the smaller-scale human story. If you read only one space opera this year, it's got to be The Recollection. --The Guardian
Product Description
When his brother disappears into a bizarre gateway on a London Underground escalator, failed artist Ed Rico and his brother's wife Alice have to put aside their feelings for each other to go and find him. Their quest through the 'arches' will send them hurtling through time, to new and terrifying alien worlds. Four hundred years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trust of her influential family. The only person standing in her way is her former lover, Victor Luciano, the ruthless employee of a rival trading firm. Hard choices lie ahead as lives and centuries clash and, in the unforgiving depths of space, an ancient evil stirs... Gareth L. Powell's epic new science-fiction novel delivers a story of galaxy-spanning scope by a writer of astounding vision. 'Gareth Powell is going to be a major voice in... ' - Paul Cornell 'Utterly Impossible to put down.' - Colin Harvey, author of Winter Song
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The Recollection" is Gareth L Powell's second full length novel, following on from "Silversands" (Pendragon Press) and his acclaimed short story collection "The Last Reef". And it is from "The Last Reef" that "The Recollection" draws most heavily, particularly from the short story Arches. It's fascinating to see the genesis of a novel in a short story, and the collection, from Elastic Press, is worth seeking out.
"The Recollection" opens with Ed's brother Verne falling through a mysterious arch at the bottom of an escalator at a London Underground station, leaving his brother Ed, and his wife (and Ed's on-off lover) Alice, to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Arches are appearing all over the world, and they lead to other planets, other arches, drawing Ed and Alice through the universe in their quest to find Verne.
Meanwhile, in a distant future, Kat Abdulov and her psychically linked spaceship, Ameline, are in a desperate race with her former lover to a remote planet. But what they find when they get there is shocking, throwing them back together in a most unexpected way. And on a crystal spaceship, a race of aliens search for a way to save humanity from a deadly, relentless foe...
"The Recollection" is an epic story, spanning time and space, cramming ideas into its multi-layered plot. In the hands of writers like Alastair Reynolds or Ian M Banks, it would be the opening to a five-volume epic space saga. But in Powell's hands, the story whizzes along, barely pausing for breath as it hurls the reader far into the future, and from one end of the galaxy to the other. In a way, it's almost too fast, the ideas, of the Arches, and of the mysterious Recollection itself, may have benefited from more leisurely examination, and it's to be hoped there will be spin-offs from some of the ideas not fully explored in the novel.
It's certainly an exciting major-label debut from a promising author at the start of what will hopefully be a long and fruitful career, with plenty of time to slow down and stare wide-eyed at the fascinating universe Powell has only begun to sketch here.
"The Recollection" opens with Ed's brother Verne falling through a mysterious arch at the bottom of an escalator at a London Underground station, leaving his brother Ed, and his wife (and Ed's on-off lover) Alice, to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Arches are appearing all over the world, and they lead to other planets, other arches, drawing Ed and Alice through the universe in their quest to find Verne.
Meanwhile, in a distant future, Kat Abdulov and her psychically linked spaceship, Ameline, are in a desperate race with her former lover to a remote planet. But what they find when they get there is shocking, throwing them back together in a most unexpected way. And on a crystal spaceship, a race of aliens search for a way to save humanity from a deadly, relentless foe...
"The Recollection" is an epic story, spanning time and space, cramming ideas into its multi-layered plot. In the hands of writers like Alastair Reynolds or Ian M Banks, it would be the opening to a five-volume epic space saga. But in Powell's hands, the story whizzes along, barely pausing for breath as it hurls the reader far into the future, and from one end of the galaxy to the other. In a way, it's almost too fast, the ideas, of the Arches, and of the mysterious Recollection itself, may have benefited from more leisurely examination, and it's to be hoped there will be spin-offs from some of the ideas not fully explored in the novel.
It's certainly an exciting major-label debut from a promising author at the start of what will hopefully be a long and fruitful career, with plenty of time to slow down and stare wide-eyed at the fascinating universe Powell has only begun to sketch here.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An all-action mainstream SF novel featuring teleportation to other planets that isn't instantaneous but happens at light-speed, so all sorts of ageing themes. Totally unbelievable main characters.
The interesting thing is the similarities to another book. "The Recollection" features a super-power alien intelligence taking over humans on a planet called Strauli Quay, with a bio-machine built by aliens and powered by one human being overcoming it. Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" (a BRILLIANT book, if you've not read it! - A Fire Upon The Deep (Gollancz S.F.)) features a super-power alien intelligence taking over humans on a planet called Straumli Realm, with a bio-machine built by aliens and powered by one human being overcoming it. Homage? - pay your money and take your choice!
The interesting thing is the similarities to another book. "The Recollection" features a super-power alien intelligence taking over humans on a planet called Strauli Quay, with a bio-machine built by aliens and powered by one human being overcoming it. Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" (a BRILLIANT book, if you've not read it! - A Fire Upon The Deep (Gollancz S.F.)) features a super-power alien intelligence taking over humans on a planet called Straumli Realm, with a bio-machine built by aliens and powered by one human being overcoming it. Homage? - pay your money and take your choice!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have previously read his last two books, The Last Reef (short story collection) and Silversands (Novella) and they were both great books. I was very much looking forward to his first novel The Recollection and it was not a let-down, it is fantastic.
As soon as you start the book you are in the thick of the action with Ed Rico just about to have his wrists smashed with a cleaver. Form here we go on a fast paced trip through space and time, meet strange aliens and find out what The Recollection is. The book gets more and more exciting and if you are like me you will not be able to put it down until it is finished. This is one of best books I have ever read and I can't wait for Gareth's next one.
As soon as you start the book you are in the thick of the action with Ed Rico just about to have his wrists smashed with a cleaver. Form here we go on a fast paced trip through space and time, meet strange aliens and find out what The Recollection is. The book gets more and more exciting and if you are like me you will not be able to put it down until it is finished. This is one of best books I have ever read and I can't wait for Gareth's next one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poor Characterisation - unbelievable conclusion
Well - I guess it's down to how bothered you are about charactersiation and plot.
The characterisation was pretty much non-existent: The decriptions of emotional reactions,... Read more
The characterisation was pretty much non-existent: The decriptions of emotional reactions,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Love Complexity
A sci-fi with cool plot & characters? I kid you not.
I'm wary of talking about the plot as I don't want to spoil anything!
Suffice to say this is a great read. It zips along, delivering a great world effortlessly. Read more
Suffice to say this is a great read. It zips along, delivering a great world effortlessly. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Peter Newman
Ummm ... not sure about this.
Sorry to disagree with higher ratings, but I felt this book was only average. The characters were a little shallow, and some of their actions were questionable. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Penumbra
Top Notch SF
I've been reading Gareth's fiction for a few years now, from his early online stories, to his poll winning stories in Interzone and his debut novel Silversands. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ben Cooper
Excellent book, should have been longer
The ideas in the story arn't the most original concepts in Sci-Fi but the author has put enough of a twist into them that they still seem fresh. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Peter
Best escapist sci-fi I've read in a long time
I've been gushing to everyone I know (and even people I don't) about this book since I read it, urging them to buy it. Now I've come here to do the same. Read more
Published 5 months ago by E. J. Newman
Compelling Read
A friend recommended this book and although science fiction is a genre outside my comfort zone, using the Look Inside feature on this site, I read the first page and was instantly... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mike
A galaxy-spanning wonderful novel
Seldom I read such a vivid, poignant SF novel, full of characters you care about and of intriguing scientific speculations. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ventura Angelo
Love, Trade, Wars and Aliens
One day Arches starts to appear, first there are only a few but then more and more. Ed was having a fight with his brother when the brother was swallowed by one of the first. Read more
Published 8 months ago by cybermage.se
Great Escapism
To be honest with you I hadn't read any of Gareth's work prior to this so I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to get. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
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