Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds is a brain-bending space opera that will leave you breathless. Reynolds' use of sci-fi slang and jargon adds an immersive layer to the narrative, making it feel like you're a part of the crew.

The novel takes place in the Revelation Space universe, where humanity is locked in a never-ending struggle against the Inhibitors, a mysterious alien race hell-bent on wiping out all sentient life. The story follows a ragtag group of humans as they embark on a dangerous mission to stop the Inhibitors from unleashing a doomsday weapon.

Reynolds' writing is as sharp as ever, with vivid descriptions of space battles and intricate world-building. The characters are complex and flawed, making their struggles all the more compelling.

Coming some eighteen years after Absolution Gap, it’s a surprise that Reynolds has chosen to continue telling this particular thread of the story. Not an unwelcome surprise mind you, but with a new Prefect Dreyfus novel on the way - the third in his series of Revelation Space police procedural prequels - Reynolds is clearly far from finished with the universe he’s created. Frankly, that’s good news, because Inhibitor Phase - and I say this as objectively as possible - is excellent.

Despite being on the shorter side for Reynolds, clocking in at around 450 pages, Inhibitor Phase lacks none of the big ideas or epic scale of the previous books. There’s much less emphasis on time as a plot device, but this never feels like something missing; Reynolds focusing on Miguel alone rather than the multiple character narratives he’s employed previously justifies the decision to excise it. Miguel himself is also a really likeable character, with a great arc and some nice development. His love for his family, along with his believable responses and reactions to situations, make him very easy to get behind. His instinctive need to protect the people he loves and his self-sacrificing nature help to make this undoubtedly the most emotionally resonant novel of the series.

Contrasting sharply with Miguel is the lone survivor of the wrecked ship, who goes by the name Glass. She has very specific plans for Miguel, though to say more would be giving too much away. She’s another great character though, who displays increasing levels of arrogance as things progress, yet again has a satisfying character arc. Miguel meeting her initiates what transpires to be a whistle-stop tour of the Revelation Space universe, taking in some familiar locations and some new ones and letting us see how they’ve changed since we last saw them. Picking over the bones of the marvellous locations Reynolds has previously populated with bustling life could almost be seen as cruel, if they weren’t still so elegantly depicted even in death. On top of this, there are callbacks aplenty; so many touches feel like Reynolds winking and saying “Yep, I had a plan for that all along.”

With that in mind, it’s time for my one, tiny criticism - it’s difficult to see how this works as a standalone. Whilst it can technically be read independently of the other novels, I’m not really sure firstly why you would and secondly if you even should. If you’re a newcomer to Alastair Reynolds’ work, he has plenty of standalones to try if you want to get a sense of his writing (such as the excellent House of Suns), none of which will leave you with the nagging sense that there are references that might be going over your head. Chasm City functions perfectly well as both a standalone and an introduction to the universe too, being a prequel, but really Revelation Space itself is the best starting point. Had I never read any Reynolds prior to this book, I would still have enjoyed it, but I suspect I would have felt that there were things that hadn’t been fully explained to me.

Judging Inhibitor Phase purely as a direct sequel, it’s fantastic. The flourishes of cosmic horror, the actual horror, the characters, the fan service and the emotional depth all add up to an incredibly strong entry in the Revelation Space sequence. Is it the best one of the series? That would be a bold claim indeed, but the fact that I’m debating the question at all should tell you all you need to know about how good this entry is.

This book is the latest in this series and I think reading the previous books would be of benefit to set the worldbuilding and characters in place .
Humanity has been reduced to living in hiding in this post apocalyptic universe that has been decimated by the Inhibitors.
Our story starts when Miguel de Ruyter has headed topside to destroy a colony ship - the people of Sun Holloware live in terror of being discovered by the Wolves ........... his discovery of a single survivor of the explosion in a casket , a woman known as Glass , soon brings the colony to its knees - she wants only one thing - Miguel . If the Colony will give him up they will be given information that will enable them to defeat the Inhibitors ....... after all what is one man against a possible future of the Colony and Humanity ?

This is not a lighthearted sci fi read but is more hard core - told in from a first person POV it spans years which I did find confusing at times ( the glossary and timeline at the end was of help) but overall it was an entertaining book

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Superb work from Reynolds. Inhibitor Phase continues the Revelation Space epic in fine style. Along with Adrian Tchaikovsky, Reynolds carries the baton of Iain Banks like few others, while never once being anyone but himself.

4 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/inhibitor-phase-by-alastair-reynolds-review/

224 years after the reappearance of the Inhibitors, humanity has become an endangered species, hiding in the galaxy’s darkest corners. Miguel de Ruyter lives on the airless world of Michaelmas—a godforsaken, pockmarked world at the edge of known space. Here, hidden in caves deep below the surface, humanity ekes out an existence. Three thousand people call Sun Hollow home, making it the largest known human settlement in space. Though for de Ruyter, it’s the only known human settlement.

But things are about to change.

When de Ruyter heads topside to destroy a colony ship—worried that the Wolves (the Inhibitors) will detect the presence of so many humans, the people of Sun Holloware prepared to destroy the newcomers before the they bring the Wolves down on Michaelmas—he comes away from the ship with a startling discovery. A lone sleeper casket, fortunate to survive the explosion. More fortunate still, the occupant, a woman known only as Glass, seems in good health if rattled by the experience. But when de Ruyter returns her to Sun Hollow all that changes.

It appears that Glass was not the desperate refugee that de Ruyter had taken her for. Within days of landing on Michaelmas, she has the colony on its knees, defenseless before her. They can refuse her nothing, but Glass only wants one thing from Sun Hollow: Miguel de Ruyter.

One man in exchange for the colony. And if de Ruyter agrees to go quietly, they’ll undertake the mystery that Glass came to Michaelmas to solve. The enigma of the Knights of Cydonia, a way to defeat the Inhibitors, a lost world known only as Charybdis, and the long-dead Nevil Clavain.

On the whole, Inhibitor Phase was an excellent read, just what I was hoping for for my return to the Revelation Space universe. I’ve only read the opening novel, Revelation Space, which only just hints at the wolves’ existence—but I still found this a satisfying continuation of the universe. Additionally, I think that new readers won’t have to hard of time of things. Inhibitor Phase doesn’t throw you in the deep end; instead building the universe from the ground up from the safety of an isolated haven before introducing the universe and history at large. If you’re a fan of the series you’ll probably know all these things already, but shouldn’t be too put off by the amount of hand-holding it does in the opening Part One.

Inhibitor Phase is written in first-person POV, and told over seven distinct Parts, which take place over a total of about 60 years. There’s a helpful glossary and timeline at the end, as well as a list of key characters and note on chronology. I used these all the time to square what I remembered with what I was being told—and it’s an incredibly helpful detail to have along. The events within are set after most of what happens in Absolution Gap (which I’ve heard is depressing), and while the tone isn’t completely positive, it’s certainly more so than not at all.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Inhibitor Phase! The story flows along really nicely after it departs Sun Hollow, and I had absolutely no problem getting along with the story. It reads quick and to the point, with a bit of flair, a bit of drama, and a bit of pace. In all honesty, I think it could get away with being 50% longer. I actually kinda felt that it glossed over some things in the interest of time; things that could’ve really become an adventure all in their own right instead of a footnote in another. But I know why it was done this way, and it’s really quite a good read the way it was written. But the best stories always leave you wanting more, and that’s what Reynolds does here. The plot flows quite nicely, with barely an issue—until the events of Part 6 (which will remain nameless in anticipation of spoilers). Then it takes some interesting license. And the story loses some of its cohesion. And don’t get me started on the ending. So… I know what they were trying to do. It all makes sense, in general, generally, on the whole. But explicitly… I have no idea what was going on. Everything just starts leaping all over the place.

While Inhibitor Phase is somewhat of a serious book—I mean, it has to do with the possible extinction or survival of humanity—it’s not without its fair share of humor. Which I found… good, I guess? Funny. Entertaining. Reynolds doesn’t do humor like Andy Weir. Or like Peter F. Hamilton. Or like Becky Chambers. Like so many other authors out there, he has his own peculiar brand of humor which you’ll either like or hate, either have to get used to or won’t.

TL;DR

Inhibitor Phase continues the Revelation Space Universe and Inhibitor Sequence Arcs in a very different way than the previous de facto concluding Absolution Gap (which, to be fair, I haven’t read but I’ve heard many things about—mostly that it’s depressing). Inhibitor Phase is a serious book, but there’s humor in it too. In fact, if the survival of humanity wasn’t at stake, I’d class it as a story about adventure, or a mystery to to solved. And solve it it does—to a quite satisfying degree over the course of its 7 separate Parts, 34 chapters and 450-odd pages. While a little artistic and scientific license is taken at the end, on the whole this is an immensely entertaining, satisfying read that I have no issue recommending to both old-timers and those new to Revelation Space. And I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here!

I feel a little stupid that I didn't know there were other books that Inshould read before this one, even If It isn't a Direct sequel.

Anyway, I'm don't want to leave the book without a Feedback And I'm going to rate It based in other Works of the author And I'm planning to read that one in the right moment.

This didn't quite turn out to be my cup of tea and I dfn-ed it after a good 100 pages. I was just dreading picking it back up. Which had everything to do with the characters. The main characters name seems to be a play on a dutch historical figure. Miguel de Ruyter - Michiel de Ruyter. Hard to miss. And it didn't feel right. There is more attention these days to the wrong things, like slave trade, de Ruyter did though not all want to hear it. There are also a bunch of references to history and previous books from what I gather about this main character and something to do with his name. And I couldn't quite shake it. I haven't read any of the other works in this series but it was sold as a standalone in the series. I don't think that is quite true.

Finally, another instalment of the Revelation Space series after a long long time. I could have used a summary of events prior just to be able to catch the references to what went before, but no matter.
If you enjoyed the earlier books, I think you'll enjoy this latest. With new and returning characters, Mr Reynolds' signature blend of detailed, technically plausible space travel and epoch-spanning events, coupled with new proliferations of hybrid identities, this feels like a seamless continuation. It's exciting and heartfelt in places.
I was interested to see that once again, theme of benevolent machinery is a major part of the world-building. Unlike many other stories of robots or computer systems, these books (and not only in the Revelation Space titles) offer a more optimistic view of technology even as it drastically changes how to define a human. Such positivity is rare and refreshing, although how likely this is is another thing entirely. Our real future notwithstanding. some of the most ethical characters are those that are very very far from what we might recognise as human at all. Yes, the baddies do exist, right at the opposite end of the moral spectrum too, but we do not spend much time with them. Mr Reynolds seems far more interested than many storytellers in how technology can amplify the possibilities of humans, rather than describing the pitfalls and it's more sophisticated than a look-how-shiny-and-powerful-I-am approach.
But I digress, my only qualm is that it feels certain that that there is more story to come, and we don't have it yet. More please!

Inhibitor Phase is Alastair Reynolds at his best. Wolves that aren’t really wolves, pigs? Brilliant idea. Loved every minute of this space opera. The ending was a bit flat but a great book nonetheless.

Reynolds used to be a space scientist and that clearly shows in this book, which is absolutely crammed with all sorts of technical details to explain why the world is the way it is. I’m aware that I used to thoroughly enjoy reading these types of books, back in the days when most hard sci-fi was stuffed full of techie toys and deep explanations as to why things were the way they were.

Reynolds has attempted to humanise Miguel by giving us a ringside seat in a first-person viewpoint. And the gripping start of this book quickly pulled me into the adventure. However, because this is set in the Revelation Space world, there are all sorts of techie tricks and gismos that we apparently need to know about in jaw-dropping detail. Inevitably, in order to keep the pace up in a book crammed with all sorts of adventures, the characterisation suffered. It doesn’t help that he is a posthuman, who has lived for a very long time with layers of experiences that makes it difficult to empathise with him. And Reynolds simply hasn’t the time or inclination to give us more than a few bonding moments with a very complex being, so that over the course of the story, I didn’t really care about any of the main protagonists.

I also struggled with the sheer bleak awfulness of the lives that humanity has been reduced to in this terrible post-apocalyptic universe that has been razed by the Inhibitors. That’s more my problem than the writing – I hadn’t remembered just how terrible the Revelation Space world actually is. However, I didn’t have any problem with continuing to turn the pages, due to the stunning inventiveness of Reynolds’ imagination. I never knew what would happen next. And there were times that when I thought I did know what was going on, it turned out to be something else. If you have read and enjoyed Reynolds’ Revelation Space novels, then track down this one – you won’t be disappointed. If you are fed up with the current taste for character-led space opera and yearn for the hard sci-fi adventures we used to see, then grab a copy. This wasn’t my favourite Reynolds’ read – but it certainly offers something very different from much of the current space adventures on the shelves. The ebook arc copy of Inhibitor Phase was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
7/10

Return to Revelation Space.

A welcome return to the Revelation Space universe with this wide-ranging epic set some 600 years after the events of 'Absolution Gap'. There's the usual mix of human, more-than-human, and post-human characters, striking set-pieces, and head-hurting theoretical science. Formulaic, but in a good way, like quantum physics.

Thanks to Orion and NetGally for this ARC *****

Alistair Reynolds returns to the world of his much-loved debut Revelation Space, after devoting much of his writing to the Poseidon’s Children and Revenger universes and standalone novels over the past twenty years. The Inhibitors continue to threaten all advanced life in the galaxy, and the novel starts on a planet where one group of refugee humans is hiding out. A starship entering their system sets in motion a plot that quickly launches protagonist Miguel on a journey to track down a long-forgotten superweapon at the behest of a small crew of very different questors. Reynolds touches many of the key points of previous Inhibitor novels: the self-assembling murderous bots themselves, giant lighthuggers crewed by mentally unstable and centuries-old AIs; the aquatic Pattern Jugglers and other deeply alien environments, along with a general sense of the ruins of empire being sifted through once more. There’s much to enjoy for Reynolds fans on this return to a familiar setting, without as a whole breaking significant new ground.

I resisted any rereading of previous Revelation Space novels, or the detailed glossary and timeline at the back. Thus I can concur that this can be read as a standalone, but would also be perhaps a richer experience after reading Revelation Space first. Review copy provided by Net Galley, and four stars on the basis of pulling off a pretty satisfying return to a five star universe.

Alien machines known as wolves have forced humanity into hiding. Scattered across the galaxies, humans survive in pockets, distrustful of outsiders and willing to do whatever it takes to protect themselves from discovery. For forty years, Miguel de Ruyter has made the uncomfortable decisions that have kept his group of survivors safe, hidden inside the desolate planet Michaelmas. Including destroying other ships that come into Michaelmas’s space.
After one such event, Miguel discovers a survivor and brings her to Michaelmas. But the survivor, Glass, is not all she seems and knows more than she is letting on. She wants Miguel to leave his loved ones and travel through space, searching for a piece of alien tech that will save everyone from the wolves. It is unlikely he will ever see his family again, and he must remember the past he has deliberately forgotten.
In a story that spans uninhabitable planets, the ruins of an empire and the alien Pattern Juggler waters, Miguel must face the atrocities he committed in a past life and find a way to make amends.
Inhibitor Phase is a return to Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space universe in a stand-alone novel exploring how we handle our past. From the start, we witness Miguel’s powerful inner strength that means he is willing to die and take thousands of people with him to save his small band of survivors. I ran cold when I realised Miguel’s intention. How far had humanity fallen to make that an appropriate response to another group of survivors coming into their space?
And the shocks don’t end there. Throughout, we are treated to crimes against other humans and species committed in the names of survival that are just plain cruel. They are described in un-glamourised language, taking us right to the heart of the characters’ horror and fear. In some cases, the events are nauseating, but we can’t look away because to do so would be to diminish the suffering caused. The theme feels very current as we explore our own past and what we have done to enhance our nation’s prosperity.
Unlike other books that claim to be “stand-alone”, Inhibitor Phase truly is. Reynolds gives you enough background if you are unfamiliar with the universe to understand what’s going on without bogging you down with details that aren’t relevant to this story. There was also a helpful timeline, key characters, glossary and endnotes at the back of the book, grounding Inhibitor Phase in the established universe. Useful for newcomers and those of us who haven’t read Revelation Space for a while.
Inhibitor Phase is an immensely fun yet challenging book, told in Reynold’s unique voice, sharp and clever, with fully realised characters that pull you along on their personal journey. There are no perfect heroes and no criminal masterminds. There are just people doing what they feel is best for them at the time. But it is also a story of hope that we, humans, can learn from our past and adapt for a better future.

Synopsis: Inhibitors are alien machines which nearly extinguished humanity. The novel follows Miguel de Ruyter who fled to a reclused, battered world Michaelmas with his family and a small community. They smallest sign of technology would reactivate the Inhibitors attention and lead to their destruction. 

One day, a spaceship passed their system and Miguel set out to destroy it before it would bring unwanted attention. He finds a lone survivor, and from there, every went different, because she knows about Miguel's past. 

To protect his family, he needs to leave them behind and follow the survivor on a quest against the Inhibitors.

Review: I'm no Reynolds specialist, his lineup of doorstoppers seemed always daunting to me. The only longer novel from him that I've read is Revelation Space, and that one didn't exactly blow me away. On the other hand I've consumed a longer list from his short fiction, and most of them were really great. There's his 2007 post-post apocalypse "The sledge maker's daughter" (review), his 2014 story "In Babelsberg" (review), a hard SF story "A Murmuration" (review), Sun drilling in "16 Questions for Kamala Chatterchee" (review), and the longest and most current novella from him I've read so far "Permafrost" (review). That's quite a lot for one author on my blog, but still: I seem to run around this author and don't dare to dive into his work. Funny, because I like his (short) work so much! Do you have similar restraints from certain authors?

Having said that, this is the second novel from Reynolds. It didn't seem like a huge risk, because it's standalone, though set loosely in the Revelation Space series (relating this novel to the whereabouts of the whole series is left as an exercise to the reader). That's the first good thing about it for someone who only dares to tip his toes into the cold water.

Then, there is the ever increasing tension, starting slowly, building up dread step by step, never letting your attention wander around. Mind-blowing at the end.

And then the sidekicks stealing the show: Pinky is a sardonic, absolutely loyal uplifted swine (called "hyperpigs") and Agent Glass with superpowers. As one could suspect, they deliver a lot of relentless action-thriller. Together with main protagonist Miguel, they have a lot to say about identity and transformation. But wait, this is not a philosophical book, and thank you for that.

So many brilliant, vivid aliens, technology, crafts, and space! This is truly epic, as far as a Space Opera can go. Of course, it isn't Hard SF, some parts of the fiction aren't exactly plausible, but the disbelief und upcoming questions are overridden by the novel's pacing, finishing off with an interesting conclusion. 

Will I return to Reynolds? Certainly, there's a new short-story in the Made to Robots anthology. but will I dive into the Revelation swamp? Here I'm more a procrastinator, but tempted more through this enjoyable book.

I have often enjoyed Alistair Reynolds in that big chunky semi-hard sci-fi mode, though I have to admit ghis recent space pirate romp Revenger was a lot more fun than much of his stuff. Inhibitor Phase is a return to the Revelation Space universe who he has been away from for about ten years after seemingly painting himself into a bit of a corner - unstoppable alien beings from the dawn of time were hunting all signs of intelligent life. There is a very much a mea culpa at the start of Inhibitor Phase where he explains that you do not need to know (or in my case remember) much of what happened in the previous books. He is right, in as much as things are broadly explained in the book, however the central character is a call back to a very important character who had forgotten who he was and unfortunately the book shifted down a gear the more he accepted his identity.

The set up is strong - a surviving hard scrabble colony with defence systems to basically scrub any indication what they are alive down there. There suddenly is a distress signal and the duty office tries to destroy it (it could be a decoy but also any contact will draw the attention of their genocidal hunters). There is however a survivor and a mystery slowly unravels..... Until the mystery is promptly solved and our duty officer is taken off on a journey across the galaxy to find a super weapon and to remember who he was. Once we got into the Revelation Space space the book lost me a touch - Reynolds really tries to make it accessible but there are also some high concept ideas about duty and honour and sense of self, plus a bit of "significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". There was a tug at me that I should have remembered things which wasn't the best sensation - and indeed my memory of reading these early Reynolds was that I was impressed with myself for getting through them....

Inhibitor Space is a picaresque novel tied to a McGuffin Quest and your mileage may depend on your fondness for the original series and your attachment to this lead character. But I was attached to the initial version in the book, the puzzled survivor with a loving wife and step-child making impossible decisions to survive. I am not sure I liked the centuries old warrior smart-arse he became.

Alastair Reynolds burst onto the science fiction world with his debut novel Revelation Space back in 2000. This book became the first in what would be called the Revelation Space series which included the sequels Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap, the adjacent book Chasm City along with a bunch of short stories and his Prefect books (Aurora Rising and Elysium Fire) set in an earlier time. That series introduced a storied and complex universe, complete with massive structures, inscrutable aliens and an existential threat to humanity.
It is some time after the events of the Revelation Space trilogy, and the Inhibitors, also known as wolves, have all but wiped out humanity. Living a hand to mouth existence on a small out of the way rock is one of the last vestiges of human civilisation led by a man called Miguel de Ruyter. But Miguel is not all that he seems and soon he is hijacked and taken on a quest to save the universe from the Inhibitors. Along the way he will face ridiculously painful challenges, find out who he really is, gather allies (some of whom will be familiar to series fans) and make some peace with his past.
It is always a risk revisiting or rebooting old franchises. The question is whether to go somewhere new or just play on greatest hits. In Inhibitor Phase, Reynolds takes the latter route, perhaps hoping that readers are keen to remember the earlier series through a new book rather than perhaps reading them again. As such he takes his protagonist (who has strong links to the characters of the original books and ends up aligning himself with some of them) back to locations from earlier books – dispatches from the long ago Martian war, the Rust Belt, Chasm City and the mainly water planet of Ararat. While this is helpful for readers who may only vaguely remember the original series, Inhibitor Phase fails to really deliver anything new. Even its structure feels old fashioned – go on a seemingly impossible quest to get a macguffin, go on a couple of side quests related to the macguffin, go on another quest to use macguffin. All of this spiced up with big Reynolds-style galactic set pieces, eldritch weapons, life threatening situations and opportunities for side characters to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
It has been a long time between Revelation Space books and there have been plenty of other space operas since that have clearly been influenced by them (including some by Reynolds himself). And while they were indeed revelatory at the time, revisiting them through Inhibitor Phase unfortunately reveals more of their cracks and ponderousness rather than celebrating their achievement.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy,
The first thing to say about Alastair Reynold’s new novel is if you are a fan of his Revelation Space universe then you will love this book. After a long wait, it’s a return familiar worlds, but ones that have changed in fascinating ways. The characters have a history and depth that make his stories much more than just another space opera.
If you haven’t read any of the Revelation Space books, then you are in for a real treat. The closest comparison I can make for the depth and detail of his future history is Larry Niven’s “Known Space”, but Reynolds universe feels stranger and darker.
If you are just starting then I suggest you try to read the earlier books first. They aren’t necessary, but you will get more from “Inhibitor Phase” if you start at the beginning of the series. The previous novels will give you more insight and feel for the places the characters visit and the technology they use. There is nothing you have to know, but there is an atmosphere that you need the earlier books to feel.
I’m going back to re-read the first three main books. Then I’ll likely have another read of this one. Another great story by a hard Science Fiction master.

This is HARD SF. This is the good stuff. This is Alastair Reynolds.
A thrilling, thought-provoking, touching story of identity, friendship, survival, change, and universal secrets. Love, loss, betrayal, mind bending concepts, great characters, and great prose.
What more could a reader want?
Ok, there's also sentient ships, hyper-pigs, Inhibitors, cool weapons and software.
To be savoured like a good meal, this is not SF fast food.
Some knowledge of the 'Revelation Space' universe is an advantage, but there's nothing here to stop a new reader jumping onboard and being swept along for the ride.
Loved it.
Sincere thanks to Orion Books for allowing me to read an eBook ARC.

Me llevé una gran alegría cuando vi que se iba a publicar una nueva novela en el universo de Espacio Revelación, una de las sagas de ciencia ficción de las que guardo mejor recuerdo por su originalidad y el buen hacer de su autor. Así que he de reconocer que no puedo ser del todo imparcial en esta reseña, porque además Reynolds juega mucho con la nostalgia de unos personajes a los que le hemos acabado cogiendo cariño tras tantas y tantas páginas acompañándoles en sus peripecias.


El comienzo del libro es desolador. Quedan muy pocos humanos repartidos por la galaxia en colonias ocultas que sobreviven como pueden con la amenaza de los inhibidores siempre presente. Estas máquinas adaptativas y auto-replicantes creadas con el único propósito de destruir las civilizaciones avanzadas en todo el universo acechan cualquier señal de inteligencia lo suficientemente destacada para caer sobre ellos y destruirlos. Parece que no hay esperanza y que lo único que el porvenir les reserva es una lenta caída en el olvido, pero nunca hay que olvidar la tenacidad del ser humano para continuar luchando.

La estructura del libro es bastante típica ya que se puede dividir en los pasos típicos para completar una misión: reunir al equipo, hacerse con los medios necesarios para llevar a cabo la misión y finalmente realizarla. Pero claro, esto para Reynolds sería demasiado fácil, así que decide elevar las apuestas para que seamos conscientes de la extrema dificultad de la tarea. Si hay que reunir al equipo, la pieza fundamental tiene que tener una amnesia autoimpuesta que le impida recordar su pasado. Si hay que reunir medios, hará falta una tecnología que nos hará pensar en la tercera Ley de Clarke después de un enfrentamiento digno de la Cúpula del Trueno. Y para realizar la misión ni os digo lo que hay que hacer, sirva como muestra el hecho de que «por el camino» tienen que atravesar una estrella.

Además, aquí están presentes todos esos elementos que caracterizan su obra: una imaginación desbordante, verosimilitud científica y algo de terror, rozando el gore en este caso. Pero es que además ahora cobra mucha importancia el elemento emocional, pues aunque Reynolds haya planeado el libro como un nuevo punto de entrada para este universo, en realidad está plagado de homenajes y menciones más o menos veladas a otros personajes que tuvieron su relevancia en el pasado. Hace mucho tiempo de mis lecturas de Espacio Revelación cuando salió en España, pero no por ello he olvidado a los Demarquistas, los Combinados y los Ultras. Así que el fan de toda la vida de Reynolds no podrá dejar escapar esta oportunidad de volver a reencontrarse con alguno de estos personajes.

Os recomiendo encarecidamente que leáis este libro, como prácticamente todo lo que sale de la pluma de este autor.

Yet another brilliant novel from Alastair Reynolds, but one that for me held a tinge of sad bleakness. Why? Because it's the endgame for the universe (possibly), most of life is gone, wiped out, with just pockets of humanity surviving in hollowed out worlds or similar.
Until danger comes their way in the form of a ship, exposing them to the dangers of discovery by the inhibitors and annihilation. One man goes to ensure that the ship never reaches their world, but things never go as they are planned and his actions have consequences that reach far into his future and beyond.
There is much depth to this story, but I think I may have read the authors mind at some point, because I had such Deja vu with one section of the story, that I was sure I had already read the book. And really I hadn't because I had no idea how the book was going to proceed after that section ended!
The characters are many and varied, some we stay with for a long while, others whom even though we grow to like them as we learn more about them, don't stay so long. But they make an impression and are remembered as the story keeps moving on.
The world building has been going on for years with this series of books and there is so much that readers new to it will want to go back to read, but it won't detract from this story to read it as it stands, if that is what the reader wants. Myself, I think I preferred to have read them all so that I know what went before and can appreciate how far the universe has fallen since the great heights of the previous centuries. And that is where the sadness creeps in, as the darkness of eternity looms cold and empty.
But the book is ace! So go read it, it's extremely well written and very clever.
I hope that there is a next one!