Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder2.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tony Nance Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: Poseidon's Wake. Alastair Reynolds. Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:55:47 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 67 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2024 21:55:48 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="6d5729a8b3fbdc54777e65bf5948589f"; logging-data="1412158"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18eCPVr6oxEQtBEsAEP5FShJn7/VKV2/Ik=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:rDuUM/qHhkcIQ4zOUidjWla2huA= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: Bytes: 4736 On 11/19/24 12:26 AM, Titus G wrote: > On 10/10/24 11:17, Tony Nance wrote: >> On 10/8/24 12:42 AM, Titus G wrote: >>> On 9/09/24 14:07, Tony Nance wrote: >>> snip >>>>>>>> On 9/4/24 1:56 AM, Titus G wrote: >>>>>>>>> Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012 >>>>>>> snip >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy >>>>>>>> it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main >>>>>>>> problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to >>>>>>>> share >>>>>>>> very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try. >>>>>>> >>> >>> I am over halfway through the next one, On the Steel Breeze. Events and >>> science still outweigh characterisation. Whoops! They are mainly still >>> around but not Geoffrey, nor the cousins and some play minimal roles. >>> One is over three hundred and another is two hundred and forty but >>> Geoffrey did not take prolongation treatment. Even grandma Eunice is >>> sort of there but in a robotic format with simulated mind. Following >>> your criticism regarding the richness of the characters, I have paid >>> more attention to this aspect and really couldn't tell anyone anything >>> much about them but this is not detracting from my enjoyment of the book >>> for the same reasons as Blue Remembered Earth even without the novelty. >>> I could probably describe characters from Garry Disher's pot boilers >>> better :-) >> >> That's all good to know - thanks. Unless there are some rather drastic >> differences, I believe I'll be better prepared to read the second one. >> More specifically, I believe the characters won't bug me as much, even >> if they turn out to be similar. >> >> Tony > > It would be an injustice to attempt to summarise this trilogy and I am > sure that a synopsis could easily be found elsewhere so I won't attempt > to do so. > I was pleasantly surprised by the final novel, Poseidon's Wake, which > introduced new conflicts between science and 'religion' as well as > exacerbating the continuing conflict between humans, intelligent > machines and the two alien technologies. I enjoyed it perhaps more than > the first two but was always worried about how it would all be tied up. > The last 50 or 60 pages were somewhat dull and banal but the journey to > get there, 700 plus pages, was brilliant. I love his writing and his > extensive scientific or pseudo scientific, (eg; infovore, a combination > of information and carnivore), vocabulary. The scope is just massive > covering huge distances across galaxies and more hundreds of years. The > Akinya family is still prominent with grandchildren from those in "On > the Steel Breeze" major characters but again events are more important > than character development. My main criticism of the characters was that > they were all too noble, too ethical as were the machine intelligences > as well as the elephants, (the dedication reads, "For my wife, who once > fell in love with an elephant."). > Another solid four stars. > Thanks for all of that. On the Steel Breeze is in the short stack, for near future consumption, but I've been in quite a reading drought recently[1], and I can't guess when I'll get to it. Tony [1] I do typically have a slow-down in my reading from Sep - Nov/Dec, but this year seems worse than previous years. Whether it is or it isn't, I'll probably come out of it over the next month or so.