Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds **spoiler warning**

Until four years ago, the closest I had come to reading science fiction was when I was ten years old or younger and reading Star Wars books. The older I got I seemed to think that science fiction was boring and uninteresting, not true literature, etc. I thought this about quite a few genres. When I stumbled across Neil Gaiman, and fell so in love, I suddenly was thrust into a world of new possibilities. The man had written in almost every genre and medium possible. So, with time, I began to let go of old prejudices but I had still not ventured into sci-fi. Then last year a good friend suggested a book called House of Suns by an Alastair Reynolds. From what he told me, I was interested. And he promised it was not cheesy or boring. I bit the bullet and bought the book.

The thing about Alastair Reynolds is that his writing is smart. I mean really smart. This guy is an astrophysicist turned author. So when he writes about space and science, it is almost on a textbook level. I am slightly ashamed to admit that he is the only author who has ever made me feel stupid. I have always had a high reading level. I read Pride and Prejudice at 11 (I wish I was kidding). So I do not tend to feel inferior to any level of writing or type of novel. And yet when I read Reynolds, he makes me feel, for the first time, like his writing is above my comprehension level. But that is part of why I love him. Thus when I first begin any of his novels, and  Redemption Ark is my third, I have to shut off the part of my brain that wants to fully and truly understand all that is happening. Unless I have a super high-tech space dictionary next to me, which I don't, I have to accept I will not understand every word used. It takes a bit of time and effort to get into a Reynolds novel, but it is so worth it.

So I loved House of Suns, but it was a stand alone novel. Eventually I went back to the book store and decided to dive into Reynolds first novel, which was the beginning of a series, called Revelation Space. That novel was the first book I read this year and I loved it even more than House of Suns. Redemption Ark is the second book in the Revelation Space world and I loved it. Both of these novels are full of rich storytelling and immersive space opera-ness. What I love is that even if Reynolds follows many characters for the first half of the novel, he will always end up throwing them together for the second half, and that is where the fun begins.

Redemption Ark brought back my favorite character of Ana Khouri, whose history is easier to explain if you just go find the books. She is a badass woman (as all of Reynolds' women are in their own right, another reason to admire him) and I enjoyed being able to follow her continued story as she tries to save the planet of Resurgam from certain destruction. The Inhibitors, a race of machines whose sole purpose is to squash out star-faring life so as to preserve not star-faring life, have awoken and are in the midst of building a frightening weapon to kill the planet. The story is more complex and rich than that, but I would fail miserably if I tried to explain it.

This series deals overall with the existence of the Inhibitors and what that means for mankind. There is mystery combined with fear, and sometimes horror, in all of Reynolds' novels and it keeps me engaged. But at the same time Reynolds' finishes each of his novels in a satisfying enough way that it could stand on its own. This man is truly brilliant and I have nothing but respect and awe for his writing. Especially because he has said that he never writes about something he does not think could actually happen or exist someday, (which is a bit frightening when I think of the idea of the Inhibitors).

The character of Nevil Clavain, who is introduced in this book, is one of the most fascinating and complicated of any of Reynolds' other characters. His story is long and not fully explained, but the glimpses at his past are intriguing. Part of why I loved this novel so much as because of this character. In fact I would recommend the book on Clavain alone. He is one of the few humans who used to live on Earth and his memories of it are insightful. His history alone seems to be the history of humans in space. Overall, I think Redemption Ark is my favorite Reynolds book so far and I recommend it, especially if you've already read Revelation Space.

Alastair Reynolds is, in my opinion, a poet and professor. It is hard to truly describe the beauty of some passages that, while they are talking about very foreign elements, use metaphors that seem stolen from a poem. Combine this with his astrophysicist background and grand ideas of space and time, and Alastair Reynolds may be the most brilliant author there ever was. He just hides in the science-fiction section. I am forever grateful I took my friend's suggestion. I am grateful I opened my mind and ventured into the world of unknown genres. Even if everything else I read is shit, finding Reynolds will be the one payoff for roaming into the science-fiction aisle.