Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds

On the edge of the chasm that gives the City its name, life is hard. The Melding Plague has turned Man’s technology against him, from the millions of nanotech medichines that swarm through his blood to the once-mighty orbital stations that now form the ironically-named Rust Belt around the plague’s originating planet of Yellowstone. Seven years ago the main planet of the Epsilon Eridani system and its “Glitter Band” were in the midst of a Golden ...
...the recently-arrived Tanner Mirabel. Nothing really shocks this man though; he has after all been ambushed, shot out of orbit and left for dead – and not necessarily in that order either. After sleeping for close-on fifteen years, his memories are understandably hazy, and a short stay at the Hotel Amnesia is very definitely in order. But when Mirabel remembers why it is that he finds himself waking up in a stitched-together space station, a swift ...

TallTone 13.05.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds

...looked back and think that Chasm City is an improvement on the previous book. The book is quite a nice sized read, maybe I’m biased but I get very frustrated when you’re really getting into a book and it’s only a few hundred pages long. I love devouring books over 500 pages, and this one at 616 is no exception. I daresay you’ll not notice the size though as the action is pretty thick and fast. The one possible gripe I would have with this book (in ...
...moves to Yellowstone and specifically Chasm City the destination of his prey. Somehow during this transition Tanner is infected with a virus engineered by a cult group who worship Sky Hussman. The virus is known to affect the mind of the host and overlay memories of Sky’s life. There are regular interludes where Tanner has flashbacks to Sky’s life which become increasingly vivid and disturbing and culminate toward the end of the book with the present ...

RahimC 18.08.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds

...the often rancid, often sterile Chasm City. Indeed it is a marriage of both Good and Evil, sanity and insanity, the dirty and the clean which septate with dramatic distinction the sometimes confusing shifts in plot, location and time. Much like some sort of cart running away from any form of user screeching around corners to the point, but not over it, of a spillage. In some ways it is the charm of this that there is little time for stability or ...
...Any criticisms can come in the form of the lack of peripheral character development, as many of them seem just hollow in comparison to Tanner and the other main individuals. And the oddly rigid form of first person narrative which is not wholly successful. A great and enjoyable read, complicated and fast paced. Much fun will be had for SiFi/Fantasy lovers and those who just want a good Adventure with twists and turns galore! ...

Karath 02.12.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds

Chasm City is set in the Revelation Space universe. Conforming to a nice traditional earth expansion story, Chasm City is the diseased and corrupt capital of a human empire plagued by factions, pirates and isolation. This is really all you will have missed if you haven't read 'Revelation Space'. Chasm City is a standalone tale about a former soldier, and bodyguard, in pursuit of his former master's assassin. This pursuit takes our anti-hero into ...
...her downtrodden underclass, a seemingly prosperous population of elite drug addicts and ultimately the real rulers. Alongside this story we are treated to an equally absorbing tale of the launch of earth's colonisation efforts, dominated by an ambitious and unstable young captain This is a book of twists and shocks with an extrordinary level of detail. Reynolds absorbs you so entirely in his twisted city that at times the reader will almost beg ...

tibejw 25.02.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds