I really enjoyed this one. Sci-fi romance with a fun plot, great characters, and a great narrator.
I haven't read Polaris Rising yet but I hear great tI really enjoyed this one. Sci-fi romance with a fun plot, great characters, and a great narrator.
I haven't read Polaris Rising yet but I hear great things. If it is anything like this one I will be in for a treat!
Octavia is the captain of a starship and she is approached by her wartime enemy Torran, to find something that had been stolen from his family. If she accepts she will have to put up with him for weeks, but it is more money than they had seen in years. So reluctantly she brings his team on board and so starts their adventures.
I loved the slow burn between the characters. There is much more than insta-love. They grow to respect and appreciate each other before anything sexy happens. And when it does, BAM!
It had a good plot, some interesting twists and turns and I loved the narrator of the audio version. I found myself wanting to listen all the time.
HOW HAVE I NEVER READ ANYTHING BY THIS AUTHOR BEFORE!?? WOW! What a book! I am so pleased that I have a whole lot of books by Alastair Reynolds to reaHOW HAVE I NEVER READ ANYTHING BY THIS AUTHOR BEFORE!?? WOW! What a book! I am so pleased that I have a whole lot of books by Alastair Reynolds to read now. Like finding a fortune under your mattress! I am so excited to have added another 20+ books to my TBR!
It is 2057 and Bella Lind is the captain of a comet-mining vessel The Rockhopper. They get some disturbing news. One of Saturn’s moons Janus has left orbit and is on its way out of the solar system. The Rockhopper is the only ship that has time to intercept this potentially alien ship. But what awaits the ship and crew when they intercept it?
I don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone by saying more. But this book BLEW ME AWAY! It reminded me a lot of Children of Time which was my absolute favourite book of 2017!
The sheer scope of this book, covering TENS OF THOUSANDS of years! Absolutely amazing! I am not sure how he managed to squeeze everything into a stand-alone book too, but I am very grateful because it was just wonderful!
This book is not so much about the space stuff, which it has a lot of (Reynolds is an astrophysicist after all…) – But it is a story about the complexities of human relationships, particularly around the friendship of two women. It caught me by surprise how much I got sucked into the relationships just as much as the MIND-BLOWING space stuff!
Really the ONLY thing it was missing for me, was a good romance. Sure there was a bit put in here and there, but it lacked a tension-building romance which I thought would have gone well in there somewhere. A few relationships were mentioned in passing, and pre-existing couples were tested as the events of the novel transpired, but overall it lacked that bit extra for my personal taste.
But otherwise, almost freaking PERFECT! It had action, MIND-BLOWING SCIENCE-SPACE stuff, violence, emotion, betrayal, and ALIENS, MAN!
I listened to the audio version and the narration was FANTASTIC! He did a great job of portraying all the characters, especially the female ones, and gave them each an individual personality and voice. Exactly the reason that I LOVE so many sci-fi books on audio when they are well done.
Would I recommend this book? YES! No hesitation. It may be a bit full-on if you are not into sci-fi, but if you are wanting something to blow your mind a bit and just a bloody good story with superb writing – look no further! I have added ALL his other work to my TBR!
I purchased Pushing Ice at my own expense on audible.com
I love a good sci-fi. Something to get me out of this world and into the universe for a while. And although this was a solidly good read. I guess I waI love a good sci-fi. Something to get me out of this world and into the universe for a while. And although this was a solidly good read. I guess I was expecting more from what has been dubbed by many as the best sci-fi series of all time.
I read this one as part of a youtube culture series read-along I am doing with Moid and his followers on Media Death Cult (awesome channel, check it out if you are a sci-fi fan!) and I did a bit of research leading up to this one. Many people say it is the worst of The Culture series. That it is more of a space-opera rather than a hardcore sci-fi, and that it lacks the substance of the remaining books. Some people even go as far as to say you should not start this series by reading this one even though it was the first one published. The Culture series are mostly all stand-alone books so can theoretically be read in any order, but I am a stickler for reading things from the beginning.
It just fell flat a little for me. There were some great things about it and some not-so-great. So I am going to change from my normal review formatting style and use some bullet points for a change. And I’m going to start with the things I didn’t enjoy:
The Bad - I originally purchased the audio version. Although I didn’t mind the narrator too much, I found that I was distracted from the storyline VERY easily. Even the mundane tasks of washing the dishes (our dishwasher broke down OMG) and hanging out the clothes did not allow me to cling to every word unfortunately. So I sent it back in favour of the kindle version. - There were some LONG SLOW parts. More than I would have liked to be honest, even the action scenes were not particularly exciting. - I didn’t warm to the characters very well. - How it ended. Well, let’s just say I won't be expecting a happy endings in the next books!
The Good - The premise. WOW I can see that there is going to be so much more to this universe and all the different technologies and politics. I absolutely loved the culture/Idirians conflict and am excited to see where it goes and who the good-guys actually are! - I loved the weird tangents it goes on! The section where Horza is captured by the strange cult was one of the highlights of the book for me. - The writing was great. Easy to read, even through the slow parts. - A good introduction and teaser for what is to come, I hope.
Would I recommend Consider Phlebas? I don’t know yet. As a total stand alone it was a little flat, but as an intro to a universe in a series, it shows a lot of promise. I will be able to give a better rationale behind my recommendation after I have read a few more to get a wider perspective.
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