Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds

"Diamonds dogs tells of a group of mercenaries trying to unravel the mystery of a particularly inhospitable alien tower on a distant world. Turquoise days is about Naqi, who has devoted her life to studying the alien Pattern Jugglers."--Publisher description.

This pair of short stories set in the Revelation Space universe provide an interesting contrast in themes but they showcase Alastair Reynolds' writing at its best. The deep conceptual ‘what if' that the best sci-fi possesses is present in both stories, with an Asimovian feel to the pair.

Diamond Dogs is essentially a space age dungeon puzzle, with the overarching theme of mans desire to push themselves, to find challenges to defeat just because they are there. A gritty and relentless story.

Turquoise Days is gentler and more evenly structured. It builds towards the questions of trust, deception and the moral implications of genocide to prevent the release of something more evil.

I've only read Diamond Dogs so far. It's basically the saw movies but science fiction style. Overall I liked it fine. But nothing great. I haven't read Turquoise Days yet, but its totally unrelated afaik.