House of Suns

After my Culture binge I guess I didn't get enough space opera because I went straight to Reynolds. This book was sold to me as one of Reynold's best works, and a great book to decide if you want more. I think I can sign off on parts of that endorsement; this is a great story that definitely evokes Banks in the world building department and surpasses Banks when it comes to plotting and pacing. It is self contained and exquisite, and while I haven't read any of his other works I got the sense that this book really was the perfect taster for Reynolds.

That said I don't know if I am sold on Reynolds, this story was not any longer than a Culture novel but it didn't hit quite the same and felt long. I figured that a story about incestuous clones attending a galactic family reunion would be funnier, or at least bring along a little levity, but this is absolutely meat and potatoes sci-fi.

I did find the concept of shatterlings, 1000 male and female clones of one person made into immortal space faring explorers, to be iconic and wildly imaginative- if a little narcissistic and implausible. This book also gave us a little taste of Reynolds' belief in the hard limit of light speed, and his reasoning and extrapolation managed to make an entire galaxy feel stifling and small.

I still plan to read revelation space but I think I will kick that can down the road a bit.