Slow Bullets
Ratings20
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings20
Average rating3.6
From the author of the Revelation Space series comes an interstellar adventure of war, identity, betrayal, and the preservation of civilization itself. A vast conflict, one that has encompassed hundreds of worlds and solar systems, appears to be finally at an end. A conscripted soldier is beginning to consider her life after the war and the family she has left behind. But for Scur - and for humanity - peace is not to be. On the brink of the ceasefire, Scur is captured by a renegade war criminal, and left for dead in the ruins of a bunker. She revives aboard a prisoner transport vessel. Something has gone terribly wrong with the ship. Passengers - combatants from both sides of the war - are waking up from hibernation far too soon. Their memories, embedded in bullets, are the only links to a world which is no longer recognizable. And Scur will be reacquainted with her old enemy, but with much higher stakes than just her own life.
Reviews with the most likes.
An interesting high concept sci fi novella. Our protagonist wakes up on a strange spaceship and tries to piece together what has happened. He had been fighting a war and had been injured. The ship he wakes up on turns out to be a prison ship, but where they are is a complete mystery. This novella does a good job of creating a nice mystery in its short page count, using some good hard science to back up its more fantastic elements.
I am a big fan of Alastair Reynold's sci fi writing. This book does not disappoint! A lot is crammed into a novella, and it makes excellent use of this story form. The novella title takes its name from small computers that are implanted into soldiers to store key information about them - service record, etc. This computing power is key to the story in many ways. The story also does well in its play on some fears that ‘cryogenic travel' impart.
All in all a neat novella
Featured on an episode of the delightful if at times very smugly snotty podcast “I Don't Even Own a Television”, Slow Bullets is a nice little soft sci-fi novella about a prison ship in a very dire situation. Alistair Reynolds enjoys his grimdark stories and this is no exception, but it's a short and enjoyable little glimpse into a world in great peril. There's a bit of a smug anti-religiousness that some people might find grating, but I felt it was tempered by having characters observe that there were positive things brought to the table by the "believer" faction as well. On the whole, if you enjoyed Revelation Space this is worth a quick read. If you've never read anything by Reynolds though, I'd suggest starting with something else.
