Terminal World

This is the type of story that makes you wish it was in a series, just so some of the fantastic world building can be re-used, but it would dilute the magic, and so you are glad that the author is content to leave well-enough alone.

This is sort of steam/cyber-punk sci-fi. Sort of if the Red/Green/Blue Mars series crossed feelers with Vendermeer's Finch. With less mushrooms.

Not, I think, one of Reynolds' best works, although certainly worthy for all that. It's set on a world in the far future that is divided into zones of differing technological levels - each enforced by apparently changing laws of physics, and capable of shifting their respective boundaries. That's a pretty interesting concept, and is fairly well explored, although we really only see the mid to low tech levels, with very little of the higher ones.

Much of the story is rather steampunk-ish, being focussed on a culture that uses that sort of technology. The main protagonist being a doctor also works well. However, there seem to be a quite a lot of loose ends. That's partly because the characters never really figure out what's going on (the reader can deduce rather more), but, even so, it can be rather unsatisfying at times. Nor does the ending really tie very much up.

A mediocre Alastair Reynolds is still pretty good by most writers' standards, but this could have been slightly more than it was.

This is a steampunk novel from an author known for SF. In the towering city of Spearpoint, Quillon is working as a pathologist in the district morgue. When a winged angel from the Celestial Levels ends up on his dissection table, it starts a chain of events that causes Quillon to embark on a journey into the hostile lands beyond Spearpoint. The main conceit at play is that the world (and Spearpoint) is divided into several different zones in which only certain kinds of technology can exist. Traveling from one zone to another, if you're heading from a more advanced zone to a less advanced zone, renders any more advanced tech unworkable. In Spearpoint itself the zones range from high-tech, to electricity, to steam-powered, to “Horsetown”. It's a strange set-up that naturally doesn't hold up to close scrutiny but there you are.

The beginning of the story moves along a fast clip and keeps you interested. But once Quillon is beyond Spearpoint, the story slows down considerably. There are a few moments when things get re-invigorated, but they don't last until perhaps the last 70 pages of the book when events once again move at quicker pace. It was interesting enough to keep reading, but just barely. The middle is a slog. And Quillon's not the most captivating character either. My biggest complaint is that the book lacks suspense for 95% of the story.

Some weeks ago I came across another reader who whole-heartedly recommends the author's book “House of Suns” but had warned me not to bother with this one.