My opinions on Century Rain thus far

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-04 10:50am

Contents of Wendell Floyd plotline: interesting characters, interesting setting, weird shit going down.

Contents of Verity Auger plotline: coincidence, coincidence, coindidence, nanowank, coincidence, nanowank, OMG Singularity bullshit!!!!11, nanowank, coincidence, fucking SPOILERS for Wendell Floyd plotline, coincidence.

Yeah, it's a fuckup.

Genii Lodus · Post by **Genii Lodus** » 2008-01-04 11:14am

You get it as a Christmas present too?

I've only bothered to read about 50 pages so far and don't feel particularly compelled to keep reading which is very unlike me. I also got given Diamond Dogs,Turquoise Days (both of which I enjoyed) and Pushing Ice which I haven't yet read. Is Reynolds just not as good at writing outside of the Revelation Space universe?

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-04 11:38am

Pushing Ice was good (after a slow start), but the femtotech requires some heavy suspension of disbelief.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-01-04 02:21pm

Century Rain is arguably Reynolds' weakest novel. I've not read it, but the reviews put me off it along with the synopsis not grabbing me, unlike Pushing Ice which has a good concept for a TV series or movie.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-04 05:03pm

It's bad. Doubly bad because Floyd's side of the plotline is actually very good reading, and would be good even if it were part of a bog-standard detective novel rather than SF. Whereas Auger's side reads like something by Gregory Benford.

Also, the reference to Slashdot as "a group of progressive thinkers" loses extra points. I won't even get into the childish fantasy of an online community splitting off and magically forming a techno-utopia; even Cory Doctorow realizes that ain't gonna happen, so I can only hope that the Slashers' preference for neotenous bodies is Reynold's tongue-in-cheek comment on the idea.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2008-01-04 08:10pm

I always tended to assume that was an error in the historical record. Sort of like the "professor of Earthonomics" in the Dr Who Christmas special. It's what they believe, not necessarily what happened (like how the current Christian dogma is a mish-mash of loads of sources).

Still, it's the least good of his works so far. I've got Galactic North waiting for me. Hopefully, it's up to the statndard.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-04 10:25pm

I still haven't read the Revelation Space trilogy (only Chasm City, which blew me away in spite of the occasionally clunky third-person writing). Maybe I'll allocate that as summer reading.

On the other hand, the UMass store has copies of Nova Swing in stock. Right now. And after Light I'm not going to turn down another M. John Harrison novel. Damn budget restrictions...

Luzifer's right hand · Post by **Luzifer's right hand** » 2008-01-04 11:38pm

Galactic North and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days are imho the best books by Reynold, but I prefer short storys and novellas in general.
I have been unable to find a reasonably priced coby of Zima Blue and Other Stories(a non Revelation Space story collection).

Has anyone read The Prefect? It's the only "Revelation Space" book I have not read.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2008-01-05 07:30am

Not yet. It's only out in hardback, and I'm a cheapskate

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2008-01-05 03:24pm

The Prefect exists in soft cover, it's a great book thats quite enjoyable. Not up in scale, but fits the drama.

Century rain...was up and down. I actually enjoyed the Auger plotline. And the slashdot comment, if you didn't notice, was a deliberate poking at them.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2008-01-06 08:08am

Ace Pace wrote:The Prefect exists in soft cover, it's a great book thats quite enjoyable. Not up in scale, but fits the drama.

Not here it isn't; Amazon UK has it listed as out in paperback in April. Galactic North only came out in paperback in November.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2008-01-06 08:25pm

I enjoyed Century Rain just enough to finish it. Definitely a weaker offering.

But I have to say: the backstory is really the opposite of Singularity. It has a lot more in common with The Stand than with Accelerando.