Rating: 
Summary: Boring just doesn't begin to describe it
Review: Based upon the abstract posted on Amazon I thought this a book I'd really enjoy. I couldn't have been more wrong. Long, boring and full of completely uninteresting characters I finished the book because I kept hoping that the ending would redeem it. It didn't. This book is full of so many side plots that it seems as though the author couldn't decide in which direction he wanted the story to go. Don't let the abstract's mention of cyborgs, lightships and other space opera concepts fool you. Avoid this one at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: EMPTY SPACE!
Review: I love hard sci-fi, but Mr Reynold's Revelation Space is a dull and insipid second-rate tale that belongs somewhere in the Star Trek league.It might all be scientifically squared off, but the storyline is repetitious and confusing, the characters lack any saving graces, and the ending is incredibly unimaginative and sell-out. To me, it felt like Mr Reynolds was trying to distill the best of Iaine M.Banks, Dan Simmons and Peter F Hamilton all into one pastiche of the genre...and failed. Mr Reynolds, either stick to the hard science you understand, or take a writing course in developing human characters we can sympathize with and actually want to follow across the universe. Sorry Alastair, but Revelation Space reads like Empty Space.
Rating: 
Summary: A rarity: hard SF w/ great pacing, characters, and ending
Review: Bought this as an Amazon [.com] recommendation, and it delivered the goods, and then some. I love hard sci-fi, but am by no means a junkie of the genre, as I've got kind of a love/hate relationship with it... For my tastes, too many of the books in the genre spend too much time obsessing over the details of the author's futuristic ideas at the expense of plot progression, with boring, cardboard cut-out characters to give these ideas some kind of purpose. Not this book. Every aspect of this book's universe intrigued me, and left me wanting to know more. The pacing is superb, the plot is rife with twists and compelling sup-plots. A richly diverse, superbly drawn cast of characters with their own agendas makes Revelation Space all that much more interesting. Unlike others here, I thought the ending was very cool on a grand scale, and leaves just enough unanswered to beg for a sequel. (Here's hoping for one!) One of the best sci-fi novels I've read in years. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: I'd like to very highly recommend this book and Chasm City
Review: Anyone that likes high technology, science fiction, a good story that is extremely well written - buy this book at once. Also buy the sequel Chasm City which is set slightly further into the future. What is most amazing is how the story makes you believe that the amazing technologies - both casually mentioned and explained subtly, but in great detail - actually should exist. Why dont they? I ended up feeling that I wanted all those toys - lots of nano-tech stuff in there.
Rating:
Summary: Dont bother
Review: This book was probably the worst book I have ever read. It jumps from one time frame to another with no apparent order. There are so many flashbacks, it becomes very confusing. It offers you glimpses into explaining the story but never actually achieves it. When you finish reading it, you are left wondering what it was all about. It promised so much and delivered so very little.
Rating: 
Summary: Better that your average space opera
Review: For anyone who gets bored by 'hard' SF, this novel has a lot more going for it, well-described cultures and technologies, action on a grand scale, a backstory which will leave you amazed and a even couple of half-decent female characters. While I felt it flagged a bit at times, for a first novel it's a fantastic piece of work and I hope Alistair Reynolds goes on to even better things - he could be the new Iain Banks.
Rating:
Summary: Misguided focus
Review: Reynold's first novel is a good start. The language is well crafted, the ideas are unique, and the characters are intriguing. Revelation Space, despite it's shortcomings, deserves to be on the Hugo ballot this year.
Rating:
Summary: Mingle a mystery with drama set on another world
Review: Fans of space opera will find this author's first novel is far-ranging. The mysterious disappearance of an alien species millions of years before human arrival doesn't concern most new colonists, but Dan is convinced it's important - and his investigations threaten his life. Mingle a mystery with drama set on another world and you have a fast-paced, involving story.
Rating:
Summary: Almost great
Review: _Revelation Space_ belongs to a subgenre of hard science fiction that I label "eschatalogical" SF; that is, science fiction that attempts to explain the history of the universe, or at least a big enough portion of it. SF on an almost infinite scale of both time and space. SF that portrays a universe with a purpose, a big, hidden purpose, the discovery of which motivates the characters in the novel and the revelation of which (pardon the pun) forms its denouement. (As examples, read all four of Fred Pohl's "Heechee" novels, or David Zindell's "Neverness" series.) Such works promise much; and they had better deliver, for little is more disappointing than something that dares and fizzles. _Revelation Space_ definitely does not fizzle, but it didn't quite deliver on its great promise, either. Not that I didn't enjoy the journey. It's one of the few even hard SF books that really depends on the relativistic effect of high-speed interstellar travel. The bells and whistles of authorial imagination (intended to make you admire his creativity - in this case, the Pattern Jugglers, Conjoiners, Ultras, the Shrouds, etc.) are clever and convincing indeed; the shape of human society is very original - different enough from our own day to seem plausibly futuristic, yet recognizable enough so that we can care about the characters as humans with whom we still have something in common. The plot is fascinating - you really want to know what happened to the Amarantins, you really want Sylveste to make his ultimate discovery. You just hope the revelations, when they come, will be shattering ENOUGH, that the payoff will be truly galactic in scope. And that's where _Revelation Space didn't quite fulfill its mighty promise. As with many epic books, the ending seemed a bit rushed; I often joke it's as if the author had a deadline, or a maximum word count, and had to finish the book within that artificial constraint. More likely, it is simply difficult to articulate an ultimate vision, to get on paper what you feel in your spirit. Don't get me wrong, Reynolds ties up all his many threads in a very neat package that doesn't even seem contrived. Yet what is going on behind the entire tale just doesn't seem quite powerful enough to have motivated the action. That's just my opinion. _Revelation Space_ is one of my favorite novels of recent years, and I'm very sorry it didn't make the 2001 Hugo Ballot. It is complex (I almost wish it had an index!), involving, very high tech, and very futuristic. Reynolds has already published a sequel in the same universe called _Chasm City_, which is not yet available in the US (I picked up a copy from a British dealer at the Millennium Philcon). He is an author definitely worth watching, and I am looking very much forward to reading his works in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Complex, compelling and intelligent.
Review: This is a spectacular first novel that truly takes on the mysteries of 'life, the universe, and everything' in a manner that is compelling and fascinating to contemplate. I initially was confused by the variety of timelines and storylines, but the author does a fine job in tying things together not only for the plot, but in the speculations about the progress (or lack there of) of intelligent life in the universe. The slow revelation of facts about the long deceased Amarantin culture on Resurgem is paralleled by political upheavals that in retrospect mirror some of what the Amarantin culture itself underwent. The intrigues and science taking place on the lighthugger spaceship "Nostalgia for Infinity" are worthy of a novel by themselves. But it is the complexity of the intertwined stories that truly make this a book of the highest caliber. Highly recommended for those interested in the "Big Ideas" of science fiction, rather than just action thrillers.
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