Rating: 
Summary: 'Hard' SF at its best
Review: Reynolds manages to mix a mindblowing plot with 'hard' science in a way that only few authors can accomplish successfully. I cannot think of one page in this book, let alone one character or subplot, that is wasted. Never since Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy have I encountered a universe this well thought out. The main plot of Revelation Space almost becomes secondary amidst all the 'wonders' of the setting with its intricate dynamics, strange cultures (the human cultures more so than the alien), and plague-ridden cities and spaceships, which - for a change - are not capable of faster-than-light travel. If you like John Barnes and Peter F. Hamilton, you'll enjoy Alastair Reynolds.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, another great sci-fi author to read
Review: While this book had a few problems, I thought that it was an excellent read, particularly in its outstanding world-building. The characters are interesting as well, in particular the cyborg interstellar space crew. For whatever reason, the British seem to be building the most interesting future worlds for a reader to explore. I refer to the likes of Banks, Hamilton and MacLeod. If you enjoy those authors, then this book is a must read. I eagerly await the US publication of his next books.
Rating: 
Summary: An Epic Of Grand Scope
Review: It is about 500 years in the future, humanity has spread out to the stars using relativistic starships. An archaeological dig on the distant planet Resurgam has uncovered evidence of a long dead race called the Amarantin, and what happened to them may affect the future of the human race. Dr. Dan Sylveste is in charge of the excavation, his father Calvin exists only as an electronic personality, and there is political intrigue on the planet as well. The ancient starship 'Nostalgia For Infinity' is involved with all of this also, with it's captain strangely infected with the 'melding plague', virtually unstoppable. And there is Ana Khouri, a woman who is sent to murder Dr. Sylveste, by a mysterious lady. Then there is the 'Shroud', an alien object in deep space that means nearly certain death for humans who approach it, but a few do anyway. This hard science fiction novel includes suspended animation of starship crews, robots, advanced artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, immortality, cybernetic implants, electronic personalities, mysterious aliens that are believable, and the list could go on. Alastair Reynolds is a first time author but he writes like he already has wrote a hundred novels, some people are just natural writers. He is also a scientist and that is very evident in this book. This novel stretches the envelope on what is possible without violating known physics. Cutting edge science fiction like this is hard to find, and this is a 'must read' for serious science fiction readers. I found this novel to be great reading, although it was a bit long, it could have been 50-70 pages shorter, that is why I did'nt give it five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Confused & Wandering & Silly
Review: This is one I thought I'd like a lot. I didn't. Confusing, wandering, promising much more than it delivered, what this book needed was a decent editor. It's also full of cynical, monomanical characters and too-cute-for-words dialogue (a regretable trend in much sci-fi these days). The ending is merely silly. Where are you Vernor Vinge?
Rating:
Summary: The first science-fiction masterwork of the millennium!
Review: Alastair Reynolds has produced an amazing masterpiece (an incredible debut!) blending the extrapolations of hard science with unforgettable characters set in a possible and disturbing future five centuries from now. This is a thinking person's novel, not light reading to be finished overnight. The conceptions from nanotechnology, astrophysics, genetic engineering, and computer science will stimulate you and keep you thinking long after finishing the book. It is so well written, that despite its length I was left wishing it would continue for a few hundred pages more. The vast panorama of intergalactic history and conflict, spanning billions of years, and the original ideas the author presents establish him as one of the most powerful voices of modern science fiction, in the tradition of Arthur Clarke, A.E. van Vogt, Jack Williamson, and a few others. Although the power of this novel emerges primarily from the dizzying vistas of the future and the alien artifacts and civilizations it paints in cataclysmic brush strokes, it also features outstanding characters not easily forgotten: Khouri, the soldier assassin, and Ilia Volyova, the dynamic Triumvir on the starship Infinity, are easily two of the strongest female characters in sf literature, and the pathos of Dan Sylveste will long linger in memory as well. This novel is a first rate masterpiece of the calibre of Clarke's CHILDHOOD'S END, Williamson & Gunn's STAR BRIDGE, and A.E. van Vogt's VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Most intelligent SF I've read in years
Review: If you watch the chapter headings carefully you will realize that Reynolds even takes the speed of light and travel times into account. He moves back and forth 20+ years to have the main characters arrive at the same point in space/time for the right reasons. I highly recommend this book but be warned, it isn't always easy to follow the science and the characters are a bit stiff.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising but not wholly successful debut hard SF novel
Review: Alastair Reynolds' first novel, Revelation Space, is set a few centuries in the future, featuring augmented humans, slower-than-light travel between nearby suns, mysterious long-vanished aliens, amazingly powerful weapons, and more: a familiar set of SF tropes, but still treated in a interesting and reasonably rigorous fashion, with a number of nice new twists on the familiar ideas. Three threads converge: on the planet Resurgam (of the sun Delta Pavonis), Dan Sylveste is studying the relics of the long vanished natives called the Amarantin, while resisting moves to terraform. On Sylveste's former home planet, Yellowstone, Ana Khouri is a professional assassin, recruited by the mysterious woman called the Mademoiselle, for a rather different assassination. At the same time (accounting for STL travel time) Ilia Volyova is approaching Yellowstone, looking for help for her ship's Captain, who has succumbed to the "melding plague", which seems to cause him to be combined with nearby machines, such as the ship, and also looking for a new gunnery expert, after the previous one succumbed to insanity upon being invaded by an intelligence called "Sun-Stealer". Before long Ana Khouri is the new gunnery recruit -- by accident the spaceship and the Mademoiselle share the same goal -- Dan Sylveste. The spaceship needs his surgical skills (or more precisely, those of his father Calvin, who "lives" on as a computer simulation which Dan can host), while the Mademoiselle, for mysterious reasons which we slowly guess, wants to kill him. All the threads converge at a neutron star companion of Delta Pavonis, or more properly, at the very strange planet orbiting the neutron star. Among the neat ideas introduced are the odd aliens called the Pattern Jugglers, and more odd aliens called the Shrouders; as well as a scary explanation for Fermi's Paradox, as well as the secret of the Amarantin, and of Dan's past. All these are well-handled, and resolved rather fairly and interestingly. On the other hand, the characters almost completely fail to come to life. For instance, some way through the book we are told that Dan Sylveste and another important character are in love and are to be married. My first reaction was "What?" -- and even after their marriage and several tender scenes, I was simply not convinced. Too, the narrative voices of the three POV characters tended to merge. Another problem is pacing -- the book is far too long. It would have been better if it started about halfway through, with maybe a flashback or two. Still, though it's not a perfect book by any means, it's a worthwhile debut, and there is no doubt that Reynolds' SFnal imagination is as good as anyone's. He's a writer to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Infinite Space
Review: "Revelation Space" is a hard space opera of a powerful and new imagination. Riveting and wholly inventive; Reynold's uses a backdrop as broad and as infinite as the universe itself. Reynold's is a bright new star in the field of SF, and writing as mind expanding and as bold as Baxter, Banks, and Clarke... Gary S. Potter Author/Poet.
Rating:
Summary: a star is born
Review: Revelation Space is a fantastic first novel - its hard-edged sci-fi with great characters, we get the vastness of space, inner and outer. Alastair Reynolds is a brilliant writer. I found it gripping, very clever, with wonderful descriptions that create a strong visual dimension as you read. This authors imagination really stretches you, and what a story teller. I would rate him with Vernor Vinge and thats something in my book. I'm avidly waiting for the next one, I want more!
Rating:
Summary: Not the ride of the century, but a good ride nonetheless!
Review: "Revelation Space: a quest for the secrets of the universe. Step into infinity and join the ride of the century." (from Revelation Space backcover.) And what a ride it was. Starting slowly at first but with the no less gripping intrigues of power struggles Machiavellian in their scope on Resurgam, the planet where the story begins. Revelation Space is woven around an archaeological dig of a long past civilisation, the Amarantins and the novel's main character, Dan Sylveste. Who were the Amarantins, and why did their civilisation cease some nine hundred thousand years ago seemingly in an instant in historical terms? Revelation Space is a look into the possibilities for the human race over 500 years in the future, where electronic implants are not only possible but also the norm, where space ships travel at near the speed of light, and where life can be prolonged almost indefinitely. Every time I thought the story had crested, some new twist and turn occurred. Even though half way through this 476-page novel, the two story lines came together there was obviously much more of the plot to unravel. About two-thirds into the story I couldn't put the book down, eagerly turning the page to see what new part of the story would be revealed. I rate this book highly, and recommend it to all science fiction fans. Although certainly not of the scope and depth of the "Foundation" series of Asimov, it nonetheless was truly a "huge, magnificent space opera..."
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