Mare Somniorum

I’ve been reading “The mind’s I” and “Labyrinths” on and off for a while now, and as good as both works are, they’re just not the type of book you sit down and read until the end.  They both practically beg you to stop for a bit, think about that last bit, and contemplate yourself relative to what you’ve just read.  This is just dandy, but it leads to a confusing jumble of reading material on my desk.

So, to solve the problem, I picked up “Redemption Ark” by Alastair Reynolds with rather high expectations — and the intent of having something less surreal to read on the way to work in the mornings.  After reading a hundred odd pages in “Redemption Ark” all I can say is that Reynolds is quite the weaver.  Yes, the book does draw on “Revelation Space”, yes, it’s a good idea to have read it beforehand (the opposite order spoils things like who survive and such), but the concepts are new.  It’s not a rehash, a “Revelation Space” remade and refitted.  I have to admit I find the book really hard to put away.