Average Bufph Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
Alastair Reynolds
2007-05-29
“A thrilling ride in the new era of well-written space adventure”(The Denver Post) from the author of the Revelation Space series.
2057. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. But when Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons, inexplicably leaves its natural orbit and heads out of the solar system at high speed, Bella is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach.
In accepting this mission she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny—for Janus has many surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome...
The concept of Janus breaking orbit and revealing itself as an alien artifact had all the mysterious, cosmic-scale elements that drew me to Rendezvous with Rama, but with much more detailed physics and engineering explanations that reminded me of what I loved about The Dark Forest. Reynolds' background as an astrophysicist really shows in his descriptions of space travel and alien megastructures.
However, while the scientific concepts were fascinating and the scope appropriately mind-bending, I found some of the human drama and interpersonal conflicts dragged down the pacing at times. The alien Spica and their technology were intriguing, but I kept wanting more of the philosophical depth and game theory elements that made Liu's trilogy so compelling. Still, it's definitely reinforced my love for hard sci-fi that takes physics seriously, even if it didn't quite reach the transcendent heights of my favorite cosmic epics.
