Eversion

Product Information

I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. It deals with illusions of reality — how it is fundamentally affected by perception and self-delusion, and exploring what it means to be alive, what it means to be human. The story moves from sailing ship to steam ship to air ship and onward, all with the same crew and the same mission. But one of the mysteries at the heart of it is the nature of the Edifice, whose indefinable shape seems to be a partial turning inside out (eversion). This is a novel that's elegantly plotted, full of surprises and, as first time round, rip-roaring fun.

Before long, soon after the crew discover the wreck of the Europa, the ship that was supposed to have brought back news of the walled city (or whatever the structure is), the Demeter faces disaster.

There isn’t the usual Alastair Reynolds scope, but that doesn’t matter as there is plenty of his trademark exploration and discovery and a fantastic plot twist I didn’t see coming. It is replaced by an exploratory steamer working the coast of Antarctica, with similar characters and circumstances, but more sophisticated technology. Reynolds describes in great detail the technologies and mathematics used to locate and identify the Edifice (great use of the Big Dumb Object trope).

Humanity, personhood, self-delusion, the question of what being alive means — all this is touched upon and is unexpectedly poignant. About the plot: It starts out as a classic voyage of exploration in the arctic and ends up turning into something more fantastic and at the same time more sinister.

Eversion was a pleasant surprise, a well-crafted and compelling mystery science-fiction story that keeps you questioning, with cleverly unpredictable but logical explanations and engaging character conflict. At what point does adherence to a role, however important to the survival of a mission, give way to the human need for connection? This kind of sci-fi is usually criticized for having weak characters but I connected with a number of them here and they're all fairly distinct and have interesting backgrounds. I'm not a natural audience for the opening period nautical setting - but it still interested me and as the situation develops and changes, the book really takes off.

Starts quite interestingly and the first half is excellent with lots of cool stuff, inventiveness, and making one want to turn pages to see where it goes next, but then it kind of peters out in a predictable storyline (wouldn't want to say more not to spoil it), though the ending at least is good. I don't normally bother to review fiction, but I was prompted into action by some of the less positive reviews that nearly put me off purchasing "Eversion". He lived eight years in Norway, Germany and France, and earned degrees in the study of folklore and mythology, and European history. I had to flick back to the information page as I was sure I had seen it was a Reynolds story but the beginning didn't seem anything like past reads. It falls somewhat outside Reynolds' usual space opera fare, but is no less masterful in its crafting and execution, adopting a tone generally more hopeful and less darkly baroque than his widely acclaimed Revelation Space series.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. When disaster strikes, the Demeter meets the same fate as others ships that have attempted this doomed quest. If you’re a fan of Reynold’s space operatic stories, you’ll need to adjust your expectations, but patience gets a big reward in this perfectly executed novel.

Overall, it's a bitter-sweet-dreadful novel, with an optimistic spirit about friendship, ethics, moral principles and tough choices. What does human identity consist of, in its essence, and when is it legitimate to sacrifice a life for the greater good?But the summary of this book intrigued me enough to have me taking a chance on it, and it ended up checking all the boxes for me and truly exceeding my expectations.