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Century Rain

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 2,825 ratings · 172 reviews

Three hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust.

Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose.

Something astonishing has been discovered at the far end of a wormhole: mid-twentieth century Earth, pre...more

Paperback, 640 pages

Published May 30th 2006 by Ace (first published 2004)

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Feb 14, 2013 Cecily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-or-futuristic, favourites, miscellaneous-fiction

WOW! What a cracking - but crazy - read. I'm still reeling from it. It doesn't get muddled or daft and yet it has everything... really... everything: time travel, spies, archaeology, cyborgs, a love triangle, wars, wormholes, virtual reality, a quest, death and sacrifice, murder mystery (with all the usual clichés lovingly included), nanotech, code-breaking, genocide, bodysnatching/ swapping, bootleg music, ecological disaster, white-knuckle chases, wraith-like horror characters, alternative his...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Chris by: Timothy

Shelves: scifi

Imagine how good Alastair Reynolds could be if he learned how to write a decent conclusion. However, the fact is that he writes fascinating, compelling stories, develops interesting, empathetic characters, and immerses you in incredibly detailed universes based on concrete possibility based in science.

And then he abandons them. Every single book of his I have read, including Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Chasm City and Absolution Gap continues with the plot at a breakneck pace, until the fin...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Adrian rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've recently become a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, and with good reason! His currently released clutch of Science Fiction stories are inventive, well written, suspenseful, surprisingly close to actual scientific theory and generally really rather good. Despite his great writing style, it's always worth noting that, while many of his stories work as stand alone reads, they really are best when tied into the overarching world, and the explanations of his plethora of inventive new technological m...more I've recently become a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, and with good reason! His currently released clutch of Science Fiction stories are inventive, well written, suspenseful, surprisingly close to actual scientific theory and generally really rather good. Despite his great writing style, it's always worth noting that, while many of his stories work as stand alone reads, they really are best when tied into the overarching world, and the explanations of his plethora of inventive new technological macgubbins can seem very stuffy and over-long if your not the type to care about how finely and realistically crafted his work is (I think those in the know call it "hard Sci-Fi", but I don't know if I'm in the know, so I really don't know, y'know?).

Century Rain is a bit different for several reasons. Firstly, it's a complete stand-alone story, with no links or mention of his other works. Secondly, its premise involves flip-flopping (note: not the technical term) between gritty film noire land and slick sci-fi in a move that might sound schizophrenic but actually works really well.

I don't want to give anything away (beyond what's on the blurb at least), but the marrying of these two very distinct worlds and the clashing personalities they contain is done brilliantly, with a deft touch that stops it ever becoming unnatural. The characters are a brilliantly written band of wildly varied people (something Reynolds is a bit of a master at), the story full of intrigue and mystery, and both settings are so well-realised as to be characters in their own right. He never overdoes the technological descriptions, which might upset fans of the awesome ideas the Revelation Space arc is stuffed with, but really improves the atmosphere and feel of the overall read.

Personally, I can't recommend this enough. It's a fantastic, gripping book that is both clever and enjoyable without ever being overwhelming, and a great change of style and pace to other sci-fi and detective stories. First class!(less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Sarai rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: conspiracy, detective, dystopian, historical-fiction, science-fiction, space-ships-and-aliens, time-travel, favourites

This book had just about everything that I love in a good story. I was quite surprised, having read some of Alastair Reynolds works before and finding them hard science fiction, enjoyable, but unwilling to compromise the hard science element for the purpose of story. But this book has become one of my favourites. Probably not in the ten books I'd dive for in a fire if they were the last remaining copies on earth, but definitely in the top twenty.

The story follows two characters on two different...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Emma rated it 2 of 5 stars

What to say?! This is a truly bonkers book - 500+ pages of wormholes, spaceships, alternate histories, 1950s detective fiction, romance, futuristic science fiction... There is a lot to enjoy in it, and a lot that I did enjoy, but unfortunately my overall impression isn't completely positive. The first two-thirds were good and there was some great, pacily written plot, interesting characters and touches of humour as the portion of the book set in an alternate Paris of 1959 came to its conclusion....more What to say?! This is a truly bonkers book - 500+ pages of wormholes, spaceships, alternate histories, 1950s detective fiction, romance, futuristic science fiction... There is a lot to enjoy in it, and a lot that I did enjoy, but unfortunately my overall impression isn't completely positive. The first two-thirds were good and there was some great, pacily written plot, interesting characters and touches of humour as the portion of the book set in an alternate Paris of 1959 came to its conclusion. After that, when the action and main characters transferred to 24th century space, I'm afraid that it all started to unravel and get too much for me.

Not only do I think it was too much for me, but also rather too much for the author. In trying to cover too much ground what Reynolds has ended up with is a book which feels 200 pages too long and yet a bit unsatisfactory. For me, this is because there are pages upon pages of tiresomely tedious description of a chase through space to try to save the world (well, one of the worlds, and one that isn't really real at that!) it is all wrapped up very quickly with loose ends escaping all over the place! Having spent time earlier in the book convincing the reader of an unlikely romance, Reynolds then contrives to allow the lovers to walk away from each other irreparably without a backward glance. Questions and parts of the plot which have been key - and belaboured as such - earlier on are either forgotten or simply swept away. Just why was the main character chosen to undertake the mission? What were the messages being sent through the wireless set all about?

As those of you who read my reviews know, science fiction - both its content and the style of prose it tends, or perhaps needs, to be framed in - isn't really my thing. This is perhaps the main reason for my rather muted enjoyment of this book and I will confess that there was a particular bit of dialogue just over halfway through that made me pause. One of the characters uttered the words "Don't die on me now, not after all we've been through!" and somewhere in the distance the bell tolled for my enjoyment of this book...(less)

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Feb 25, 2011 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, read-2011, current-favorite-5-stars

5 stars

This fairly long novel is a true testament to the fact that sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. This is an accessible hard science book mixed together with an early detective noir story.

As for the science it reaches for some very big concepts and contains many intriguing technologies. It however is lite compared to that of the wondrous science from the Revelation Space series. The world building however, is top notch and the back story of the war between the Threshe...more 5 stars

This fairly long novel is a true testament to the fact that sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. This is an accessible hard science book mixed together with an early detective noir story.

  As for the science it reaches for some very big concepts and contains many intriguing technologies. It however is lite compared to that of the wondrous science from the Revelation Space series. The world building however, is top notch and the back story of the war between the Threshers and the Slashes told through out this is fabulous.

  The detective noir of an alternate 1950's Paris is good but really only touches on themes of old school mysteries. Without being political Reynolds paints this alternate Earth minus WWII by choosing not to comment on why the divergence from our history has come to pass.

  Floyd and Auger are one of the best complimenting pairs that I have read about in quite some time. Their relationship grew in a real way and you really felt it as it changed. They had great playful dialogue, deep meaningful actions, and they genuinely ended up caring about each other. They seemed to both be genuine articles and good, albeit flawed people.

  With all respect intended this book played out to me like a hard science version of a Dan Brown novel. That is probably why I just could not put it down. Like all great thrillers the reader needs to feel invested in the lives of the characters for them to truly work. That is exactly what Alastair Reynolds has done here, and it made everything else work. This is a thrill ride filled with chases, shootings, stabbings, freakish child like killers, nano everything, worm holes, spaceships, nukes, and so much more. Reynolds has to me created a future classic science fiction novel that is quite accessible to readers that might be put off by hard science.

  In case you could not tell by my review, I loved this book. I highly recommend this as a good starting point for those not familiar with Alastair Reynolds or his Revelation Space Series.(less)

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Nov 26, 2008 Sameera Malinda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 13, 2013 Jeff Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a member of Audible I get two audiobooks a month. My book selection for audiobooks has a slightly different criteria. Mainly to get the most bang for the buck I try to find long audiobooks. Fantasy novels often fit this criteria. So searching through their best sellers list for Science Fiction I ran across a novel titled “Pushing Ice” by Alastair Reynolds. It sounded interesting enough and was close to 20 hours. It also turned out to be quite a good read with a lot of interesting ideas and sc...more As a member of Audible I get two audiobooks a month. My book selection for audiobooks has a slightly different criteria. Mainly to get the most bang for the buck I try to find long audiobooks. Fantasy novels often fit this criteria. So searching through their best sellers list for Science Fiction I ran across a novel titled “Pushing Ice” by Alastair Reynolds. It sounded interesting enough and was close to 20 hours. It also turned out to be quite a good read with a lot of interesting ideas and science.
So when the time came to spend another of my precious (said with Gollum inflection) credits I turned to another of his novels “Century Rain”. I enjoyed this novel even more. Once you start reading most authors you start to come across commonalities and favorite themes of that author. I detected some here even though these are quite different novels plot wise.

Here is the publisher's summary:

Three hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust.
Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose.
Something astonishing has been discovered at the far end of a wormhole: mid-twentieth century Earth, preserved like a fly in amber. Somewhere on this alternate planet is a device capable of destroying both worlds at either end of the wormhole. And Verity must find the device, and the man who plans to activate it, before it is too late—for the past and the future of two worlds…

Although in the audiobook the women’s name is I believe Olga Auger, it certainly wasn’t Verity.
We have hear some common Science Fiction themes such as nanobots running amok and something that might be time travel/parallel universe/computer simulation/or something much different. One connection these two novels had is that you have a situation that turns out to be quite different than what the characters assumed had been taking place. In fact the situation is much wilder than even their wild speculations had assumed. Now add in Wendell Floyd a part-time Jazz musician and small-time private detective in 1959 paris and you start to add in a noir dimension. Wendell is hired to investigate the possible murder of a women in a hotel. There is a convergent storyline including both Floyd and Auger that take the murder mystery into a saving of the world or worlds situation.

What I have come to appreciate with Alastair Reynolds is more than just big-idea Science Fiction. While the hypothetical science and possible projections are quite excellent and stunning the characters are not just wireframes moving through the plot. I certainly enjoyed the complexity of the characters in both novels I have read. The various characters added to the tensions and suspense and the novel succeeded as both a noir detective novel and “save the world” science fiction.

My only real complaint which is a common one for lots of Science Fiction is the loss of any religious dimension. In these novels in the future apparently humans have moved beyond religion except of course not moving beyond using Jesus as some form of swear word. In “Pushing Ice” religion only becomes involved when a small group of scientists create a religion as a way to deal with questions they could not understand. Where religion is the irrational result of people creating the supernatural response when failing to understand the underpinning science. A totally materialist view of the human person is also seen in “Century Rain”. Even when Auger says a silent prayer it is totally without any context to her character in the novel and is more like a cliche for what somebody in a hopeless situation does. It is not that I am calling for explicit religious themes and characters in SF, just not using whiteout on the religious instinct where the future is an atheist’s utopian dream of “imagining no religion.” Despite this I have used another of my precious Audible credits for one more of his books.(less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Dylan Harris rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read this novel a few years ago, before I moved to Paris. I've now left. I'm listening again, this time on audio. I've wanted to know, for ages, what metro station is central to the novel. I know the station in the novel, and now I know the station in real live.

I've two things to say now, before I finish the novel again. Firstly, there seem to be connections with Reynolds' Terminal World and Blue Remembered Earth (the first Poesidon's Children novel). In Century Rain, the central belt of Mars...more I read this novel a few years ago, before I moved to Paris. I've now left. I'm listening again, this time on audio. I've wanted to know, for ages, what metro station is central to the novel. I know the station in the novel, and now I know the station in real live.

I've two things to say now, before I finish the novel again. Firstly, there seem to be connections with Reynolds' Terminal World and Blue Remembered Earth (the first Poesidon's Children novel). In Century Rain, the central belt of Mars has been caught and destroyed in a war involving nanotech weaponry. This sounds like the dead zones in Terminal World, which only really makes sense if Mars is the victim of a nanotech burp-slash-conflagration, although if the novels are connected the burp-slash-conflagration has progressed a lot from one to the other. In Blue Remember Earth, an alien artifact is found on Phobos, which makes no sense to the novel itself, in fact rather ruins it for me (but will probably prove significant as the series develops). An alien artifact found on Phobos is central to Century Rain.

The book is set three hundred years in the future, and in a 1958 alternative history Paris. In the alternative history, the Nazi invasion of France failed, Hitler was overthrown by Rommel, & the Nazis retained power.

I'm delighted to say I've caught Alistair Reynolds making one factual and one contextual error. Perhaps I shouldn't be so delighted, because they shew me to be a train spotter. His novel claims Metro Ligne 6 is above ground at Montparnasse. It's got overhead sections on either side, true, but, there, it's underground. But the contextual error, which is far more fun, is that in the context of Century Rain's alternative history, it would be Ligne 5. The section of Ligne 5 between Place d'Italie and what is now Charles de Gaulle Etoile was switched to Ligne 6 by the Nazis during their occupation of Paris. Come to think of it, Luke Burrage pointed out that if the alternative history is consistent, Germany would still have had Reichmarks, not D-Marks as Reynolds says. Ok, I admit it, I'm *so* petty. :-)

What picky picky boring details: I won't let them put me off the novel.

Which doesn't say a great deal. It's only Reynolds' more recent novels that hints the author is maturing. This one full of a young man's hard edged hero/ine/s, who keep escaping even more challenging life-threatening situations. The threat-threat-threat gets a bit boring after a while. Perhaps I'm getting old.

Reynold's strength of plot-plot-plot is present and correct. The imagination romps. The story-telling's tight. But don't start reading Reynolds with this one.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Jethro Jessop rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up pretty much at random in a charity shop because I had some waiting to do that day and always like a bit of sci-fi when I'm at a loose end. I had never heard of Alastair Reynolds before but the blurb sounded appealing and in the end I wasn't disappointed.
The story is a nice mix of noir and sci-fi that starts as two distinct story thread that gradually weave together. It rolls along at a good pace and the characters are very easy to get behind though a couple of them are a little...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Adam Stone rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Century Rain is a fairly interesting book. One the one hand it is a hard science fiction tale about nano-technology and the like, and on another hand it is a hard-boiled noir-style mystery and on the other hand it is a love story about two people who can never be together.

I sometimes find it difficult to get on with full on hard science fiction as I get a bit lost in the details even though the author does his best to describe really complex ideas and theories in an easily digestible manner but...more

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Mar 18, 2010 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical, nonfiction, science-fiction, mystery

Half nanotech posthuman twenty-third century space opera, half alternate history 1959 with no World War II Parisian noir detective story.

Cool in concept, limp in execution. Ham-handed character work, kind of plodding in places, even as the cool skiffy ideas keep coming. Reynolds can do better. But enough about that, let’s talk about me!

I am so pleased to have read a book that didn’t actively piss me off, I’m feeling quite beneficent over here. That, and not coincidentally, my pain levels have p...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 06, 2012 Ernie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun Sci-Fi read about an apocalyptic world of the future in which the earth has been rendered uninhabitable by technology. Human society has developed two branches, one which embraces technology and one which does not. They peacefully co-exist following a history of wars over the earth. In the back ground are remnants of an ancient, non-human civilization which provides pathways for traveling the universe. The nature of that civilization and the technology of the pathways is not known...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Raj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, space-opera, alt-history, post-apocalypse

Verity Auger is an archaeologist searching for artefacts in the ruins of a post-Nanocaust Earth when a mistake nearly costs the life of a young boy. Her boss uses this as leverage to get her involved in a secret project that involves illicit travel through an ancient alien hyperspace transit network controlled by a different faction of Humanity.

At the other end of the transit wormhole is an unpolluted Earth of three hundred years ago, except that in that world, the Second World War never happene...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Ricky Penick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What if there was a backup copy of Earth made in the late 1930s that got activated and ran for 23 years until 1959 when our story begins. Throw in an American expat PI in Paris and the fact that the German invasion of France had failed and World War II never happened, and you have the makings of some interesting nouveau noir. Of course, that's only part of the story because it actually happens in the future where the actual Earth is uninhabitable and the real Paris is buried under many meters of...more

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May 18, 2012 Inlinefourpower rated it 3 of 5 stars

Second Alastair Reynolds book I read. I appreciate his style of refusing to infodump. Gradually learning and wondering the entire time might be some cruel trick to keep me reading, but it works. I love his presentation of an Earth ravaged by nanotechnology. Much harsher than the typical grey goo scenario, if you can believe it. The action in the last quarter is pretty nice, I always like the concept that all the fancy ray guns and scifi tech doesn't make war any more sterile. It's still a bloody...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club-sf-fantasy, science-fiction, alternate-history

This was a really fun sci-fi book. It mixes "big ideas" of science fiction (destruction of Earth, nanotechnology, tunnels through space-time, alternate realities) with an engaging mystery/adventure/love story.

It is the story of two people: Floyd, a musician-turned-noir-detective living in an alternate version of 1959 Paris (having to do with a world inside a wormhole...sort of ), and Auger, a female archaeologist from the 23rd century who specializes in artifacts from before the destruction of...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Cris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-selection, futuristic-sci-fi, alternate-history, mysteries, science-fiction, space-travel, spies-intrigue, noir

A mix of noir mystery and futuristic sci-fi. And while I enjoyed the book overall, I think Reynolds did a much better job with the noir mystery section. The climax was distinctly anti-climatic. Actually, I'm not even sure what point was supposed to *be* the climax.

Most of the characters are flat and underdeveloped and there's one particular character interaction, (view spoiler) that I found completely unbeli...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Virginia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011books, audiobook, library

The premise for this book sounds ridiculous - there are two Earths, the real one, which was destroyed and no longer supports life, and a copy made before WWII, where WWII never took place. The real Earth is set in 2300, and the copy is set in 1958, or thereabouts. I listened to this in audiobook format, and I was dreading it a little bit, because the last Alastair Reynolds audiobook I listened to, Terminal World, was terrible and tedious. But I am glad I went ahead and listened to this one, beca...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Nicolas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: rayon-fantasy-et-sf, space-opera, temps, complot, nano, uchronie

Avant d'aller plus loin, je dois commencer par dire qu'il s'agit pour moi du meilleur roman (pour l'instant) de cet auteur.
Il raconte avec brio les aventures - initialement séparées, mais qui finiront par se rejoindre d'une manière inédite - de Verity Auger, archéologue du XXIVème siècle et de Floyd, un détective privé dans une France des années soixante uchronique (dans laquelle la deuxième guerre mondiale n'a pas eu lieu). Leur but sera évidement de sauver des tonnes de gens qui n'en savent ri...more Avant d'aller plus loin, je dois commencer par dire qu'il s'agit pour moi du meilleur roman (pour l'instant) de cet auteur.
Il raconte avec brio les aventures - initialement séparées, mais qui finiront par se rejoindre d'une manière inédite - de Verity Auger, archéologue du XXIVème siècle et de Floyd, un détective privé dans une France des années soixante uchronique (dans laquelle la deuxième guerre mondiale n'a pas eu lieu). Leur but sera évidement de sauver des tonnes de gens qui n'en savent rien, dans un univers plutôt hostile.
Un univers certes hostile, mais loin d'être dénué d'intérêt ...
Que ce soit au sein de la civilisation du futur, ou de ce Paris dans une boule à neige (de dimensions certes colossales), l'oeil (ou plutôt l'esprit du lecteur) est sans cesse attiré par de multiples petits détails aguichants : le jazz à St-Germain dans les années 50, qui semble ne pas prendre la même forme que le notre, les technologies des vaisseaux du XXIVème siècle, qui perdent des morceaux pour supporter les accélérations de 100 G, la drôle d'enquête que mène Floyd pour découvrir les assassins, la découverte par Auger puis par Floyd de l'autre face de la réalité, et même le sens de cette "pluie d'argent". Tout cela est très décoratif, mais aide également, au bout d'un moment, à forger une opposition entre ces deux mondes. Si les années 50 de Floyd sont bien ordonnées, elles sont moralement pourries par une idéologie nazillone. A l'opposé, le futur est moralement très clair, avec une opposition physique et idéologique entre les conservateurs (au rang desquels on doit bien sûr compter Auger) et les progressistes (qui sont tous ces Slashers - issus du "./" mystique), mais hélas ce futur est également décadent, car rongé par toutes sortes de "pestes" nanotechnologiques ou autres, qui le rendent ignorant de son passé.
C'est à mon avis là la clé du roman (comme elle l'était d'ailleurs dans ses précédents romans). Alastair Reynolds nous décrit à chaque fois un futur corrompu, car manquant en quelque sorte d'"âme". Et cette âme semble à chaque fois perdu par un usage irréfléchi de technologies - souvent nano -. En quelque sorte, il faudrait voir Reynolds comme une sorte de Cassandre, nous prédisant dans chacun de ses romans un futur plus sombres. Sauf que dans celui-ci, c'est faux. ce qu'il nous montre, c'est que la préservation de notre âme ne sera possible que si nous allions au progrès technologique un respect de notre histoire. Terriblement français, tout ça, non ?
Malgré cette french touch, j'ai trouvé ce roman sacrément réussi, avec la prouesse intellectuelle de remonter le temps sans vraiment le remonter, et je ne peux du coup que vous encourager chaudement à le lire.(less)

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Mar 19, 2013 Derek Broughton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-history, sf, post-apocalyptic

An interesting example of both post-apocalyptic and alternate-history SF - because we have two Earths, one in which World War II didn't happen, and one 300 years from now after plagues wipe out all life on our Earth.

However, it has a few really annoying problems. In the first place, the central character, Verity Auger is an archaeologist. Well, when you are going to rely on focus on a field, you'd better try to avoid anachronisms. Diamond styluses were not in general use in the same period when...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Smcleish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in December 2006.

The last time I read a novel by Alastair Reynolds, I felt that it would be good for him to be refreshed by moving to a new setting, separate from the future history he had used up to that point. In Century Rain, he has done just this, renewing his creativity by doing so. (I can't claim any credit: apart from anything else, I didn't discuss this issue in my review.) This novel is a science fiction noir thriller, where time travellers become in...more Originally published on my blog here in December 2006.

The last time I read a novel by Alastair Reynolds, I felt that it would be good for him to be refreshed by moving to a new setting, separate from the future history he had used up to that point. In Century Rain, he has done just this, renewing his creativity by doing so. (I can't claim any credit: apart from anything else, I didn't discuss this issue in my review.) This novel is a science fiction noir thriller, where time travellers become involved in a murder mystery in an alternate fifties Paris.

Reynolds' future has Earth rendered uninhabitable by nanotech weapons, and the destruction wrought by them makes any artefacts obtainable from the planet's archaeology massively valuable. But when a trip to the Earth's surface organised and lead by archaeologist Verity Auger goes badly wrong, she faces the tribunal which will end her career - if she's lucky. At this point she is offered a choice: take on a mysterious task or be left to face the music. It turns out that the task is to travel through a secret tunnel in space-time (something more exotic than a wormhole, she is assured), the other end of which is in a Metro tunnel just outside a station in an alternate Paris in 1959. A colleague of Verity's was studying this version of Paris, and was killed soon after discovering something important. Verity's task is to obtain papers that this woman had left with her landlord; however, unknown to her, the landlord felt that there was something odd about the death and has hired a private detective to investigate it.

As briefly indicated, this isn't the real Paris: the German invasion in 1940 was beaten back, so the Second World War barely happened, with the result that the fifties seem almost more like the thirties, politically and technologically. The travellers from the future are not sure how this happened. There are several possibilities, ranging from someone taking advantage of the chaos surrounding the destruction of life on Earth to revise the history books and insert the Second World War, to the idea that this alternate Earth is a sophisticated simulation, to the possibility that it really is part of another timeline. For much of the Century Rain it doesn't matter what the truth is, and anyway, it is more enjoyable to soak up the Simenonesque atmosphere. Indeed, the Paris sections work better than the future sections - an observation which seems a bit odd considering in which genre Reynolds made his name! The novel is basically a clash between the X-Files and Casablanca. The reader is clearly intended to make the second comparison, as many of the famous lines are quoted from the film (which of course doesn't exist in the alternate universe). A little ironic touch is that "We'll always have Paris" is missing. (A comment to the blog post said that it's there - but I have no memory of seeing it on later re-readings, either).

Century Rain also includes a nanotech weapon which is somehow more frightening than the murderous, spectacular and unsubtle ones commonly seen in science fiction. The Amusica virus removes the ability to process music: it becomes just background noise. It is a little unlikely to be possible, particularly if the hypothesis that the role of musical awareness in human evolution was as a precursor of linguistic processing turns out to be true. (This is a hypothesis argued for, convincingly and in detail, in Steven Mithen's recent book, The Singing Neanderthals.) The virus leaves a culture essentially without music, where those few immune to the virus for some reason are envied and hated. (less)

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Mar 13, 2011 Peter added it · review of another edition

Century Rain: Alastair Reynolds best book yet, and finally one with a well-thought out ending! A thoroughly odd blend of detective novel and hard-core sci-fi thriller, setting it in the Fifties throws in a pleasantly different twist which he has obviously researched well (jazz lovers read on!). This is also a dark, twisted look at humanity struggling to reclaim Earth, re-introducing genocide, Facism and our sheer inablity to get along with one another. Reynolds has shown again his wide-ranging i...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A neat novel, with two distinct threads for the first bit, one mystery, one straight up sci-fi and a love story thrown in on top for good measure. The complete mix seems to provoke love it or hate it responses in readers - just check out the other reviews. Personally I'm glad I read the book before I read the publisher's own blurb - it worked better with me wondering what the heck was going on rather than being in the know from the beginning.

There's lots of little details, especially in the firs...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Brett rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book started off really, really well. There are two PoV characters, one from an alternate 1959 France, and one from the 23rd century. The buildup was excellent. When I was slightly more than halfway done, I was sure this was at least a 4 star novel.

Unfortunately, as soon as the two protagonists get together the novel loses steam. I didn't find the central relationship credible. Even worse, as the main mysteries of the plot are revealed, it's clear they don't make sense. People (and groups o...more

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Jan 25, 2013 R rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my first novel by Alastair Reynolds that I've read, and I must say, he has left a very good impression on me, and I look forward to reading more of his works in the future. I enjoyed Century Rain a lot , especially for Reynolds' eye for detail. As a person who has wandered the streets of Paris before, he describes them with absolute accuracy and detail. In addition, the science that he provides is thoroughly explained and not completely fantasy bollocks, that many sci fi authors fall int...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Steph Bennion rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: space-opera

This was the first Alastair Reynolds book I read and I thoroughly enjoyed it (enough for me to seek out his other works, anyway). The clever 'big dumb object' plot device to allow the juxtaposition of the alternate past and far future storylines was cleverly done and there were enough plot hints along the way to let the story unfold quite beautifully. I also liked the use of music as a plot device, though more could have been made of that. The love story was a little feeble and the archaeology a...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Baltakatei rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is another one of those multi-threaded-narrative stories that rewards the reader for noting small details and events in seemingly disconnected storylines. Without giving away spoilers, this book contains a normal storyline similar to Alstair Reynolds' other hard sci-fi space operas. However, he manages to connect it to the very mundane and dull life of an unemployed Frenchman living in early 20th century Paris. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is familiar with Paris simply b...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Alexander Veee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-2010

"As the clouds thickened around the rescue crawler, Auger caught a brief glimpse of the sinuous track of the Seine, a flawless ribbon of white ice dotted here and there with cordoned dig sites. Further away, picked out in darkling glints from hovering airships, she made out the lower two-thirds of the Eiffel Tower, bent to one side like a man struggling against a gale.

'Is it such a crime to want to make the Earth livable again?' Cassandra asked.

'In my book it is, because we can't do it without e...more

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About Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds, former scientist and now full-time writer. Most of what he writes is science fiction, with a strong concern for scientific verisimilitude (although he is prepared to break the rules for the sake of a good story). He has lived in England, Scotland and the Netherlands where he worked as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency until 2004, but now makes his home back in his...more

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“Enjoy it, kid. Enjoy feeling that you can make a difference.' Floyd flashed him a smile. 'It won't last for ever.” — 4 people liked it

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