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Poseidon's Wake

(Poseidon's Children #3)

Alastair Reynolds

3.80 · Rating details · 2,933 ratings · 220 reviews

This novel is a stand-alone story which takes two extraordinary characters and follows them as they, independently, begin to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of our universe.

Their missions are dangerous, and they are all venturing into the unknown ... and if they can uncover the secret to faster-than-light travel then new worlds will be at our fingertips.

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Hardcover, 598 pages

Published April 28th 2015 by Gollancz

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Sep 15, 2015 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-shelf, space-opera, sci-fi

Reynolds continues to amaze. I remembered Blue Remembered Earth very fondly and this third book, taking place several hundred years after the events taking place there, captures more than just the spirit, but gives us one hell of an adventure among the stars.

Best points?

The Watchmakers, a race of sublime intelligences that went too far and are no longer fully conscious. :)
The uplifted elephants. :)

The sheer scope of the adventure, discovery, horror, and amazing courage. :)

This is Reynolds. Ne ...more

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Apr 25, 2015 Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-my-best-of, z-alastair-reynolds

Not as good as the Revelation Series, but I've loved the way Alastair Reynolds imagined the birth of a galactic civilization. This trilogy brought me great joy, food for thought and optimism for the future of humanity.

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Feb 25, 2015 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

*Copy received from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Alastair Reynolds is known as an author with big ideas. From human modification, to techno-plagues, mega-crises to mega-structures, his writing has always contained big ideas. To get it out of the way, this book is no exception.

The narrative explores the journey of several scions of the Akinya family, who figured heavily in the previous two books in the same universe. Reynolds has done something clever here – setting each novel with protagon *Copy received from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Alastair Reynolds is known as an author with big ideas. From human modification, to techno-plagues, mega-crises to mega-structures, his writing has always contained big ideas. To get it out of the way, this book is no exception.

The narrative explores the journey of several scions of the Akinya family, who figured heavily in the previous two books in the same universe. Reynolds has done something clever here – setting each novel with protagonists from a new generation of the same family allows the reader to track societal changes, see shifts in viewpoints at the macro level as well as the personal, whilst retaining reader investment in the individual.
In this particular case, we’re given two initial strands to follow; one on Mars, the home of human ambassador’s to the human-created AI civilisation now present there, and another on Crucible – a human colony, home to the mysterious artefact ‘’The Mandala”, as well as the remnants of a tribe of uplifted, intelligent elephants. Not to give the game away, but these two locations may act as the springboard for the rest of the text, but things do quite quickly change.

The Elephants, incidentally, are another key thread running through the series – their interactions with humanity showing the way in which we interact with other living beings unlike ourselves, even as the AI on Mars act as a mirror of how we might act when faced with a machine which is also, in some (or perhaps all) senses, alive.

The characters are a key facet of this novel. I’ve criticised Reynolds before for having characters that seemed to act more like generators of interesting conversations than actual people; he’s done quite a lot to redress the balance here. The Akinya’s, their various friends, loves, and losses, have become quite believable over three books, and Reynolds has managed to avoid getting into the depths of technical exposition at the expense of character growth. Instead we get quite a lot of dialogue trying to build relationships around the characters, and more emotional reflection than might have been visible in earlier work. There’s still a few awkward flashes, emotional responses and intensities which didn’t quite ring true, but the characters do feel a great deal like people.

Worth noting that this is technically a standalone in a shared universe; honestly, I wouldn’t try and read it without having read the other two books first to provide some context. It looks like it would be possible, but a great deal of the text, especially the initial setup, draws on events from the other two books, and the universe of the narrative is much richer, and far less confusing, if you come to this as a conclusion to a multi-generational saga, rather than on its own.

The text is full to bursting with answers to interesting questions, ranging from the philosophical - how do we act in a universe where we’re not alone? How might we interact with artefacts from a civilisation aeons older than our own? To the philosophical – how do we define humanity? If we were told the ultimate truth of the universe, how might we react? Who are we, really, as a species, as individuals? The narrative approaches all of these questions unflinchingly, and does its best to provide an answer to them.

In that respect, it’s a typical Reynolds book, and if you want to explore these questions, and their answers, within a well realised sci-fi universe, with plausible characters and a decent narrative, then this book is worth picking up.
...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Liviu marked it as tried-but-not-for-me

very disappointing trilogy overall; good first book, mediocre second, fairly unreadable third (read first 50 or so pages, last 25 or so and in between and nothing hooked me, not to speak of being connected tightly with the earlier books despite the original plan of taking place at large intervals which didn't help at all as once book 2 disappointed me, almost guaranteed this one would go on the "tried but didn't care about" list, though I really, really wanted to like it - also the ending read v ...more

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Mar 16, 2017 Claudia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: z-to-a-reynolds, sci-fi

The epic saga of Akinya family reached the end. Not a definite ending, from my point of view; it could easily have more adventures written from this point. But it definitely has a closure.

There were moments when I thought that I will not give it five stars because of too many conversations between the characters and I rather prefer world building and introspection. But I just can’t not give it the maximum rating: Al R created a marvelous universe, full of hopes even if verging on futility.

Betwee ...more

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May 07, 2015 Jesse rated it it was ok

Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite sci-fi authors, but his quality is uneven. House of suns is one of the best sci-fi books ever, terminal worlds is very mediocre. The first two revelation space books were great, the last one not very. In keeping with this tradition, the quality of the Poseidon's Children books were trending upward, but the final book ends up being much closer in quality to terminal worlds. There are a variety of reasons for this. The constant paean to elephants is simply t ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Chris rated it did not like it

"I will make dung, then you will assist me with the suit and the airlock"

I should start by saying that I am a huge Alastair Reynolds fan. The Revelation Space books are some of the most haunting, well written and engaging stories I've ever read. Literally years later, I still vividly recall many scenes from them. My appreciation of his novels and short stories has only grown with each new reading (including the non Revelations space books as well!) That is, up until this series and this book in ...more

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Mar 29, 2016 Flow In rated it did not like it

Shelves: sci-fi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I feel bad writing a negative review. I've been a fan of Alastair for a long time.

This book is less a space opera and more a laboured bit of philosophy. Philosophy wrapped up in sci-fi isn't always a bad thing, if it is done well. In this case, we are subjected to:

Bad writing style. Word usage, for example. "Boisterous". Not a common word, and so one you don't expect to find repeated within the first twenty minutes. It was amusing the first time, jarring the second. Perhaps because the scenes we I feel bad writing a negative review. I've been a fan of Alastair for a long time.

This book is less a space opera and more a laboured bit of philosophy. Philosophy wrapped up in sci-fi isn't always a bad thing, if it is done well. In this case, we are subjected to:

Bad writing style. Word usage, for example. "Boisterous". Not a common word, and so one you don't expect to find repeated within the first twenty minutes. It was amusing the first time, jarring the second. Perhaps because the scenes were so different, but the use of the word tied them together in an awkward way? On top of that, Alastair has protagonists repeat phrases almost verbatim. Is it deliberate? Are those thrice or more uttered muses critical to the plot? I think not. I think, perhaps, it is simply rushed writing and lazy proof reading. which leads us to...

The belaboured issue, that of inscrutable machine godlets being 'empty' because they've passed some theoretical point of 'forward processing' that has left them without consciousness. What a let down. Of all the places the the enigmatic blue beasties could have gone, that was sureley the emptiest. I'm not even sure the idea has legs. Apparently we are supposed to believe that linear processing (and the associated unfeasible power requirements) are a valid progression for an AI. Given that google currently has D-Wave qbit based processing coming on line, which defeats the basis for that idea by being quantum in nature, i'm not buying it. As soon as Alastair raised the 'limit' the first time, the problems jumped to awareness, and they coalesced at each repetition. THe idea may have been a consideration back in the 1970's (and how strange that these future peoples are obsessed by 20th century ideas), but it makes no sense in the context of modern understanding. We have proof of macroscopic quantum superpositions in brain structures, so what AI would bother modelling that process using billions of linear processes when they can just utilise their own quantum systems? Sure, Sci-fi is about the suspension of disbelief, but to be so obviously dated at publication is sad. I'll accept fancy spinning sampling systems (as the picture of one approaching is cool). I'll accept 'skipover' and chiming (at a stretch). I'll even go with AIs hiding in the patterns in neural activity (for the sake of a good tale) but i'm not going to buy such a self-defeating limitation.

Moving on.

Boring talking heads. So this is a philosophy book. Characters need to espouse the ideas Alastair is exploring. But do they have to be so BORING? We have a post human diplomat, seeing the positive in everyone. A machiavellian elephant, driven by the aforementioned soulless machine godlets. A resurrected grumpy AI and a bunch of tedious supporting roles who flimmy flam about with paper thin motivations and endless, endless, self justifications and incomprehensible stances, followed by rapid changes of personality. The sci-fi part is tedious, strapped around the yammering bores almost as an afterthought. There were a few good moments. Maybe three or four. Before we headed to Europa, the sol system thread of the tale was great. Then it lost its way in a weird murder mystery that was simply filler, lots of people being arses to each other whilst allowing self righteous (and tonally indistinguishable) cutouts to drone on, before coming to the crux of the novel...

The 'Terror". I'm not sure what is extra special about knowing that life is void of purpose, and that we are all going to die. Whether it is a speeding train, old age or a vacuum fluctuation, all of us have to deal with our own mortality at some point. Here, Alastair projects the concept into what appears, superficially, to be an epic scale. Our vast and vanished M-builders, long departed creators of logic problems and deadly toys, discover that the universe might end one day. Unexpectedly. Apparently it is a big deal. I think i was 15 when i first ran into existential, nihilist angst. Some german philosopher blathers on about it at length too. At any rate, the scale of the tale rapidly collapsed when the true horror of the mystery Alastair had been hinting at was revealed. My reaction was "Oh, is that all?".

At this point I have to confess I didn't actually finish the book. I got maybe 8/10ths of the way through. Our stalwart heroes were swimming towards giant rings revolving through the sea, otherwise known as plot device, one of many. I realised that i truly didn't care what happened next. The novel had been crashing hard, both from Blue Remembered Earth, and also from its own lofty beginning. Oh, how i missed our merman, from when he was three dimensional. Whatever cleverness Alastair had to justify the morass i'd slogged though simply wouldn't be enough to rescue the book. Like most of us, i've faced the void and my own inevitable end and i'm perfectly happy with what I brought back from that, so what could Alastair offer? If the rest of the book had been stunning, then sure, i'd go along for the ride. With the dismal prelude. Nope, This is one of the very rare times when i shut the book and put it aside, never to open again.

Please, Alastair, don't destroy your awesome legacy. ...more

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Jun 08, 2015 Glenn Mcconnochie rated it it was ok

I have really tried with this trilogy but enough is enough, I can't do it anymore. The first book was quite good, the second was terrible and the third makes me want to curl up in a ball and die.

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Aug 07, 2015 Krispijn rated it did not like it

It's hit ("House Of Suns", "Diamond Dogs") and miss ("Century Rain") with Mr. Reynolds and unfortunately "Poseidon's Wake" may be his worst novel yet. If I were to summarize this book in one word, it would be "unnecessary".

As Reynolds is one of my favorite authors, I feel obligated to explain my 1-star rating. But where do I even start? There is so much wrong with this book. Let's start with the ideas pitched in this book.

Let me address the literal elephant in the room first. Uplifted elephants It's hit ("House Of Suns", "Diamond Dogs") and miss ("Century Rain") with Mr. Reynolds and unfortunately "Poseidon's Wake" may be his worst novel yet. If I were to summarize this book in one word, it would be "unnecessary".

As Reynolds is one of my favorite authors, I feel obligated to explain my 1-star rating. But where do I even start? There is so much wrong with this book. Let's start with the ideas pitched in this book.

Let me address the literal elephant in the room first. Uplifted elephants... I don't even. I had hoped we'd seen the last of them in "On The Steele Breeze", but they are back, more intelligent than before. The elephants proved to be a good explanation for Geoffrey's reluctance to participate in the family business; a detail, but vital to fleshing out his character. But using them as a main device for explaining why people venture into space and risk their wellbeing and that of their loved ones is simply silly. Silly. And silly is not something you base your book on. Yes, you have made dung, mr. author. I will leave it at that.

Many of the other plot devices aren't exactly novel; actually this book has a severe lack of new ideas. Anyone who has played "Mass Effect" will instantly be able to substitute "Mandala structure" with "Mass Relay" or "Watchkeeper" with "Reaper" (though in all fairness the Watchkeepers were already introduced in the first book). Not to mention the water world "Poseidon" and it's biomass islands seem to be taken from his own books in all but name ("Juggler world" anyone?).

But concepts aren't all that make a good book. Good story telling and character development make a scifi novel enjoyable even if the ideas aren't mind bending.

Unfortunately, Poseidon's Wake lacks in this department as well. The protagonists' personalities are almost as flat as cardboard; making me actually loath some of them. I am looking at you Ru and Goma! While that may be all well and good if the writer intends to make a despicable character, this was clearly not the intended goal with these two. It should come as no surprise that the way the characters' relationships develop are very hard to relate to.

Also, this thing goes on and on. I feel that at least 25% of this book is fluff, just stating the obvious or repeating things already explained. You would almost think the author had a contract to deliver a trilogy with a minimum number of words and after the second book he was running behind schedule.

Looking at the quality of the books, this trilogy is remarkably like The Matrix film trilogy. The first one, "Blue Remembered Earth", is refreshing: introducing a novel, African based, take on the genre. With some reservations, the second one, "On The Steele Breeze", was a solid continuation of the series. The third one, this book, is so bad, it should never have been released in the first place.

...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-read-in-2015, out-in-2015-and-read

Outstanding. Everything I want from science fiction and more. Including elephants! Loved every single page.

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Jan 28, 2015 Johan Haneveld rated it really liked it

3,5 stars. The half star for the ambition itself. I thought this book lacked a bit of the focus on characters from the first two books. Maybe this is because it spans less time (or more, but it is spent in hybernation mostly), focussing instead on exploration. The conflicts are not political as in the earlier books, but more philosophical/abstract. Some conflict was forced, almost as if the author was searching for interpersonal problems to add some spice to the story. That being said: this book 3,5 stars. The half star for the ambition itself. I thought this book lacked a bit of the focus on characters from the first two books. Maybe this is because it spans less time (or more, but it is spent in hybernation mostly), focussing instead on exploration. The conflicts are not political as in the earlier books, but more philosophical/abstract. Some conflict was forced, almost as if the author was searching for interpersonal problems to add some spice to the story. That being said: this book has elephants in space (what more do you want?), a robot personality programmed in someone's brain and dressing as a 18th century gentleman when he shows himself, adventures under the ice of europe where an otherworldly society has developed, a water planet where aliens have constructed 200 km high wheels sticking out from the atmosphere, murder by nanotechnology, a very tense and exciting rescue operation and to me fascinating ruminations on physics, meaning and the fate of the universe. This novel takes on one of the conundrums of modern scifi, i.e. that a purely materialistic view of life and the universe, must believe that ultimately all will end, which means that our lives have no lasting significance. When Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes is asked to make a sum, he answers: 'but what would be the meaning if the sun will swallow up the earth anyway?' And notes to the reader: 'no one likes a person with a long term vision'. It's something that creeps up on me too, that the ultimate end of the universe (or of my life) negates the meaning it has, which to me needs to be something objective, because due to depression I cannot always 'feel like' my life has meaning. I thought it refreshing to see this taken on in a mainstream SF novel. And even thought there are no easy answers given, the terror of being a consciousness in this materialistic universe is convincingly described. Like the best SF-novels it gave food for thought, and I would not mind seeing the series continue, maybe in the form of short stories, to see more of this fascinating universe! ...more

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May 03, 2015 Rushi rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, 2015

Poseidon's Wake is the third volume in the Poseidon's Children series by Alastair Reynolds. The events of this book are set a few centuries in the future from the second book - On The Steel Breeze. The main protagonists are still part of the Akinya clan. We find Mpozi, Goma and Ndege on Crucible and Kanu in the Solar System.

The book explores the results of the arrival of the Watchkeepers and the aftermath of the Mandala event at the conclusion of "Steel Breeze".

Let me be honest - I found the bo ...more

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May 01, 2016 Eastendleo rated it it was ok

This was an exhausting read.

600 pages of stuff happening. It seemed like every page had new stuff happening. Over and over again without respite.

It might have been tolerable if any of the characters were engaging or attractive, but no such luck. They talk, they think, they act, they interact. But I at no time cared. Some die, but not soon enough. They profess emotions like ideas. "Hey, this thing came into my head. I'll now share it."

And there is no pay off. Nada. The ending is just more stuff ...more

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Aug 07, 2018 Esteban LV rated it it was ok

It's OK I guess.

I've realized Reynolds can't write characters. His' don't develop, they're mono-dimensional beings that stay on a dialogue loop with few variations, and sometimes they even get dumped unceremoniously and you forget all about them because their irrelevancy to the story. They are repeated across novels with different names and occupations.

This is infuriating.

Ru's a bitch that can't get on with the program and just trows jabs at Eunice just because. Ana Khouri did it so much better ...more

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Feb 27, 2015 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-read, reviewed

What I expected:

I have already read the first two stories in the series and really enjoyed them, I have been eagerly awaiting the third. When I originally requested the e-ARC copy I hadn't realised that this was the third book, so I was really looking forward to reading this.

I expected it to continue in the advanced future, tracking the legacy of the Akinya family, left by Eunice, and including the development of Geoffrey's beloved elephants. The previous two books were not strictly linked in t ...more

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Jan 18, 2020 Klaas Bottelier rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed

This was not a great read, some parts were too long and not very interesting and I thought that there weren’t that many characters to care about. Where Poseidon’s Wake shines is its awe-inspiring concepts. There are physical phenomena, like the mysterious Mandala and the Watchkeepers, and there are concepts of the mind, like the Gupta-Wing Threshold, which deals with states of consciousness and then there are the diverse machine intelligences. These concepts and phenomena make you want to keep r ...more

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Sep 25, 2017 Johannes Punkt rated it it was ok

Man, what an anticlimax. I was looking up synonyms for "anticlimax" because the word didn't contain all the nuances I wanted and I stumbled over "bathos" under 'related words', and well, bathos is also an appropriate word to use when talking about this book. It's like the lack of awards and overwhelmingly positive hard-sci-fi reader responses fizzled out Reynolds' enthusiasm for this series and left all the characters flat and bathic, the emotional scenes mostly off-key. Though they hit a few no Man, what an anticlimax. I was looking up synonyms for "anticlimax" because the word didn't contain all the nuances I wanted and I stumbled over "bathos" under 'related words', and well, bathos is also an appropriate word to use when talking about this book. It's like the lack of awards and overwhelmingly positive hard-sci-fi reader responses fizzled out Reynolds' enthusiasm for this series and left all the characters flat and bathic, the emotional scenes mostly off-key. Though they hit a few notes right, that feels more like a statistical certainty than an understanding of humanity and emotions. I don't expect prose mastery from Reynolds and I get none. In this book's defence, I guess, it is very easy to read the sentences. Because there is no weight behind them, nothing that can make me stop and contemplate. I just don't believe the words.

And now you're thinking, why read space opera if you're looking for emotions and prose? Well, this is supposed to be Reynolds' softer sci-fi, and space opera is based on character, and I was led to believe based on the first -- amazing -- book in this series, and based on what the book is clearly aspiring to do, that I should expect at least some of these things from this series. Instead I get another one of Reynolds' signature moves: (view spoiler) ...more

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Feb 05, 2016 Bryan rated it it was ok

An indulgent, bloated, disappointing conclusion to a flat and uninspiring trilogy. There is barely a spark of the Alastair Reynolds we love to be seen here - no gasps of delight or horror, just a dull story that moves at a crawl and where even in the end, very little actually transpires.

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Oct 02, 2018 Peter rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Compared with the earlier installments in this series this one felt a bit limited.

In the earlier books the focus on the Akinya's and their elephants made more sense, here it felt too forced.

Still good, but not my favorite books by Reynold.

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Mar 06, 2016 Rusty rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: prose, science-fiction

So, I’ve got this tendency to read books, have real thoughts about them, then forget what fleeting thoughts I had about them by the time I sit down to write them out. Funny, part of me writing reviews at all is a response to me reading books, then seeing them a year or two later and not being able to remember anything about it at all. When goodreads came along I thought it would be a perfect repository for my precious thoughts about a given book.

I’d be able to go over previous plot summaries, t So, I’ve got this tendency to read books, have real thoughts about them, then forget what fleeting thoughts I had about them by the time I sit down to write them out. Funny, part of me writing reviews at all is a response to me reading books, then seeing them a year or two later and not being able to remember anything about it at all. When goodreads came along I thought it would be a perfect repository for my precious thoughts about a given book.

I’d be able to go over previous plot summaries, the writer’s prose, the exposition, everything. It’s just that I tend to always be looking forward, never backward (not in the good way, the way a leader does, but in the bad way, the way a forgetful husband might) and so sitting down and reflecting, I don’t know, it’s something I have to make myself do.

But, be that as it may, I picked up my main man, Alastair Reynolds’ latest release in the states, the third in his trilogy of books about the future of humanity among the stars, and sat down for a great read.

This trilogy followed a particular familial line through the future history, events of one book setting the stage for things that happen later that the kids or grandkids might have to deal with. In the case of this particular novel, it really hinged on the events of the previous one.

Couldn’t remember a damn thing about it. I remember I liked it, but nothing else. Good thing I wrote my thoughts down about it after I’d read. I’m a genius. My plan worked. This is THE REASON I started writing this shit in the first place. So I go back and reread my ‘review’ of the second book in the series to see what it was that I had to say about it.

Mostly it was me talking about how pissed I was that the book comes out so much earlier in the UK than it does here stateside. I talked about how I’d almost ordered it from across the pond but decided against it. Mostly because I think I wanted the cover art of my books in the series to look consistent.

What did I say about the book itself? Not much. Something about an AI killing people (I don’t remember that) and also something about an artifact discovered on an alien world (That part, at least, sorta rang a bell).

So, my purpose, my whole reason for doing this thing, it didn’t really pay off. I still waffle everytime one of my fav UK authors releases a book over there and I don’t see it coming out here for a year or so. I always think I could order it and have it shipped, but I never do it. Ever.

So, there’s that.

So, to future me that is reading this and hoping to get a recap about whatever this book is about, You’re F**cked. I did like it, probably not as much as I guess I did the second book, which I gave 5 stars to, but still, it was pretty great. I’m gonna reread the Revelation Space novels again soon, and probably House of Suns too. I don’t know why I just typed that out. I guess it’s because I know I’m done talking about this but my fingers won’t stop typing.

Stop it. Stop typing dammit. I’m through. Finished. No more to be said about this.

Done. ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Gerhard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, sf-fantasy, 2015

Emphatically the concluding volume of a trilogy, this is the sort of geeky, cliquey SF book that will remain endlessly puzzling to non-genre fans: a lot of ‘talking head’ digressions about some rather arcane philosophical points such as vacuum fluctuations and deep time, wedded to a seemingly unhealthy obsession with scientific matters and alien creatures and objects. Not to mention such absurdities as elephants in spacesuits.

When I first read Blue Remembered Earth a few years ago, I wondered wh ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Jill Carroll rated it it was amazing

I quite enjoyed this trilogy, which I tend to think of as The Eunice Akinya Trilogy. Right up there with C.J. Cherryh's Unionside Trilogy. Almost as good as Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, or his Climate Change Trilogy (Science in the Capitol). Better than Dune (which faded so much from book to book), or Foundation (which had great ideas but lacked characterization). It is the first Reynolds I've read, but I think I'm about to embark on some serious binge reading. Pushing Ice is now calling ...more

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Apr 15, 2015 Konstantinos Georgokitsos rated it it was amazing

Space opera still is Reynolds' strength, and he delivers the wonders of the universe as expertly as ever. In fact he is putting the personal, human stories before the galactic events, and keeps us firmly grounded on the human condition. And a bit of our humanity can come a long way, even if faced with incomprehensibly advanced aliens.
I would wish, though, that his books were a bit more concise, as the story was hanging a bit at places. Sheer page count in SF books is so 90's.

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Nov 23, 2018 DiscoSpacePanther rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

The three Poseidon's Children novels by Alastair Reynolds feel like a blend of the best of Arthur C. Clarke's long-dead alien encounter stories and Kim Stanley Robinson's hard SF concepts and characters, with a little bit of Larry Niven's Ringworld thrown in for good measure.

Everything about these books reminds me of these big, century-spanning epics, and this final part, with its cast of scientists, mermen, AIs and hyper-intelligent elephants really hits the sweet spot between adventurous and t ...more

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Mar 26, 2017 Luke Burrage rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, reviewed-on-the-sfbrp

Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #328.

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Oct 27, 2017 Heather Ryan rated it it was amazing

This was an absolutely wonderful way to wrap up the trilogy. Sincerely looking forward to reading more from Alastair Reynolds.

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Jul 10, 2015 Terence rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy

This is - probably - the final book in the Poseidon's Children series, though the are plenty of unanswered questions to justify a sequel or two.

Overall, the trilogy is one of Reynolds' better efforts in recent years, though this particular novel was overlong (I skimmed the last 100 pages or so) and his efforts to make the characters interesting were hit-and-miss. I don't know whether the author and his readers might have been better served if he had focused on the Watchkeeper/Mandala-Builder plo This is - probably - the final book in the Poseidon's Children series, though the are plenty of unanswered questions to justify a sequel or two.

Overall, the trilogy is one of Reynolds' better efforts in recent years, though this particular novel was overlong (I skimmed the last 100 pages or so) and his efforts to make the characters interesting were hit-and-miss. I don't know whether the author and his readers might have been better served if he had focused on the Watchkeeper/Mandala-Builder plot and its implications for humanity or on the human/Tantor plot and its implications. Reynolds bit off more than he could adequately chew combining both even in the scope of a trilogy, particularly in the case of the Tantors (or the Risen, as they call themselves). I think he missed an opportunity to more fully explore the philosophical/moral questions that would arise if humans raised up another species to be our intellectual equals.

On the other hand, we do learn more of the two nonhuman, superadvanced civilizations Reynolds introduced in the previous novels: The post-conscious, machine intelligences of the Watchkeepers, and the far older, possibly extinct, Mandala-Builders (M-builders). The philosophical question the author tackles is "What is the purpose, if any, in existence?" The M-builders came to believe that there was none; the universe could come to an end with a random vacuum fluctuation at any point and all the accumulated information in all space-time lost. The M-builders' (possible) resolution of the conundrum is interesting.

I think Reynolds' own view is mirrored in Swift's - a machine intelligence from the Martian Evolvarium - reply to the despair that threatens to overwhelm one of the human characters, and it reminds me of a similar sentiment expressed by a character in Simone de Beauvois' All Men Are Mortal: The fragility of existence makes it all the more imperative that humans (all intelligent life) strive to make their portion of the cosmos a better place.

Moderately enthusiastic recommendation. ...more

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Jun 22, 2016 Inlinefourpower rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First, some background. Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite authors. It saddens me to say that I *thoroughly* did not enjoy this book. It starts out promising enough but by the time both parties make it to their destination the book is totally meaningless. *Every* character spent pages upon pages eloquently describing how much they respected eachother even though they've barely just met, sometimes as enemies! The *only* main characters who didn't get along entirely, Ru and Eunice, also ended First, some background. Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite authors. It saddens me to say that I *thoroughly* did not enjoy this book. It starts out promising enough but by the time both parties make it to their destination the book is totally meaningless. *Every* character spent pages upon pages eloquently describing how much they respected eachother even though they've barely just met, sometimes as enemies! The *only* main characters who didn't get along entirely, Ru and Eunice, also ended up pontificating about the respect they held for one another. It ends up in this weird place where some character will say an idea then 3 other characters who apparently agree on everything spend the next few pages patting their back for it. Somehow even the villains of the book were given some respect treatment in the end and everyone just admired eachother for being stubborn or brave or whatever.

What ever happened to realistic characters? Characters like in Diamond Dogs, driven mad by their pursuits? Or like some of the antagonist Conjoiners who are never forgiven in the Revelation Space series? No one had to fawn over the clockwork monster in the prefect. It just is what it is.

And apparently this is a universe nearly entirely without villains.

It is, however, one with some powerful narrative draw. The main characters seem to fluidly change objectives like they accidentally found a copy of the manuscript. When the bad guys want to go to a certain place - we have to stop them at all costs, even risking genocide! Bad guys are under control - let's go anyway! And take them with us, they want to see it too! Then because our plan was poorly thought out let's immediately leave! What?

I finished reading the book because I have read literally every other Alastair Reynolds novel. If this had anyone else's name on it or was a standalone book I would have stopped reading probably halfway through. I look forward to whatever Alastair Reynolds writes next and still respect each of his other books... But I can't cut this one any slack. ...more

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Jun 23, 2015 Duncan rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle, science-fiction

Firstly let me say this..... the description Goodreads has for this book is almost entirely wrong. To me it's not a standalone novel as I think the reader would be lost without reading the two preceeding books in the series. Also it's not about two characters independently searching for the secret of ftl travel. It really isn't.

What this novel is then, is the follow on from On the Steele Breeze. A surprising signal has come in from the depths of space prompting two independent interstellar expe ...more

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About Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds

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I'm Al, now a Goodreads author. I used to be a space scientist, and now I'm a writer, although for a time the two careers ran in parallel. I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. I write about a novel a year and try to write a few short stories as well. Some of my books and stories are set in a consistent f ...more