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Revenger

(Revenger #1)

Alastair Reynolds

3.81 · Rating details · 8,464 ratings · 920 reviews

The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilizations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives.

And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them.

Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It's their business to find the tiny, enigmatic worlds which have been hidden aw ...more

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Hardcover, 425 pages

Published September 15th 2016 by Gollancz

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Dec 12, 2016 Lady Luna. ✨ rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf-aka-garbage-bin

DNF @ 20%

I tried rereading this book in 2019 and only got to 45% before AGAIN throwing in the towel.

This book was not worthy of my time nor was it worth the pain of reading it.

I have received alot of hate over this review.. so I've clearly offended some sci-fi super nerds who can’t handle people having different opinions to them on a book they liked, it’s honestly just a bunch of horseshit that people would take the time to abuse someone over a book. The douchebags being dicks over someone’s th ...more

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Mar 09, 2017 Bradley rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-shelf, sci-fi, space-opera

Aside from some very amusing and possibly very *accurate* rants about this book, namely that the dialogue is sometimes *crappy*, the sciencey-bits are rather *weak*, and the fact that the made up words are pretty damn *generic*, most of the tale is *still* better than sooooooo much of the adventure space-opera out there.

Is it YA? Good question. Probably. But it's middle teens at the very worst. Expect pretty cool violence throughout, a single-minded protagonist girl, and a basic premise where th Aside from some very amusing and possibly very *accurate* rants about this book, namely that the dialogue is sometimes *crappy*, the sciencey-bits are rather *weak*, and the fact that the made up words are pretty damn *generic*, most of the tale is *still* better than sooooooo much of the adventure space-opera out there.

Is it YA? Good question. Probably. But it's middle teens at the very worst. Expect pretty cool violence throughout, a single-minded protagonist girl, and a basic premise where this same girl vows revenge against space pirate and goes to amazing lengths and harsh changes to get her revenge...

It's still a straight adventure tale. There's cool things to figure out, such as different kinds of strange alien worlds that hold loot to the right captain with the right Bone-callers at the right time, making fortunes or breaking your neck in the process, and of course, PIRATES.

It's not a light tale. We're given a lot of build-up for Fura before everything goes to hell, so don't expect anything more than straight light adventure until then... and then go ahead and expect darkness the rest of the time.

I personally liked the basic story and the twists and turns. I can ignore the other complaints as perhaps the author attempting to keep the tale relatable to a younger crowd, but I also think it was a miscalculation, too.

Depth of feeling and being likable trumps easy terms. :) Fura was kinda lacking on that, plus I'm not quite sure I liked the explanations why this girl keeps switching between erudite and low-class in her speech. It wasn't quite natural. *shrug*

Other than that, the rest of the novel felt like part of the Revelation Space universe to a degree, including weird time-like portals, aliens that infest our bodies and change the way we see and think, robots, and some really, really cool tech which *IS* the purpose of these Treasure Island bits, after all.

It's a grab bag of goodies. Either you can get through all the things that bug you or you can't. There *IS* a solid story in here, however, and its conclusion was quite cool.

Just ignore the apparent intelligence of everyone other than the MC and you'll do fine. :)

...more

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May 09, 2017 Philip rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf-or-skimmed, 2017-releases, ya, space-opera, sci-fi, children

1ish stars.

This book is one giant identity crisis. It's totally marketed as an adult sci-fi thriller. The blurb teases space pirates. Look at that cool black cover with the bold lettering and the title... Revenger. Sounds sick. Start reading and oh wait... this reads like a kid's book... with lots of mutilation... that's 400 pages long. It took me a while to get my bearings and decide whether I was actually enjoying it or not. As it turns out, nope.

I almost get the impression that Reynolds decid ...more

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Dec 13, 2016 Choko rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, ya

*** 2.65 ***

A Buddy Read with my fellow Sci-Fi enthusiasts at BB&B! We just wanted some Science Fiction!!!

.... But we didn't realy get what we were expecting... Alastair Reynolds is known for his Science Fiction/ Space Opera stuff, which is usually very good on world building and mostly action driven. Imagine my surprise when I started reading and the two main protagonist were two teenage sisters, who find out they have some obscure talent to read "bones" and can be hired on spaceships in order *** 2.65 ***

A Buddy Read with my fellow Sci-Fi enthusiasts at BB&B! We just wanted some Science Fiction!!!

.... But we didn't realy get what we were expecting... Alastair Reynolds is known for his Science Fiction/ Space Opera stuff, which is usually very good on world building and mostly action driven. Imagine my surprise when I started reading and the two main protagonist were two teenage sisters, who find out they have some obscure talent to read "bones" and can be hired on spaceships in order to "listen and find" secrets - something like intelligence gathering for the space ships of that world... Sounds OK, only for an author who is usually very strong at establishing the rules for the worlds he imagines, this time we get only vague explanations and lazy patch-work for the system's logic, since when something became too difficult to explain, at once it magically became just a part of the universe, thus taken as a given and no explanation needed. Thus it became a mixture of sci-fi, steam-punk, and fantasy all mixed up in one convenient space pirating adventure.

The other thing is the fact that Mr. Reynolds has decided to develop quirky characters, but has forgone any sense of humor or clever banter... At times, judging by the quality of the dialogue, I actually believed that the targeted audience is middle grade girls, but again, if it were them, then there should have been more humor, some optimism, and the characters at least one of them, had to be likable!!! And none of that is there... I have never found myself liking only one character in a whole book of 450 pages, and that character was a broken down robot... Also, this book is obviously meant as a first in a series, although it is not marketed as such, because there were many questions we steel need answers to and whole parts of the plot that had nothing to do with the way this book progressed, but possibly might make a difference in a bigger arc. Hopefully this would also be the explanation for the humongous holes in the plot as we have been presented with it.

I hate to be a a downer, so I will say that the second half of the book becomes more interesting and the last 15% are actually quite intense, but if there are books which follow, I would hope that the author find a way to bring some joy, hope, and laughter in them. I am not talking about rainbows and pink unicorns, but something that would make the reader cheer for the protagonists, and at least have some moments of not frowning, despairing, and wanting to kill things...

I would not recommend this to hard-core Sci-Fi fans and people who like logic in their magical systems, but for those who are not sticklers to knowing how things work and why, this might be for you:) Also, you might want to be youngish... But not too young, because there is some violence, but no romance or anything in that sphere...

I wish you all Happy Reading and have a wonderful Day!!! ...more

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Oct 03, 2016 Stevie Kincade rated it did not like it

Shelves: avoid, reviewed, audiobooks, published-2016

(Audiobook)
From the Guardian:

As banks struggle and businesses collapse, the science fiction writer Alastair Reynolds is making his own contribution to the flagging UK economy, signing an unprecedented 10-book deal with Gollancz worth £1m.
Reynolds, who has published eight novels with the Orion imprint Gollancz since his 2000 debut, Revelation Space, said he was "amazed and thrilled" to commit himself to the same publisher for the next decade. "It gives me a huge amount of security for the next 1 ...more

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Dec 19, 2016 Gavin rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

I picked up Revenger forewarned with the knowledge that this book was Alastair Reynolds first foray into the YA market. I must admit I had high hopes for Revenger. I was hoping we would get a book packed with the great world building and interesting plots of Reynolds regular hard sci-fi books but with the added bonus of the story having a more character driven focus. Unfortunately that never quite materialized. What we actually got was Reynolds trying, and failing, at character driven sci-fi whi I picked up Revenger forewarned with the knowledge that this book was Alastair Reynolds first foray into the YA market. I must admit I had high hopes for Revenger. I was hoping we would get a book packed with the great world building and interesting plots of Reynolds regular hard sci-fi books but with the added bonus of the story having a more character driven focus. Unfortunately that never quite materialized. What we actually got was Reynolds trying, and failing, at character driven sci-fi while also sacrificing a lot of the elements of his writing that made his other books so good!

Revenger was basically a space pirate revenge thriller. As you might imagine that meant this was a super dark YA story filled with characters who vented their morals quicker than they vented their enemies out an air lock! This was definitely one of the darkest YA stories I've read over the years.

We followed the story of Fura Ness. The Ness family found themselves in financial difficulties after a number of piss poor financial investments made by daddy Ness. In order to save the family from bankruptcy Fura's elder sister Adrana convinced her that they should run off and join a "bauble" hunting space crew. Lucky for both girls it turns out they have a talent for "bone reading". Yeah, you read that right: BONE READING! In this sci-fantasy world some kids and teens in their early 20s have the ability to communicate with each other over long distances through dead alien skulls. No bone reading for those past their early 20s as their brains "thicken up" too much to meld with the skulls. Captain Rackamore signs up both sisters to his crew and they shoot off into space to join the glamorous life of looting old alien artefacts from "bauble" worlds. The bauble worlds are worlds sealed by force fields that only open for short periods. The best crews are those that know where the bauble worlds are located, when they will open, and how long they will stay open for! The best money is to be made by the crews who are willing to risk trying the bauble worlds that are still a bit of a mystery. It is a high risk game and it is made all the more dangerous by the fact that there are some captains and crews who would rather lets others risk the dangers inside the baubles and then just loot them for the goods! Since this is a revenge thriller you can imagine how our space faring sisters get on in their new career!

The story could have been quite good. What is not to love about alien treasure hunting and space pirates? Unfortunately it was let down by a few things. Reynolds' distant writing style will come as no surprise to readers of his hard sci-fi books. It is also a problem in Revenger because it made it impossible to connect with the characters or the happenings on an emotional level. Which was a big problem as it made it tough to care about what happened to Fura or the rest of the characters and also dulled the emotional impact of some of the more brutal happenings. Another familiar Reynolds' issue which plagued this story was the complete lack of humor. There was just nothing to counter the dark, dull, and depressing tone of the story. The surprise issue was the world building. It is usually a major strength of Reynolds but it let him down in this one. I think he was going for cute and YAish with the sci-fantasy technology and quirky mock Victorian setting and dialogue, but he failed to execute it properly and it came off as a bit ridiculous instead.

The plus side to Revenger is that the basic story was pretty good. Fura's story was an interesting one and her development as a character definitely caught me off guard even if it was all plausibly explained!

The world building was more sci-fantasy than sci-fi but I've never had too much of an issue with sci-fantasy stories in general and after a bit of time I got used to the idea of Reynolds' writing such a story. While I'll not say this is my favourite sci-fi world I will say it had enough going for it to intrigue me a little. This was set in a far distant future where humanity lives on millions of artificial worlds and they mostly survive by using technologies from long dead alien races or past human civilisations. There are even a few alien species in the mix. Though we did not really meet many of them in this book there was a few hints that they were going to be playing a bigger role in the sequels.

All in all I think this was an average story. It had the potential to be great but was held back by its flaws.

Rating: 3 stars.

Audio Note: This was narrated by Clare Corbett. I took a bit of time to warm to her but I eventually did and think she done an OK job overall. ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 Manuel Antão rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.you can read the full review.

Steampunk Riff SF: "Revenger" by Alastair Reynolds

I've literally just finished the book and put it down, and I'm still reeling. Two sisters go on a space quest; get separated in an atrocious event; and then one of them seeks the other as well as revenge for the said appalling event. Sound familiar? I'm just out of the latest Reynolds after the wonderful short story collection, and this latest installment co ...more

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Jan 25, 2019 Emma rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasybookreview

Ok so this is YA. Who knew? Wait, what? Everyone but me.... Oh ok.

First, a compliment (kinda).
What a great set of covers this series has
(whoever designed those outperformed the author on this one).

Second, the rest.

The essential problem is that Reynolds seems to be trying to force his writing into a stereotypical version of YA rather than playing to his strengths in world building and innovation. All he did was dumb down and it shows.

So you've got these two young sisters who have a decent enou Ok so this is YA. Who knew? Wait, what? Everyone but me.... Oh ok.

First, a compliment (kinda).
What a great set of covers this series has
(whoever designed those outperformed the author on this one).

Second, the rest.

The essential problem is that Reynolds seems to be trying to force his writing into a stereotypical version of YA rather than playing to his strengths in world building and innovation. All he did was dumb down and it shows.

So you've got these two young sisters who have a decent enough relationship with each other, but of course one is more adventurous and wants to escape to space. As you do. I get it. It might just be because there's some dodgy shit going on at home with the family doctor and this weird drug him and the father want to give one of these girls to keep them a child. So that's not disturbing at all. Sign me up for possible death in space over that. Still not sure of the relevance of this whole aspect of the story but whatever. Pretty typical dystopian beginning. Bit weird but fine. Then we get the spaceship and that's fine.

But then it's all brutal death and complete destruction... and... there's just not enough emotional depth to hold it. The characters are all over the place: they have no veracity, changing according to the needs of the plot. Fura is bad enough but the 'reveal' about Adrana in the finale was actually painful. There's no sense of genuine growth, just a jerky bounding from one scene of awful to another, and because Reynolds is barely giving these characters the internal life of a 14 year old, it just doesn't feel real. Or maybe that's because everything is so flat we don't care about any of it anyway. On top of that it has this stilted interaction that I think is supposed to match the faux Victorian setting, but fails to sound like anyone of any age bracket. I would rather have had them yelling 'ahoy matey' at each other. THEN there's the favourite trick of YA right now where violence equals edgy. But i'll say this a million times over, it needs something to offset it. It needs a reason to be there. You can't have it as a shock tactic or character builder when there is no character growth being shown or when there's not enough emotional complexity to give the reader any reason to care either way.

The book is just one tick box after another, a gimmicky read that has zero depth.

(I think i'm more annoyed by this than I should be because it's Alastair Reynolds and it's a book about space pirates. Seriously, how the hell did he get this so wrong? SPACE PIRATES!!!)

ARC via publisher ...more

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Dec 29, 2016 Lee rated it did not like it

Shelves: given-up-on

Oh gods! What have you done Mr Reynolds?

Let me start off by saying that I am a Reynolds fan. I have read a lot of his books and rate him as one of the best hard scifi writers out there. Whilst his characters can be found wanting at times, his huge stories and world building skills are excellent and you are never short of having your head turned inside out with technical details.

Then came this book. My theory was, that he wrote this when he was a teenager and it never go published, so now he is ...more

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Sep 22, 2016 Liviu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-sf, read_2016, 2016_release_read, top_25_2016_books

Revenger was definitely entertaining and un-puttable down till the end though it clearly read to me as the start of a series not a standalone;

a few observations that came to mind when reading it - reminded most of C. Mieville's Railsea than anything from A. Reynolds, strong YA vibe, though violent but otherwise lots of stuff YA style (especially the part in the middle back on Mazarile which was weakest of the novel imho as it read straight out YA parental struggle drama), narrator makes or break ...more

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Mar 09, 2017 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017-read

People seem to be very divided on this book. I will say at the outset that this is the first thing I have read by Reynolds, and I'm also a fan of YA Sci-Fi, which means I was pretty well placed to enjoy the story.

This is a typical coming of age story, with a main character, Fura, whose experiences remake her into a very different person than she imagined herself to be. It very much follows the idea of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. The core of the story is really one of transformation ...more

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Aug 16, 2016 Joanne Harris added it

My new editor understands my needs, and was kind enough to send me an ARC of this book. And folks, it's a cracker. Basically, it's TREASURE ISLAND meets MOBY DICK, set in space, with a nice BLADE RUNNER-ish colour palette and a cast of characters worthy of a Terry Gilliam movie. I loved it. I don't give out stars, but coves, there are baubles aplenty in this, as well as blood, tears, a damn fine swashbuckling female villain and many lungstuff-sapping moments. I'm hoping there's a sequel. If not, ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, review-copy

2 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/03/12/...

Revenger was my first book by Alastair Reynolds, which makes admitting that it did not work for me all that much harder. Still, in all fairness, I had been warned by several others beforehand that this does not feel representative of much of his work (as apparently the target audience is YA). Instead of choosing something else as my introduction to the author though, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it anyway 2 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/03/12/...

Revenger was my first book by Alastair Reynolds, which makes admitting that it did not work for me all that much harder. Still, in all fairness, I had been warned by several others beforehand that this does not feel representative of much of his work (as apparently the target audience is YA). Instead of choosing something else as my introduction to the author though, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it anyway, so that’s on me.

The story follows Adrana and Fura Ness, a pair of teenaged sisters who live with their ailing father on the planet of Mazerile. A series of bad investments have bankrupted the family and now the girls have little prospects for the future, which is why when Captain Rackamore turns up in his sunjammer hoping to recruit a new Bone reader for his crew, Adrana and Fura are quick to take him up on his offer. Because the two of them are Sympathetics, they are perfect for the job which involves mentally linking themselves up with a mysterious piece of technology called a skull on the ship, enabling the crew to communicate with other travelers using the long-established inter-galactic trade routes.

So without another thought spared to their dear old dad, the girls decide to run off and join Rackamore on The Monetta’s Mourn, beginning their treasure seeking adventures among the remains of lost civilizations. The galaxy is filled with crews like theirs scavenging the far corners of space for “baubles”, a term used to describe artificially enclosed planets that can contain all manner of precious valuables and wonders. But perhaps just as common are the ships that prey on these treasure hunting crews, waiting for others to do the hard work before swooping in and snatching away their bounty. Adrana and Fura end up learning this lesson the hard way when The Monetta’s Mourn comes under such an attack, the crew becoming the next victims of the fearsome space pirate known as Bosa Sennen.

So what worked and what didn’t? On a world-building level, I could appreciate what Reynolds was trying to achieve here. Revenger is a mix of hard sci-fi with something else that is less definable—a mythological, fabled element that belongs more in a fantasy novel, perhaps. The universe is filled with alien artifacts, ancient technologies, and other unexplainable mysteries such as individuals with special gifts. And while the story takes place in deep space and humankind has achieved the ability to travel among the stars, the atmosphere of the setting is nonetheless evocative of an era more befitting of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Think the Age of Discovery, exploration and mercantilism, crews setting off into the great unknown on treasure voyagers hoping to bring home fortune and glory. It’s a classic maritime adventure novel complete with pirates, ship wrecks and hidden booty, except that it’s all superimposed over a science fiction backdrop.

But as fascinating as this all was, the disappointment came crashing down when, after getting through nearly half the novel, I realized very few of these elements were actually explored. All those new and unfamiliar terms that were being thrown around at the beginning, ostensibly teasing the reader and making us all think that explanations were forthcoming, ultimately led to no satisfying answers.

Then there was the main character of Fura. She’s everything I find distasteful in a teen protagonist—selfish, impulsive, arrogant, and naïve. She takes new experiences for granted, treats opportunities like she is entitled to them, and doesn’t think too hard about the consequences of her actions. I realize she’s supposed to be a teenager, but this type of attitude and thinking feels even more immature than is called for somehow.

Overall, I also found myself unenthused by the story. It’s possible that my dislike of Fura had something to do with it, though in general I thought the plot suffered from poor pacing. For a novel supposedly aimed at a young adult audience, it’s surprisingly slow. Things ticked up a bit when The Monetta’s Mourn came under attack by pirates, but then returned to a monotonous pattern once the dust settled.

I tried, but I just couldn’t get into this one. Revenger was definitely not what I expected from my first foray into Alastair Reynolds, but fans might be relieved to know I’m chalking this up to an anomaly which is not indicative of his usual work. I fully intend to try him again in the future, hopefully with a book that has a story and characters that are more to my tastes. ...more

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May 29, 2019 Kari Rhiannon (Moon Magister Reviews) rated it really liked it

4.5 stars.

Space pirates, antiheroes and ancient dead civilisations? That sound perfect to you? Me too.

Arafura Ness is drawn by her sister from the safety of their comfortable and cushy life into the uncertainties of the Bone Room on a treasure hunters space cruiser. Sensitive to the bones of an ancient creature, such bone readers are able to communicate across vast distances and carve out the secrets of the stars. When the dread Bosa Sennen kidnaps Fura’s Sister, she is forced to take action in ...more

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Sep 30, 2016 Kaitlin rated it really liked it

* I was sent this book for review from the publisher *

This is such a fun storyline! I have to say I was a little hesitant to dive into this becuase, although I had heard good things, I don't like super high-tech science books and I didn't want this to turn out to be like that. It's not! This is actually one of the most interesting and fun SF books I have ever read and it had a fabulous mix of superb characters, space pirating and action. The plot was fast-paced, but easy to settle into, and it w * I was sent this book for review from the publisher *

This is such a fun storyline! I have to say I was a little hesitant to dive into this becuase, although I had heard good things, I don't like super high-tech science books and I didn't want this to turn out to be like that. It's not! This is actually one of the most interesting and fun SF books I have ever read and it had a fabulous mix of superb characters, space pirating and action. The plot was fast-paced, but easy to settle into, and it worked really well overall!

In this book we're following two sisters who live on a world where the economy has crashed, their father is in debt, and their mother died years ago. They don't really have much of a life at all so when they are given the chance to travel away from the world, earn some money, and to have an adventure both of them quickly take that chance. Adrana & Fura Ness (the sisters) are recruited to join Captain Rackamore's ship as he sails through space hunting treasure. They are to be the new bone-readers and they pick up strange signals and messages through space and old skulls.

What I really enjoyed about this is that it's a super easy story to quickly connect with. I loved seeing the bond that the two sisters shared and the fact that they were so eager to take a chance and do something big. When the story later goes downhill for them I loved seeing their faith and endurance which set them on the path to reuniting.

I actually ended up listening to a large part of this book on audiobook and I loved the narrator, Clare Corbett, as she voice acted all the characters incredibly well and gave each one a personality and a tone. This really helped to enhance my reading of the book, and I would definitely recommend checking out the audio version if you like that!

Overall, this was just purely fun and feisty for me. I enjoyed the plot a lot and the characters even more and when everything came together I think it was exciting and dramatic. Definitely one I would recommend to someone newer to adult SF or someone who liked books like Red Rising :) 4*s overall. ...more

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Jul 04, 2017 Claudia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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

I’m not a fan of YA, generally because, in most of them, the action does not fit the characters’ age. The story of Fura Ness here is not far from that; had she been around her 30s, I think it would have made the story and her actions much more reliable.

However, as always, the universe in which Al Reynolds unfolds his tale is a marvel to me and so I chose to focus on that instead. We have a Congregation build of around 50 million worlds, in the 13th Occupation (the 12th was around ~600,000 years ...more

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Oct 17, 2016 Sh3lly marked it as to-read

Shelves: added-2016-tbr

Buddy read with the Buddies Books and Baubles group starting December 15, 2016. ...more

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Sep 24, 2016 William rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This new book by Reynolds is set in a cargo-cult, semi-steampunk kind of universe, at times familiar. At first, I found the book to be a bit too-familiar in nature, but by chapter 3 the world- and character-building were good, and the plot mysteries were intriguing.

As always, Reynolds' imagination is amazing, and the number of minor and major clever elements were terrific. Pacing is good, without being overwritten, and the penultimate chapters and action sequences were fun.

The final chapter was ...more

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Nov 07, 2016 Gary rated it liked it

Reynolds tale of two young sisters who stow away on a starship to escape the dreary future their father has planned for them starts off well enough, but starts getting predictable halfway through. There's a sort of "Daniel Defoe in space" vibe to it that is more admirable in the attempt than the execution.
As usual, Reynolds follows Clarke's third law in his depiction of future and/or alien tech - that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - so the worldbuilding i ...more

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Jan 25, 2017 Charles rated it did not like it

Did Not Finish (DNF).

I'm a big fan of Alastair Reynolds and have read many of his books. Chasm City and several, but not all in the Revelation Space series being particular favorites.

This book was a hard start. Firstly, it is a lame attempt at YA. Although, it was my mistake in not realizing that the author had plunged into the monied killing-ground of YA authorship with this book.

The technical craftsmanship of the book is all good. Reynolds always knows how to hang words together.

Where the stor ...more

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Oct 09, 2016 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, read-2016

5 Stars

Revenger by Alastair Reynolds can almost do no wrong with me. I love his writing style, his pacing, and of course his genre, science fiction. This book is something that none of his other books are, including The Blue Remembered Earth series, it is accessible to all, including the young adult crowd. That does not mean that Revenger is written down to them, or watered down. It just means that it is easily digested.

Comparisons to Mieville's Railsea, and the Shipbreaker series by Paolo Baci ...more

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Oct 02, 2016 Basia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Oh, what a trip!

So I'm not sure how many of you went to see The Usual Suspects in the theater a bunch of years ago. I remember when the film ended, and the lights came on again in the movie theater, my first and only thought was, Oh, I need to circle around back into this room to see this movie again, and do so immediately!
And this was my feeling when I realized I was reading this book's final page. Holy s$#@, people! Ok, I confess, although Alastair Reynolds has been a favorite author of mine f ...more

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Sep 26, 2016 Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-my-best-of

Reynolds is always good, but this novel that begins like a YA and morphs into a terrible dark story about innocence and corruption, is clearly his best since House of Suns. And is short and tightly written for a space-opera, another important quality in my opinion. Great, great book!

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Oct 17, 2016 Paul rated it it was ok

Shelves: z_archive16_read-2016, z_archive16_boughtin2016

Revenger does not play up to the strengths that Alastair Reynolds has as an author. When I first heard about this book I was excited because Reynolds was going to try something new, a first-person story with a tight focus. I realized through reading Revenger, that Reynolds has always been a big picture guy, and that is what I love about his books, an expansive and detailed universe with nuances that blow your mind. In Revenger, he is shackled by the perspective of one character, and it just didn Revenger does not play up to the strengths that Alastair Reynolds has as an author. When I first heard about this book I was excited because Reynolds was going to try something new, a first-person story with a tight focus. I realized through reading Revenger, that Reynolds has always been a big picture guy, and that is what I love about his books, an expansive and detailed universe with nuances that blow your mind. In Revenger, he is shackled by the perspective of one character, and it just didn't work for me.

Adrana and Arafura are sisters wanting to run away from home in search of adventure and money. They leave because their father needs money for a possible heart surgery and their lives are being stifled into a direction that means they will have next to no freedom. There are hints of their father wanting them to stay little girls with the assistance of a creepy doctor too. The two of them join a spaceship that looks for lost treasure in the universe, a mash-up of pirates and treasure hunters.

The first thing I would like to mention is that this opening to the story just did not settle right with me. The beginning felt thrown together and too convenient. Within the first 20 pages, the girls are deciding to leave their home, and join a space vessel. These girls that have never done a day's work in their life, are found to be able to have the ability to talk with magic alien skulls, immediately making them valuable to spaceship crews. I expect this type of beginning in an older fantasy book but not in a Reynolds science fiction book.

I never became invested in the story because I felt the entire story of Arafura was being started in the wrong place. There is no need to show the scenes of how they got aboard Rackamore's ship. It would have been better to talk about these things in dialogue with other characters. I feel the real story doesn't start until after they are in space and the main conflict scene happens. If the story started right before the main conflict scene, that creates the entire narrative, it would have been such a better book, but instead, the story starts in a very uninspiring place with a trope about girls running away from home, but have special abilities to make themselves valuable.

During the scenes of conflict, which I don't want to talk about in great detail because I think the book is better without knowing what happens, the book was outstanding. I also saw hints of that expansive universe world building that I love from Reynolds during the space flight scenes. Because this is a universe that is exponentially old, technology has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, so this far future is nothing like what you would expect it to be. The space flying is somewhat similar to our current day space flight capabilities but with a few more advanced things thrown in.

The space treasure hunters are looking for baubles that are floating around in space. The ships use an alien skull to "hack" into the communication of other ships to find baubles before everyone else. Inside these baubles, there are a lot of old(more technological advanced) items that can be sold on the market. The big thing is that these baubles only open during a small window and there need to be people that can break into the vaults. It's a cool idea but because we have this limited view of the story, we never get a good explanation why these baubles are even out there and why they open and close. In fact, there are a lot of things in this book, because they weren't explained, just made me think of possible inconsistencies. There is a possibility I missed a lot of these clues, though.

I think that a lot of people's experience with this book will revolve around their thoughts on the main character Arafura's character growth. Either the reader will believe her character growth as believable or not. I personally did not believe her character growth at all. She changed so drastically in such a small period of time. I know that traumatic events change people quickly but her entire personality was different by the end of the story. There is a weird story element that explains why she changed so much but I never was on board with that explanation.

Revenger isn't a bad book per say, I thought it was just an OK read, I didn't hate it, but I found it to be a problematic read that just didn't engage me much beyond a few crucial scenes. Reynold's character writing was never the reason I read his books, it was always the world building, and in Revenger, Reynolds is trying to get better at character writing, but at the expense of what I enjoy most about his books.

2/5
8/25 Possible Score
2 - Plot
2 - Characters
2 - World Building
1 - Writing Style
1 - Heart and Mind Aspect ...more

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Oct 08, 2016 Rinn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-or-review-copy, sci-fi, reviewed, read-2016

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

When I was first sent a copy of Revenger for review, my immediate thought was of the excellent but criminally short-lived TV show Firefly. However I seem to draw this comparison now for all books revolving around a spaceship crew. I love stories of life on a spaceship, from Firefly to my favourite video game Mass Effect.

Unlike many of the previous tales I’ve read, watc I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

When I was first sent a copy of Revenger for review, my immediate thought was of the excellent but criminally short-lived TV show Firefly. However I seem to draw this comparison now for all books revolving around a spaceship crew. I love stories of life on a spaceship, from Firefly to my favourite video game Mass Effect.

Unlike many of the previous tales I’ve read, watched or played, Revenger is told from the point of view of a teenage girl. Arafura is a privileged young woman, the youngest daughter of a wealthy man. Her sister, Adrana, is the more confident of the two, the more adventurous and bolshy. Arafura seems meek and timid, reluctant to follow her sister into trouble but also too scared to let her go off alone. The book starts with them escaping their ‘nanny bot’ and stowing away on a ship, where the adventure begins.

There is just so much action from the very beginning of this novel that it is impossible not to feel draw in instantly. I was unsure of Arafura as a narrator at first – the boring sister, perhaps, the less adventurous one – but actually this decision worked so well. The reader follows Fura as she grows in confidence and matures, as she learns what revenge means. There were plenty of other likeable characters too, although there wasn’t always time to get to know some and get a sense of who they really were due to a rather quick changeover in some cases. The villain of the story, Bosa Sennan, has some fantastic folklore built around them that really made me feel as if humankind had been space-faring peoples for centuries. And the idea that Bosa Sennan’s ship could just come out of nowhere, undetected was pretty terrifying.

I actually really enjoyed the premise of what the ship’s crew actually did – exploring abandoned alien bases/ships/planets, that were only accessible during certain periods of time, and looting everything that could be found. I’d love a whole novel based purely around that! It sounds like some cool sort of space archaeology/exploration.

Whilst this is pitched as a Young Adult novel, don’t let that put you off if you’re not normally a reader of YA. Similarly, if you’ve ever felt intimidated by Alastair Reynolds’ galaxy-sprawling works of science fiction, don’t be scared off by this one. The tone is completely different, his writing style almost unrecognisible from his previous work such as House of Suns, but every bit just as fantastical and epic. To top it off, the cover is simple but so perfect, demonstrating the vastness and emptiness of space. ...more

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Sep 01, 2016 Rowena Hoseason rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016

This futuristic romp was badly marketed to me, a mature adult with a taste for hard-science speculative fiction. I found it listed as straight sci-fi but Revenger slots neatly into the YA ‘coming of age’ genre.

It pushes back no boundaries and instead sticks to safe territory. Sailing-ship privateers seek galactic treasure and over-indulged adolescents rebel against parental authority to join a scavenger crew. Gruff coves become loyal shipmates, the teenage protagonist is aided by a friendly rob This futuristic romp was badly marketed to me, a mature adult with a taste for hard-science speculative fiction. I found it listed as straight sci-fi but Revenger slots neatly into the YA ‘coming of age’ genre.

It pushes back no boundaries and instead sticks to safe territory. Sailing-ship privateers seek galactic treasure and over-indulged adolescents rebel against parental authority to join a scavenger crew. Gruff coves become loyal shipmates, the teenage protagonist is aided by a friendly robot or two, hi-tech prosthetic limbs replace the captain’s hook. There’s a significant nod to the Guild Navigators of Dune and the psy-Talents of Anne McCaffrey’s Tower sequence in the unusual abilities which set the young heroine apart. And if you read between my lines, you may think I’m saying that Revenger feels extremely derivative. You may be right.

Alastair Reynolds’ earlier galaxy-spanning space operas used to inspire awestruck admiration at their audacious combination of extrapolation, invention, powerful characterisation, semi-bewildering (but entirely believable) hard science and sheer brutal brilliance. You’ll find all those things and more in his Revelation Space series, among Chasm City and the diamond dogs.

But if you’ve come to Revenger seeking more of the same then… it’s a bit of a let-down. The plot moves along like a video game with crews breaking open sealed space-vaults to raid ancient loot. The dialogue stoops to ‘ahoy me hearties!’ cringe-inducing cliche.

Despite being disappointed by this novel’s limited scope and the predictable path of the plot, I was still entertained by Reynolds’ writing, his ability to spin a ripping yarn even from threads as well-worn as these. But Revenger is comfortably safe; emotionally and intellectually unchallenging. If I were a spiky young adult all over again, then I’d hope to read something more original, something with some real spark. Let’s hope that his next foray into interstellar space will take more risks.
6/10

There's a more detailed review over at:
https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress... ...more

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Sep 14, 2016 Empress Reece (Hooked on Books) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it, sci-fi, outer-space, adventure, zzexp_2016-read, arc, favorites, netgalley-read, action, aliens

5 Fantastic Stars for Revenger...

Revenger is one of those books that you just know from the very start that it's going to keep you locked to its pages until the very end. I won't go into a summary because I think the synopsis sums up the basis of the story very well and anything I can think to add will just spoil it. I will say though that it exceeded even my highest expectations. The world building and the character development was absolutely phenomenal! By the time the story was ending I was h ...more

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Dec 16, 2016 ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) marked it as pigs-fly-and-crayfish-whistle · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, i-used-to-hate-space, aw-hell-no, i-break-out-in-a-rash, ya-in-disguise, over-my-dead-body, let-s-bail-snail, i-d-rather-die-thank-you-very-much

Express foreword: I haven't read this book. You wouldn't know it from the length of this non-review.

This review is dedicated to Choko, Luna, Lee and Gavin, my Should-Have-Been Reading Buddies for this Should-Have-Been Buddy Read (SHBRBfrSHBBR™). If this slightly awesome team hadn't taken one for me here, I'd probably be severely traumatized by now. Or dead. Yeah, make that dead.

It's pre-emptive DNFing time again! Woo hoo!

Okay, I was really really really going to read this one. Cross my heart, ho ...more

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Aug 18, 2016 Mark rated it really liked it

Following on from Alastair’s recent collaboration with Stephen Baxter, here’s a stand-alone solo effort that is also worthy of your attention.

From the publisher: The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilisations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives.

And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them . . .

Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It's their business to find the tiny, e ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Kat Hooper rated it liked it

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com. ...more

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About Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds

6,006 followers

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