Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days

(Revelation Space #1.5)

Alastair Reynolds

3.98 · Rating details · 8,990 ratings · 328 reviews

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into interstellar space . . . Alastair Reynolds burst onto the SF scene with the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted REVELATION SPACE, British Science Fiction Award-winning CHASM CITY, and REDEMPTION ARK. Now experience the phenomenal imagination and breathtaking vision of 'The most exciting space opera writer working today' (Loc ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 231 pages

Published October 9th 2003 by Gollancz (first published February 2003)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century

957 books — 8,746 voters

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

best hard science fiction

375 books — 671 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.98 ·

Rating details

· 8,990 ratings · 328 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days

Mar 27, 2021 mark monday rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to mark by: William

Shelves: scifi-modern

two well-crafted novellas set in the author's grim Revelation Space universe, each illustrating the separate goals of each hemisphere within Reynolds' big, brilliant brain.

Left-Brained Reynolds wrote "Diamond Dogs": a studiously perhaps strenuously analytical piece. a small, highly differentiated party of dangerous and dangerously curious explorers return again and again to the death trap that is known as the Blood Spire. there they attempt to solve increasingly difficult logic puzzles that rewa two well-crafted novellas set in the author's grim Revelation Space universe, each illustrating the separate goals of each hemisphere within Reynolds' big, brilliant brain.

Left-Brained Reynolds wrote "Diamond Dogs": a studiously perhaps strenuously analytical piece. a small, highly differentiated party of dangerous and dangerously curious explorers return again and again to the death trap that is known as the Blood Spire. there they attempt to solve increasingly difficult logic puzzles that reward them with access to yet another room or, if their answers are incorrect, severely castigate them with surprise mutilation or death. this dark story offers scant answers to its mysteries but does provide pleasures familiar to any who enjoyed the movie Cube (or the book The World House). Overall it was ok, although the title bugged me - and this is a petty complaint, I know - as it doesn't mean much for the story and feels like a David Bowie fanboy decided on the title first and then bent his narrative to fit it to that title. Reynolds bends his characters as well, into new physical shapes that are at first exciting and then, finally, gross and depressing. 2 stars.

Right-Brained Reynolds wrote the superior "Turquoise Days": an enjoyably slow-paced affair that is more concerned with processing visual shapes and patterns, with ambiguity, with implied meanings. this novella is dense with emotion: regret, longing, melancholy, a spurt of anger, and then resignation, peacefulness. it is about the planet of the Pattern Jugglers, a nonsentient but still organic alien archiving system that lives in the oceans of watery Turquoise; some who swim in that ocean contribute a copy of their consciousness to that archive - and if they are particularly sympatico to those consciousness jugglers, they contribute their entire selves, body and all. most of Turquoise Days is about two sisters and the sorrows of one sister as she moves on with her life, her sibling having been subsumed by the ocean. eventually, an actual narrative reveals itself, and the novella becomes if briefly a story of a last fight against off-planet and all-too-human interlopers who would destroy the uniqueness of this beautiful world for reasons either fanatical or righteous, but both wearyingly typical for the human species. it doesn't end well, and yet it sorta does, which is so Alastair Reynolds. all in all, this was a very impressive story. 4 stars. ...more

flag 41 likes · Like · see review

Jul 23, 2016 William rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: extraordinary-books

***** 10 STARS - Turquoise Days *****

Turquoise Days is truly exquisite, the single finest work by Alastair Reynolds. A creation of heart and mind and love. The novella is beautifully imagined and realised, a water-world of alien mystery, an idyllic and wondrous place of life and awe.

The central character, Naqi, is an academic who explores this world and the floating Juggler bio-mass and related alien life forms, along with her sister, Mina. Her voice is clear and honest and alive, but not witho ...more

flag 32 likes · Like · see review

Aug 02, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-shelf, sci-fi, worldbuilding-sf, space-opera, transhumanism

Two really fascinating novellas here.

Diamond Dogs is the ULTIMATE in grizzly puzzle-solving dungeon hacking. Just add alien tech, deadly puzzle rooms, and a rag-tag team of transhumanist and alien-modded humans who are monsters in their own right, and set them to work at the problem. :)

I mean, it FEELS like a heist. But a super hard-SF heist.

Turquoise Days really sets us in an alien landscape that pushes the boundaries. Swimming in an ocean of alien minds? Getting transformed so that you become ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2020 William rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Fans of Revelation Space

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days is a duet of short stories taking place in Alistair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" setting and is essential reading for its fans. I enjoyed both stories thoroughly, and feel they really round out the "Revelation Space" experience.

Diamond Dogs is a horror story about two competitive men who seek the ultimate challenge in a heavily guarded alien tower. Dr. Trintignant, who is mentioned a few times in the various Revelation Space stories, is featured in this story. This i ...more

flag 24 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2022 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, sff-from-2000s, acquired-in-2014, must-read-in-2022, books-i-own

Two novellas titled, well, Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days.

Both take place in the Revelation Space universe. I loved Revelation Space and its sequels (and other related novels), so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I was going to get around to this book. The reason it took so long? I am usually not fond of novella length stories.

The big hitter here (for me) is Diamond Dogs. It is morbidly fascinating and quite grim (which is typically what I expect from the author, given the nature ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2015 Claudia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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

Perfect complementary stories, the Revelation Universe’s Yin and Yang.

Diamond dogs – the Yin, dark, horrifying, claustrophobic, alert, the whole time reading it I was in a permanent state of anguish. Brilliant adaptation of Browning’s “Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came” or King’s “The Dark Tower”, not sure which of the two was the inspiration. But taken into consideration the horror of the story, I incline towards the latter. 5/5

Turquoise days – the Yang, bright, vivid one, full of li ...more

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2021 7jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(The title introduces the titles of the two novellas; clearly the author is a fan of both David Bowie and Echo & The Bunnymen… so am I.) These novellas appear on both sides of the Chasm City novel. Both deal with alien things: a mysterious building, and organisms living in a sea with a special talent (the latter is mentioned in the former, and one character in it has benefited from their encounter with them).
(And yes, still: spoilers may include spoilers for other books for this ‘verse.)

--“Diamo (The title introduces the titles of the two novellas; clearly the author is a fan of both David Bowie and Echo & The Bunnymen… so am I.) These novellas appear on both sides of the Chasm City novel. Both deal with alien things: a mysterious building, and organisms living in a sea with a special talent (the latter is mentioned in the former, and one character in it has benefited from their encounter with them).
(And yes, still: spoilers may include spoilers for other books for this ‘verse.)

--“Diamond Dogs”: in a remote star system, the planet Golgotha, where a mysterious, floating alien structure nicknamed the Blood Spire, keeps its secret in a deadly manner, Roland Childe has recruited his friend, and four others, to take the challenge to solve their way to the top of the building through increasingly difficult-to-solve puzzle rooms that can turn deadly… but are all the ways to secure a success worth it?
This is more from the body-horror end of the author's style, told by the friend Richard Swift, who seems to struggle in staying loyal to his friend and accepting all the ways he and the others need to (view spoiler) to get further in the building (who does make it easier by (view spoiler).
It’s interesting that Swift and Childe meet at a place with a familiar connection to those who read the series in chronological order: at the monument for the (view spoiler)
And Childe is not the only blast from the past: Swift former (view spoiler)
The crucial character in this story is Dr Trintignant, who has changed himself (view spoiler), and whose past bad actions make the crew other than Childe nervous; but he is the reason they can stay alive and moving, trying to solve the secrets of the Spire. Still – is it all worth it? Is there anything worth it in the final place up there for the whole journey to be worth it, or would reaching it trigger an alarm in some alien device out there, that there is now some beings worth fighting against, or to laugh about? Or will the last of this group – Childe (view spoiler)? So much to think about...

--“Turquoise Days”: on a somewhat isolated planet Turquoise, with its Inuit-Thai human population, and Pattern Jugglers in its seas (who are able to preserve the memories of any human swimmer who joins their collective consciousness), Naqi Okpik has devoted her life to studying the latter, while remembering how her sister Mina was lost among them. Now an Ultra ship is approaching the planet, with its intentions possibly a threat to the living beings on the planet… but for what reason(s)?
I think this story partly comments on ocean study, and the threat humans cause to it (even on Earth now). It’s not (view spoiler)
The description of the sea, and the welcoming feast at the spaceship’s arrival, is beautiful, but then there is the horror, too. The passengers of the ship have (view spoiler)It is a sad yet hopeful story, making you think about the sea of our own world. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2021 Juliano Dutra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I`m reading Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds and, since I got to the part of "Diamond Dogs", i decided to read the book with "Turquoise Days".
I think it was the perfect choice. The two stories are harmonious and contrasting at the same time.
Considering i started reading Alastair Reynolds books after reading Claudia`s reviews, i`ll link her review here, since i can`t express better the impact of these stories: Claudia's Reviews > Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2014 David Sven rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Reviewed these two shorts separately here

Diamond Dogs review

Turquoise Days review

Before you ask - Yes, I did that to bump up my Goodreads Challenge count - And no, I haven't marked the "date I finished this book" box in this edition to bump my count a third time :) - I can always come back for that later if I'm running short at the end of the year. ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2014 Efka rated it really liked it

"Diamond Dogs" is simply wonderful. It has everything I adore about sci-fi: transhumanism, cybernetics, ethics, other planets, alien mysteries. It now definitely is my fave Reynolds' creation. 5/5.

Turqouis Days, on the ither hand is a bit bleak and doesn't suck you in as Dogs do. It is not bad, but certainly not a peak inRevelation Space series. 3/5.

So, to sum up, it's 8/10, or 4 stars - "certified fresh", as they say on rotten tomatoes. :) ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 22, 2011 Ed [Redacted] rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum
I smell the blood of a British man.
King Lear, Act 3, scene 4

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days is a pair of novellas set in Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" universe. I have lately began to believe that, in fact, the novella might be the perfect size in which to tell a science fiction story. If there were any doubt, Reynolds lays it to rest in the brilliant "Diamond Dogs.

Diamond Dogs is the story of a group of specialis Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum
I smell the blood of a British man.
King Lear, Act 3, scene 4

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days is a pair of novellas set in Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" universe. I have lately began to believe that, in fact, the novella might be the perfect size in which to tell a science fiction story. If there were any doubt, Reynolds lays it to rest in the brilliant "Diamond Dogs.

Diamond Dogs is the story of a group of specialists put together by the enigmatic Roland Childe in order to solve the many puzzles of the "Blood Spire", a tower that appears to be sentient. Each room of the tower must be accessed by solving increasingly intricate mathematical puzzles. Solving the puzzle grants one access to the next room, failing to solve the puzzle leads to gruesome and painful consequences. The story is filled with oppressive atmosphere and edge of the seat worry.

Diamond dogs is one of the best science fiction stories I have read in some time. I am glad it was kept as the novella length which is, in my opinion, the best length for it. Dark and atmospheric, Diamond Dogs did not disappoint. I give it 5 stars.

Turquoise Days is the second novella in this book. I was not as taken with it as I was with its predecessor. Not that it is bad by any means.

Turquoise Days takes place on the planet Turquoise. This planet is a Pattern Juggler world which also contains a human colony. The Pattern Jugglers are being studied by the humans, which is the reason for the colony. For those not familiar with Reynolds's work, Pattern jugglers are sort of a marine hive mind type organism which acts as a kind of a giant hard drive, recording the consciousness of those who swim in the oceans where they exist. Often the Pattern Jugglers will impart some kind of (normally) temporary ability to the swimmer, often in mathematics. Upon occasion, a person will be assimilated by the Pattern Jugglers and will not return from their swim.

In Turquoise Days, the protagonist, Naqi, and her sister both take an unauthorized swim in the ocean; a swim from which the sister never returns. A few years later, Naqi is still working on research of the Pattern Jugglers when another group of scientists arrive on a starship. What the foreign scientists are up to is anyone's guess. There is in this story a hint at what may have been in the top room of the Blood Spire.

This story alternated between parts that were utterly fascinating and parts that bored the living crap out of me. The great parts made up for the boring parts to some degree, making this a worthy read. Not nearly the quality of Diamond Dogs but an average to above-average story. I give it 3 to 3.5 stars.

If I were to advise someone reading this for the first time I might advise them to read Turquoise Days fisr as it was, for me, so clearly outclassed by Diamond Dogs that I think I was unduly disappointed by it. This is a worth book and an easy 4 stars. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2021 Tomislav rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, collection

This book contains two stand-alone novellas, both set in Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space universe, before and during parallel events of his Inhibitor sequence (Revelation Space through Inhibitor Phase). The two stories are also independent of each other, although there is one passing reference from Turquoise Days back to the prior Diamond Dogs. The stories appear in this book in the correct order.

Diamond Dogs (2001) - ***. The story opens in Chasm City, on the planet Yellowstone, where first This book contains two stand-alone novellas, both set in Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space universe, before and during parallel events of his Inhibitor sequence (Revelation Space through Inhibitor Phase). The two stories are also independent of each other, although there is one passing reference from Turquoise Days back to the prior Diamond Dogs. The stories appear in this book in the correct order.

Diamond Dogs (2001) - ***. The story opens in Chasm City, on the planet Yellowstone, where first person narrator Richard Swift is recruited by his one-time friend Roland Childe, to join a crew pursuing an unknown technological treasure first identified a century earlier by Roland’s deceased Uncle. They travel to the Blood Spire, which is a tower of rooms, each guarded by increasingly difficult mathematical puzzles. The vicinity of the tower is littered with bodies of an earlier expedition that failed to reach the top. The penalty for failing to select the correct answer is much, much, worse than just not passing upward. The story is a gorefest, innovative, but I’m not sure what the point is.

Turquoise Days (2002) - *****. The planet Turquoise is inhabited by the Pattern Jugglers, and the descendants of a human colony ship, who live in air-floating cities above the world ocean. Naqi Okpik and her sister Mina are flying their research dirigible above a Pattern Juggler node – an intense and complex vegetative raft on the world ocean. When the first incoming interstellar spacecraft in over a century is detected, the government of Turquoise shuts down electronic communication, leaving Naqi and Mina in isolation, and with a unique opportunity to study the node first-hand. I have just re-read Stanisław Lem’s 1961 Solaris, and so the comparison of Reynolds’ telepathic world ocean seems inevitable. It is not the same, the intelligence resides in the ocean, rather than being the ocean. The humans are invited to join in communion with the intelligence (and thus with all its earlier human and nonhuman visitors) by swimming in the ocean, rather than having their subconscious read involuntarily. And yet, its role as an unknowable and ineffable force that transcends human experience is there in both. The plot goes high-tension when the interstellar spacecraft arrives. This is a really great story, and the reader would not have to be familiar with the Revelation Space universe to appreciate it. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2019 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

"Diamond Dogs": A group of specialists attempts to ascend an alien structure that forces them to solve an increasingly abstract series of mathematical puzzles in order to proceed. Incorrect answers are costly in the extreme. This is a straight-up horror story that would make a great movie.

"Turquoise Days": Naqi is a researcher on the planet Turquoise, studying the Pattern Jugglers, mysterious, formless entities that populate the oceans and absorb the memories of those who swim in them. When unex ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 20, 2015 Kevin Kelsey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2016

Two tangentially connected novellas set in the Revelation Space series.

Diamond Dogs: 5/5
Horrific novella about ambition and obsession. Gripping from the first sentence to the last. The pacing was perfect.

Turquoise Days: 3/5
This one was okay, but nothing special. It was very drawn out for being so short. I think it needed to be either longer or shorter, if that makes sense. It did provide some more information about the Pattern Jugglers introduced in Revelation Space, so I appreciate it for that ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2019 Jamie rated it really liked it

Reynolds knocks it out of the park with Diamond Dogs, a Big Dumb Object (BDO) story set in the Revelation Space universe. This object is not as dumb as it looks, and bloodthirsty to boot. The story reads like a dark psychological thriller and is a real page turner. 4.5 stars.

Turquoise Days, also set in the Revelation Space universe, gives a fascinating look at the enigmatic Pattern Juggler aliens who inhabit the oceans of several disparate worlds and function as a kind of organic network, storin ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2012 Heidi rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, sci-fi, format-paper, collection, sf-space-opera, novella, winners-sci-fi, author-reynolds, sf-big-dumb-object

Diamond Dogs | 4 stars

Up until the last few pages I would have rated this novella set in the Revelation Space universe only 3 or at most 3.5 stars. It's essentially Indiana Jones in space, very reminiscent of the challenges Indy faces at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Reynolds alludes to it with a very obvious Indy reference. It also ties in with Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. One of the characters is even named Roland Childe and he and his band Diamond Dogs | 4 stars

Up until the last few pages I would have rated this novella set in the Revelation Space universe only 3 or at most 3.5 stars. It's essentially Indiana Jones in space, very reminiscent of the challenges Indy faces at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Reynolds alludes to it with a very obvious Indy reference. It also ties in with Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. One of the characters is even named Roland Childe and he and his band of adventurers explore the mysteries of a deadly towerlike structure.

Most of the novella follows the characters' attempts to solve the mathematical riddles the spire throws at them. A wrong answer results in vicious gory punishments. It was fun to dive into this brutal scavenger hunt, but after a while it started to get somewhat repetitive and I was about to lose interest. That's exactly when the plot takes a turn and starts to hint at what it's really about, leading to a satisfying bleak ending.
I'll never forget Trintignant, a character I wish Reynolds had featured more prominently in a longer work.

Turquoise Days | 4.5 stars

I can imagine that many readers would find Turquoise Days boring compared to the excitement of Diamond Dogs. There's much less action, barely any gore, not much seems to be at stake, and nothing truly significant is happening for the better part of the novella.

Turquoise is one of the Pattern Jugglers planets, non-sentient marine beings capable of absorbing the memories, knowledge and even personalities of those who swim with them. They can imprint that information on others, an experience many seek despite the risks. The human colonists on Turquoise have devoted their lives to studying the Jugglers, and Reynolds explores how their daily routine and culture has adjusted to living on a world that is almost entirely covered by water swarming with an enigmatic life-form. When a space ship arrives, the fragile balance on Turqoise could be severely disturbed.

My review of Diamond Dogs shows that I'm not a big fan of action and gore, and I clearly preferred the rather placid tone of Turquoise Days. The Pattern Jugglers always fascinated me, and here I got more insight into how they 'work'. That doesn't mean there's nothing else happening at all, quite the contrary. It just takes a bit longer to build up, and I found myself thoroughly rewarded for my patience. The novella's conclusion is devastating and bittersweet at the same time, evoking a strong emotional response on my part. And that's what I love most about Reynolds's work. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

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

A gigantic space opera: This is the book that places Reynolds on a similar level with Clarke and Baxter.

Having done a Physics major at university, I'm naturally drawn towards science fiction as opposed to fantasy books, and prefer the typical "hard" sci-fi to many other competitors in it's genre. Reynolds' advanced background in the field of astrophysics and his scientific logic allows him a superior element of control as to how things should behave, he attempts to rationlize and determine wha ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2019 Radiantflux rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

45th book for 2019.

Two short novellas set in Reynolds Revelation Space universe. The first, Diamond Dogs is a particular favorite of mine.

Reynolds manages to write in a sort of humorous (even hopeful) tone of horror. Recommended.

3-stars.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 19, 2020 spikeINflorida rated it really liked it

DIAMOND DOGS: ☆☆☆☆
Weak start with thin characters and big plot holes. Strong finish with gory consequences and high-tech enhancements.

TURQUOISE DAYS: ☆☆☆☆
A dazzling story of two sister's deep love of and for a sublime planet. Plagued by cliched religious fanatics and their collosal info dumps. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2021 Leonie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dnf

Had a second crack at this, and loved it. Two very contrasting stories from the Maestro. I quite fancy a dip with the Jugglers!

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2011 Simon rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories, sf

A good but not great pair of unrelated stories set in the "Revelation Space" universe.

Although the stories stand alone, there are references to events and characters in the other books and I think the reader will gain more from them if they are familiar with the series already (although I've only read Revelation Space myself).

I decided that I wanted to read some shorter works of his and whilst I do appreciate the brevity (constrasting with his longer works), I wasn't particularly blown away by ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 27, 2017 odedo1 Audio book worm. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own-as-audiobooks

God damn you Alastair !
Why the hell do you keep doing this to me?
When I read I can't wait to finish, when I finish I just want more :-(
This two short stories connect to a much bigger galaxy you created in your beautiful space operas , I love it but why don't you number them so we would know?
If it wasn't for the name Diamond Dogs which now both of my favorite artists used it ( you and David Bowie ) I might have missed this great book, I really wonder now where you two Britt's ( I think it's the r ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 22, 2021 The Professor rated it really liked it

"It understood our fragility". Childe Reynolds to the Dark Tower came. Two novellas read in drooling anticipation of the forthcoming publication of “Inhibitor Phase” and time very well spent indeed. Reynolds’ world-building and story-telling verve are present and correct here making this a very nice opening salvo prior to 2021’s return to the universe of “Revelation Space”.

“Diamond Dogs” and “Turquoise Days” are standalone save for one little nod of the head and can be read as such but why woul "It understood our fragility". Childe Reynolds to the Dark Tower came. Two novellas read in drooling anticipation of the forthcoming publication of “Inhibitor Phase” and time very well spent indeed. Reynolds’ world-building and story-telling verve are present and correct here making this a very nice opening salvo prior to 2021’s return to the universe of “Revelation Space”.

“Diamond Dogs” and “Turquoise Days” are standalone save for one little nod of the head and can be read as such but why would you want to do that when they are published so conveniently in one tome? “Dogs” sees Reynolds once again taking a familiar SFF trope and having his wicked way with it. This time it’s the “ominous tower with puzzles before each door” and considering Reynolds’ Doctor Who affiliation he surely must have been thinking of Jon Pertwee and the bath mat of fear in the City of the Exxilons or Tom Baker hiding from mummys in the pyramid of Mars or each of the five Doctors penetrating the, um, Dark Tower on Gallifrey. One is also reminded of Gandalf puzzling over “Speak, friend, and enter” or, more likely, Rogue Moon. This isn’t some great secret, Reynolds directly references “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” but when you realise it is the game Reynolds is about to play it’s a great moment of schoolboy glee, particularly because it pans out in such a Reynoldsian way. Stuff always happens in Reynolds work, he balances the world-building and SF-ness with actual adventure fiction which makes for a very engaging read. It’s also fun, comforting almost, to see Reynolds having his usual dastardly fun with crazy-level dismemberment 20 years ago and the provenance of the title is nicely rationalised. In fact I felt the canine fun prefigured something that happens in Reynolds much later novella “Permafrost”. As for the mystery the Spire holds…yes, there is a resolution but the haunting final scene is of a mongrel making for the road and stories untold.

Reviews of “Revelation Space” were quick to notice and praise the environments and atmosphere of Reynolds work and after the Spire piercing the clouds above blasted heath of Golgotha visiting Turquoise, planet of the Pattern Jugglers, is a balm. We follow two sisters Naqi and Mina studying the very alien biological distributed information network that threads the seas of Turquoise and capable of drinking entire minds, alien or otherwise. It’s a story that begins with some fine description of the colourful Turquoise seas, the scientific methods the sisters are bringing to bear on it and the petty career skirmishes between the two so it was difficult to foresee, from such an idyllic, dreamy opening, the gonzo cataclysmic events that unfold. “Turquoise Days” is not to be underestimated after “Diamond Dogs”, the last third of the novella goes big while suggesting salvation lies in being at one with the ocean, a sentiment that chimes hard in 2021. However I confess, for me, “Turquoise” had a few more story-telling problems than usual. Why didn’t shady-type Weir lob his Juggler-killer over the wall of the Moat when he had the chance or drop it from the air? His “wait, what?” on hearing of Mena’s fate prefigured – unfortunately – the sort of device deployed to stop Batman fighting Superman these days and displayed more humanity than I would have expected from a man about to commit vegetarian genocide. I was also a bit bemused why the Ormazd disciples went through the pretence of diplomacy when they could all have merely dived out of a shuttle and gone for a swim presumably whenever they liked…but whatever. I was enjoying “Turquoise” so much I reckoned it could have stood a few more thousand words to solve any piffling problems and it does demonstrate that Reynolds’ story-telling survives nit-picks from pedants. It also finds time for a skidoo chase and a floating atoll straight out of “Waterworld” so I went away well satisfied.

As for that nod that links the two novellas, the line “I've heard rumours that it was found inside the topmost chamber of a heavily fortified alien structure...” was a great Easter Egg for those making it to the end, the sort of passing, in-story, acknowledgement Reynolds gives these days to faithful readers of his “Prefect” novels. For me, Reynolds remains an absolutely reliable deliverer of intelligent, rip-roaring SF adventure fiction and while “Inhibitor Phase” awaits I am, when it comes to his writing, probably more than a little like the duplicitous Rafael Weir of “Turquoise Days”…“He was no longer purely objective.” ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 28, 2018 Casey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera, sci-fi, 21st-century-british, 2000s, novella

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days are two novellas set in the Revelation Space universe. They probably could have been contained in his short story collection, Galactic North, but I assume it's a money grab from the publishers. Whatever the intention, these are still two worthwhile novellas.

Plot Summary
Diamond Dogs: Richard is approached by an old friend, Roland Childe, who he long assumed to be dead. Roland invites Richard on an expedition to a faraway planet. There's a deadly structure on this plan ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2020 Sharmin Shabnam rated it really liked it

5 stars for Diamond dogs and 3 stars for Turquoise days.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2021 Corvus rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fiction-scifi-speculative-other

Turquois days felt almost more like cosmic horror than general sci-fi. Creepy in a good way.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2013 Kristian Olesen rated it liked it

Diamonds Dogs, Turquoise Days consists of two novellas of roughly equal length, both set in Reynolds' Revelation Space universe. The second, Turquoise Days, is considerably better than the first, Diamond Dogs, but both are solid contributions to the canon.

Reynolds has always excelled at combining two distinct tones in his Revelation Space novels and short stories, and this collection divides them quite neatly. In Diamond dogs, Reynolds' penchant for mysterious alien artifacts comes to the fore, Diamonds Dogs, Turquoise Days consists of two novellas of roughly equal length, both set in Reynolds' Revelation Space universe. The second, Turquoise Days, is considerably better than the first, Diamond Dogs, but both are solid contributions to the canon.

Reynolds has always excelled at combining two distinct tones in his Revelation Space novels and short stories, and this collection divides them quite neatly. In Diamond dogs, Reynolds' penchant for mysterious alien artifacts comes to the fore, with a middling-sized ensemble of characters attempting to break into a tower on a faraway planet. As the story progresses, the tomb-raiding takes a back seat to the psychological effects of the expedition; the alien building, which seems to be sentient, tests the intruders with a series of mathematical problems of increasing complexity while taking an ever-greater physical toll. The story is intriguing and horrifying in equal parts, but it demonstrates the fact that Reynolds' talent lies more in broad-scope than narrow-scope stories.

This contrasts with Turquoise Days, which is basically meta-political. (Obviously, the unmentioned third element of a good Reynolds tale is a realistic and detailed showcase of future science, by way of lighthugging starships, nanomachines, and medical enhancement). Reynolds proves that he is better at dealing with issues that are solid and quantifiable, as opposed to the more abstracted turn taken in Diamond Dogs. Turquoise Days deals with the effects of interstellar distances on developing societies, with a starship visiting the ocean world of Turquoise for the first time in a century. In Turquoise's plight there is something of the precariousness of isolated states during the colonial era - the era-defining make-or-break importance of Columbus stepping ashore in the Americas, or Commodore Perry anchoring in Tokyo harbour.

As other reviewers have noted, Reynolds' big-picture style is better suited to long-form literature than short stories, novellas, or novelettes, and this is apparent in both stories, both of which would have benefited from some additional world-building.

I don't think I would ever re-read Diamonds Dogs, Turquoise Days. But I did rip through both stories in a couple of days, a fact which speaks to Reynolds technical abilities as a storyteller. Students of the short form wanting a lesson in pacing, misdirection, and the slow release of information could do worse than look at Turquoise Days' slow-burning, heavy-hitting structure. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2010 Addie GS rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: colonialone-hall

Diamond Dogs was an incredibly gritty story with no happy ending, and no lessons learned for the main character. It appears to be a moral lesson in greed and pride; how the characters who survive the novel seem to suffer a fate worse than death. It is of course well written, but does not contribute to the RS universe of which it is a part, except in setting up monsters to be taken down or used later (see Galactic North).

Turquoise Days made a brave attempt at exploring the Pattern Jugglers, a pro ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2014 “Gideon” Dave Newell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reynolds delivers two great novellas set in the “Revelation Space” universe, having very peripheral contact with events from the novels, both featuring reluctantly evolving protagonists. Leaving the more dramatically ripe themes of macro-history or MacGuffin origins aside, he instead presents two very personal stories of characters recovering from the loss of loved ones, determined to achieve something noble in order to fill the void left behind by their absence. The settings and shorthand used ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2012 Travis Todd rated it really liked it

This was my first encounter with the work of Reynolds, and I enjoyed both novellas or novelettes or whatever the hell they're called. Sometimes it's fun to drop right into the middle of a well-realized science fiction world and have to work at figuring out what's going on, rather than having every aspect of a reality patiently explained from the beginning. I don't know if this book will entice me to further explore the universe Reynolds has created but I am glad to have encountered his work. Als ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Science Fiction

425 users

Fiction

92 users

Space > Space Opera

82 users

Short Stories

45 users

Horror

19 users

Space

13 users

Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

13 users

Anthologies

11 users

Novella

11 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

11 users

See top shelves…

About Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds

7,127 followers

I'm Al, 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 future named after Revela ...more

Other books in the series

Revelation Space (5 books)

Books by Alastair Reynolds

More…

News & Interviews

Discover Readers' Most Anticipated YA Books for July

As dedicated readers already know, some of the best and most innovative stories on the shelves come from the constantly evolving realm of...

Trivia About Diamond Dogs, Tur...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Diamond Dogs, Tur...

“I was on a moon in one of them. Earth’s, I think. And I kept on trying to get inside this alien structure. Fucking thing kept killing me, but I’d always keep going back inside, like I was being brought back to life each time just for that.” — 0 likes

More quotes…