Nataliya’s review of Eversion > Likes and Comments

Great review, Nataliya, as always :) You made me interested!

I am doing a reading challenge where one of the prompts is “ A book that involves alternate reality, alternate worlds, or alternate history”. Would this work for that? (I am not finding much I like and have not read yet.)

Marta wrote: "Great review, Nataliya, as always :) You made me interested!

I am doing a reading challenge where one of the prompts is “ A book that involves alternate reality, alternate worlds, or alternate hi..."

Thanks, Marta!

In a way it can fulfill that. In a way.

Nataliya wrote: "In a way it can fulfill that. In a way"

Now I am intrigued…

Marta wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "In a way it can fulfill that. In a way"

Now I am intrigued…"

You should be :)

mwana wrote: "You didn't like Moby Dick? It does sound intriguing. Eh, what's one more book in the tbr"

It was interesting to me almost as a nonfiction. I learned a lot about whaling and how to take a whale apart. But as a literary book it was just okay — I’m not too sophisticated, apparently.

mwana wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "mwana wrote: "You didn't like Moby Dick? It does sound intriguing. Eh, what's one more book in the tbr"

It was interesting to me almost as a nonfiction. I learned a lot about whal..."

Eh, honestly there are other more interesting books — unless you are looking at trying to read a “classic”.

mwana wrote: "Back to this book, I've never read Reynolds, should I start with this book "

I’ve read 3 other books by him, and this is as good as any. This is a standalone, so good for a Reynolds sampler. It’s also not hard SF heavy like the rest of his books that I tried - which depending on your preferences may be good or bad.

Not just good, he's a great writer at times, and this was one of those times. The prose here is far superior to his more recent serial efforts. I wonder if he just had more time, or was it fresher, or if anything were different in his process.

Jd wrote: "Not just good, he's a great writer at times, and this was one of those times. The prose here is far superior to his more recent serial efforts. I wonder if he just had more time, or was it fresher,..."

I quite liked how his language was adapting based on when each story part was set. He’s good indeed.

I'm not big into sci-fi, but this sounds like something I'd like. Thank you for this great review.

Ivonne wrote: "I'm not big into sci-fi, but this sounds like something I'd like. Thank you for this great review."

You’re welcome, Ivonne! This one can actually be a fun book for people even not that much into SFF; it’s very accessible even for non-fans of the genre.

Yes to catching up with his back catalogue. First I have to read his books that I already own. And then progress with the series that I started, but never continued…

"more like if “Moby Dick” (but an interesting version of it) had a literary baby with “Groundhog Day” while cheating on Jules Verne" -> LOL, what a perfect description of the story's beginning! With the removal of the "an interesting version of it" dig (Moby Dick was the 2nd book I read in my life when I was 5 y.o., and it was so interesting I remember it to this day and quote parts of it frequently), that was *exactly* the description I was looking for when I wrote my review, but failed to reach. Congrats, and my rating for your review is also 4.5/5 which I round up to 5 stars! :-)

Cathy wrote: "Yes to catching up with his back catalogue. First I have to read his books that I already own. And then progress with the series that I started, but never continued…"

I own a few of his books that I still haven’t read. So many books, so little time…

Durval wrote: ""more like if “Moby Dick” (but an interesting version of it) had a literary baby with “Groundhog Day” while cheating on Jules Verne" -> LOL, what a perfect description of the story's beginning! Wit..."

Hehe, thanks!

I read Moby Dick when I was nine, and I’m pretty sure I approached it like one would an encyclopedia on whaling. But you read it at five? All the respect to you; that’s very impressive.

"I read Moby Dick when I was nine, and I’m pretty sure I approached it like one would an encyclopedia on whaling. But you read it at five? All the respect to you; that’s very impressive. "

I actually taught myself to read, as there were a ton of interesting books all around the house I was raised in and at a neighbor's, and the adults never had as much time as I wanted to read them for me.. So I'm kinda specially crazy nut case :-) And you are no slouch either, congrats on reading it at 9!

My first book was Verne's "20.000 Leagues Under the Sea". I don't think I treated it as an encyclopedia on submarining, nor Melville's book as one in whaling: I remember I was mostly into them for the adventure, and then stayed for the 'human drama' (for the lack of a better term). What characters were Nemo and Ahab! I remember being very sad when both went down with their ships, specially as it meant there would be no sequels... :-)

Durval wrote: ""I read Moby Dick when I was nine, and I’m pretty sure I approached it like one would an encyclopedia on whaling. But you read it at five? All the respect to you; that’s very impressive. "

I actua..."

Hmmm, I don’t remember my first book, but I did read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books at 5, but honestly most of them went straight over my head. I was *not* a genius 5-year old 🤷‍♀️

I agree with you and I loved this book. Now I have to read it again !

Tony wrote: "I agree with you and I loved this book. Now I have to read it again !"

I really need to read more Reynolds. So far everything of his that I’ve read has been pretty good.

Thanks for the review, Nataliya. I really enjoyed both it and the book it got me to read.

Paul wrote: "Thanks for the review, Nataliya. I really enjoyed both it and the book it got me to read."

Thanks, Paul!

Nataliya wrote:
"And I’m certainly planning to catch up with Reynolds’ back catalog since he seems to be consistently good."

Not! Avoid the Poseidon's Children #1 series, or at least read it last. If you look at the ratings most Reynolds are around 4, or more, but not that series, And I think they're overrated!
If you want to read another Reynolds that is poorly rated, tryCentury Rain , they're wrong there, it's wonderful.

I am an admirer of Reynolds' prose so I will try to get my hands on this novel soon!

Spad53 wrote: "Nataliya wrote:
"And I’m certainly planning to catch up with Reynolds’ back catalog since he seems to be consistently good."

Not! Avoid the Poseidon's Children #1 series, or at least read it last...."

Good to know.
Century Rain is only $1.99 on Kindle, so I will definitely give it a try. Although I see almost a 4 star average rating, so it's not bad.

Vlad wrote: "I am an admirer of Reynolds' prose so I will try to get my hands on this novel soon!"

It's a fun one!

I’m reading this right now and it’s a very exciting read. I almost gasp at every twist and turn of the narrative. Very compelling characters and certainly different from what he’s written before. I’ve also read Inhibitor Space,Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. Thank you for a very good and insightful review!

Kristian wrote: "I’m reading this right now and it’s a very exciting read. I almost gasp at every twist and turn of the narrative. Very compelling characters and certainly different from what he’s written before. I..."

This is certainly a fun one!
I keep meaning to read more Reynolds (and reread a couple I’ve read before). One of these days, I swear….

Humanity, personhood, self-delusion, the question of what being alive means...

Impressive! Glad you and this book found each other.

Left Coast Justin wrote: "Humanity, personhood, self-delusion, the question of what being alive means...

Impressive! Glad you and this book found each other."

Me too :)
I like Alastair Reynolds. He’s somehow optimistically bleak (I know it makes no sense but I blame COVID) with hard SF explanations, and it’s fun.

I liked it a lot. But I wouldn't say its one of his best, in the middle somewhere, It certainly is a great improvement on his last few books. It does have the Reynolds bleakness, but also quite a lot of humour, and it's sort of nice. Space opera by my standards, there is a spaceship in it.

Spad53 wrote: "I liked it a lot. But I wouldn't say its one of his best, in the middle somewhere, It certainly is a great improvement on his last few books. It does have the Reynolds bleakness, but also quite a l..."

Did you read Inhibitor Phase?

Yes, I think I've read everything by Alastair Reynolds. I reviewed it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I still don't think any of these later books are as good as House of Suns or Century Rain,
or in fact the whole revelation space series.
But I think it's more correct to read the Revelation space series , includung Chasm city, and especially The Prefect before you read Inhibitor Phase.

I read Revelation Space a while ago and couldn’t remember a lot of it. And no other books in that series. So Inhibitor Phase was weird but I really liked it. I dreamt of the imagery from that book a few times…

Well since you liked it, the reading order wasn't that important.
Just read them all! Reynolds books are slow reads, quite hard work sometimes, but they're so worth it. I always read two books at the same time, so when Reynolds gets a bit tedious I swap to the other usually non-fiction book. Somehow I get through them, and then with Reynolds, I more or less have to read them again, before I really understand them, and then I love them. Try Chasm city and then skim through Revelation space again. Before reading the rest of the series. There aren't many books as good, normal ratings don't count with Reynolds, there ought to be a different scale for him.

Spad53 wrote: "Well since you liked it, the reading order wasn't that important.
Just read them all! Reynolds books are slow reads, quite hard work sometimes, but they're so worth it. I always read two books at ..."

A separate Reynolds scale? Yeah, there are a few authors who in my opinion deserve their own scale, independent of general ratings.

There is a Reynolds scale , Reynolds number is used in aerodynamics to describe how well air flows over a wing, there is also a scale effect to it, thus Reynolds scale. Enough of this nonsense. Which other authors deserve their own scale of rating?

Spad53 wrote: "There is a Reynolds scale , Reynolds number is used in aerodynamics to describe how well air flows over a wing, there is also a scale effect to it, thus Reynolds scale. Enough of this nonsense. Whi..."

Heheh 😁

Terry Pratchett. Adrian Tchaikovsky. Ursula K. Le Guin.

Interesting, Terry Pratchett I think I agree with you there, but I eventually got tired of the discworld. Adrian Tchaikovsky, sorry I didn't really love Children of Time, I did give it a five, but I give fives away quite irresponsibly. And I don't feel like reading any more of him. Ursula K. Le Guin, I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness , and that was ever so good, so maybe. For me I think the only author comparable to Alastair Reynolds is Peter F Hamilton
Most enjoyable that everyone thinks so differently.

Spad53 wrote: "Interesting, Terry Pratchett I think I agree with you there, but I eventually got tired of the discworld. Adrian Tchaikovsky, sorry I didn't really love Children of Time, I did give..."

I haven’t read Hamilton. Yet.
Le Guin was amazing.
I’d advise giving Tchaikovsky another chance. Try his novella that I think is lovely: Walking to Aldebaran.

Thanks Nataliya, I'll give Walking to Aldebaran a try. I notice it got good reviews from the people around here that matter. And more LeGuin. The best Hamilton to start with is Pandora's Star, don't start with Misspent Youth even though it's 0.5 in the Commonwealth series , it's awful.
A good alternative series is The Reality Dysfunction which is more in the horror direction. I have a signed copy of the first one in that series which I bought in a Charing cross bookshop in 1997, quite by chance, it completely blew me away. Like Reynolds, Hamiltons later books are a little uneven. Unlike Reynolds, Hamiltons books are page turners.
I think Reynolds is a fraction better, but if you could combine Hamiltons character building with Reynolds world building , well that would be something.

Spad53 wrote: "Thanks Nataliya, I'll give Walking to Aldebaran a try. I notice it got good reviews from the people around here that matter. And more LeGuin. The best Hamilton to start with is [book:Pandora's Star..."

Putting Pandora’s Star on my TBR. It’s a cool title.

"This starts more like if “Moby Dick” (but an interesting version of it) had a literary baby with “Groundhog Day” while cheating on Jules Verne"

That's spot on.