Content

[Joel]

I am thinking about buying this book because my library doesn't have it. So I was wondering what the content of the book was like. I like to avoid books that have sex scenes in them, or an excessive amount of the f-word. So if anyone could tell me what the content of the book is like that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[John (Taloni)]

There is not excessive sex. Some use of the F-word for shock value, but not much. It's a massive rehash of themes explored by Larry Niven and William Gibson. Try Revelation Space first, if you haven't already. It's the first of the series and is better written than Chasm City.

[Pickle]

John wrote: "There is not excessive sex. Some use of the F-word for shock value, but not much. It's a massive rehash of themes explored by Larry Niven and William Gibson. Try Revelation Space first, if you have..."

i love Reynolds but would recommend starting with Chasm City, The Prefect, Terminal World etc any of his stand alone's. I found Revelation Space trilogy hard work.

[John (Taloni)]

Wow, really? I'm reading The Prefect right now. It starts off with a major plot point dedicated to writing code and doing a software patch. Why, I haven't been so entertained since Lucas spent a large chunk of The Phantom Menace discussing trade treaties!

I kid, but I did like most of the Revelation Space ersatz trilogy fairly well. Enough to read all of them, even with my concerns about lack of originality. Reynolds does work in the science well, so if you like hard-science SF, these will suck you in.

[Matthew]

The content is pretty good. It moves between giving a detailed account of Sky's Edge (which includes the personal history of its founder - Sky Haussmann), and Chasm City. And given some of the subplots, and how they come up later, I would say it's absolutely essential to reading the Revelation Space trilogy. Won't say how, that would spoil the surprise ;)

As usual, it has Reynold's characteristic mix of slow development, excessive detail, and a few too many twists. But its got his usual brilliance and creativity too. I say give it a read!

[Joel]

John wrote: "There is not excessive sex. Some use of the F-word for shock value, but not much. It's a massive rehash of themes explored by Larry Niven and William Gibson. Try Revelation Space first, if you have..."

When you say there is not excessive sex, do you mean there are no graphic sex scenes in the book? Thanks for your help.

[Joel]

Also, are there any graphic sex scenes or excessive use of the f-word in Terminal World? I am thinking purchasing it as well. Thanks for your help guys, you've been great.

[John (Taloni)]

I don't recall any actual sex. There are a few romance threads. Two of the characters have sex, but the book cuts away right before they start and cuts back in after they are finished.

At least one character is definitely psychotic, though, and does some fairly disturbing things. It's meant to show how messed in the head that character is, but is a little hard to read.