Amazon.com: Customer reviews: House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds (2010-05-25)

Top positive review

A Gripping Sci Opera

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2022

I have never read a story like this before. I am new to Sci-Fi, having only read one series before this one. I read the story that generated this first, “Thousandth Night”. That was pleasing enough, but this is simply order of magnitudes greater

I desperately hope that we will one day get a sequel. There is certainly room for one, as there tends to be when looking at galactic scales

I person I very much admire (Isaac Arthur - Science and Futurism) listed this book as his favourite all time within the Sci Fi genre. All I can say is that reading this is one of the most satisfying choices I’ve made in years

I look forward to reading more books by the author

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Peter Sealy

Some good ideas, but ultimately unsatisfying

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021

The story rigidly adheres to the speed of light, except, you know, wormholes. The protagonists have access to six million years' worth of technology, except, you know, lack the common sense to take reasonable precautions after a disastrous ambush. Advanced AI features at the start and end of the story, but somehow, you know, isn't in use all over the galaxy.

Some interesting, even provocative ideas, but ultimately not enough to match the daunting scope of a six million year timeline. All that fuss, and it all boils down to people just not being able to get along?!

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Peter Sealy

Some good ideas, but ultimately unsatisfying

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021

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John M. Ford

A Grand Scale in Both Space and Time

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2010

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Alastair Reynolds has written the best galaxy-spanning, big-idea space opera since Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep . It has a fascinating universe with characters operating from truly deep-time, cross-galaxy perspectives. Among them are:

Campion and Purslane, two non-identical clones from an original set of a thousand "shatterlings." They and their siblings were created to repeatedly make exploratory circuits of the galaxy and meet every 200,000 years or so to share memories and plan their next circuits. Risking official censure, Campion and Purslane consort during their circuits rather than exploring independently.

Hesperus, a robot of the Machine People who has lost much of his memory, but strives to discover and complete his mission. His actions demonstrate repeated loyalty to Campion and Purslane.

The Spirit of the Air who was once a man, became a machine intelligence, and finally evolved into a distributed machine intelligence. It controls the climate of the planet Neume and is regarded by the population as a capricious and inscrutable god. Asking the Spirit for favors is dangerous to everyone.

The Vigilance, a civilization of immortal archivists, collects information about the entire galaxy, continually sifting and prioritizing it. Some of this information is shared with other civilizations--with unforeseen consequences.

The novel is also rich with highly-imaginative Big Ideas. Stardams are containment devices of only partially understood technology that can contain entire solar systems. Aspic of Machines is a high-tech paste that can perform any number of miraculous tasks--just smear it on the problem surface. "Whisking" from place to place using dynamic transporters seems the least of the marvels available in the far-distant future.

The book has two characterization flaws worth mentioning. First, many of the long-lived characters--particularly Campion and Purslane's fellow shatterlings--lack the experience and insight one would expect from human beings who have lived for tens of thousands of years. The author might learn a lesson or two from the age-weary wisdom of Poul Anderson's characters in The Boat of A Million Years . Second, many of the shatterlings are difficult to tell apart given what little we learn about them. This is particularly frustrating when readers are trying to figure out which one is a traitor to the Gentian Line. The author could have extracted key episodes from each shatterling's history and presented a Tom Clancy-like one-page profile that left readers with a feel for the shatterling's personality and motives.

There are also two story weaknesses. I won't summarize the plot, as it is best experienced without advance cueing. I will say that it drags in places. I am tempted to conclude that the author does this deliberately to help us short-lifers understand the book's timescale, but it happens too often in dialogue for this to be entirely true. While there are interesting and surprising resolutions to many of the questions raised in the story, there are some left unresolved. For me this felt more like unpolished storytelling than cliff-hanging for a possible sequel. Your mileage may vary.

Despite having grumbled over its flaws, I recommend the book to my fellow SF fans as enjoyable and thought-provoking. After reading it I continue to regard Alastair Reynolds as one of my favorite SF authors. Pick up this book and enjoy the long journey he has mapped out for us.

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mobiusklien

Plot overwhelmed by the scope

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2011

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I am a fan of Alistair Reynolds. Pushing Ice deserved a 5 star rating, and it spanned billions of years. This book did not do as well in spanning 7 million years. Reyonolds created some confusing perspectives since the first person POV was used interchangably among 2 of the protatgonists (clones) of Abigail, the seed personality.
The thread for Abigail, the originator of the journey across space and timne, was intervwoven throughput the book, but it did not feel that the struggles during Abigail's narrative were relevant to themain story.
What the story did expose was the fact that many families created these clone explorers to visit the galaxy and rendevous every 200k years. It respects the fact that there is no "faster than light" technology. These families of explorers were painted as a decadent lot, travelling dilletants. it seemed that their ability to create and invent took a back seat to the endless wandering. So in this sense it reprents a view of stagnation on a huger galactic scale. The reasons I rated this book a three, as opposed ot Pushing Ice which got a 5:
1- it was not uplifiting at all
2- the entire society seemed aimless

In Pushing Ice the protagonists, as flawed as they were invigorated our species to explore the stars

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JOHN P BACK

Great sci-fi in a difficult-to-read Package

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2019

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One of those needlessly padded-out novels and Reynolds barely manages meaningful characters. Despite the ponderous writing, a marvellous sci-fi adventurer awaits the (very) patient reader. Half-way between the abhorrently low norm of post-millennial sci-fi and the truly great writing of Banks, Vance, et.al.

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Jon Reichle

Great...until the end.

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2012

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I have enjoyed all of Reynolds books, but this one fell short for me. I felt 99% of the book to be engaging and captivating, but then I reached the end and felt cheated. There did not seem to be any actual resolution, or even a decent opening for a further book. It was as if Reynolds became tired and decided to stop writing. I am hoping there is another book so I can find out where this creative and suspensive novel leads, but for now it hits a wall.

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Tyler Elliott

Meandering but good.

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2019

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Interesting premise. With a lot of time jumping and a somewhat meandering story. But overall a pretty good sci fi story.

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Eric W

Great start

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017

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Space opera with a great sci fi start, but more soap opera toward the middle and end. For a story at such an epic scale there were only a few developed characters.

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A Reviewer

Okay, not his best work

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2014

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I prefer his other books. Alastair Reynolds is a decent writer, and great at incorporating science into his work. His past work as an astrophysicist adds a huge sense of realism to his work. This book, however, wasn't his strongest offering.

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S. Smith

Reasonable story, terrible characters

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2011

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This is my first and possibly last Alastair Reynolds book. Previously I had been reading a bunch of Iain M Banks and Greg Egans.

The story itself was fine (probably good, even), but the characters were not. They frequently acted in unbelievably irrational ways that seemed like blatant mechanisms to push the plot forward. This might have been explained away with sufficient character development, the latter didn't exist.

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Spacemariner

A good space opera

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2014

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An enjoyable read of the far future post-human vs machine intelligence genre. Enough of a good story to make it a page turner, but for me it lacked the element that would have earned another star.

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House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds (2010-05-25)

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