I just finished reading Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds. While technically called the second book of the series, following Revelation Space, I would suggest reading Chasm City between Revelation and Redemption. The following is my LibraryThing review:
Wow, where do I start? This book was an incredible journey.
According to Reynolds’ website, this is the second book of the Revelation Space series, with Chasm City being a separate, stand-alone novel you can read any time. However, I would strongly suggest reading it in between Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. There are people and happenings that you will understand better if you read Chasm City first.
In any case, Redemption Ark is the next piece of the story. The Conjoiners are seeking the hell-class weapons that were stolen by the Ultras and placed onboard Nostalgia for Infinity, their lighthugger vessel. Much more is explained about the Conjoiners and where they came from. One of the main characters, Nevil Clavain, is a conjoiner with some special history, being one of the first. When Galiana, the founder of the Conjoiners and Clavain’s lover, returns from a deep space mission as the only surviving member of the expedition, the other Conjoiners find she’s been infected by “the Wolf”–an ancient race of robots that are also known as the Inhibitors. Their sole mission is to seek out and repress the emergence of intelligent, space-faring life.
The Conjoiners are seeking their stolen hell-class weapons, and know that they are on board the Nostalgia for Infinity. They prepare to launch a mission to reclaim them with Clavain at the head. Clavain, after being introduced to some Conjoiner secrets and new technology, realizes that the other Conjoiners are preparing a mass exodus from human space and away from the Inhibitors, whom they know will be arriving soon. They plan on leaving without telling anyone, or even warning them of the dangers to come. Clavain immediately defects, realizing that the Conjoiners, or at least their current leadership, has evolved into something different than what they used to be. Clavain meets several other people on his way to turn himself and knowledge of the new Conjoiner technology of inertial suppression over to the authorities, but is captured by a man called ‘H’ (Sky Haussmann from the Chasm City story). H sends him on basically the same mission the Conjoiners would have, but to keep the weapons under the control of someone that would use them for the good of everyone.
At first I thought the Inhibitors were just a clone of Saberhagen’s Berserkers, machines programmed to eliminate life where ever it is found, but as the story progressed I realized there were several key differences which made them unique. Reynolds explains the Fermi paradox (without calling it that) and how the Inhibitors are responsible for culling the emerging intelligent races throughout the universe. We also find the reason behind it–the galactic collision between our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy 13 billion years in the future.
Unfortunately, the Inhibitors have already arrived at Delta Pavonis, the system where the Nostalgia for Infinity is located. They destroy several uninhabited worlds for the raw materials to build a giant gravitational laser that will cause the star to burn the remaining planets of the Delta Pavonis system. Clavain is now in a much trickier situation, between the Inhibitors, the evacuation of 200,000 people from Resurgam, and the recapturing of the of the stolen hell-class weapons.
It was a fun ride, and Reynolds is a great science ficiton author. I didn’t find any explanations of scientific things too far above my head nor so detailed that it wasn’t fun to read. There was just enough explanation to make everything plausible.