I discovered Alastair Reynolds during his early days: an astrophysicist by trade, so it is no surprise he has a galaxy-sized imagination. He is also prolific. Thus far there have been eight books in his ‘Revelation’ series; three featuring Inspector/ Prefect Dreyfus; three in his ‘Poseidon’ series; three ‘Revenger’ books; novels on the third Doctor Who (the second re-generation then) as well as six stand-alone books including EVERSION (2022), the one I have just finished reading.
The strength of the book for me lay in the characterisation, particularly the main protagonist Doctor Silas Coade. In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the Norwegian coast, and in the 1900s, a Zeppelin explores an ice canyon in Antarctic. Both expeditions have been in pursuit of an ancient artifact and a terrifying under the ice ordeal where it is revealed what happened to the original crew. The mystery is how Coade keeps getting killed and coming back to life again and puzzles as to history seems to repeat itself: the big reveal is kept until the end. A perplexing yet intriguing book which captures the imagination: dollops of dialogue keep the action moving.
Mr Reynolds has also been busy in 2023 contributing to an anthology of alternate realities and having a novella called “Destination Boulevard” published: the plot involves a cosmic rally across the surface of Io: a bit of a ‘wacky race’ across the moon’s treacherous surface.