Rating: 
Summary: The Consequences of the Dawn War
Review: Redemption Ark is the third novel in the Revelation Space series, but is a direct sequel to the first novel, Revelation Space, in internal sequence. In the first volume, the Nostalgia for Infinity has retrieved forty hell-class weapons from a hidden cache and carried them away. The Captain and crew know very little about the weapons, but Ila Volyova is the closest to a resident expert. While an Ultra herself, Volyova doesn't carry any implants at all, so she has acquired, modified and trained Boris Nagorny to be the Gunnery Officer. Unfortunately, Nagorny had a psychotic episode, tried to kill her, and ended up dead himself.The ship's Captain, John Armstrong Brannigan, has been mostly consumed by the nanoplague, which has also spread to the ship systems themselves. Volyova has reduced the Captain's temperature to cryogenic levels and tried various anti-nanite measures with no success. So the lighthugger has came to Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system to procure the services of Dan Sylveste to treat the Captain's condition. However, Sylveste was no longer there, having gone to Resurgam in the Delta Pavonis system. Ana Khouri was an ex-soldier and assassin impressed into the service of the Mademoiselle, who had Khouri's husband in a reefer. The Mademoiselle had plans for Dan Sylveste and Khouri was her chosen agent to execute these plans. Nonetheless, a copy of the Mademoiselle would be riding an implant within Khouri's brain during the mission. Ila Volyova needed a gunner to replace Nagorny. When Khouri applied for a ride to Delta Pavonis, Volyova covertly tested her aptitudes and implants and then snapped her up as a crewmember. But Volyova also deeply conditioned Khouri for loyalty before allowing her to join the crew. In this novel, the Nostalgia for Infinity has survived its excursion against the deadly machines on, in and near Cerberus and Khouri has returned from the dead. Volyova has allowed the Captain to warm up and he has effectively become the ship itself. The rest of the crew were killed in the mutiny. Khouri has briefed Volyova on the knowledge obtained within Hades, the neutron star that is also a gigantic computing machine. Now they are aware that the Inhibitors will probably be returning to destroy human life on Resurgam just as they had previously destroyed the Amarantin and so many other intelligent species throughout the galaxy. Khouri and Volyova have devised a scheme to evacuate Resurgam, but they don't know how much time they have. Fortunately they have already laid the groundwork when the machines appear and start disassembling three rocky moons within the system. Volyova has been trying to get the Captain to approve the use of the hell-class weapons against the Inhibitors. However, the Captain is none too sane; he is feeling deep guilt for his treatment of Sakaji and goes catatonic whenever she brings up the subject of using the weapons. She has discovered, quite by accident, that all the weapons have an autonomic subpersona with a modicum of free will, but the Captain still has overriding priority. The Conjoiners have decided that they want their weapons back. They decide to press Clavain to join the Closed Council so that he can lead the effort to retrieve the weapons. When he agrees, he is informed of the presence of the wolves, a machine intelligence that has possessed his beloved Galiana and killed all her crew. When he inspects the ships that will be made available to him, he decides that the Conjoiners are planning to abandon the rest of humanity to the wolves. He immediately takes action to defect from the Conjoiners. Clavain has major obstacles in his mission to protect the rest of human from the dangerous wolves. He had defected to the Conjoiners 400 years ago from their enemies when he was convinced that his side was wrong. Now he is doing it again and may be making some headway, but he is stolen from the Demarchists and Ferrisville Convention forces by a mysterious Mr. H, who has very extensive connections. While parts of this novel follow directly from Revelation Space, other portions refer back to Chasm City and still another backstory concerning the Conjoiners is introduced as well. This series seems to be written as a tapestry of plotlines that show up as minor details in one story and become a major thread in another. Moreover, the stories themselves have the same feel of plot elements woven in one scene that recur in later events. In fact, some components, such as the Mademoiselle, become even deeper mysteries in subsequent volumes. Somehow I don't think that the next volume, Absolution Gap, is going to resolve everything. Remember everything. Trust nothing. Take notes. It will all be important later. Highly recommended for Reynolds fans and for anyone else who enjoys suffering withdrawal pains between installments and truly contorted plot twists when the next volume arrives.
Rating:
Summary: Yet Another Great One From Reynolds
Review: Redemption Ark was yet another superbly imagined story (after Revelation Space and Chasm City). Taking place nearly a century after the prior two books, Redemption Ark continues the exploits of Ilia Volyova, Ana Khouri, and even Dan Sylveste and Tanner Mirabel (despite the fact that the latter uses another name it is clearly him). In this, the third of four installments, the alien Inhibitor machines are bent on wiping out the human colony of Resurgam (200,000 people) and ultimately eliminating humanity entirely for reasons that aren't revealed until nearly the end of the book. Redemption Ark introduces us to several new characters, amongst the most important are Skade and Nevil Clavain. Both are Conjoiners...a technologically advanced faction of humanity whose mind-to-mind communication is made possible via advanced nanotechnology. Skade and Clavain early on find themselves on opposite sides in pursuit of the same goal...acquiring the powerful cache weapons that Volyova used in the climax of Revelation Space.
Reynolds third book is another intricately woven, plausible tale of humanity's future. Reynolds' background is in astronomy (as the "about the author" blurb on the inside of the back cover lets us know) and it is clearly apparent, with Reynolds descriptions of stellar phenomena -- both natural and...unnatural -- stealing the show at times. Reynolds' characterizations of his major players are full and deep, while the characterizations of some of the more minor personae lack a bit of the richness he so artfully crafts with his major players. Minor flaws aside, Redemption Ark is a remarkably sculpted yarn of interstellar travel, unusual aliens, far-future technologies, and of course the appropriate and timely doses of humanity's best qualities...love, courage, curiousity, and the ability to forgive.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark and Glorious Space Opera
Review: The Cojoiners and Demarchists are slugging their way to the conclusion of a long war when the Cojoiners learn of a threat to all humanity. Machines called the Inhibitors are approaching from the dark reaches of space, intent on wiping out space-faring life. The Cojoiners make plans to protect themselves by launching a mission to retrieve a long-lost cache of hellish weapons. But one of their military experts, Clavain, believes that all of humanity deserves to know about the threat. Clavain launches his own operation to retrieve the weapons and is soon in a desperate race against his former allies.
But it's not going to be a simple race - the weapons are being held in the Delta Pavonis system by the damaged ship Nostalgia for Infinity. The dread machines are already there and are in the process of taking apart the entire system. The much-reduced crew of the ship is working on a plan to evacuate the planet before the Inhibitors can complete their work, a plan that includes their own use of the powerful weapons.
Although it's not immediately obvious, Redemption Ark is a sequel to Reynolds's first novel, Revelation Space. A dark space opera with a grand scale and realistic science, the book has an interesting film-noir feel. None of the characters are entirely sympathetic and this future is definitely not a shiny feel-good place. However, it is full of fascinating technology and interesting people. The characterization is fairly good - definitely more than one-dimensional, although sometimes the motivations seem a little off.
Redemption Ark suffers a bit from middle-book malady. While it's action packed and chock full of challenging concepts, the ending is disappointing - it feels rushed, nothing is really resolved, and you?re stuck waiting for the next book. There are also several points where the book builds up to what should be frenzied action sequences and then instead of the actual action, you get a passive recap that throws a wrench into the pacing. However, I do like the universe that Reynolds has created and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Stuff from Reynolds
Review: The novels of Reynolds have acquired a following. But as is the fate with may of these interminable-seeming series, it is beginning to flag and decompose under its own weight. This novel will have little overall effect on the genre and in fact has little to no effect even on its own universe. It almost acts as a bridge novel between Revelation Space and whatever it is that's coming next (rendering Chasm City all but forgotten). Few people, certainly, will read this book more than once.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS:
Is there anything good about this book? Sort of. If you're desperately interested in the universe that Reynolds has created, then you will find some sections of this book interesting. But even Reynolds fanatics will have little use for the entire book. There really is no other reason to buy Redemption Ark in anything other than mass-market paperback.
WHY YOU SHOULD PASS:
Anyone who isn't a huge fan for some reason or another should pass. In fact, if you're a big fan, you may want to not read this book since it mildly harms its predecessors. There are plenty of reviewers out there who disagree with us, but if you're here and reading this review then you should trust us. There are far, far better books out there for you to read.
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