In Redemption Ark events are taking place on an even grander scheme of things. The Inhibitors, the machine-descendants of an ancient alien race whose purpose it is to prevent intelligent life in the universe from reaching the spacefaring stage (and thereby becoming a threat to other cultures?), are now actively closing in on humanity. The only hope to defend themselves against the cosmic antagonist are weapons of severe mass destruction once developed by a hive-minded faction called the Conjoiners.

If things only were that simple. Only very few people know about the existence of those weapons. In fact, we (the readers) knew about them, since they are the very same weapons Ilia Volyova used in Revelation Space and it was this event that put the Conjoiners on their track. So we know – or if you are like me, gradually realize – that the story will eventually reconnect with where the previous novel left off. I like that, that's a cool setup.

It turns out to be quite the race. The Conjoiners are at war with another faction, the Demarchists, had been for decades. And even among themselves they are not as unified or even egalitarian you would think a hive-mind society to be. Our main hero is an old – old even when considering rejuvenating technology that figures prominently in this universe – war hero called Nevil Clavain. I guess he's a bit of a Han Solo character, though guided by some moral principles from the beginning. To be honest, it was only after I started reading the book that I became aware that the protagonist debuted in two shorter stories and especially in the beginning I felt I was missing out on some details regarding him.

Anyway, let's get to the review part of this review. The complex plot is full of shifting loyalties and personally I occasionally lost track of where the confrontations were coming from. For instance, a Conjoiner woman called Skade more or less hires Clavain to seek out the cache weapons, yet at some point she turns into the main opponent. It makes sense given the fact that she turns out to be Inhibitor-controlled, yet a the earlier stage it didn't make perfect sense to me. The same might be true for Remontoire, though given that he's Clavain friend his motives are even less obvious.

As always Alastair Reynolds very much shines in the fast-paced action that is genuinely epic in scope. I think it's because of the hard-SF make-up that the world really comes to life (certainly not because of the personalities, I'll get to that). There are passages throughout that present developments from a more scientific perspective. So the telling of the age-old species and it's aim to destroy intelligent life becomes part of the natural history of the cosmos and how the two strands might be interwoven. Or a different example, it's not just the straight-forward fact of brain implants for world-building purposes, it's the result of long experimentation that mirrors the development of the digital computer and that culminates in quantum-computed cognition and... consciousness of different timelines? Is that what's happening? Naturally, it often lost me but it's still thrilling to read.

I think this applies for the novel as a whole. Difficult yet certainly much fun. Unfortunately, it's again very much missing on the real character-level. There are some sweeteners, like the reveal of Beast's true identity or the personality-turn of the hyper-pic Scorpio, but overall the quieter moments cannot fully breath life into the impending tragedy as a whole. This is especially true for some bits that feel as if they were in the book because the publisher expected it to be of a certain length. Like the silly mission to save Clavain's daughter with whom he doesn't have any real connection. It fact, ironically they weren't even related in the first place.

The ending was particularly confusing since there is no real closure. If I understand things correctly then there was an open Inhibitor attack that culminated in the destruction of Resurgam and the death of all inhabitants that weren't yet evacuated? It's not very satisfying given that it happened independently of the main story itself, is it?

It evidently builds up for the third novel with Galiana's consciousness most likely being among the minds captured in the waters of the Pattern Jugglers. Yeah, Galiana, I haven't even talked about her yet. She is the woman responsible for the brain-implant technology that make the Conjoiners possible to begin with. She appears as possessed by the Inhibitors in the Prologue, but essentially leaves the story from then on (even though her frozen body makes another appearance). Personally I felt she wasn't important enough to justify her central role in the post-climax. Oh, and the Pattern Jugglers, they are this alien race whose oceans can modify intelligent minds (you might remember them from Revelation Space).

I don't know, I loved this for it's out-there ideas and the overall atmosphere and grandeur. But this time I feel like there was something quite off about the pacing and the plot threads that are not quite clear enough to lead the reader through the story. I got lost and often I was more interested in the technological asides and cosmological background than I was about the main events. This being said, I'm still excited to see where the story goes on from here.

Rating: 3.5/5