Welcome to Litsy!

This was my first foray into Alastair Reynolds and I must say that I will be reading more of him in the future! This was a fantastic bit of hard sci-fi that I enjoyed. I brought in the familiar trope of What is Human? but in a slightly different method. A very enjoyable, if not a must read, for hard sci-fi fans for sure.

Really phenomenal book here. Only my second Alistair Reynolds book and already the character work has improved significantly. I appreciate that this novel did not feel exactly the same as Revelation Space. Really ratchets up in scale, in terms of both distance and time. Doesn't spread out the story too much though, as it sticks with a core cast of characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and HOORAY for big, boozy space operas! But as I sat with it longer, some of the ideas were uncomfortable - ideas about genocide, lack of accountability, memory, forgiveness, and revisionist histories that favor the “winners.” Obviously these themes echo the treatment and experiences of marginalized groups, but Reynolds‘s “solution” in the book is to absolve the offenders of any responsibility. (cont. 👇🏾)

🎧 this is some hard science fiction space opera. 6M years ago Abigail fractured herself into 1K male & female clones and sent them out into space. The Shatterlings meet once every 200K years to catch up. 2 clones meet up with a gold robot with memory issues and head to the reunion. The author sticks to astrophysics as we know it so space travel is interesting and along the way there‘s a mystery to solve ... great book, meh narration. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️2/3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ House of Suns is possibly my 4th favourite novel ever. Definitely my favourite read of the last 10 years or so. An epic story, spanning galaxies and millions of years. Filled with wonder and surprises. Highly recommended to space opera and other sci-fi fans.

#outofthisworld the thing that I respect about Alastair Reynolds is that he writes stories on a big scale using hard sci-fi and this is a classic example. Human clone families traveling throughout our galaxy, millions of years after the destruction of the earth observing the rise and fall of planet bound culture, the return of the legendary machine men, wormholes to other galaxies this is truly out of this world. #booktober

The time-scale of this book is HUGE!!
200 000 years between a clan reunion?!?!