The Core Dump
It updates the blog, or it gets the hose again.
Review: Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
Set in Alastair Reynolds’s Revelation Space universe, Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days consists of two novellas.
His novels set in the same universe earned and cemented a place for Reynolds in the pantheon of SF writers, and showed his great skill in creating an exquisitely detailed far-future reality revealed through long novels with highly intricate plots.
After reading Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days one can only conclude that the novella is not his medium. Neither story is by any means bad, but the novella by its very nature can’t provide the ample space Reynolds requires, so the stories feel a bit hurried and incomplete.
Diamond Dogs feels a lot like Edgar Allan Poe writing cyberpunk—very gothic and with a sense of grim inevitability, while Turquoise Days is a bit softer.
Diamond Dogs, Turqoise Days is definitely not the place to start your acquaintance with Reynolds’s work, but if you’re a fan of the Revelation Space universe and want something to hold you over until the next novel, these stories are a tasty snack.
Related Core Dump reviews:
Revelation Space Redemption Ark Absolution Gap Chasm City
Posted Friday, 03 February, 2006 by Nic Lindh
For your enjoyment, the 10 latest posts
Book roundup, part eleven
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
Paywalls and tinfoil hats
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
OK then, Mr. Gekko
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Read this book: Salt Sugar Fat
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
The cargo cult of technology
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Seen a Rechthaberei lately?
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
Book roundup, part ten
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
The Core Dump is hibernating
This site will return in February.
Book roundup, part nine
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
Ode to joy
Springsteen gives a concert in Phoenix. It’s fantastic.
Put me in your feed reader
Niclas Lindh.com
Amazon wishlist
Twitter
Google Plus