Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: I wish Reynolds would have expanded a bit more towards the very close and very far future in the Revelation Space series itself, just as Hamilton did with his universes, because it would be amazing to see what comes before and after, how extremely detailed and fascinating the explanations and worldbuilding might be. However, it´s a tour de force of everything that makes the genre so great, tropes en masse, action, classic detective style maybe as an homage to Asimov, technologies, etc. But, on the other hand, it´s also a bit easier to follow with just 2 parallel storylines, so I am not really sure where to go with my reading suggestions, maybe average hard sci-fans who don´t want the complexity of a series that needs time to get in? Tricky. So, it´s more difficult for the average reader without foreknowledge to get in, the writer has to invest much more time in dangerous expositions and, well, in the case of the complex and sophisticated style Reynolds excels at, it´s just something for real hard sci-fi fans. Reynolds´single novels are something for true hardcore fans, because standalone novels have the problem of being trickier to write for authors than already established series in which they just have to return to and the readers already know and love. Now that´s a completely different Reynolds novel than one is used to, no extremely far future with unbelievable highly developed tech, but instead with 2 relatively close futures, or even presents, or pasts, clashing together in a classical thriller crime style plot that is suspenseful until the end. If one can´t avoid the nanocaust, try at least fixing the problem with the help of time travel. We live surrounded by hills, woods and wildlife, and not too much excitement. I met my wife in the Netherlands through a mutual interest in climbing and we married back in Wales. In my spare time I am a very keen runner, and I also enjoying hill-walking, birdwatching, horse-riding, guitar and model-making.

I moved to the Netherlands to continue my science career and stayed there for a very long time, before eventually returning to Wales. I was born in Wales, but raised in Cornwall, and then spent time in the north of England and Scotland. Some of my books and stories are set in a consistent future named after Revelation Space, the first novel, but I've done a lot of other things as well and I like to keep things fresh between books. I write about a novel a year and try to write a few short stories as well. I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. I'm Al, I used to be a space scientist, and now I'm a writer, although for a time the two careers ran in parallel.

Century rain by alastair reynolds