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House of Suns (Gollancz S.F.)

Author: Alastair Reynolds
Publisher: Gollancz
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

18 reviews
Sales Rank: 3783

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.8

ISBN: 0575077174
EAN: 9780575077171
ASIN: 0575077174

Publication Date: April 17, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book, in stock and dispatched from the UK. Freepost returns.

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - House of Suns (Gollancz S.F.)
•	Paperback - House of Suns (Gollancz)

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Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Pretty amazing, but is it classic Reynolds? July 25, 2008
This is a great book by any standards, though I do wonder whether it's classic Reynolds. It takes place over eons of objective time, but it's really just a chase / revenge / redemption story arc - with far too much time setting the scene.

The narrative is in the first person between the two main characters and that runs as a bit of a love story. This is interspersed with the narrative of another character (no spoilers), which is intriguing at the start, then an interruption in the middle that made me stop and put the book down, until at the end it really did come together with the main story.

That in itself is telling. I felt I could easily put the book down at those points. They were coffee breaks in what is usually a full on juggernaut-type experience. The only benefit they served was that I felt I'd not sped through it and left hanging until the next novel (yes, I'm really that much of a Reynolds fan).

However I didn't get the feeling of awe that I usually do with Reynolds. Something that left me feel a little cheated or short changed. The awe creeps in with the scale of the story, though it doesn't come crashing down on you - more like one big idea and a few smaller ones that interplay than a mass of ideas that blow your mind.

It would be interesting to see whether his next work builds on this or branches out for pastures new.

Having said that, it is a finely crafted work and a smashing read. Great book, read it, enjoy it, but not the best in the Reynolds stable. For that, Amazon would need a sixth star.

3 out of 5 stars

A slow burning, millenia spanning novel July 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Purslane and Campion are two Gentian shatterlings from the House of Flowers, two of a thousand clones of Abigail Gentian who left the solar system around the year 3000 to travel and explore the galaxy. All shatterlings meet up for their thousand nights reunion during which they share memories of what they have experienced.

Six million years have passed since the first ships left the solar system and due to the technology available the shatterlings are effectively immortal. They can pass the hundreds of years travelling between star systems in stasis and experience anything the galaxy has to offer.

On their belated way to the next reunion, Campion and Purslane receive a message warning them not to enter the chosen system and to flee to a designated safe system. The Gentian line were ambushed, almost their entire number wiped out and only a few dozen managing to escape and make their way to Neume where they await any stragglers.

Why does someone want the Gentian Shatterlings dead? Is there a traitor in their midst that helped this atrocity? And what exactly is the House of Suns?

This is the story we follow in House of Suns. Travelling with Campion and Purslane while they visit some systems on their way to the reunion, the aftermath of the attack and the events that follow. The first thing that you need to get used to is the timeframe of the novel. As all travel is done at sub-light speeds, with ftl not possible, the events of travelling between systems is done in tens and hundreds of years of subjective time. Once you get the hang of this it's easy enough to focus on the story without thinking of anything outside of it, unless it's mentioned within the narrative.

The story flows along quite well and is well written, probably one of Reynolds' best to date. Parts of the story feel like self contained short stories, particularly the early sections, although everything in the book has a reason for being there. I was impressed with the scope of the story and the timeframes involved, although I didn't enjoy the novel as much as I was hoping for. I love Reynolds' short stories and have enjoyed a couple of his novels more than this one and really hoped it would deliver more than it did.

I can't really fault the novel, it's just my tastes that meant I enjoyed it less than I hoped. There was no real feeling of having to read on, no urgency at all. Perhaps that is the result of having the narrative and background over hundreds, thousands and millions of years. A slow burner more than a page turner.

4 out of 5 stars

Losing his way ? July 17, 2008
Reynolds has created another little macrocosm of characters for his readers - a family of parthenogenic clones exploring the galaxy for its own sake, and as you can probably guess, it's not quite fluffy kittens and ice-cream - Reynolds does like his maybe-dangerous-maybe-not characters.

As usual, Reynolds' writing is top-notch, but I felt the final ending was a little inconclusive this time. It's also hard to say whether or not this series is going anywhere (probably not; look at Pushing Ice). Ultimately, I quite enjoyed this book; Reynolds doesn't disappoint - until you read the very the last page. I also wasn't too fond of the "Palatial" interludes - in fact, I started skipping them, only to find that as I feared, they contained an important plot element. I didn't like this at all, since I have fairly strong feelings that sci-fi is sci-fi, fantasy is fantasy, and the two are very different animals which absolutely should not interbreed.

Worth a look, but maybe you should wait for the paperback - which will only be a couple of quid cheaper, mind.

4 out of 5 stars

Cracking July 7, 2008
Cracking characters within the tale by perhaps one of the best known Space Opera writers of the day. Whilst this is book 8 by Alastair its with a fascination that I eagerly await each new novels release date as Im never sure whats going to happen. This is what keeps it a great as well as ideal read as it does everything and reveals plots within plots in ever increasing circles so the reader can at times think that they are chasing their tale along with the characters. A cracking read and something that demonstrates that Alastair is growing as a writer in both confidence as well as writing wise with each subsequent story.

5 out of 5 stars

One of the best books I've ever read, if not THE best! June 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I'd sneaked a look at some reviews as I was reading this, but being mindful of spoilers. I did find it a little slow to begin with but looking back it didn't spoil the book even slightly.

I finished reading it today and hand-on-heart this is one of the best books I've ever read, if not THE best! The story is immense, in more than one sense of the word. Set over massive distances and time, I loved getting my head around the scale of the book.

After half way through I had the feeling it was building into a crescendo and I wasn't disappointed. I actually laughed out loud at the very last pages not because they were funny but because it was a brilliant ending to the book.

If you're a fan of Reynolds or sci-fi in general - or even if you love a good story - you HAVE to buy this, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Easily Alastair's best work yet, highly imaginive and completely plausible if you let your mind wander.