I Read Books: Absolution Gap

Absolution Gap

Finishing the Revelation Space trilogy, for twenty years the refugees have been on the ocean world of Ararat. It’s a Pattern Juggler world so the seas have weird things going on in them, absorbing memories and genetic patterns and sometimes giving them back. The lighthugger starship, Nostalgia For Infinity sticks out the water like a monolith. It may be haunted by its captain. Clavain has taken a sabbatical to be alone, then history starts again as a capsule mysteriously lands on the planet.

It’s Anna Khouri; in a complex bit of business off-page the survivors of the Resurgam system battle with the Inhibitors have allied on-and-off with the Conjoiners. Anna became pregnant after a weird experience with the Hades object, and her unborn child Aura has been imbued with secret knowledge of the extinct aliens in there. They used Conjoiner mind tech to communicate, which allowed them to improve their stealth, their weapons and other technology. A running fight between them and the Inhibitors, not-quite-completely stealthed, has finally arrived in Ararat space. Skade, not actually killed in the last novel, manages to steal Aura and implant her in her robot body.

This though is just one of three braided timelines, the other two taking place on the moon Hela, which orbits the gas giant Haldora, which mysteriously vanishes occasionally. It has become a world dominated by religious sects that travel around in great cathedral-vehicles, remaining exactly under the gas giant so they can observe it. As the Inhibitors attack human space more desperate pilgrims arrive there, hoping for a miracle.

It’s a bit weird and complicated. As often with Reynolds the final revelations seem to come on the back of the resolution of all the earlier revelations, which creates a very packed final sequence. If you find this cool and mindblowing then it’s good, otherwise it’s a bit rushed, answers appearing suddenly out of sketches and hints that people have been ignoring.

Read This: For a complicated ending to an idea-packed trilogy
Don’t Read This: Too much apocalyptic revelation is bad for you