REVIEW | Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (Ace)

The world is fractured and broken. History of the world that came before is lost. There is one last enormous human city known as Spearpoint. Advanced technologies exists, but will only work in certain areas while places nearby are regulated to steam-powered technology or horse and buggy. Terminal World journeys from the highest steeps of the world to its lowest, most desolate desert plains. Techno-Angels, twisted humans, and coal-fueled men all vie for control and survival. This is a world of secrets that will not let them be wrestled easily from its grasp.

I should start this by saying Terminal World is my first Reynolds novel and from what I've heard not his typical milieu, but does still mix some aspects of the Space Opera genre that he is known for doing well. This is definitely not your typical steampunk novel and when you get down to it has very little to do with steampunk and quickly moves past where most of the technology is located. Sure there are airships and they are important to the plot, but given the complex nature of the world their use is well warranted and is not done just for aesthetic value. Terminal World is a world fraught with fractured technological and physical zones that it can often be hard to follow. As the story progress we learn just enough to infuriate about how this world came about.  Clearly some large scale apocalyptic actions occurred thousands of years ago, but no clear answers are to be had.

The story starts as an escape from Spearpoint, which moves along very quickly yet after that the story slows down considerably. Quillon is a pathologist living in one of the more technological areas of Spearpoint, but he is being chased after by the tech-style angels for something in his past. He quickly leaves Spearpoint where we get something of a grand tour of most of the city and some of the key players. Quillion and his guide Curtana are always at odds and closed off from one another, which makes it difficult to connect with either. At many points it is almost as if the story is an actual afterthought to the world-building and detailing forgoing development.

For me this was one of those Sisyphus pushing a rock up a hill books. The closer you got to the top you learned you were nowhere near the end. I kept waiting for these big reveals or developments as there are lots of leading discussions that could blow this world into the stratosphere and outside of one major reveal nothing came as a surprise. Even with the problems there are many bright points to the book such as the cultures that have developed in the wastes of the world and the Swarm fleet of ships. The scale of the world certainly gives it an epic feel. But Terminal World gets bogged down by a snail's pace and many scenes that are unneeded to move the story further. I quickly tired of Quillion's medical scenes where every little movement was described. Reynolds certainly paints a detailed picture of the world, but it is at an overwrought loss to the characters and their story.

The biggest issue I had with Terminal World is the fact that it is at best half the story of this world and characters. Normally that isn't a problem for me, but nowhere on or in the book or anywhere online does it say this is part of a series. I give Terminal World 6 out of 10 hats. That score would have been better if I had gone in knowing what I was getting involved in. I definitely would have been half as annoyed at the non-resolution of the story otherwise. Things move along, but in the end nothing is answered after so much being built up. I was left intrigued enough that I would pick-up a sequel if any is ever forthcoming to get a resolution, but not until I have some assurance there is a resolution. This should definitely not be your first Reynolds and I wish I had tried another of his first, but it has inspired me to push Pushing Ice up on my to-read pile to see exactly why he is so revered.


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Cover & Table of Contents Unveiled for Life on Mars ed. by Jonathan Strahan

Science Fiction stories about Mars have been popular within the genre for more than the past century starting with The War of the Worlds and with a particular upswing in the 1950s spurred by Ray Bradbury and the pulps of the day. Life on Mars looks to revitalize the well trod upon Martian landscape yet again with a stellar crew of contributors and another inspiring cover piece by Stephan Martiniere. To say this is an amazing group of authors given the topic is something of an understatement. Reynolds, Baxter, Doctorow, McDonald, and Robinson all in the same volume with new stories! Plus what is probably one of Kage Baker's last written stories. Behold the full table of contents:

1. “Attlee and the Long Walk” by Kage Baker

2. “The Old Man and the Martian Sea” by Alastair Reynolds

3. “Wahala” by Nnedi Okorafor

4. “On Chryse Plain” by Stephen Baxter

5. “First Principle” by Nancy Kress

6. “Martian Chronicles” by Cory Doctorow (novella)

7. “Goodnight Moons” by Ellen Klages

8. “The Taste of Promises” by Rachel Swirsky

9. “Digging” by Ian McDonald

10. “LARP on Mars” by Chris Roberson

11. “Martian Heart” John Barnes

12. “Discovering Life” by Kim Stanley Robinson

I'm very curious about Doctorow's piece. Maybe an homage to Bradbury? The anthology is being pitched to a YA audience, but it should play well with adults as well. Also, the McDonald story might have something to do with the YA novel he recently sold to Pyr. Either way this will be a can't miss for Sci-Fi short story or Mars fans. Life on Mars is scheduled to be released in April of 2011 by Viking.


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Covers Unveiled for Jay Lake's Pinion and Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

Jay Lake's third and final clockpunk novel Pinion is slated for release in March from Tor.  A synopsis has not been released yet, but the cover is quite impressive as have all the rest in the series.  I think it is also my favorite of the series thus far. UPDATE: Stephan Martiniere has been confirmed as the artist.

Alastair Reynolds' US publisher Ace has smartly gone with the same art as his UK publisher for Terminal World.  The art is beautiful, but I'm not too crazy over the yellow type.  It is with great shame I admit to not having read any of Reynolds's novels, but I'll be rectifying that next year with the Steampunk infused Terminal World. 

Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains ...Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability.

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