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694 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 2001
“I’ve been sent here to kill someone who probably doesn’t deserve it, and my only justification for it is some absurd adherence to a code of honour no one here understands or even respects.”While reading the book I was a little bothered by the protagonist's motivation which did not make a lot of sense to me. Suddenly Alastair Reynolds addressed my problem directly and things begin to fall into place. This book is a very intricately plotted sf novel with strong element of a noir thriller, but the emphasis is definitely on the sci-fi. On the face of it, the book may initially seem like a straightforward story of revenge. The main character Tanner Mirabel is chasing a man who killed his best friend and the love of his life but made the mistake of leaving him alive. The chase requires quite a bit of interstellar travel, part of which is even on a space elevator which brings to mind Arthur C. Clarke’s The Fountains of Paradise . The structure of the book is almost linear but not quite, as two different stands of flashback sequences are also woven into the main story arc. In lesser hands this sort of skipping back and forth along the timeline can cause a lot of confusion for the readers, but kudos to Mr. Reynolds for the clarity of his writing, even without any chapter labeling the reader is never confused.
“victory loses its meaning without the memory of what you've vanquished.”
“How long would you have to live; how much good would you need to do, to compensate for one act of pure evil you’d committed as a younger man?”
“’Why would people want to experience something like that?’ I asked. He grinned at the youth.’ Hey, what is this, rocking philosophy hour? How am I supposed to know? This is human nature we’re talking about here; it’s already deeply fucking perverted.’”