Alistair Reynolds is an author that always puts out quality work. He’s had a long career of steadily releasing novels and the occasional story. Whenever I see a new Alistair Reynolds book, I know I have a good read ahead of me. Though I haven’t read all his books, I’ve enjoyed the many that I have. In particular, the Revelation Space Universe got me hooked on space opera as an adult. Because of Reynolds, I began searching for more space opera from the United Kingdom and came across the likes of British author Peter Hamilton and Scottish author, Iain Banks. Reynolds’ latest, Eversion, continues his tradition of quality yarns that entertain.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
Eversion tells the tale of Silas Coade and his many pulp-style adventures. As with any Alistair Reynolds book, there’s more going on than meets the eye. Will Coade and crew ever reach the mysterious Edifice? Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
From the master of the space opera comes a dark, mind-bending adventure spread across time and space, where Doctor Silas Coade is tasked with keeping his crew safe as they adventure across the galaxy in search of a mysterious artifact.
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it’s up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
Review: Eversion by Alastair Reynolds
Silas Coade is a doctor on an expedition of discovery. The ship he’s on, Demeter, is a wooden sailing vessels headed up north along the fjords to discover a fissure and, beyond it, an Edifice. The reader is introduced to Dr. Coade as he has to drill into one of the crew’s skull. A French trephination tool is secured to his patient’s skull, and he drills. The shipboard surgery is successful, and the crew celebrates Coade’s accomplishment. Coade, however, is not a sailor. This is his first voyage, and he’s not handling well. He supplements his day with an opoid snuff and writing fanciful tales. These tales are of a steam ship on a similar journey. The crew loves hearing them. Coade, however, has hit an impasse and can’t take his story forward. Unfortunately, disaster strikes the expedition. The reader returns to Dr. Coade aboard a steamship, poised to find the fissure down by Antartica. This expedition also meets disaster, and we next meet Silas aboard an airship descending down the fissure into the earth. Bits of the other expeditions resonate with Dr. Coade each time. Some of the crew members act as if there’s more going, but Silas is the other one who begins to notice how events are repeating. With the help of Coronel Ramos and Ada Cossile, Silas begins to understand what’s happening to him.
Eversion is a first person point of view novel that focuses on Dr. Silas Coade’s perspective. Dr. Coade is a ship’s physician on his first voyage. This novel features Reynolds writing multiple versions of the same story but changing the genre each time. He seems to be borrowing heavily from pulp style adventure fiction. Wooden sailing ship, steam ship, air ship, and a Flash Gordon era star ship are the settings of Coade’s adventures. Reynolds nails the feel of each setting and story genre; it’s an excellent display of skill. Even though he’s telling close to the same story, he changes it a little each time to keep the forward momentum going. At no point, does it feel like he’s trodding over the same old ground even though he essentially is. Reynolds finds a way to make what we already know fresh and interesting. I am in awe of what he did here.
Jarring Read
When I read this, I totally forgot that Coade will experience multiple adventures. So, when the first adventure switch happened, it was a bit jarring. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, but it did catch me off guard. I had to go back and look at the description of the book to remind myself what was going on. This came from the fact that I was wrapped up in Coade’s first expedition. Reynolds wrote an excellent ship-side story, and I would have been happy if the whole novel had taken place in that first adventure. I got so wrapped up in it that I forgot what the book was about. The switch from wooden 1800’s era ship to a more modern steam ship was jarring, and I think it’s meant to be jarring. Not only does the scenery change but the method of speaking changes. The genre of the story changes wholly and seamlessly. It’s impressive.
With each new adventure, it’s a little less jarring, but the changes never stop being abrupt and total switches. However, these disruptions didn’t force me out of the book. I kept reading and seeking after what just happened. It makes for interesting pacing of the book, and I’ll be following what other reviewers think of the pacing. I read through this book pretty quickly even though it was a bumpy ride.
Not Yet
I think this book says some great things about [REDACTED]. What I would love to talk about may give away the mystery of the book. Rather than spoil anything, I’m just going to write that Eversion says some very smart things that are worth pondering more. If you’ve read the book, drop me an email at eric(at)primmlife(dot)com, and we’ll talk.
Conclusion
Alistair Reynolds Eversion is yet another excellent story told by a master novelist. Coade is a character worth following as he tries to sort out the mystery of his adventures. He is supported by an eclectic cast of characters that make each adventure a little bit more interesting. Reynolds switches settings in pulp style stories to deliver an excellent discussion about why [REDACTED] matters and helps us [REDACTED]. As a writer, the craft in this book floored me. As a reader, the story kept me glued to the page. Highly recommended.
Eversion by Alastair Reynolds is available from Orbit Books on August 2nd, 2022.
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