Inhibitor Phase, by Alastair Reynolds (Orbit)
I’m an unabashed fan of Alastair Reynolds’s science fiction.
I love how he combines fascinating hard-science worldbuilding, pitch-perfect
control of pacing, and characters who hold my interest even when, let’s face
it, they’re downright weird. Inhibitor Phase is no exception. Not only
that, but it’s readily accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with the
previous books set in the Revelation Space universe.
The background is this: The Inhibitors, a ruthless,
infinitely patient cybernetic entity, have all but wiped out humankind.
Remnants survive by staying hidden and very, very quiet.
When a lone human ship blunders into the Michaelmas system, it’s
only a matter of time before the Inhibitors take notice. For thirty years a
tiny band of humans has been sheltering in the caverns of an airless,
crater-pocked world. Their leader, Miguel de Ruyter, takes one of their few spacecraft
to intercept the intruder ship and prevent this catastrophe. Floating in space,
he encounters a refugee from the ship—an enigmatic woman who calls herself Glass—and
embarks upon a near-suicidal, against-all-odds quest for a weapon against the
Inhibitors.
Reynolds writes very, very good space opera, and this book is
no exception. It’s longer than some of his other work, with more sprawling action
and a ton of inventive details. Many of the entities de Ruyter (not his real
name: hint!) encounters are weird, unpredictable, and deliciously alien.
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