Terminal World
By Alastair Reynolds
- Release Date: 2010-06-01
- Genre: Science Fiction
Description
Alastair Reynolds revolutionized the science fiction genre with his critically-acclaimed Revelation Space novels. Now, the award-winning author presents a future of technological wonders—from every era…
In a far-distant future, Spearpoint, the last human city, is a vast, atmosphere-piercing spire. Clinging to its skin are the zones: semiautonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different—and rigidly enforced—level of technology.
Following a botched infiltration mission, enforcement agent Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in a morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissection table, his world is wrenched apart.
For the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint’s Celestial Levels. And with the dying body comes bad news: Quillon must leave his home and travel into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint’s base. But he can neither imagine how far the journey will take him—nor comprehend how much is at stake…
Reviews
Solid book
4By tc_stingNot sure why the bad reviews for this one. Yes the main character is nauseatingly good and a bit one dimensional but the story is intriguing and general state of affairs is believable. Will not offer spoilers here but it may help for other readers to look openly for character dialogue to reveal where the story actually takes place, when, and why. It’s all there, just not in a single back and forth between protagonist and antagonist. I also found this book fairly relevant to present day 2021. It is not far fetched anymore to imagine a highly technologically advanced society going to biblical ruin and de evolving to biblical attitudes and actions given life in the 21st century. Lots of knowledge and basic living necessities are executed via electronics so if anything warped those, we could be in a similar state.A very long prequel
3By RedThis book simply ends awaiting for a prequel. Few, if any, answers are given to our protagonists quest. It was a looooong read as well. Not the best book by this author.Slowwww...
1By RobDDWhile there are quite a few amazing concepts the entire plot is extremely slow and boring. There are too many unanswered questions about the nature of the world and the terminal itself. While the end does provide some closure as to why the terminal is not functioning correctly the route it takes to get there is extremely unsatisfying. I read this after the epic relevation space series and was completely let down. I would not invest the time to read this.Like the Spruce Goose
3By Polarity ReversalTerminal World is beautiful and magnificent in its scope and grandeur but it can never really get off the ground and fly. I would rather have read the story that's only glimpsed at in its truncated and disappointing ending.Too many unanswered questions
4By TanstermanWhile decently paced, it poses too many questions that remained unanswered by the end of the novel: * What is Spearpoint and Spearpoint2? * Why was there only two of them or so the Swarm, who have circumnavigated the planet, claim? * What planet are they really on? * What was unleashed that resulted in the zones? * If it's really Mars (from the descriptions) instead of Earth, then why can Mars be viewed from the planet? Why not Earth? * If it's a massive artificial construct like the Godas in "The Goda War" that developed its own atmosphere that is slowly dissipating, who gave it an atmosphere to begin with? And why? Again why can't Earth be viewed? I hope the author will answer these unanswered questions in a sequel.Not up to snuff
2By DVZRI have read all of his books, and love them. I have picked this one up 3 times and cannot finish it. The story idea is interesting, but something is broken. Its just not engaging for me personally. Give his other stuff a try first. Try Chasm City or Revelation Space first.Terminal World
2By VpolleyTrite, poorly written and unsatisfying; a real disappointment from Reynolds all of whose other books have dazzled and entranced. Really, I cannot imagine why he let this one publish as-is.A gem
5By Bitter ArugulaThis book is freaking fantastic. It's a departure from Reynolds' usual outer space sci-fi, but entirely welcome.Intriguing setting, weak characters
3By zendonutInteresting setting marred by ill-defined protagonists who quickly wear thin. Most unfortunate is the main character, possessing a habit if stating all his internal thought processes in dialog, rather than letting us infer them through action.
