Bone Silence

Starting with “Revenger,” Mr. Reynolds’ series is just astonishing. The stories and characters are unique, and they are written where you definitely get attached to the characters — or hate them. The world building is intricate and perfectly written. I wish I were a writer so I could adequately praise these books. Bone Silence continues to expand worlds and ideas. The Ness sisters become even more relatable and unexpected in this book. I wish this book series would be made into movies or a television series, because the characters and their stories, the amazing worlds and ideas are every bit as entertaining as Star Wars — in fact, I think these books would make the ultimate science fiction/fantasy series. Are you listening, Apple TV, HBO, Netflix, Showtime, Amazon, and Hulu?

Half this book was spent floating in space and the last chapter deus et machina’ed the ending.

Abrams is famous for promoting the “Mystery box” theory of story development, where be every answered question asks a handful more. In this particular trilogy he uses that gambit to disguise his narrative laziness. He can’t be bothered to keep a plot line consistent from one novel to the next. In his afterwards he is alway effusive in praise of his editor. I believe that praise is misguided. Alastair Reynolds has done better than this. I think he’s capable of better still.

Short answer: if you’re not already involved in the ‘Revenger’ series don’t bother. The only reason you buy this novel is to funnel money to Alastair Reynolds in hope he can do better.