Elysium Fire (The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies, 2)

This book returns us to the author's well thought-out Revelation Space universe. It takes place in the Glitter Band which encompasses thousands of city-state wordlets orbiting the planet Yellowstone. The book is a self-contained novel which takes place a few years after the events in "The Prefect" and features the same main character, Tom Dreyfus, as well as Thalia Ng and Sparver Bancal. The Glitter Band is a near utopia with direct voting by its citizens. Its security is handled by the Panoply which consists of a relatively small number of agents called Prefects of which Dreyfus is one of the best. In this story seemingly random citizens are suddenly dying in a bizarre fashion as their neural implants are frying their brains. Although the plot is good rather than great, Reynolds makes this an outstanding read with his well-drawn characters, a well-realized futuristic society, and great writing.

Not quite as good as The Prefect, but that's a high bar to try and hit. From any other author this would be a home run: tight plotting, a gripping story, great characters, and a fully realized universe. From Alastair Reynolds, who can be brilliant, it's a little disappointing. It lacks some of the verve of the original and rests a little bit on those laurels. The story is very much a police procedural set in space, but not quite Peter F. Hamilton. It still has some of Reynold's hallmark imagination and there's a couple of twists, only one of which is telegraphed so clearly that you'll see it coming from chapter three. People all over the Glitter Band are dropping dead for no apparent reason, and there doesn't even seem to be a connection between the victims. Fortunately, the victims can be interviewed after they die. Unfortunately, they don't know much. Fortunately, a virtually omniscient omnipresent artificial intelligence (from the first book) knows a bit more. Unfortunately, this AI has no motivation to help. Fortunately, despite very grim odds, the Prefect is very good at his job. I usually enjoy Reynold's books and this is no exception. Recommended.

This science fiction work is the direst sequel to The Prefect (subsequently republished and sold under the name Aurora Rising), which are themselves prequels to the books of the Revelation Space collection of books. As such, they are set in the same universe, and some familiarity with the setting, while not absolutely necessary, is nevertheless highly recommended. The setting is the Yellowstone system, prior to the Melding Plague and immediately after the events in The Prefect (Aurora Rising), in which an alpha level artificial intelligence seeks dominion over the Glitter Band. Senior Prefect Dreyfus, along with the law enforcement agency, Panoply, is faced with a puzzling outbreak of fatal, neural implant malfunctions, which threatens to spread throughout the Glitter Band. The hard science fiction in all of Reynold’s work is top class. The dialogue, however, suffers from being non-realistic, to, at times, rather silly. Nevertheless, all of the works I’ve read centered on the Revelation Space universe have been well worth the effort.

I enjoyed this, and maybe it's nostalgia, but the Glitter Band did not seem as bright and alive as I recall Reynolds original Revelation Space novels being. That original novel ran to just over 500-pages and seemed more densely packed with inventive descriptive detail than "Elysium Fire." Possibly it is my memory is playing tricks, but it remains that the protagonist, Inspector Dreyfus, is the classic 'strong, silent, competent' archetype male lead that drives many sci fi adventure/mysteries, and it helps that he has both a painful past holding him back, and a literal ghost in the machine hounding his moves. I'm not sure I'd describe him as "one of Alastair Reynolds most popular characters", which the blurb does, but he's interesting enough and certainly gets it done. The mystery here is why people are inexplicably dying, and whether Dreyfus - and his fellow Prefect's - can figure out how to stop it before the apparent contagion decimates the population and the Glitter Band descends into chaos. We are privy to an interesting backstory that is both deceptive and insightful. And I liked that it looped around nicely in a way that reminded me of the movie "Predestination". Dreyfus and crew have a middling level of high-tech gadgets and weapons, but this is primarily an intellectual puzzle, not an action adventure. There is action, and quite a lot of it, but don't expect military-grade warfare or personal super-suits. It is the fact that Dreyfus is vulnerable and easily damaged that adds tension to the plot. He also relies a lot on intuition, which tips him into continual conflict with the boss as he can't call out the 'why' of his reasoning, but is ultimately justified, so he comes out vindicated...kind of. That looping ending includes a nice Möbius twist that was hard to see coming. In fact, you have to pay attention to unravel it, even with the narrative providing an explanation. There are a lot of baddies and red herrings and misdirection in "Elysium Fire" and that makes it a good mystery. The sci fi is an interesting background for the characters to act against, but this is not particularly powerful sci fi in the sense of making a statement about the meaning of life. Instead, it's a gritty, personal journey and motivation so the emotional content resonates in the here and now, even if the police have AI whip-hounds and space ships. Definitely one for Reynolds fans, and for anyone who likes locked-box sci fi mysteries. My only gripe is the price of the Kindle version. Reynolds is good, but this is way more expensive than comparably excellent novels from the likes of M.D. Cooper or M. R. Forbes.

ELYSIUM FIRE (Prefect Dreyfus Emergency 2) by Alastair Reynolds is a worthy sequel to THE PREFECT. It presents us once again with a gripping story, full of impatience-provoking suspense and surprising reversals. However, most of the necessary world building was done in THE PREFECT, so the sense of wonder, so ably conveyed by Reynolds, is diminished if one has read the first volume, which managed to combine harmoniously both wonder and intrigue. The sequel is much more explanatory than THE PREFECT. If the stylistic ideal for fiction is show, don't tell, in this second volume we have more telling, less showing, and the harmonious balance is lost. New elements include duplicitous sub-plot concerning two morally ambiguous brothers who are brought up in a vast mansion full of dark secrets within secrets and strange technology, that recalls Gene Wolfe's novella "The Fifth Head of Cerberus". There is a similar exploration of the complex relations between identity, doubles, and memory. (The SFFaudio Podcast episode #439 contains a very interesting discussion of the Gene Wolfe novella). The theme of doubles is repeated in the ethical and legal concerns over the ontological status and the rights of digital copies of people, and the potential blurring of the notions of sentience, responsibility, and culpability. There is also a shift of emphasis in the analysis of democracy. Whereas THE PREFECT expanded on the potentiality of a technology-assisted democracy to produce extreme living choices, ELYSIUM FIRE focuses more on the loopholes and failings such as the power of demagogy, the identitarian will to secession, and the manipulation of information. One of the sub-plots that was foregrounded in the the first volume, that of the battle between two vast distributed artificial intelligences (Aurora and the Clockmaker), is carried over into this volume but remains mostly in the background. Its continued but unresolved presence suggests a formulaic plot device capable of generating at least a third "Prefect Dreyfus Emergency" novel, or even more. This development promises to reinforce the primacy of intrigue over cosmo-technical invention that characterises this second volume, and so perhaps to a further decline in science-fictional wonderment in favour of police procedural excitement and catharsis. In short ELYSIUM FIRE is an enthralling novel that makes one want to race through the book and to finish it in as few sittings as possible. It comes close to, but does not fully match, the balance of speculative invention and suspense-filled intrigue that made the first book such a successful fusion of sf and detective genres.

Normalerweise, gibt es bei jedem SciFi Autor der erfolgreich ist, irgendwann denn Karriere Knick. Ein Vertrag für X-Bücher ist an Land gezogen, der wichtigste Award steht im Regal und die Bücher verlanden langsam, hörren auf neue Themen zu erforschen, neue Horror zu erkunden. Das Wandfüllende Bild des einen, großen Universums ist gemalt, jeder weitere Pinselstricht wie ein Gitterstab der zukünftige Geschichten immer mehr eingrenzt. Mit diesem Wissen ausgestattet, geht man an Spätere Werke wie ein Bomben entschärfer. Umso hoch erfreulicher ist es hier einen zu sehen, der es noch drauf hat. Diese Art SciFi zu erzählen, dieses Geflecht aus Historie einer zukünftigen Gesellschaft, erzählt über die Familienmitglieder und Tagesschicksale, ist immer noch unübertroffen.

I was very excited to read this novel, being both a fan of Mr. Reynolds and Inspector Dreyfus, and I wasn't disappointed. Great plot, great characters, great setting. What more do you want?

Enjoyed both books in the series, good detective storys and sci-fi too. Enjoyed them so much I’ve downloaded chasm city for a re-read

This is a rip-roaring sequel to The Prefect and is split between the modern day and a past where not everything is as it seems. Whilst Dreyfus battles the charismatic demagogue Devon Garlin an almost whimsical story about two adolescent boys makes you draw connections you learn from Dreyfus' investigation into what is going on with them. It's very well done and the ending is rather sad. Highly recommended.