Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds.

[Titus G]

Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

Blue Remembered Earth is book one of the three part (so far), series
Poseidon's Children. (Fantastic Fiction.)
Recently I have been reading mainly general fiction with crime and some
mediocre Fantasy so it was a treat to read of such a brilliant future so
full of technical and social ideas ideas. I am surprised it has not been
mentioned here?
I just finished it today and am gobsmacked, not knowing where to begin,
the brilliant plot, the diverse characters' interests and motivations,
conflicts personal and political, the Evolvarium in the unrestricted
area of Mars, the colour of quarks (BRG), the physical diversity of
human shape, the neural augmentation that everyone has implanted
eliminating all violence and used automatically for all communications
(except talking), and more so I won't, (begin).
Every one of the 800+ pages was enjoyable, a favourite this year.
It appears that all three are standalone with number two, On the Steel
Breeze, 2013, set a thousand years after Blue Remembered Earth.
.

[Tony Nance]

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012
Blue Remembered Earth is book one of the three part (so far), series
Poseidon's Children. (Fantastic Fiction.)
Recently I have been reading mainly general fiction with crime and some
mediocre Fantasy so it was a treat to read of such a brilliant future so
full of technical and social ideas ideas. I am surprised it has not been
mentioned here?
I just finished it today and am gobsmacked, not knowing where to begin,
the brilliant plot, the diverse characters' interests and motivations,
conflicts personal and political, the Evolvarium in the unrestricted
area of Mars, the colour of quarks (BRG), the physical diversity of
human shape, the neural augmentation that everyone has implanted
eliminating all violence and used automatically for all communications
(except talking), and more so I won't, (begin).
Every one of the 800+ pages was enjoyable, a favourite this year.
It appears that all three are standalone with number two, On the Steel
Breeze, 2013, set a thousand years after Blue Remembered Earth.
.

I am so glad you liked this. I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

Tony

[Titus G]

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I am so glad you liked this. I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am guessing the characters were too shallow for you or maybe you did
not like Geoffrey, the simple elephant man protagonist? The cousins were
unusual but while the plot was unravelling, I was more interested in the
setting and 'science'. (The fantasy book read before this, The House in
the Cerulean Sea, was 95% relationships so perhaps I was glad to escape
that atmosphere.)

[Tony Nance]

Post by Titus G

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I am so glad you liked this. I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am guessing the characters were too shallow for you or maybe you did
not like Geoffrey, the simple elephant man protagonist? The cousins were
unusual

You have indeed guessed correctly - shallow as a contact lens case. I
think, except for Geoffrey, every major character (and many minor
characters) were some combination of self-absorbed, self-righteous,
impulsive, unsympathetic, True Believer jerks.

Geoffrey was fine, though he tends to accept/agree that every negative
thing in the universe is his fault.


but while the plot was unravelling, I was more interested in the

Post by Titus G
setting and 'science'.

Agreed - the setting and the science were wonderful.
- Tony


(The fantasy book read before this, The House in

Post by Titus G
the Cerulean Sea, was 95% relationships so perhaps I was glad to escape
that atmosphere.)

[Titus G]

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I am so glad you liked this. I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am guessing the characters were too shallow for you or maybe you did
not like Geoffrey, the simple elephant man protagonist? The cousins were
unusual

You have indeed guessed correctly - shallow as a contact lens case. I
think, except for Geoffrey, every major character (and many minor
characters) were some combination of self-absorbed, self-righteous,
impulsive, unsympathetic, True Believer jerks.
Geoffrey was fine, though he tends to accept/agree that every negative
thing in the universe is his fault.

As most of the characters were powerful being politicians or highly
ranked in their organisations or ridiculously wealthy, they were all
used to getting their own way. The cousins were identical in their
thoughts. I think I pitied Geoffrey which allowed me to feel superior to
him.
Another aspect I liked was the suspense, the danger, the threats with
almost no violence and no super heroes running marathons in bare feet
with broken legs.

[Tony Nance]

Post by Titus G

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I am so glad you liked this. I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am guessing the characters were too shallow for you or maybe you did
not like Geoffrey, the simple elephant man protagonist? The cousins were
unusual

You have indeed guessed correctly - shallow as a contact lens case. I
think, except for Geoffrey, every major character (and many minor
characters) were some combination of self-absorbed, self-righteous,
impulsive, unsympathetic, True Believer jerks.
Geoffrey was fine, though he tends to accept/agree that every negative
thing in the universe is his fault.

As most of the characters were powerful being politicians or highly
ranked in their organisations or ridiculously wealthy, they were all
used to getting their own way. The cousins were identical in their
thoughts.

At many points throughout the story, I thought the cousins needed to be
jettisoned into the event horizon of a black hole. They were -- by far
-- my least favorite characters.

Post by Titus G
I think I pitied Geoffrey which allowed me to feel superior to him.
Another aspect I liked was the suspense, the danger, the threats with
almost no violence and no super heroes running marathons in bare feet
with broken legs.

Yes - Reynolds does that very well when he wants to.

[Titus G]

On 9/09/24 14:07, Tony Nance wrote:
snip

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am over halfway through the next one, On the Steel Breeze. Events and
science still outweigh characterisation. Whoops! They are mainly still
around but not Geoffrey, nor the cousins and some play minimal roles.
One is over three hundred and another is two hundred and forty but
Geoffrey did not take prolongation treatment. Even grandma Eunice is
sort of there but in a robotic format with simulated mind. Following
your criticism regarding the richness of the characters, I have paid
more attention to this aspect and really couldn't tell anyone anything
much about them but this is not detracting from my enjoyment of the book
for the same reasons as Blue Remembered Earth even without the novelty.
I could probably describe characters from Garry Disher's pot boilers
better :-)

[Tony Nance]

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am over halfway through the next one, On the Steel Breeze. Events and
science still outweigh characterisation. Whoops! They are mainly still
around but not Geoffrey, nor the cousins and some play minimal roles.
One is over three hundred and another is two hundred and forty but
Geoffrey did not take prolongation treatment. Even grandma Eunice is
sort of there but in a robotic format with simulated mind. Following
your criticism regarding the richness of the characters, I have paid
more attention to this aspect and really couldn't tell anyone anything
much about them but this is not detracting from my enjoyment of the book
for the same reasons as Blue Remembered Earth even without the novelty.
I could probably describe characters from Garry Disher's pot boilers
better :-)

That's all good to know - thanks. Unless there are some rather drastic
differences, I believe I'll be better prepared to read the second one.
More specifically, I believe the characters won't bug me as much, even
if they turn out to be similar.

Tony

[Titus G]

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am over halfway through the next one, On the Steel Breeze. Events and
science still outweigh characterisation. Whoops! They are mainly still
around but not Geoffrey, nor the cousins and some play minimal roles.
One is over three hundred and another is two hundred and forty but
Geoffrey did not take prolongation treatment. Even grandma Eunice is
sort of there but in a robotic format with simulated mind. Following
your criticism regarding the richness of the characters, I have paid
more attention to this aspect and really couldn't tell anyone anything
much about them but this is not detracting from my enjoyment of the book
for the same reasons as Blue Remembered Earth even without the novelty.
I could probably describe characters from Garry Disher's pot boilers
better :-)

That's all good to know - thanks. Unless there are some rather drastic
differences, I believe I'll be better prepared to read the second one.
More specifically, I believe the characters won't bug me as much, even
if they turn out to be similar.
Tony

It would be an injustice to attempt to summarise this trilogy and I am
sure that a synopsis could easily be found elsewhere so I won't attempt
to do so.
I was pleasantly surprised by the final novel, Poseidon's Wake, which
introduced new conflicts between science and 'religion' as well as
exacerbating the continuing conflict between humans, intelligent
machines and the two alien technologies. I enjoyed it perhaps more than
the first two but was always worried about how it would all be tied up.
The last 50 or 60 pages were somewhat dull and banal but the journey to
get there, 700 plus pages, was brilliant. I love his writing and his
extensive scientific or pseudo scientific, (eg; infovore, a combination
of information and carnivore), vocabulary. The scope is just massive
covering huge distances across galaxies and more hundreds of years. The
Akinya family is still prominent with grandchildren from those in "On
the Steel Breeze" major characters but again events are more important
than character development. My main criticism of the characters was that
they were all too noble, too ethical as were the machine intelligences
as well as the elephants, (the dedication reads, "For my wife, who once
fell in love with an elephant.").
Another solid four stars.

[Tony Nance]

Post by Titus G

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
snip

Post by Tony Nance

Post by Titus G
Blue Remembered Earth. Alastair Reynolds. 2012

snip

Post by Tony Nance
I read this back in May, and didn't enjoy
it as much as you did. The setting and science were great. My main
problems were with the characters, but since the next one seems to share
very few characters (if any) with this one, I plan to give it a try.

I am over halfway through the next one, On the Steel Breeze. Events and
science still outweigh characterisation. Whoops! They are mainly still
around but not Geoffrey, nor the cousins and some play minimal roles.
One is over three hundred and another is two hundred and forty but
Geoffrey did not take prolongation treatment. Even grandma Eunice is
sort of there but in a robotic format with simulated mind. Following
your criticism regarding the richness of the characters, I have paid
more attention to this aspect and really couldn't tell anyone anything
much about them but this is not detracting from my enjoyment of the book
for the same reasons as Blue Remembered Earth even without the novelty.
I could probably describe characters from Garry Disher's pot boilers
better :-)

That's all good to know - thanks. Unless there are some rather drastic
differences, I believe I'll be better prepared to read the second one.
More specifically, I believe the characters won't bug me as much, even
if they turn out to be similar.
Tony

It would be an injustice to attempt to summarise this trilogy and I am
sure that a synopsis could easily be found elsewhere so I won't attempt
to do so.
I was pleasantly surprised by the final novel, Poseidon's Wake, which
introduced new conflicts between science and 'religion' as well as
exacerbating the continuing conflict between humans, intelligent
machines and the two alien technologies. I enjoyed it perhaps more than
the first two but was always worried about how it would all be tied up.
The last 50 or 60 pages were somewhat dull and banal but the journey to
get there, 700 plus pages, was brilliant. I love his writing and his
extensive scientific or pseudo scientific, (eg; infovore, a combination
of information and carnivore), vocabulary. The scope is just massive
covering huge distances across galaxies and more hundreds of years. The
Akinya family is still prominent with grandchildren from those in "On
the Steel Breeze" major characters but again events are more important
than character development. My main criticism of the characters was that
they were all too noble, too ethical as were the machine intelligences
as well as the elephants, (the dedication reads, "For my wife, who once
fell in love with an elephant.").
Another solid four stars.

Thanks for all of that. On the Steel Breeze is in the short stack, for
near future consumption, but I've been in quite a reading drought
recently[1], and I can't guess when I'll get to it.

Tony
[1] I do typically have a slow-down in my reading from Sep - Nov/Dec,
but this year seems worse than previous years. <shrug> Whether it is or
it isn't, I'll probably come out of it over the next month or so.