Reviews

Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds by Alastair Reynolds

christopher_dilts's review against another edition

5.0

Once again, Reynolds' short stories are amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed these stories, all of which had great use of tension and climax. I found myself wading through the exposition only to keep guessing at what the main conflict would be for the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed almost every story in this collection, and hope that Reynolds puts out some more collections someday.

theshaggymarlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

mnakka9's review against another edition

5.0

Loved this!

enbyglitch's review against another edition

5.0

Such a great example of Reynolds' imagination and talent. Heartwrenching and beautiful, glad it was adapted by LDR so more people could enjoy it!

bark's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sosopablo's review against another edition

3.0

A wonderful, hard science fiction anthology that masterfully spins science and reality to create settings and environments that border on fantasy. If you were ever interested in reading hard science fiction but were put off for whatever reason then this is the best book for you. The stories are not really short (blurs the line between short story and novella) and really pull you into them. They don't focus on science or aliens or even technology but on humanity, how across ages humanity changes very little and how easy it is to lose that humanity. At least that's how I felt. Definitely worth reading.

steventhescourge's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

eb00kie's review against another edition

Hit the 10% - stories “Martian Great Wall” and “Weather”

 Strong buildup, very underwhelming payoff:
 - weak characterisation - resulting in cardboard emotional expression and minimal reader involvement 
 - mysterious hive-like civilisation not explored, but everyone who doesn’t want to join is prejudiced
 - more action than plot
 - 0 meaningful choices

eol's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

starbuck34's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0