Eversion by Alastair Reynolds, my review.

[gridlore]

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the 1820s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1880s, a steamship is destroyed exploring Antarctica. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.

Reynolds hits it out of the park. Normally known for galaxy-spanning space opera, Eversion is a taught. a first-person, mystery wrapped in horror, as events keep repeated in different eras, always with the mysterious Edifice as the goal of the expedition. The same characters appear in similar roles, but only Dr. Coade seems to see the changes.

This story kept me guessing. The clues are subtle, but there. The characters, all of them over time, are interesting. This is a locked room mystery where the murder keeps happening over and over. The revelation, when it comes, is shocking but totally makes sense. It's tragic and fulfilling. The finale is gripping. One thing is because the book is told entirely from the p[ersp[ective of Silas Coade, the ending leaves some loose ends, but still works.

Great book. Alastair Reynolds has become my favorite Hard SF/Space Opera writer.



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Comments

[melchar]

Having not read the book yet myself, my primary curiousity is why is the ship/are the ships named Demeter? I ask since the Demeter is the ship hired in Stoker's 'Dracula' to carry Dracula's 50 crates of native earth from Varna to Whitby in England.

[gridlore]

It may have been a nod to that, and also Demeter is a deity who symbolically dies and rises annually, echoing the plight of Silas.