Review of 'Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Some stories good, some less so. Oddly, I thought there were too many stories.
Paperback, 779 pages
English language
Published June 15, 2017 by GOLLANCZ.
Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds
4 stars
(2 reviews)
The very best of Alastair Reynolds’ more than sixty published short stories are gathered in this anthology, a sweeping 250,000 word career retrospective spanning more than fifteen years. It features the very best stories from the ‘Revelation Space’ universe alongside thrilling hard science fiction stories, environmental SF tales and thought-provoking shorts.
Table of Contents: • Great Wall of Mars • Weather • Beyond the Aquila Rift • Minla's Flowers • Zima Blue • Fury • The Star Surgeon's Apprentice • The Sledge-Maker's Daughter • Diamond Dogs • Thousandth Night • Troika • Sleepover • Vainglory • Trauma Pod • The Last Log of the Lachrymosa • The Water Thief • The Old Man and the Martian Sea • In Babelsberg • Story Notes
Review of 'Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I bought this because I knew it contained at least one novella I hadn't read that wasn't easily obtainable elsewhere. I now wish I had waited for the UK edition which has a much better cover. I also wish that the editors had done a better job - by which I mean who-ever was responsible for ensuring a high quality, accurate text. This edition contains a large number of mistakes involving wrong word order, missing words or incorrect homophones. I don't know if the UK edition is any better in this respect.
There's some great stuff in this collection but as with any other short story collection, there's some variation in quality. On this front what concerned me was a trend towards poorer efforts as the book goes on. Since they are in publication order, does this mean Reynolds is getting worse?
That said, this is still a great …
I bought this because I knew it contained at least one novella I hadn't read that wasn't easily obtainable elsewhere. I now wish I had waited for the UK edition which has a much better cover. I also wish that the editors had done a better job - by which I mean who-ever was responsible for ensuring a high quality, accurate text. This edition contains a large number of mistakes involving wrong word order, missing words or incorrect homophones. I don't know if the UK edition is any better in this respect.
There's some great stuff in this collection but as with any other short story collection, there's some variation in quality. On this front what concerned me was a trend towards poorer efforts as the book goes on. Since they are in publication order, does this mean Reynolds is getting worse?
That said, this is still a great introduction to Reynolds for those unfamiliar with him and is worth the price for Diamond Dogs alone.
Subjects
- Science Fiction
- Fiction
- Short Stories