Revenger

Revenger
Author Alastair Reynolds
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Hard science fiction
Publisher Gollancz
Publication date
 20 September 2016
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages 411 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-5750-9053-8
OCLC 994810105
823.914 23
LC Class PR6068.E95 R492 2016

Revenger is a 2016 hard science fiction novel by British author Alastair Reynolds. It is unconnected to any of Reynolds's previous works. A sequel, entitled Shadow Captain, is scheduled to be released in January 2019.[1]

Revenger won the 2017 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book,[2] and was a finalist for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award.[3]

Synopsis

Tens of millions of years in the future, sisters Adrana and Fura Ness are skilled bone readers—the primary method by which spaceships communicate with one another. Their skill at bone reading leads them to be taken on as apprentices aboard Monetta's Mourn, a spaceship captained by Pol Rackamore. Rackamore and his crew engage in the practice of finding ancient technological artifacts, called "baubles". Also, in the story, "quoins" are units of currency and the more bars the higher the value. While in search of these artifacts, Monetta's Mourn is attacked by the infamous space pirate Bosa Sennen, separating the sisters and leaving Fura adrift on a ship in empty space.

History of the Worlds

  • Mournday - used as a day of the week
  • Forgeday - used as a day of the week and the day in Spring 1799 that the story begins
  • Shatterday – an event on Earth that caused the mass and gravity to change; and later in time, used as a day of the week
  • Pre-First or Second Occupation -The Ghosties created advanced unnatural technology that is against the common laws of nature
  • A war sometime between the Third and Fourth Occupations destroyed many tube worlds.
  • Fourth Occupation - happened 9 million years ago.
  • Fifth Occupation – technology is still lying in wait and can still be active enough to kill exploratory crew.
  • Sixth and Seventh Occupations – left behind the giant horse-shaped skulls that Bone Readers can use to communicate over long distances
  • Eleventh Occupation – left behind technology from the Empire of the Ever-Breaking Wave. Also, Commonwealth of the Throne of Ice was a brutal dictatorship with many victims. The Council of Clouds happened during this time.
  • Twelfth Occupation – happened 660,000 years ago and was a time of great troubles; during which the Epoch of Robots happened
    • Last Rains of Sestramor – an event during the Twelfth Occupation that the robots, Paladin and Peregrine may remember
    • Empire of the Atom – a polity that happened at an unknown time
  • Thirteenth Occupation
    • Crash of 1566 – an economic event when hundreds of worlds went bankrupt and people starved; afterward the Crawlies became dominant in banking
    • Crash of 1781 – a financial event in the current Thirteenth Occupation, which caused the parents of Adrana and Fura Ness to move to Mazarile
    • Congregation – the name of a current polity in the Thirteenth Occupation composed of 20,000 inhabited worlds out of fifty million worlds close to the Old Sun.

Persons

  • Doctor Morcenx – a medical professional in Mazarile
  • Hasper Quell – a former crewmember who is blind due to ion burns across his eyes, who owns a bar in Trevenza Reach.
  • Illyria – the daughter of Captain Rackamore
  • Mr. Clinker – a Crawly alien who was in the backroom of Hasper’s Bar.
  • Peregrine -a robot of the Twelfth Occupation with an active protective aura
  • Prozor – a crew member of the Mourn and a Scanner, which is a bauble reader
  • Captain Lars – a very cautious explorer; his expedition lost money for the investors
  • Paladin – an old red robot, which becomes confused when its name is mentioned unless it is a simple order. Later, as the plot develops, it is revealed to be a hero of the Twelfth Occupation, during the Epoch of Robots. Possibly a hero and carrier of memories of the Last Rains of Sestramor
  • Sympathetic - a person, sometimes called a Bone Reader, who can use the skull of an alien to communicate over vast distances
  • Scanner – a person whose task is to evaluate a bauble to determine the length of time it will be open to exploration
  • Opener – a person whose task is to open locks and disarm traps inside the baubles
  • Assessor – a person whose task is to quickly evaluate the value of item from the explored bauble
  • Integrator – a person who can get “gublins” to talk to each other even if not made by the same species
  • Mattice – an Opener on the ship Monetta’s Mourn
  • Jusquerel – an Intergrator and medic
  • Triglav – Ion system engineer of the Monetta’s Mourn
  • Trysil – an Assessor of the Monetta’s Mourn
  • Vidin Quindar – a private detective hired to bring back the sisters
  • Garval – a Bone Reader who was not adept at bone reading and was driven mad by use of the alien skull
  • Perro Cazaray – the Bone Reader of the ship Monetta’s Mourn
  • Crawlies - Alien bankers who arrived 50 years before the economic Crash of 1566
  • Stingtails – Alien species known to the Congregation
  • Tuskers- Alien species known to the Congregation
  • Bonies – Alien species known to the Congregation
  • Bug-Eyes – Alien species known to the Congregation
  • Hardshells – Alien newcomers to the Congregation and involved in financial affairs
  • Clackers – Alien newcomers to the Congregation and involved in financial affairs
  • Rattler – a species of aliens that appeared during the Fourth Occupation but later disappeared with no known explanation in the book

Reception

Revenger has been labelled by some reviews as a Young Adult novel,[4][5][6] although it has not been marketed as such by the publisher. Reynolds addresses this on his blog, saying he hopes the novel "is a straightforward SF novel that also happens to be accessible, and perhaps accessible to somewhat younger readers."[7]

Mark Yon of SFFWorld.com describes the novel as "an entertaining pirate romp [...] with a touch of Firefly."[8] Publishers Weekly calls Revenger a "remarkably creative, resonant space opera."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds". hachettebookgroup.com. Hachette Book Group. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  2. ↑ "2017 Locus Awards Winners". locusmag.com. Locus Online. 2017-06-24. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  3. ↑ "2018 Philip K. Dick Award finalists announced". Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  4. ↑ "Review – Revenger by Alastair Reynolds". The Bookbeard's Blog. 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  5. ↑ Bone, Christian. "Revenger". starburstmagazine.com. Starburst Mgazine. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  6. ↑ Bardinelli, John (2017-03-01). "Revenger Brings Pirates and Pillaging to Outer Space". barnesandnoble.com. Barnes and Noble. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  7. ↑ Reynolds, Alastair (2016-08-17). "Revenger word cloud". approachingpavonis.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  8. ↑ Yon, Mark (2016-09-24). "Revenger by Alastair Reynolds". sffworld.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  9. ↑ "Revenger". publishersweekly.com. Publisher's Weekly. 2017-01-23. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
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