not a continuation of any other book :(

I think it's misleading to call this book 6 of Revelation space. Although these two short stories are interesting in their own right, other than existing in the same universe they have no bearing on the other books. And while I enjoyed the stories, I would have been happier if it was called: "Tales From Revelation Space". That said, high scores for awesome storytelling and a great narrative performance.

20 people found this helpful

Virtuoso sci-fi, but not for RS newbies

Any additional comments?

If one can be a sci-fi virtuoso, Alastair Reynolds is it. You enjoy his work immensely, but you can never figure out how he does it.

Diamond dog, Turquoise days are two short stories/novellas. You should have read one or two books in the Revelation space-series before taking them on, otherwise words like Ultras, jugglers and Chasm City may through you off.

Diamond days is the story about people penetrating an alien and deadly maze. Turquoise days circles on the isolationist planet Turquoise and it's home-grown research on the juggler phenomenon.

The novellas are not as good as the novels in the Revelation space-series, but still fills me with that kind of wonder I am after when reading a Reynolds novel. John Lee is brilliant as ever.

10 people found this helpful

The End of the RS Road

Would you listen to Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days again? Why?

Not sure I would listen again but I enjoyed the heck out of it. I have listened to all of hte Revelation Space books and stories and this was the last one in the series for me. It provided great context to the conjoiners, the Melding Plague and Greenfly. If you have come this far you will enjoy it. I am not sure this is the entry point for new RS readers, I would complete the novels first.

What other book might you compare Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days to and why?

Galactic North. These are shorter stories, with a different tone than the series. These stories are a bit darker and Turquoise Days brings the Greenfly element into the story that was only hinted at the end of Absolution Gap. If Reynolds writes additional stories in this universe I have a feeling that the parallel universe's of Greenfly will play a part and Turquoise Days sets that up.

Have you listened to any of John Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to at last 10 other books read by John Lee. He is a master and this book compares favorably to his best work.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days

Any additional comments?

If you enjoyed the RS Series this book is a must. I realize a credit for a 6 hour book is a bit steep but it is well done and is important in understanding the RS Universe and where it might be headed in the future.

5 people found this helpful

Two short stories, not worth the price

I love Reynold's books as a whole, but this disappointed me. I expected that a $22 book would be longer than this. Both stories seem like they were just the set up for a larger plot.

5 people found this helpful

Modest excrescences in Revelation Space

Alastair Reynolds' Diamond Dogs (5 stars) and Turquoise Days (2 stars) are two short stories from the Revelation Space universe. The former involves an artificial alien structure that is essentially a series of math puzzles getting progressively harder and more dangerous, while the latter concerns a remote outpost with "juggler" conditions. While Dogs is clearly the superior offering over Days, both have the feel of concepts where interest simply waned or they could be a prelude for a longer story arc.

The sci-fi elements are keeping in line with the Revelation Space universe. Humans are long lived (400 years), and while there is interstellar travel, there is no faster than light physics. While no new aliens species are introduced, the pattern jugglers are prominent in both selections. Diamond Dogs is by far the better offering with an alien structure called the death spire. Upon entering, a series of successive rooms are encountered requiring math puzzles to be solved. With ascent up the spire, the puzzles become progressively more difficult, more dangerous (lethal in fact), and eventually time limited. The rooms also become smaller requiring removal of space suits and eventually due to the services of a Josef Mengele knock-off, body modification taken to the extreme. Reynolds appears to have derived a metaphor for man's unending pursuit of more knowledge and the resulting evolution in ourselves that must occur. Turquoise Days ultimately is just a "boys from brazil" affair that comes off as more a setup for another story than much of a story in itself. There is perhaps a bit more background on the jugglers presented.

John's Lee's narration is the most delicious part of the audiobook. His mastery of voices, along with his natural broadcaster's pitch and tone, and his overall sense of pacing and mood is simply in a class by itself. Lee could read your cable and wireless bills and make them sound riveting.

4 people found this helpful

So disappointed

This is a collection of disjointed short stories masquerading as a book. I had hoped for a strong continuation of the story.

6 people found this helpful

Wanders...

Someone said, in a review of a different book, that they could listen to John Lee read a Phone-Book and stay interested.. I have always agreed with that! But I think this book was about as close as you'd care to get to listening to a phone-book being narrated. It seems to take some tiny parts of Reynolds' other Books, and jams them together. I think it was supposed to add detail to some sub-plots and story lines from other books, but the effect, at least to me, was that it may have been some unfinished story bits laying around (or maybe things that got edited out of other books), that got published as a stand-alone book.

Not Reynolds' best work... But Hey, John Lee reads it! ;)

5 people found this helpful

Just a couple of short stories

This isn’t so much of another book in the series as it is a pair of separate short stories.

Hardly seems worth the time and money.

What the ????

Did the author do a Saw marathon? This was a garbage story. Not a part of the same universe. Short, unrelated, and pretty much irrelevant. Blood spire? Really? Please don't waste your money on this.

Good Shorts

If you are interested in the chasm city space universe and the jugglers this is a good set of two stories in that universe but not in the series.

Read these after you’re done with the other stories in the series