#112 Alastair Reynolds: Galactic North
Dec. 31st, 2006 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bellinghman
Alastair Reynolds: Galactic North Hardcover: 388 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (19 Oct 2006)
ISBN-10: 057507910X
Category(ies): Science Fiction
Reynolds here collects, in chronological order, a set of stories set in his future history that also includes his Revelation Space novels. As he himself says in an afterword, he is inspired by such future histories as Niven's Known Space. However, unlike Niven, in this world he doesn't allow faster-than-light travel, only permitting relativistic speeds. Despite that apparent impediment, this is proper interstellar civilisation time, with, in the final story (the eponymous Galactic North itself), a threat to the whole galaxy requiring travelling for many thousands of years (but much, much less than that subjective).
This is a varied set of stories, with different moods and themes. I'm happy to say that there isn't a duff story in here. Together, though, they show a real structure, becoming much more than just the sum of their parts: a real fleshing out of a great future history.
