Paperback, 503 pages
English language
Published Sept. 6, 2020 by Orbit.
It's 2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it.
The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It's some kind of machine -- and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away.
The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of …
It's 2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it.
The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It's some kind of machine -- and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away.
The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission, she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny -- for Janus has more surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome.
A lot was happening. Perhaps a bit too much, I did not feel it tied its stories together by the end. I enjoyed it.
Some parts dragged on.
I didn't really care so much about the conflict between the two main characters.
I liked 'Chasm City' more.
I had some problems to get into this book, but fortunately that only lasted 50 pages or so. By then the book had sunk its teeth deep into me and wouldn't let go. Very entertaining and fast read. The central conflict was extremely frustrating at times and felt a bit forced. On the other hand, humans are extremely petty and vindictive at times.
Highly recommended as an entertaining standalone novel.
I had some problems to get into this book, but fortunately that only lasted 50 pages or so. By then the book had sunk its teeth deep into me and wouldn't let go. Very entertaining and fast read. The central conflict was extremely frustrating at times and felt a bit forced. On the other hand, humans are extremely petty and vindictive at times.
Highly recommended as an entertaining standalone novel.
I'm a Reynolds fan, I admit.
Despite the fact that this is clearly a [b:Rendezvous with Rama|112537|Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)|Arthur C. Clarke|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41A3XG7MN8L.SL75.jpg|1882772] story type and some of the paradigms feel old, it is a very well done piece of Space Opera.
Despite my usual practice of reading a number of books simultaneously, as usual with Reynolds, I couldn't put this one down and read it strait from start to finish.
It is the first Reynolds book outside the [b:Revelation Space|89187|Revelation Space (Revelation Space, Book 1)|Alastair Reynolds|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1287699211s/89187.jpg|219037] series, that felt completely right to me.
This was great, a real return to hard sci-fi. This one was a lot more easy to get into than the Revelation space series. Brings to mind Arthur C. Clarke's Ranma series, but much more complete and humanly compelling.
