Slow bullets

Featured on an episode of the delightful if at times very smugly snotty podcast "I Don't Even Own a Television", Slow Bullets is a nice little soft sci-fi novella about a prison ship in a very dire situation. Alistair Reynolds enjoys his grimdark stories and this is no exception, but it's a short and enjoyable little glimpse into a world in great peril. There's a bit of a smug anti-religiousness that some people might find grating, but I felt it was tempered by having characters observe that there were positive things brought to the table by the "believer" faction as well. On the whole, if you enjoyed Revelation Space this is worth a quick read. If you've never read anything by Reynolds though, I'd suggest starting with something else.

This was a fun, fast read, but also a little underwhelming. Employing some unique, fresh ideas, with little cruft, this story held my attention as I barreled through it. But it also felt more like a novella than a novel, more like an appetizer than a main course. I wanted to know more than I was told ... or if the intent was to present a sort of meditation on grief, letting go, the value of memory and the choices we make -- then I would have liked some meatier writing, meditation, whatever, on these themes.

A dramatic story of war torture and the struggle to survive with limited resources, that simply left me flat.

Something about the point of view or perhaps the narration of the Audible version left me unmoved by this harrowing story.

There is torture but with the most cliché dialog, there is bloodshed but viewed on security cams, there are hard decisions, discussed buy a Committee.

But mostly there is a tough soldier girl that seems to be out of character when she actually gets pissed off or does something brave.

This was so not what I expected. Ultimately I couldn't overcome the tone.

http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2015/06/those-suspended-animation-chambers.html