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Revelation Space
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
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Skip this one
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The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some 400 light-years in diameter, contains more than 600 worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over 1,000 light-years away, a star...vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears.
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Skip this one
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Publisher's Summary
With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason. And if that reason is uncovered, the universe - and reality itself - could be irrevocably altered.
What the critics say
"Ferociously intelligent and imbued with a chilling logic - it may really be like this Out There." (Stephen Baxter, co-author of The Light of Other Days)
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What listeners say about Revelation Space
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- HoldFast
- 2021-04-22
Rough Narration
Narration is difficult to follow with change in character or even passage of time without even verbal pause.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2021-08-25
Fire the audio engineer.
My speakers are clipping at the beginning of a sentence, and I can't hear the end of the sentence. Gripping story, terrible sound engineering.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Douglas granter
- 2021-08-14
Read the book
Very interesting story and enjoyed it very much. As others have noted though it’s a bit of a chore to keep everything straight because there is no way to tell that there has been a change in scene until you figure out who’s talking and the narrator doesn’t make clear separate voices to help the process I think reading the book myself would of been a better choice for me.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ryan Healey
- 2018-09-14
The Revelation Space universe rocked my world
Alastair Reynolds weaves multiple stories together in this epic sci-fi saga. I can so easily picture the deep, details worlds described by Reynolds. The characters are interesting and complex. The story is gripping and hard to stop listening to. My only wish is that this book gets made into a movie someday! #Audible1
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3 people found this helpful
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- Wilson Shane
- 2018-09-06
AWESOME scifi story. just get 8 chapters in first!
Start of the book takes a bit of time to understand but once the pieces fall in place, it's gripping. This scifi takes the bleeding edge of current knowledge and takes it to the extreme.
Love this book!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-12-11
Bad narration.
The narrator makes this story boring and tedious by having no real tone change, and doesn't make a cadence or voice change when switching between characters. Buy the real book if you're interested, but avoid this narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Chukle
- 2021-01-14
Amazingly creative story
loved the story! Alistair Reynolds weaves multiple stories together in an epic conclusion which I didn't see coming. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the series. John Lee tho, it's not a very good narrator. He's hard to understand and follow, and the dialogue he uses often blends multiple characters together, making it hard to picture who is talking.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jason Leach
- 2023-06-08
Overly complicated
I think this book is a little overly compacted with too many characters and poor transitions making it cumbersome to follow. Also, quite slow and boring. If it wasn’t for the excellent narration it would be a fail.
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- Josh Pickens
- 2023-05-21
It's....alright
So this was a bit more, out there, than I had expected. I had to check a few times to see if I had accidentally jumped into the middle of a book series, there is so much reference to centuries of past history. But that's OK, Game of Thrones does the same thing but much more articulated. This almost feels fantasy sci-fi mix, but not. There are so many variations of human in this world its hard to keep track of. Also I am no author, but it seems in places that should be a chapter break, there isn't, which makes things a bit hard to follow, and there are some huge passages of time between chapters at times. I also didn't care for the narrator. I was looking for something to fill the void left by "The Expanse" and this is not it.
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-04-29
Great story, editing needs work
I agree with a lot of the other reviewers here; this is such a great story, haunting in places and a great slow burn at first, but the editing needs some work. It’s hard to pick when the narrative switches from one character to another. Sometimes it sounds like it occurs in a single sentence.
After a few chapters you can adapt and listen for the change but it’s a little frustrating.
The narrator is solid otherwise though and it really is a killer story.
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- Eoin
- 2012-07-15
Defeated
This book defeated me, I am ashamed to say. I do most of my audio listening whilst driving, but this requires you too pay too much attention, and thus, while driving you lose important plot points, for two reasons:
1) There is a lot of tech within the book, and diluted time due to near-light speed travel on ships, and there is a lot of scene-shifting within chapters, which leads me to...
2) Other reviewers have alluded to it already, but it was a bad move not to have some sort of pause or audio-cue when scene-shifting between chapters. What happens is that John Lee (whose other stuff is ok, in my opinion), moves between scenes without taking a breath and you completely lose where you are whilst driving.
Shame I have to give it up, it's supposed to be a classic series. But them's the breaks.
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274 people found this helpful
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- Gillette
- 2010-02-27
Frustrations with narrator and editing
The book so far is very good. However, the combination of the narrating and one particular editing decision has turned me off of the audio version. So far I have only been unable to finish one audiobook I've purchased from Audible.com (out of about 150) and I may now have to change that number to two.
The Narrator: John Lee has never been my favorite, but I've had him read four other books in my collection, and he did fine. On this one, the voices for the characters are goofy even more often than in the narration of Peter F Hamilton's "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained". In many scenes, there's just not enough vocal differentiation between characters to follow the scene clearly.
The biggest problem: Some "genius" editor decided that there would be NO pause, NONE at all, when the book changes scenes. Since there are multiple plot threads and not quite enough vocal variety between some characters, and the scene changes rather frequently, this editing decision is really disruptive to the listening experience. I was so confused about which characters were where and doing what that I had to start over after getting about five hours in, and it was only the second time through that I began to recognize that there were even scene changes!! There's less of a pause between scene changes than pauses between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another. Nerd that I am I timed it! If the aforementioned genius editor hadn't decided to cut 5 minutes from the total length of the book in this manner, I might have bought the other four books from Audible. No chance now, unless some reviewer of the other books can tell me whether there are pauses at scene changes.
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199 people found this helpful
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- Lowroad
- 2009-03-14
Mixed review
This book is about one person's quest to find what disaster befell an ancient civilization and how it is relevant to the human race. The story describes this future world quite well, with some imaginative technologies and situations. It all seems very possible that such a future could come about - some of it at least. The reader, as usual, is very good.
The problem I had with this book is that there is not a clear protagonist. The main character is not such a likeable guy and you don't get to know him well enough to understand his motivations for this life long search, hence it seems a little contrived. The other characters are ambiguous as well. It is not that I want all the characters to be one dimensionally good or bad, but you do want to identify yourself with them and that did not happen for me.
Then a lot of the explanations of why/what happened are given near the end of the book. One person or another just fills in the blanks by recounting some of the salient facts. This never works well in a book of fiction. It is much more interesting to let a character experience something, instead of a documentary style of offering up just facts. I found myself scrambling to put it all together; too many facts all at once (of course an audio book does not help here, since it is hard to re-read a sentence or passage).
The end was a little disappointing too.
All in all though, it is still a story worth listening too; but it could have been made a lot better with some good editing and sharper characterizations.
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65 people found this helpful
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- Cyndi Lou from Kalamazoo
- 2015-09-06
The narrator ruins the book
It started out ok, but eventually I just could not hear the last words in a sentence. Not every sentence, but enough to where I’d have to back up 30 seconds and turn the volume up. Just to understand the word. At which point the first word in a sentence was painfully loud. I want my money back
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58 people found this helpful
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- Carrie Turner
- 2014-04-19
Terrible audio book. I do not blame the author.
What disappointed you about Revelation Space?
The editor and the narrator were HORRIBLE. I have heard this is a really good book but I will never be able to finish because of this crappy performance.
There is absolutely no indication that the narration has moved from one character story arc to another. It is very confusing. At one moment you are following along, the next you have no clue what is going on. Then you realize you have moved to a separate story arch. There isn't even a pause in the narration. You could believe they are in the same sentence when they have crossed chapters.
Unfortunately due to eye issues I won't be able to read this book. I have heard it is a good book from people who have read it.
Has Revelation Space turned you off from other books in this genre?
I LOVE this genre
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Lee?
ANYONE. He is the only narrator that I refuse to listen to again. (I have 150 audible books and maybe 50 more audio books not through audible). He ruined A Feast of Crows by George R R Martin so bad they sent it back and had Roy Dotrice re-narrate it. Unfortunately I listened to the John Lee version. At least I can go back and listen to the remake with Roy Dotrice who is an excellent narrator.
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51 people found this helpful
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- Tango
- 2013-10-08
A worthwhile slog through fog
I have two pieces of advice for anyone considering this audio book:
1. Don't start Alistair Reynolds with Revelation Space. My first Reynolds was House of Suns and I think that's a great one to start with although I haven't yet read all of his work. If I had started with Revelation Space, I don't think I would have finished this book much less read any of his other work and THAT would be a shame.
2. Find a good plot summary before you start listening to this book. This is one that would be tough to follow in print and even tougher on audio. A good plot summary helps tremendously. I would write one, but fortunately, Jefferson has included a good one in his review so I'd point you there. (Thanks, Jefferson.) There are some others on the internet if you are looking for more.
Revelation Space was my third Alistair Reynolds novel and it was challenging! However, having read Pushing Ice and House of Suns, I knew I wanted to read most if not all of Reynolds work because I really like his writing. And, Revelation Space is the introduction to Reynolds "signature" universe so I knew I needed the introduction even if it was hard.
Listening to this book felt a lot like trying to put together a 10,000 piece jigsaw with no picture or border pieces to work with. The first two thirds of the book are totally DENSE with descriptions and concepts and it doesn't seem to quite fit together. The pieces of the plot I could understand were intriguing, but it felt like much of it was just going past me. And, it doesn't help that these are not the best Reynolds characters. All the characters are interesting in a way that unusual things are interesting, but not sympathetic because you can't quite understand their motivations or their goals. They aren't really good or evil - most of them just seem rather duplicitous (lots of hidden agendas here) and amoral so there is really no one to root for/against through most of the book. I will admit that by the end, I was really rooting for Volyova; she is clever, thinks on her feet, and by her standards she's loyal. One of the things I've come to appreciate about Reynolds is that he writes some very good female characters. Although John Lee provides distinct character voices with the narration, it is not as much help as it might be because he uses so many thick accents that it is actually hard to understand some of the dialog.
If you feel like you are wading through a swamp in dense fog through much of this book, you wouldn't be alone, but it is worth the effort to stick with it. In the final third of the book, it's like Reynolds finally steps in and takes control; he hands you the border pieces and gives you the completed picture to work from and suddenly all the pretty, but meaningless pieces start to snap together in this amazing puzzle and it's quite a stunning picture. You really don't understand much of the plot or the characters or the universe until the final third of the book, but when it culminates, it makes for a grand conclusion.
Not the best Reynolds novel, but worthwhile if you are up to the slog through the initial fog.
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Overall

- cmthomas
- 2010-02-03
Challenging noir space opera bursting with ideas
Revelation Space has three main characters one of Russian decent, one of French and one Indian, with many Japanese characters figuring prominently, and the narrator portrays each one with the appropriate accent. The perspective of the novel shifts between these characters liberally within each chapter. Further, future tech flies fast and furious with explanations dispersed (sometimes) over several chapters. Taken together these factors make for a challenging read, but the fast-paced intricate and mind-bending ride is incredibly rewarding. The Revelation Space universe is proof that Reynolds' space operas are equal to the likes of M. John Harrison's or Iain M. Banks'.
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48 people found this helpful
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- Jefferson
- 2012-12-13
Sometimes Corny, Often Awesome, Modern Space Opera
In the year 2551 as Revelation Space (2000) begins, Dan Sylveste, the 215-year-old, famous science family scion, colony leader, and archeologist, is pushing his team to excavate an obelisk made by the extinct Amarantin, despite the approach of a terrible "razorstorm," because he wants to learn why "the Event" (apparently a stellar flare) suddenly ended the alien civilization some 900,000 years earlier on the planet Resurgam. Meanwhile (in 2543), the small "Ultranaut" crew of Nostalgia for Infinity, a city-sized, ancient and decaying "lighthugger" starship, including Ilia Volyova, the only crew member currently awake, is on its way to Sylveste to make him cure their captain of the Melding Plague (which merges human cells and machine nanotechnology into cancerous hybrid shapes). Meanwhile again (in 2524), Ana Khouri is a successful assassin hired by the idol rich of Chasm City on planet Yellowstone to relieve them from ennui, when the mysterious Mademoiselle has her infiltrate the crew of Nostalgia for Infinity as their new Gunnery Officer to communicate with the starship's apocalyptic weapons) so that she may hitch a ride to Resurgam and assassinate Sylveste.
Reynolds interweaves the three story lines as he brings Sylveste, Volyova, and Khouri ever closer together in time and space. The three point of view characters might at first seem to be unsympathetic: an arrogant and obsessive scientist, a shanghaiing and loner starship weapons expert, and a coolly efficient assassin. Yet Reynolds forces us to care for them in their various difficult situations by gradually revealing the humanity lurking inside them.
With its varied humans (conjoiners, ultranauts, chimerics, hermetics, etc.) modified in various ways (longevity techniques, prosthetics, implants, neural transformations, software simulations, etc.) and its enigmatic aliens (Shrouders, Jugglers, Inhibitors, etc.), Revelation Space pushes the boundaries of the human (physically, culturally, mentally), revels in the sublime wonders of the universe (space, time, stars), and unfolds an exciting story.
Reynolds' imagination is impressive: he conjures up numerous scientific developments, technological devices, alien species, galactic histories, and cultural extrapolations, ranging from the cool to the sublime. And he's good at evoking creepy and fascinating phenomena, like the malevolent Sun Stealer, the vast starship Nostalgia for Infinity, the fate of the alien Amarantin, and the "world" Cerberus orbiting a "neutron star."
John Lee does his usual efficient job reading the novel. Although his handling of Reynolds' dialogue may rub some listeners the wrong way (like his snide intonations in French, Russian, or Japanese accents), I mostly enjoyed his style and base narration and feeling for the story and characters, and was horripilated by his channeling of the creepy Sun stealer.
There are occasional corny lines in the novel like this exchange: Khouri: "I'm not sure I like this." Volyova: "Join the club." And sometimes I suspect that Reynolds could have told his story with less dialogue. And I'm still trying to decide whether the climax and resolution of the novel are satisfyingly transcendent or disappointingly explanatory. And I think his House of Suns is a better book. But there are plenty of neat descriptions in this book, like, "Volyova was silent until they reached the human nebula that was the Captain. Glittering and uncomfortably muscoid, he less resembled a human being than an angel which had dropped from the sky onto a hard, splattering surface." And plenty of memorably sublime or horrible scenes that make Revelation Space worth listening to for fans of the dark and sublime space opera of the likes of Iain Banks.
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43 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Mauricio
- 2010-08-19
A challenge that's worth the investment
A great read. As another reviewer said, this is very much in the style of Peter F. Hamilton's books. Epic and complex. I started getting frustrated at the beginning since things don't seem to make sense, but if you stick with it then everything falls into place.
I wish a knew what some of the tougher scientific concepts mean because there's some stuff here that is beyond my understanding but in a way that made it even more interesting.
I love John Lee's narration and characterization in the book, although I do agree that the cuts between scenes are so short that you get confused when things end and start. Other than that I look forward to the next book which I'm downloading as I write this.
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40 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Scott
- 2009-09-07
Great sci fi, great narrator
If you've ever listened to any other John Lee recordings, you'll know he's one of the best narrators in the business. He does an excellent job with this book.
As to the story itself, this is good sci-fi... I am really not sure where a lot of these other reviewers are coming from, maybe they were looking for the huge space battles from Star Wars. This book is more about the mystery of discovery and the politics and dangers that go along with it. Enjoyed it very much!
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- Delpseb
- 2023-11-22
Dry and unappealing
Médiocre prose and dialogs. Intrigue didn’t win me over either.
I didn’t care for the narrators and its accent.
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- Lewis Down
- 2021-09-27
Thrilling, engaging, monumental and human
On the edge of hard scifi and grandiose space opera, full of twists, lore, fascinating concepts and characters. similar in many ways to the expense, but also to early Brandon Sanderson and to Noir detective novels.
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- DESQUINS
- 2015-09-28
Un Néo-classique !
Un vrai plaisir de redécouvrir dans ce format le premier volet de ce space-opéra vraiment singulier de part ces ambiances un peu "trash" et ce côté anticipation à la Azimov... Un vrai classique conté magistralement même si aucun interlude musical, aucune ponctuation sonore ni même un bruitage ne viennent illustrer le récit.
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