Chasm City

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: John Lee

Named one of the best novels of the year by both Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle, Alastair Reynolds's debut Revelation Space redefined the space opera. With Chasm City, Reynolds invites you to reenter the bizarre universe of his imagination as he redefines Hell.

The once-utopian Chasm City - a domed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet - has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or computerized. Now, with the entire city corrupted---from the people to the very buildings they inhabit---only the most wretched sort of existence remains. For security operative Tanner Mirabel, it is the landscape of nightmares through which he searches for a lowlife postmortal killer. But the stakes are raised when his search brings him face to face with a centuries-old atrocity that history would rather forget.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Consistently startling.... Reynolds remains one of the hottest...SF writers around." ( Publishers Weekly)

Reynolds always brings it!

yet another great space opera. I find the narrator voice irritating but overall this is great.

The Total Bourne Blade Runner Recall

I compare everything to the Hyperion/Endymion books by Dan Simmons so I am biased, but this was a very imaginative and well written tale. It wasn't as shocking or horror oriented as the aforementioned books but there was some good action in it and some creepy aliens. The romantic parts were not as graphic and pretty respectable compared to some of the other books I've listened to, and aside from some language, my kids could probably sit through most of this and I wouldn't flinch too much. It's just the whole "almost 40 hours" long thing that I could complain about. If not for the detailed world building and sciency science stuff, this may have been about 30 hours long. Oh well it was a good buy and I most Iikely will follow the other books soon.

Decent Story, Great Universe

I like the narrator, but mispronounciation was distracting. Intestinal characters' motivations were random at best.

I really liked it. love the narrator.

as I said, I know the author and narrator from other books, which I liked. great team. knocked out or of the park with this one.

First time Reynolds reader, very Impressed!

This was a fantastic story. I really enjoyed the depth, the Tarantino style and the story arcing twist wonderful. I can't recommend it enough.