Eversion

By: Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by: Harry Myers

Eversion is a superb, original Gothic SF novel. A small group of intrepid explorers are in search of a remote and mysterious artefact. It's a well-funded expedition, well organised, which is lucky as they're sailing north of Bergen on the schooner Demeter, searching for a narrow inlet which will lead them to a vast uncharted lake - and their goal­­­--

Until disaster strikes.

Doctor Silas Coade wakes from disturbing dreams, on the steamship Demeter, in pursuit of an extraordinary find almost too incredible and too strange to believe, secreted within a lagoon in the icy inlets of Patagonia. But as they come in sight of their prize he and the crew see they are not the first to come so far: there is a wreck ahead, and whatever ruined it may threaten them as well--

Shaking off his nightmares, Doctor Silas Coade joins his fellow exploders on the deck of the zeppelin Demeter and realises something has already gone dangerously wrong with their mission. If any of them are to survive, then he will have to take the exploration - and their lives - into his own hands . . .

Critic reviews

[A] wonderfully entertaining puzzle wrapped inside an adventure story

A fabulous and satisfying novel

An excellent adventure that's sure to keep readers on their toes

A fun, character focused bottle mystery that shifts settings like a chameleon walking across a rainbow carpet

Entertaining and thought-provoking

great

It started strange, not like the old Reynolds at all... But later! Great story!

A clever and meaningful mystery

I’m a fan of Alastair Reynolds, and familiar with his favoured tropes - mannered gothic anachronisms, cosmic threats, hard science bent to widescreen SF, unreliable narrators slowly realising their way through unreliable narratives, heroism - but had kinda been expecting this to be a minor effort.

I think that was because the blurb was so mysterious, and I’m very glad to be wrong. This may be gist best use of an unreliable narrator since Chasm City, and the mystery isn’t just a game, but a setup for something meaningful. It’s a very satisfying game, leaving more to be discovered each time you think you’ve worked out what’s going on; and with an excellent close focus on protagonist’s experience, cosmic horror kept at just enough distance.

My only misgiving is that the iteration in which the character Ada is a Lois Lane-style gal reporter requires an American accent the narrator just couldn’t pull off.

Quite Reynolds, but lacking his usual depth and details

The plot has a nice twist, but the story is quite flat and unfulfilled
Narrator is good

Not his best

If you're looking for something like Reynolds' other novels, this isn't going to do much for you. I didn't really like the horror aspects, that's not my thing, and overall the story would've been better as a novella/short story. It was easily twice as long as it needed to be. The narration was fine, and I ended up listening to the whole thing, but felt like I was forcing myself to finish the 2nd half.

An different Reynolds book

Simple enough in it's complexity. Having read the Revelation Space books a couple of times, this was a refreshing story by the author. The clues were nicely tied into and solved towards the end of the book.
Harry Myers' (Narrator) reading was immaculate and added to the enjoyment tremendously.