So here it is then, Alastair Reynolds' much-awaited new novel, his first for Gollancz and the first in a series of ten books he has been paid a million-pound advance for, making him the first British SF author to receive such a sum.
Blue Remembered Earth is the first in a series entitled Poseidon's Children, about humans' exploration and colonisation of the galaxy. As an opener to the series it sets the scene very well, moving from the plains of Africa to the Moon, then to Phobos, Mars, the Kuiper Belt....and beyond. The grand sweep of Reynolds' imagination - and it is indeed grand - is very much in evidence here, although for a Reynolds novel I often had the feeling that the author was intentionally restraining himself, perhaps saving the epic voyages and set-pieces for later books in the series. Indeed, one could say that there is little actual action compared to previous novels, but that does not detract from the story. Only in the last third of the book does Reynolds allow himself a bit more latitude, opens the throttle a little and out come the fantastic spaceships and space voyages like the ones in Revelation Space and Pushing Ice. And then the book truly does achieve a sense of awe and grandeur.
As for the story, Reynolds is as inventive as ever here, following Geoffrey Akinya, a member of a hugely-powerful family-owned corporation which has business interests throughout the solar system, but who is far more interested in studying herds of elephants on the plains of Africa, and his sister Sunday, as they try to unravel the secrets bequeathed to them by their dead grandmother, the matriarchal, mercurial and somewhat mysterious Eunice. The quest takes them across the solar system, where they face dangers from shadowy power groups, implacable machines and their own family, and nothing is as it seems. There are the usual Reynolds twists and turns in the plot, some of which are predictable - you'd have to be a pretty unperspicacious person not to have seen coming the final revelation about Eunice, for example. But Reynolds largely manages to convince, although his vision of a future society where wars, or any sort of physical violence, is illegal, watched over by a machine intelligence who can instantly stop you in your tracks should you so much as try to punch another person, is perhaps a little utopian - especially so since the book is set in the latter years of the next century, which surely is far too soon for humans to have put aside their differences and agree to be watched over, like naughty children, by a machine. But I find that Alastair Reynolds' underlying message in most of his books is one of optimism about the human race - he seems to firmly believe that one day sense will overcome prejudice, and that we can work together and go to the stars. I think that's one of the reasons I like his writing so much - because it has a positive message, even though the events in his books are often very dark, violent and gothic.
The other thing I love about Reynolds' work is his sheer imagination and inventiveness, which is in plentiful supply here. For example, in this book we have an original (as far as I know) noun which perfectly describes the remote, frozen worlds of the Kuiper Belt - he names them iceteroids, which is about as perfect a term as one could think of!
Reynolds again populates his novel with shady dealings, love, loss, betrayal, machine intelligences and fantastic technology, while staying (mostly) within the bounds of what is possible, while still maintaining the sense of awe and wonder which is so much a hallmark of his work. However, this is not, it must be said, his best work, but is nonetheless hugely enjoyable, and well worth reading. The sheer scope of his vision is, as ever, to be marvelled at, and as somebody who has bought all of Alastair Reynolds' books I would not hesitate to recommend Blue Remembered Earth. If you have never read any of his books, this is a fantastic introduction to the mind of a writer of truly epic SF.
