Century Rain (SF) - Alastair Reynolds *****

A recent discovery for me that dates back to 2004, this is Alastair Reynolds at his very best. It’s described in places as a space opera, and it certainly has a vast canvas - but in reality it’s a far more sophisticated novel than that pigeonhole suggests. There’s nothing I love more than a book where, after a few chapters I’m still thinking ‘What on (or more accurately off) Earth is going on?’ - and the early parts of Century Rain have this in spades.

The first few chapters alternate between a not-quite-our-Earth 1959 Paris and a future archeological expedition to Paris, which is now uninhabited, covered in ice and infested with deadly nanobots. After a while the two threads come together, but even then, for a long time it’s not clear why things are happening (in a good way).

In the 1959 Paris, a pair of private detectives are trying to solve a murder in what seems to rapidly be becoming a police state. But there is something mysterious about the dead woman they need to uncover. Meanwhile, it the future reality, there are two factions of humans: some have rejected nanotechnology after what happened to Earth, the others embraced it and have become post-human. The leader of the Paris expedition, potentially on trial for losing a young man to the nanobots, is given the option of instead undertaking a dangerous mission, travelling through a form of hyperspace link built by some ancient, unknown civilisation.

Reynolds pulls together several key ideas, all very effective SF, and weaves them into an action adventure with repeated levels of peril for the main characters that even Alistair Maclean might have found over the top - but it certainly keeps the reader turning the pages.

The book is, to be honest, too long. It’s over 500 pages of small print in my paperback and a few sections dragged a little and could have benefited from an edit down. And the key premise that explains the alternative settings is distinctly far-fetched. But that doesn’t stop it from being a brilliant book.

One interesting 'hard science in SF' aspect is that Reynolds makes use of gravity wave detection more than 10 years before it was actually done. The approach taken owes rather too much to the failed early attempts (though arguably the technique that worked in the real world couldn’t have been fitted into the narrative).

Apart from the key human characters, big parts go to Paris and, in an indirect way, the movie Casablanca: if you've not seen it or can’t remember the detail, it’s worth watching the film to pick up on a number of references in the novel. All-in-all an excellent slice of SF. 

Before I read it, I was rather pleased that it was standalone - science fiction is so oriented to series that it’s a pleasant surprise these days to get a standalone novel. But I enjoyed this sufficiently that I would have liked a sequel, particularly if it focused on Verity/Cassandra. Interesting stuff.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email for free here