Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (SF) - Alastair Reynolds ***

Every author is allowed a title that isn't up to their usual quality, and for me this book is a low point in the output of the usually reliable Alastair Reynolds. The reasonably slim volume contains two novellas from 2003, set in the Revelation Space universe.

The first of the song-title named pieces, Diamond Dogs describes an exercise in futility, when two former friends and a number of mercenaries attempt to get through a deadly inverted escape room known as the Blood Spire. This 250-metre high structure consists of room after room - hundreds in all - each separated by a metal door with a mathematical puzzle to unlock it. These start simple and grow increasingly complex. Solve the puzzle and you get to the next room. Fail and there's a punishment that initially has the potential to maim and later to kill.

The motley crew set off to attempt to get to the summit of the spire. This seems mostly 'because it's there', though legend has it that there is something of immense technological value at the top. I have three problems with this. The action is too limited, rapidly becoming repetitive. It's hard to imagine why anyone would risk almost certain death with no guarantee of there being any benefit. And while most of the mathematical puzzles are far too obscure to be comprehensible, the first is simply wrong.

I know people have put themselves through extreme effort and considerable risk, say, to be first to the South Pole. But this is way beyond any such challenge. There are just too many, too difficult problems. To make matters worse, the doors get smaller and smaller, so continuing requires extreme body modification. Nothing's worth what the participants go through... and then the novella just ends with no real outcome. As for that dodgy puzzle, it involves prime numbers. We are told the first four primes are 'one, three, five and seven.' Unfortunately, they are two, three, five and seven. We're then told that eleven 'is the next one in the sequence. Thirteen's one prime too high...' So there's a prime between eleven and thirteen? Hmm.

The second part, Turquoise Days is significantly better. There's only one minor reference that links the two novellas - this one is set on one of the Pattern Juggler planets, where the ocean has been taken over by an alien structure that archives people's minds and can sometimes change a swimmer's brain to add capabilities from others. The narrative has a very slow start, but the second half picks up pace and is a genuinely interesting addition to the Revelation Space canon as Pattern Jugglers are frequently referenced, but are rarely given a deep dive (if you'll pardon the pun).

Revelation Space lovers will welcome any trifle that adds to the overall picture, but for everyone else it's only so-so.

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