The ark (novel)

The ark (English: Redemption Ark ) is a science fiction novel by the British author Alastair Reynolds . Originally published in English in 2002 and a German translation in 2004, the work blends the genres of Space Opera and Hard-SF and forms the third novel in Reynolds' Revelation Space cycle .

action

In the year 2415, the "Synthetiker", a human faction, sent three spaceships beyond the known areas of space to search for alien life forms. The ships were discovered by a race of machines programmed to destroy intelligent life in order to prevent a species from expanding. The plot of the novel begins in 2605, when one of the three ships reaches the space sector of the faction and the syntheticists are presented with the image of a cruel fight on board, which only the ship's commander has survived, as her body is hosted by the machine beings was used. The latter, called "oppressors" or "wolves" by the people, set about the extermination of humanity. Your first target is the planet Resurgam, whose government ignores the impending danger.

In the vicinity of Resurgam, the huge spaceship drives longing for infinity in space , the captain of which has grown together with the ship due to a biomechanical phenomenon. Three people involved in the political intrigues on Resurgam, agent Ana Khouri, members of the "Ultras" faction Ilia Volyova and the anarchist Thorn, wanted by the police, learned of the position of the ship on which Volyova and Khouri had previously served. The three organize an evacuation of the (numerically small) population of Resurgam on the longing for infinity .

On board the ship are the so-called Hell Guns, powerful weapons of mass destruction that Volyova would like to use against the oppressors. The Infernal Guns are also the target of a Synthetic Fleet and the Storm Bird cargo spacecraft , each pursuing different goals. The dispute over the weapons escalates into an armed struggle on board the longing for infinity , which can be settled through negotiations after all-round losses. Volyova is able to use some of the hell's artillery against the oppressors aboard the Storm Bird , but has no success. The novel ends with the evacuated Resurgam refugees colonizing a distant planet.

background

Reynolds Revelation-Space-Cycle takes place in the middle of the third millennium and deals with the expansion of humanity beyond its ancestral solar system and first contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations. Reynolds spans several centuries and jumps back and forth between several storylines. As a trained physicist, he attaches great importance to an extensive, credible presentation of advanced technology. Die Arche tells two storylines that only connect towards the end of the novel. On the one hand the evacuation attempt on Resurgam is described, on the other hand disagreements within a group of prominent synthesizers against the background of the permanent threat from the oppressors. Within the Revelation Space cycle, Die Arche is a continuation of the first novel in the cycle, Infinity .

The English original edition of the novel, like all novels in the Revelation Space cycle, was published under the Gollancz Science Fiction brand by the British Orion Publishing Group. Like the other novels, the German edition was published by Heyne Verlag and the translation was done by Irene Holicki .

reception

The literature portal Phantastik Couch stated that Die Arche would be difficult without first reading Reynolds' debut novel Infinity , as the protagonists and their background stories as well as various storylines would be taken over from Infinity . You also have to "belong to the hard core of science fiction fans" to "enjoy Reynolds' novels". The characters are cold and unapproachable, which turns out to be advantageous in the course of the plot, since the reader can distribute his sympathies by "sober weighing up". All in all, Die Arche is "brilliant science fiction that (almost) cannot be better" and a "milestone of the genre". The weblog Iceberg Ink saw a "captivating" and entertaining first half of the novel, but criticized the fact that from about half of the novel lengths occurred that were due to Reynolds' attention to technical detail. M. John Harrison pointed out for the Guardian that Reynolds "respects science" with his work and does not just think up inventions, but always orientates himself in his presentation of future technology on the theoretical foundations of the natural sciences. Harrison praised the book as a "turbulent, wildly entertaining journey" and placed Reynolds on a par with Philip K. Dick and Alfred Elton van Vogt . He criticized, however, that Reynolds often remained shadowy in the character drawing and in the dialogues and that "every time a new character takes the stage, the plot unfolds again".

Web links

• Entry on the publisher's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Phantastik-Couch.de: Cosmic Conflict - Dark and oppressive. Retrieved September 9, 2016 . 
2. ↑ IcebergInk.Blogspot.de: Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds. Retrieved September 11, 2016 . 
3. ^ TheGuardian.com: Confessions of an astrophysicist. Retrieved September 17, 2016 .