House of Suns

[MacGregor]

I just finished House if Suns by Alistair Reynolds. An awesome book! Lots of OA similar themes IMO. Anyone else read it?

[Drashner1]

Yuppers. I read it some years ago and very much enjoyed it. Although I enjoyed the Revelation Space books, their dark future/unhappy ending plots always bothered me a bit. House of Suns describes a much more hopeful future with some awesome vistas hinted at.

[erskordi]

House of Suns is a great book! The idea about the reason of the voids' existence in the universe was quite thought-provoking (I won't elaborate since it will spoil it for those who haven't read it yet)

[stevebowers]

Yes.
One idea that Reynolds uses that we should incorporate into OA more is the replacement of one culture by another, after a collapse, The older, vanished culture leaves behind damaged and inactive relics that are mostly ignored by the newer inhabitants; but sometimes they are worth studying.

[DSPE]

Yes.
One idea that Reynolds uses that we should incorporate into OA more is the replacement of one culture by another, after a collapse, The older, vanished culture leaves behind damaged and inactive relics that are mostly ignored by the newer inhabitants; but sometimes they are worth studying.

This reminds of the "Averil" story that Nyeti is writing

[Nyeti]

Yes.
One idea that Reynolds uses that we should incorporate into OA more is the replacement of one culture by another, after a collapse, The older, vanished culture leaves behind damaged and inactive relics that are mostly ignored by the newer inhabitants; but sometimes they are worth studying.

This reminds of the "Averill" story that Nyeti is writing

Yeah, I love the idea of deep historical time and I've got a fascination for ancient cultures, especially those from before the Bronze Age Collapse. Think of places like Avebury, where a Neolithic monument was settled by mediaeval farmers, or Aleppo, which has been a city longer than anyone can remember.
The backstory of Averill actually only covers about 1400 years - not an extremely long time for OA nor indeed for me as a Brit!

I clearly should read House of Suns. MacGregor, you're not the first person I've heard recommend it.

[DSPE]

Yes.
One idea that Reynolds uses that we should incorporate into OA more is the replacement of one culture by another, after a collapse, The older, vanished culture leaves behind damaged and inactive relics that are mostly ignored by the newer inhabitants; but sometimes they are worth studying.

This reminds of the "Averill" story that Nyeti is writing

Yeah, I love the idea of deep historical time and I've got a fascination for ancient cultures, especially those from before the Bronze Age Collapse. Think of places like Avebury, where a Neolithic monument was settled by mediaeval farmers, or Aleppo, which has been a city longer than anyone can remember.

Indeed! Deep time is really surreal to reflect on

[stevebowers]

Yeah, I love the idea of deep historical time and I've got a fascination for ancient cultures, especially those from before the Bronze Age Collapse. Think of places like Avebury, where a Neolithic monument was settled by mediaeval farmers, or Aleppo, which has been a city longer than anyone can remember.

My wife is always dragging me off to visit Neolithic sites. Went to one yesterday, in fact; the north henge at Thornborough is now administered by English Heritage, so it is fully open for visitors.

OA Deep Time is a bit different to the Neolithic, though; a significant fraction of written records and other data will survive into the Current Era, even if there are many details that have been lost.