I’m an unabashed fan of Alastair Reynolds’s science fiction. I love how he combines fascinating hard-science worldbuilding, pitch-perfect control of pacing, and characters who hold my interest even when, let’s face it, they’re downright weird. Inhibitor Phase is no exception. Not only that, but it’s readily accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with the previous books set in the Revelation Space universe.

The background is this: The Inhibitors, a ruthless, infinitely patient cybernetic entity, have all but wiped out humankind. Remnants survive by staying hidden and very, very quiet.

When a lone human ship blunders into the Michaelmas system, it’s only a matter of time before the Inhibitors take notice. For thirty years a tiny band of humans has been sheltering in the caverns of an airless, crater-pocked world. Their leader, Miguel de Ruyter, takes one of their few spacecraft to intercept the intruder ship and prevent this catastrophe. Floating in space, he encounters a refugee from the ship—an enigmatic woman who calls herself Glass—and embarks upon a near-suicidal, against-all-odds quest for a weapon against the Inhibitors.

Reynolds writes very, very good space opera, and this book is no exception. It’s longer than some of his other work, with more sprawling action and a ton of inventive details. Many of the entities de Ruyter (not his real name: hint!) encounters are weird, unpredictable, and deliciously alien.

This was my first read by Alastair Reynolds, so I was not sure what to expect. I really enjoyed the beginning. The idea of a group of people trying to hide from extinction from another group called Wolves, and then coming in contact with another group of refugees that might directed the Wolves to the original group. The story kind of falls apart when a character has two identities. Not sure if I will be reading the rest of this series.

Thanks Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity.

When the book says "ah, it's in the same world as X much larger series but it's a separate story that can be read without exposure to the other books" I tend to take that pretty literally. I like Reynolds's writing style, his smart and scientific approach to space opera, and the clever expansion and ideas about a much wider universe inhabited by humans and all their many limitations. In this case, however, my lack of background knowledge does me a great disservice. Around every corner, it felt like there were references to people, places, and events that I wasn't aware of as a new reader in the series. But also there are some strange things (like a character who is actually two people suddenly and without warning, but in a way that makes it feel like the other character revealing this is tricking everyone including the reader) that didn't sit well with me. I would consider revisiting this if I read at least a few books in the massive Revelation Space series, but I couldn't follow it well enough as is.

I really enjoyed this book. IT was my first time reading anything by Alastair Reynolds and I am excited to read more in the future.

The book started off with a lost of mystery and int

Being a longtime Reynolds reader, I was surprised how difficult I found reading the Inhibitor Phase. Mostly the difficulty was, for the prime character, determining which one of his 3 personalities is now speaking. lucky for me I had already read Revelation Space. Not much was revealed about the robotic Inhibitor menace. Recommended only for Reynolds enthusiasts.

It’s been a long time since I read Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space trilogy and I have to admit that I approached this new installment with some trepidation, because I know my memory of details and characters might be faulty: I saw that the author said Inhibitor Phase can be read as a standalone, and that’s partly true, because any reference to the previous works (and also the previous timeline of events) is offered in such a way as to provide enough information without need for lengthy and distracting explanations.

Still, there is a number of details that surface now and then that can shed more light on the background if you are familiar with Revelation Space, and I was pleasantly surprised by the discovery that I remembered much more than I thought possible, which added to my enjoyment of the story. Think of the difference in approach - according to your knowledge of Revelation Space or lack of it - as watching a movie in which the production hid some Easter eggs: old-time fans will recognize them and be delighted, but newcomers will enjoy the story nonetheless.

In the distant future envisioned by Alastair Reynolds, humanity scattered among the stars and made great progress, but encountered two huge dangers in its path: first the Melding Plague, a nanotech virus attacking both machinery and implants with horrifying consequences, particularly for those humans who had chosen to modify their bodies with augmentations. Centuries later, a worse threat manifested itself, that of the Inhibitors, also called “wolves”: hive-mind machines whose only goal was to annihilate any sentient life reaching beyond a certain level of technology. Inhibitor Phase starts a few decades after a devastating war that saw most of humanity succumb.

On the inhospitable world of Michaelmas, Miguel de Ruyter leads a small group of survivors living under the surface, hiding from Inhibitors by leaving as small a tech imprint as possible: when a ship in distress enters the system, Miguel tries to meet and destroy it before the wolves become aware of human activity, but the encounter propels him instead on a dangerous quest across the galaxy in search of a weapon that might one day tilt the balance in favor of humans and remove the Inhibitor threat once and for all. Miguel’s journey starts with something of a leisurely pace, but gains momentum and raises its stakes as it progresses, offering such surprises and revelations that often made me unsure about where the story would take me next - this is the main reason I’m struggling a little with this review because I don’t want to spoil anything: facing this novel with… innocence is indeed the best way to enjoy it.

Story-wise, Inhibitor Phase looks like a cross between a classic quest and a heist: the characters’ final goal is to procure a weapon from the secretive Nestbuilders, a weapon which might prove decisive in the battle against the Inhibitors, but to get there they need other items first, and some of them can only be obtained through dangers and sacrifice, which at times adds a layer of deep pathos to the adventure. There are elements of horror as well, particularly in the section in which the characters need to effect a dangerous exchange among the ruins of Chasm City, which was the background for a previous novel in the series: this encounter with the crime overlord - or rather lady, if you can use such term for this barbarous butcheress and her bloodthirsty Court of Miracles - is one of the most tense, most hair-raising passages in the whole novel.

Still, the adventure, the technological wonders and the obstacles to be overcome take second place in comparison with the personal journey facing the characters: identity is the main theme here, either hidden for personal reasons or convenience, or voluntarily suppressed to forget a dark past - I know I’m being cryptic here, but a few of the characters are not who they look on the surface, or who they think they are… Just as much as the quest for the Nestbuilders’ weapon forces the group to piece together information and parts, so the discovery of who they are, or were, is also a puzzle working slowly but steadily toward showing the reader the complete picture. What ties these different people together - even when they are wary or distrustful of each other - is their willingness to give everything they have to fulfill the goal of ridding the galaxy of the Inhibitor threat, and that spirit of sacrifice shows how much they value the survival of humanity and the potential for hope.

And speaking of humanity, be aware that this term has a far wider meaning here, because the people that once took off from Earth to venture into space have taken many forms in Reynolds’ universe, from the mind-linked Conjoiners to the cyborg-like Ultras. And yet one of the most human characters I encountered in Inhibitor Phase is a hyperpig, the result of past genetic manipulation and part of a race used for menial and dangerous tasks: Pinky (even though that’s not his real name) turned out to be my favorite, not in spite of but because of his gruff attitude that hid the psychological scars of a terrible past, and a great capacity for courage and selflessness. There is a magnificent sentence that defines Pinky perfectly: “You don’t have to be human to be people”, and it’s one that moved me deeply.

While I found that reading Revelation Space was a very immersive experience, sometimes it used to feel too much: too many characters to keep track of, too many narrative threads to follow, too much information - no matter how intriguing - to digest. This new novel in the saga appears almost streamlined when confronted with my recollection of the past, with a tighter pacing and only the barest details: in the end it makes for an enhanced reading experience and a totally engrossing story. I have no idea whether Reynolds intends to move forward with this story - although these premises are just begging to be developed - but if he decides to do so, I will be more than happy to see where he takes me next.

First published in Great Britain in 2021; published by Orbit on October 12, 2021

Over the last 20-plus years, Alastair Reynolds has set several books and stories in the Revelation Space Universe, a troubled place where humanity is always at risk of extinction. Inhibitor Phase is the most recent of four novels, beginning with Revelation Space, that tell an ongoing story within that universe. Reynolds claims that Inhibitor Phase can be read as a standalone, but I think a reader who at least reads Revelation Space will find more meaning in Inhibitor Phase. For example, the significance of Conjoiners (humans with neural implants) and the role that Nevil Clavain played in a war between Conjoiners and non-enhanced humans might be puzzling to someone who isn’t familiar with at least some of the novels. For readers who want to begin at the end and don’t mind spoilers, Reynolds includes a chronology at the end of the book that will catch the reader up on Reynolds’ future history of humankind, including events that occur novels outside of this sequence.

Inhibitor Phase begins in the late 28th century with a fellow named Miguel who doesn’t realize he was once a different man, a man named Warren. Now he’s leading a community of humans living beneath the surface of a planet, trying to protect them from Inhibitors by keeping the humans hidden and quiet. Inhibitors, a/k/a Wolves, are machines that want to destroy and assimilate raw materials used by organic races, very much like the Borg of Star Trek fame. Miguel faces an early moral dilemma (is it acceptable to kill more than 5,000 people to keep 5,000 people hidden and safe?) before he’s taken against his will by a formidable woman named Glass. After Glass tweaks Miguel’s brain, he begins to recall that he was once a soldier (a Sky Marshal, actually) who took on the Conjoiners before he battled his brother. That part of the plot isn’t exactly Antigone, but if a writer is going to borrow ideas, borrowing from the classics is usually smart.

Glass has a plan to take the fight to the Wolves. The plan requires traveling to one planet to gather some stones, to another planet to acquire information, and to another planet in search of a ship that carries a secret weapon. Like much space opera, Inhibitor Phase is sort of a Homeric Odyssey (borrowing from the classics again) as each segment of the journey introduces new perils that the hero must overcome.

Some chapters flash back to Warren’s time as a soldier, when he participated in a clandestine invasion of Mars to free his brother, back when they seemed to be on the same side, before Warren became someone else. Later in the novel Warren becomes someone else still before making a final transformation. Identity is a fluid thing in the Revelation Space universe.

Reynolds gives space opera fans the kind of futuristic action they enjoy while adding enough science to make the action plausible. When a ship flies into the “molten shallows” of a star, Reynolds explains how manipulating “the basic informational granularity of local spacetime” to “swindle the incorruptible bookkeeping of classical and quantum thermodynamics” prevents the ship from melting. For all I know (and I don’t know much), this is gibberish, but gibberish is better than ignoring the unendurable heat of even a star’s photosphere. Other imaginative moments include a weapon concealed in blood that the heroes release by bleeding; a water planet inhabited by entities that function collectively as information storage devices; biologically engineered weapons called ninecats (just as fast and even more fierce than regular cats but a lot less cuddly); and a variety of alien races, the most interesting of which builds nests.

The universe is a big place and it’s been around a long time, even if humankind has not (relatively speaking). Inhibitor Phase is a long book, but a small part of a larger story. It doesn’t complete the story of humanity’s clash with the Wolves, or even advance it much. It does provide the surviving characters with an opportunity to take the fight to the Wolves, something that might happen in the next installment.

Still, Inhibitor Phase does the things that space opera should do. Reynolds offers the usual space opera menu of courage, sacrifice, perseverance, and fighting against long odds because that’s what it means to be human. Perhaps because the themes are so familiar in classic science fiction, the story does not seem particularly fresh. Yet Reynolds occasionally makes the story relevant to the reader’s life, as when he describes an alien race that justifies its atrocities by pretending they never happened (or, in the jargon of modern America, by dismissing their transgressions as “fake news”).

Characters are inclined to give inspirational speeches, as is the custom of space opera heroes. The speeches themselves are too predictable to be meaningful, but I did appreciate the development and evolution of Warren’s character. Before or soon after he became Miguel, he blocked his memories of the horrors of war that he endured and inflicted. When he returns to himself, he must confront moral judgments that he made and ask whether they were correct, whether he can find a path to redemption. That’s the kind of dilemma that science fiction, by stripping away the constraints of realism, can confront more directly than most literary fiction. The story works as an action novel, but it also builds depth from the arc of Warren’s life.

RECOMMENDED

I kept coming across Alastair Reynolds’ name in the reviews of a few trusted SF-reading friends for a while, and eventually gave him a try myself — and yeah, I found his hard-ish SF books fascinating but honestly difficult, a read you have to work for. So maybe it’s why up until now I’ve only read one book in his Inhibitor universe - just the first one, “Revelation Space”, and my memory of it is beyond murky since I neglected to review it (see, that’s why I write reviews - so that there’s a more permanent account of my memory of the book rather than my apparently unreliable brain).

“All our human adventuring was no more than a scuff on the final page; unwarranted, barely noticed.”

When approaching an established series from an almost-newbie vantage point, you risk being hopelessly lost. Lucky for me, Reynolds kindly provides a brief orientation for the newbies on this universe set-up (and if you flip to the back, there are quite a few details filled in in the glossary - although it’s spoilers galore for the rest of the series), and eventually my vague memory of “Revelation Space” did resurface in bits and pieces, helping me along (that uber-weird John the Revelator, for instance). Plus Reynolds showed things just well enough for the reader to be able to piece things together nicely — and yet it is done without any obvious handholding. Yes, I missed a few Easter eggs there (as I’ve learned from Revelation Space wiki later), but it did not affect the understanding and enjoyment of the story, and that says quite a bit about Reynolds’ skill as a storyteller.

About eight centuries in the future the human society, after briefly flourishing interstellarly and surviving the Melding Plague, has fallen prey to the Inhibitors (a.k.a. “the wolves”) - ancient entities working on eliminating spacefaring civilizations. Humanity now survives in tiny hidden pockets as the former hubs of life have been destroyed and ruins of former space habitats drift lifelessly, looking at eventual full extinction. Of course, there are those who find ways to fight back, and given far far future, there are enough ultra-augmented humans (and bioengineered sentient pig descendants, actually) to come up with a way to resist.

“We saw the lights go out, you and I. We have seen the ships stop flying and the worlds fall into silence. One by one we have watched the beacons of civilisation gutter into darkness. We have stood vigil in the twilight. There is no future for us now except a few squalid centuries, and only then if we are very lucky. But the Incantor buys us possibility. It hinges our history onto another track. It may be better, it may even be worse, but the one thing we can be sure of is that it will be different. And if after a few centuries we begin to understand that there have been consequences to our use of the Incantor, we shall meet them. We shall pay for our actions. But we shall have lived, and that is better than the alternative.”

It’s a tight book, despite its respectable size and the action taking place across lightyears and centuries. It steadily builds up and expands its scale in the ever-growing crescendo. It’s full of ideas that are smart, sharp and very strange — just wrap your mind around hyperpigs or Pattern Jugglers and ocean intelligences (was that a nod to “Solaris”, perhaps?) or John the Revelator or whatever Glass actually is.

It is the tried and true narrative form - a quest for relics (McGuffin, yes — but who cares?) to save the world, carried out by a ragtag band of survivors, but it’s done on a vast scale and with the entirety of whatever’s left of formerly spacefaring humanity at stake, and against a seemingly unbeatable foe for which millions of years might as well be eyeblinks. It’s rooting for ultimate underdog on cosmic scale — but scientifically enhanced underdogs in possession of lighthuggers and near-invincible spacesuits and implanted neural networks. And the world’s creepiest and most revolting interrupted space barbecue (yeah, I’m using levity here to distance myself from the horror).

It’s a cruel and bleak world that Reynolds depicts. And it’s populated by characters who are cold, cruel and unlikable — until you realize that despite all that you have formed connections with them and that you learned to see through gruff and offputting exterior to shreds of decency underneath.

“We’re fighting monsters. We don’t have to become monsters ourselves.”

It was a slow read for me, but overall quite enjoyable. Reynolds avoids the omnipresent elsewhere excitement of humor or sex or space battles, instead focusing on doggedly determined pursuit of the goal, friendship and alliance bonds and grim seriousness — and it all works very well for the atmosphere here.

And yes, I will have to return to this universe starting with the reread of “Revelation Space” and going on to actually meet all those people present here in tantalizing glimpses.

“Presumably none of their previous funeral ceremonies had had to contend with an overly loquacious pig, and they had no contingency in place.”

4 stars.

————

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book.

I have a hard time believing that Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space trilogy is already 20 years old, or that I read them that long ago. His latest, Inhibitor Phase is set after the third book in that series, Absolution Gap, with those small pockets of humanity that haven't been wiped out by the alien Inhibitor machines, aka wolves, doing their best to survive in secret.

One such pocket is buried beneath the surface of Michaelmas and consists of only a few thousand people led by Miguel de Ruyter. Tensions quickly escalate when they receive a signal broadcasting a ship's approach and the arrival of a mysterious woman named Glass, who demands Miguel accompany her on a mission she promises will spell the end of the Inhibitor threat.

Glass is a fascinating character, one initially shrouded in mystery. Reynolds does a marvelous job of keeping the intrigue high while slowly peeling back the various layers of who, exactly, Glass is and, equally important, what she wants. Smartly, we learn about her through the first-person POV via the eyes of Miguel, who is just as lost as readers and joins us on this voyage of discovery. Of course, Miguel has plenty of his own secrets and proves to be every bit as compelling as the beguiling woman who has snatched him away from the life and family he has built in this small, underground commune.

Set against the backdrop of the larger Revelation Space story, the wolves are presented largely as an existential threat here, although we do get a few hints of their activities and some action-oriented set pieces involving them. But like Reynolds other works, Inhibitor Phase is far more cerebral, heavy, and methodically paced than your average space-based actioneers. Glass's mission is largely a MacGuffin, although we do get a pair of nifty heist sequences out of it. The primary focus is on its central characters and their place in this cold, desolate universe as they struggle to survive.

Although Reynolds states in his preface that his hope is for readers to be able to read Inhibitor Phase independently of the Revelation Space trilogy, I do believe readers who are familiar with those prior books will find more to enjoy here. In fact, with so many years removed from that trilogy and Reynolds larger body of work in general, I found myself wishing more than a few times that I had clearer memories of the Revelation Space universe and its characters. I came away from Inhibitor Phase satisfied, but with the resolution that, one of these days, I really need to make the time to revisit those books and pull subsequent entries out of my TBR, particularly Galactic North, and, you know, pretty much everything else Reynolds has written... It's been too many damn years since I lost myself in this guy's universe and desperately need to fix that.

I have read Revelation Space years ago, so don't remember it all that well. But I do remember, that I enjoyed it, and several other books by Reynolds since then.
While it is set in the same universe as RS, this is a stand-alone story, so ypu don't have to worry about getting confused.
Mr Reynolds knows his science and knows how to write a great story. This book proves again, that he is one of the best space opera writers of today.

I would like to thank the author and Net Galley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book. Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite SF authors.

The book follows Miguel de Ruyter who fled to a reclused, battered world Michaelmas with his family and a small community. He had fled from alien machines called Inhibitors which had nearly eliminated humanity. Even the tiniest display of technology would reactivate the Inhibitors, so this community stayed hidden to avoid destruction.

One day, a spaceship passed their system and Miguel set out to destroy it before it would bring unwanted attention. He finds a lone mysterious survivor who seems to know about him and his past.
To protect his family, he needs to leave them behind and follow the survivor on a quest against the Inhibitors.

This is a follow up novel in the Revelation Space series although the connection was not entirely obvious to me. It is written with ever increasing tension, starting slowly, building up the tension step by step, never letting your attention wander around. Be prepared for a mind-blowing ending.

There are a number of strong, entertaining side characters stealing the show: Pinky is a sardonic, absolutely loyal uplifted swine (of which there a many called “hyperpigs”) and Glass with her superpowers. They deliver a lot of relentless action and thrills. Together with Miguel, they have a lot to say about identity and transformation.

You will get hard science fiction set in a Space Opera setting, with so many brilliant, vivid aliens, technology, ships, and space! It's definitely entertaining, engaging and memorable. Look forward to Reynolds' next outing!

<b>3.5 Stars</b>
While Inhibitor Phase is part of the larger Revelation Space series, the author has stated that it can be read as a standalone or entry point to the universe. Knowing this, I picked up this new release as my first Reynolds.

However I have a strong feeling that my impression of this novel was lessened by my lack of previous knowledge about the universe. It was not that I was ever truly confused, but rather that I lacked a sense of full immersion. I just always felt like I was missing something. Saying this, I am intending to read through the Revelation Space books and will come back to re-review this one once I have a fuller understanding of the universe.

In terms of the writing and worldbuilding, I was immediately impressed. It's clear why Reynolds has built such a name for himself in the genre. The universe is detailed and expansive, which makes me excited to read more of work.

For such a sprawling piece of space opera, I was quite happy by the intimacy of the character work. I thought the main character was quite likeable and good perspective to read from

In terms of the story itself, I absolutely loved the setup but I lost stream about 30% in and struggled to hold my immersion. Again I feel my struggle with the plot largely stemmed from my lack of background with the universe.

Readers of the previous books will undoubtedly have a different experience than me and I would certainly recommend this book to them. For me, I still liked it, but it's clear that I need to go through the rest of the series before I can fully appreciate this one. Expect a re-review from me in the future.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Miguel de Ruyter has been hiding with a group of human survivors in a cave on Michaelmas for the past 30 years. Human interstellar civilization is practically gone after relentless attacks by the “wolves,” aliens machines bent on total extermination. When a spaceship comes near enough to their planet to draw dangerous attention, Miguel volunteers to destroy it to protect his people. But what happens next takes him on a journey across the universe to take on the very wolves they thought were indestructible.

This was my first Alastair Reynolds books and it is a part of universe of several interconnected series. I appreciated that is book came with a forward explaining some aspects of the back story from the other books without giving spoilers. This book was slow to start for me, but I’ve seen that this is common in Reynold’s books as he “builds up the sense of dread.” I enjoyed reading it in the end. This book is definitely great for readers who like their sci-fi heavy on the sci, and would appeal to die hard space opera fans.

I don't think I need to say much about this other than -- Reynolds! If you like space opera, 'nuf said. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free review copy!!

Thank you to Orbit and the author for providing a copy for review.

A preface, first. I've read two books by Alastair Reynolds before, <i>House of Suns</i> and <i>Pushing Ice</i>. The former is one of the best books I've ever read, and everything else I've read (including the latter novel, which I didn't like <i>as</i> much) has been somewhat overshadowed by that sentiment.

I think it's for that reason as much as anything else that I had been holding off on diving into his longer form series. But I had a chance to read this book and I figured I might as well start with something that the author considers a good entry point into this particular universe. For the most part, the preface to that effect at the beginning of the book was accurate. I speak from first hand experience when I say that you can read - and more importantly, <i>enjoy</i> - this novel without having read any other Revelation Space book before. From what I was able to glean, this story centers on a character which will (eventually) be familiar to long time series fans but removed enough from events in the previous novels to serve as a pretty good stand-in for readers unfamiliar with the larger universe. I couldn't shake the feeling - and I can't call this a negative because I was very literally warned at the beginning - that you will enjoy this book on a whole other level if you've read at least the prior works in the main series before, because you will pick up on context that someone like myself will have missed due to lack of prior knowledge and experience with a lot of the supporting cast of characters.

I don't think any of matters all too much in the grand scheme of things though, because there are <i>a lot</i> of really cool ideas and concepts here that don't require any prior knowledge to enjoy. I think what I enjoyed most about <i>House of Suns</i> if I stop to think about it is the way your understanding of the universe and wider world is gradually filled in as the story progresses, and the full scope and meaning of ideas introduced previously become clear and understood. That sort of thing is on full display in <i>Inhibitor Phase</i> as well and it happens often enough that it keeps you engaged even if you're not necessarily getting the full impact of certain scenes.

The story starts one way before it morphs into something altogether different, and honestly that process of transformation continues throughout the story, helpfully broken up into distinct sections, all of which feature at least one (and frequently more) of those cool ideas I mentioned. For the most part, it's paced well enough to keep you reading, although it does get bogged down a tad toward the end.

There is one exception, and that's the ending. Now, from what I've been able to gather, Alastair is rather (in)famous for the way he ends his novels, in particular those in this universe. The general consensus being: he doesn't. I'm starting to see a little bit of what those people might mean, because you could argue that there is an entire chapter missing from the end of this novel. I mean, look, the ending is at least <i>fine</i>. It's not terrible. But depending on your point of view this book either ends right after, or right before, what should have been the climax and it's hard not to walk away a little disappointed that the resolution and payoff of the entire journey undertaken throughout this novel is resolved off-<s>screen</s> page, as it were. I'm being deliberately vague here but anyone who's finished the book will know what I mean. I'm sure prior fans of the series could have told me that this is (apparently) par for the course, but it sticks out because the rest of the book is pretty well crafted, honestly.

To summarize, yes, you can read this book standalone, if you've ever wanted to check out the RS universe. In fact, if you don't want to commit to at least three(?) prior books first I recommend you do that. It may make you want to read the rest of what you've missed (I probably will before reading the following book after this one). But you'll get more out of it if this isn't your first RS book, enough so that maybe it's worth taking the long way around to it after all. And you'll have to make up your own climax/ending. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Alistair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe gets a welcome addition with Inhibitor Phase. It's a stand-alone story, like many of the rest, but it takes place during the Inhibitor War, shortly after the events of Absolution Gap. There is a lot of continuity between the two stories, but it isn't necessary to have read AG before reading IP.

Reynolds plotting is fast paced, the people playing part in this story are interesting, and I was on the edge of my seat to see how the story would end. Reynolds hints at vastly advanced technologies, but wastes very little time trying to explain any of it. If you enjoy stories that toss you in at the deep end without first subjecting you to infodumps, you'll be happy with Inhibitor Phase.

I enjoyed the story a lot. Strongly recommended.

Thank you to Net Galley and Orbit Books for the ERC approval, in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This book blew the barn doors open on the Revelation Space series previously written. It unassumingly brought in characters from the past I was 100 percent not expecting.

The gist is that we are further down the RS timeline in a hidden colony of rare humans trying to survive the ever hunting inhibitors from dealing a death blow to possibly one of the last groups of humans.

As the book starts, Miguel De Ruyter is attempting to save his settlement by ensuring its not found by others in a very extreme manner. During this event, his future becomes somewhat entangled with a very mysterious person/survivor named “Glass”.


UK cover design: http://www.blacksheep-uk.com/
What follows is an Odyssey of exploration through the remains of a destroyed, but advanced civilization that is at times very scary, horrible, magnificent, majestic, wondrous, and always nail-biting. Reynolds hit a home run, more like a bottom of the ninth, two out, down by 3, world series Grand Slam.

It has been a couple years since I went through all of the Revelation Space books, as a result, I was frustratingly forgetful about some of the key events. I believe I also read them out of sequence in some way as well as I didn’t realize what I was in for initially when I started them. I know I started with “Revelation Space” but I am not sure what order I read the rest of them as I didn’t realize they were all connected. I hope to re-read the series in order before too long, especially after reading Inhibitor Phase.

I kept enough of past characters and events to easily stay engaged and follow along though. Reynolds absolutely brought me back to that amazement and surreal atmosphere of previous RS books, but comfortably added to this grand cycle of far future human odyssey.

There are so many insanely crazy things to talk about in this book. If you haven’t yet read the past Alastair Reynolds stuff in this series, but are looking for an incredible space opera/science fiction read, this one fits the bill. Even without the past knowledge, you can be sure that you will get more out of this book than you will expect.


Do I dare divulge some of this madness to entice you? Of course. But, in order to avoid spoilers, I have to avoid talking about all these crazy things. I can say “John The Revelator” though, as well as “The Pattern Jugglers” and even “Nest Builders” “Ararat” “Spaceship” “Sleepers” and, I know I’m walking the line on revelaing too much but here it goes: “Quantum”.

Don’t blame me for almost giving the book away there, my review must have some component of the books material in order to make this even halfway entertaining. I mean, It’s the book you want to read, not the review. But when Mr. Reynolds writes a book, I am here to read it and in this case, command you if I could to read it too. I will settle for a simple 5 star recommendation in this case though.

My only criticism would fall at the end. The ending was a great fit and the tension was rising all the way to the finish. I guess I wanted an ending that led to a new revelation, to the beginning of a new series. Admittedly that would be very hard to do when humans have all but disappeared, but with hope and at least a few earthly people swinging around the universe, there is a chance for more. Of course, within what’s already been created, there are many characters and mysteries that have a backdrop that would welcome a book written around them, but that’s not up to me, is it?

"Inhibitor Phase" by Alastair Reynolds is the exact type of hard scifi space opera that I live for. Although this book is the tenth by Reynolds to take place in the Revelation Space Universe, it reads well as a standalone. If this is your first experience with this series (this was my first!), then definitely pay attention to the author's preface where he explains that he wrote this to be independent, and lays out the background that after hundreds of years of space development while "exploring the ruins of a vanished alien civilization" humanity found a deadly rival in the "remorseless cube-shaped replicating machines...that begin culling humanity".

"Inhibitor Phase" has what I need in space opera: life/death struggle for survival of the species, interstellar travel, hard core science, near magical nano-tech, neuro-hacking, a variety of aliens, a comfortably quirky and ultra high-tech spaceship, robots, and out-of-control alien nanobots!

I have enjoyed other novels and short stories by Alastair Reynolds, but this one really took my breath away. I am now on a mission to track down and read the other nine books in the Revelation Space Universe before reading other books by Reynolds.

I offer many thanks to the publisher and author for providing an electronic review copy of this book. Thank you!

It's been 21 years since Revelation Space was published?! Don't worry if it's been that long since you've read it; Inhibitor Phase perfectly walks the line between "sequel" and "standalone." The characters are as complex and fascinating as ever, while never quite crossing over to truly likeable. I typically prefer hard sci fi (and the harder, the better), but this book pushes the boundary of "extremely advanced science = magic" while remaining believable. If you're a longtime Alastair Reynolds fan, you'll have plenty to enjoy: deep concepts, complex characters, but mostly a story about a group careening around the galaxy with an extremely focused (and slightly mysterious) mission. Don't miss it.

Note: This review contains spoilers.

“All civilizations move to an accommodation of their past atrocities. Some do it by acceptance, some by forgetting.” In Alastair Reynolds’ new novel Inhibitor Phase, this is also true of individual characters. The first-person protagonist, Miguel de Ruyter, has a past which is not known to anyone in his current life, including himself. His situation is well developed before he and the reader begin to learn the truth. Due to sufficient time spent without that foreknowledge, I began to identify with Miguel, and so was taken along on his ride through several wild life-transitions.

In spite of his declared intention that this be a stand-alone novel, this novel does fit into the shared universe and story-line of Alastair Reynolds’ larger body of work. The Inhibitors are a galaxy-wide post-organic distributed machine race whose goal is to confine intelligent life to individual planets, in order to enable life-preserving interventions during a crisis 3 billion years in the future when the Milky Way will collide with Andromeda Galaxy. They achieve this by exterminating civilizations as they emerge into the interstellar arena. Reynolds has set a few stand-alone novels in the Revelation Space universe, but this one is set in time after Absolution Gap (2003), third of a trilogy, and after eighteen years extends the Inhibitor story-line to a fourth book. If you come upon the book as a stand-alone, you can read it and make sense of it, but will miss out on the fact that Reynolds is returning to, and extending, some previously established characters, concepts, and events.

In the novel, we follow first-person protagonist Miguel de Ruyter, who is a leader among a community of humans hiding from the Inhibitors on an airless and barely inhabitable planet. The narrative is chronological and single-track (not always the case with Reynolds), as eventually his experiences take him into the wider conflict with the Inhibitors. However, there is a minor but important subplot set centuries earlier, in a human/post-human conflict on Mars. This ties to a 2000 short story by Reynolds entitled “The Great Wall of Mars.” The story is background to several Revelation Space novels, and can be found in his collection Galactic North (2006).

As enthused as I was to enjoy the dizzying astrophysical travel, desperate conflicts and personality braiding of Reynolds’ style of space opera, I grew somewhat dissatisfied with the ending. This seems to be a pattern for me, as I had a similar response to the ending of his Poseidon’s Wake (2015). It is as if his writing style is more suited to endless plot turns than conclusion. “Kind of a big deal not to have mentioned that” Pinky observed. “Glass never concealed any part of it. You just didn’t ask the right questions of her.” So, Glass has been carrying around a pivotal secret weapon and a merged Slug personality throughout the novel and that is only exposed in the heat of the final battle? This comes close to Deus ex machina. And “They have a name for themselves, but it would break our sanity to utter it. Call them slugs.” So, just saying their name out loud induces insanity? That sounds like a magic incantation. There is room for a fifth novel, although the setting and the Inhibitor story-arc would of necessity evolve further.

I read an Advance Reader Copy of Inhibitor Phase, by Alastair Reynolds in ebook, which I received from Hachette Book Group (Orbit) through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 12 October 2021.