Bookshelf: Century Rain

I picked up Alastair Reynold's novel Century Rain at the airport. I quite like the author; I'm still going through his earlier effort, Absolution Gap. (And haven't read the latest, Pushing Ice.)

Century Rain doesn't take place in the same Revelation Space continuum as the body of his work does. It is much simpler in terms of plot complexity and characters than his space opera outings are.

The book was a good holiday read, easily digested. It didn't always feel convincing, though: it seemed to lack a character or two and there was a bit of running on empty. The portrayal of Paris in the 1950s didn't really hold, either. I felt the author was dropping French names to sound authoritative, without success. The future stuff held some crunchy bits, but overall I was a little underwhelmed. Not a bad effort, but I was expecting more. In the end, it feels like the author needed a break.