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Alastair Reynolds

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Elysium Fire (The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Alastair Reynolds (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 2 of 3: The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies

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Elysium Fire is a smoldering tale of murderers, secret cultists, tampered memories, and unthinkable power, of bottomless corruption and overpowering idealism from the king of modern space opera.

Ten thousand city-state habitats orbit the planet Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise.

But even utopia needs a police force. For the citizens of the Glitter Band that organization is Panoply, and the prefects are its operatives.

Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats and their hundred million citizens, people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants. And these "melters" leave no clues behind as to the cause of their deaths. . .

As panic rises in the populace, a charismatic figure is sowing insurrection, convincing a small but growing number of habitats to break away from the Glitter Band and form their own independent colonies.

Book 2 of 3

The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies
Print length

415 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Orbit
Publication date

January 23, 2018
File size

1730 KB
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Editorial Reviews

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"This novel's ideas are mind-stretching, including a limbo where copies of the dead can be kept and interrogated, and a chillingly mischievous AI that tempts and mocks Dreyfus. The big concepts and complex story effectively pull readers into intriguing speculation about human identity and potential."―Publishers Weekly

"Reynolds combines depth in characterization and dazzling hard-science applications to keep the reader turning pages."―Booklist

"Elysium Fire is a tremendously assured read, a fast-paced page-turner that delivers a well thought out story and characters you'll come to care about."―The Guardian (UK)

"A swashbuckling thriller--Pirates of the Caribbean meets Firefly--that nevertheless combines the author's trademark hard SF with effective, coming-of-age characterization."―The Guardian on Revenger

"Revenger is classic Reynolds-that is to say, top of the line science fiction, where characters are matched beautifully with ideas and have to find their place in a complex future. More!"―Greg Bear on Revenger

"A leading light of the new British space opera."
―Los Angeles Review of Books on Alastair Reynolds

"One of the giants of the new British space opera."
―io9 on Alastair Reynolds

"[Reynolds is] a mastersinger of the space opera."
―The Times (UK) on Blue Remembered Earth

"Heir to writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, Reynolds keeps up the tradition of forward thinking... An immensely thrilling, mind-bending piece of work."
―AV Club on House of Suns

"[Reynolds] is the most gifted hard SF writers working today."
―Publishers Weekly on Beyond the Aquila Rift

About the Author

Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, in 1966. He studied at Newcastle and St. Andrews Universities and has a Ph.D. in astronomy. he stopped working as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency to become a full-time writer. Revelation Space and Pushing Ice were shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award; Revelation Space, Absolution Gap, Diamond Dogs, and Century Rain were shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award, and Chasm City won the British Science Fiction Award.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073P43TMS
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit; 1st edition (January 23, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 23, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1730 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 415 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #69,558 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #273 in Space Exploration Science Fiction eBooks
- #601 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books)
- #699 in First Contact Science Fiction eBooks

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Alastair Reynolds

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Alastair Reynolds was born in Wales in 1966. He has a Ph.D. in astronomy. From 1991 until 2007, he lived in The Netherlands, where he was employed by The European Space Agency as an astrophysicist. He is now a full-time writer.

Photo by Robert Day [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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4.3 out of 5

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Richard Irwin

Reynolds is one of the best and this book is no exception

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2018

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This book returns us to the author's well thought-out Revelation Space universe. It takes place in the Glitter Band which encompasses thousands of city-state wordlets orbiting the planet Yellowstone.

The book is a self-contained novel which takes place a few years after the events in "The Prefect" and features the same main character, Tom Dreyfus, as well as Thalia Ng and Sparver Bancal.

The Glitter Band is a near utopia with direct voting by its citizens. Its security is handled by the Panoply which consists of a relatively small number of agents called Prefects of which Dreyfus is one of the best.

In this story seemingly random citizens are suddenly dying in a bizarre fashion as their neural implants are frying their brains. Although the plot is good rather than great, Reynolds makes this an outstanding read with his well-drawn characters, a well-realized futuristic society, and great writing.

4 people found this helpful

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Tghu Verd

An interesting glimpse into the Glitter Band before it was disbanded

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2018

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I enjoyed this, and maybe it's nostalgia, but the Glitter Band did not seem as bright and alive as I recall Reynolds original Revelation Space novels being. That original novel ran to just over 500-pages and seemed more densely packed with inventive descriptive detail than "Elysium Fire."

Possibly it is my memory is playing tricks, but it remains that the protagonist, Inspector Dreyfus, is the classic 'strong, silent, competent' archetype male lead that drives many sci fi adventure/mysteries, and it helps that he has both a painful past holding him back, and a literal ghost in the machine hounding his moves. I'm not sure I'd describe him as "one of Alastair Reynolds most popular characters", which the blurb does, but he's interesting enough and certainly gets it done.

The mystery here is why people are inexplicably dying, and whether Dreyfus - and his fellow Prefect's - can figure out how to stop it before the apparent contagion decimates the population and the Glitter Band descends into chaos. We are privy to an interesting backstory that is both deceptive and insightful. And I liked that it looped around nicely in a way that reminded me of the movie "Predestination".

Dreyfus and crew have a middling level of high-tech gadgets and weapons, but this is primarily an intellectual puzzle, not an action adventure. There is action, and quite a lot of it, but don't expect military-grade warfare or personal super-suits. It is the fact that Dreyfus is vulnerable and easily damaged that adds tension to the plot. He also relies a lot on intuition, which tips him into continual conflict with the boss as he can't call out the 'why' of his reasoning, but is ultimately justified, so he comes out vindicated...kind of. That looping ending includes a nice Möbius twist that was hard to see coming. In fact, you have to pay attention to unravel it, even with the narrative providing an explanation.

There are a lot of baddies and red herrings and misdirection in "Elysium Fire" and that makes it a good mystery. The sci fi is an interesting background for the characters to act against, but this is not particularly powerful sci fi in the sense of making a statement about the meaning of life. Instead, it's a gritty, personal journey and motivation so the emotional content resonates in the here and now, even if the police have AI whip-hounds and space ships.

Definitely one for Reynolds fans, and for anyone who likes locked-box sci fi mysteries. My only gripe is the price of the Kindle version. Reynolds is good, but this is way more expensive than comparably excellent novels from the likes of M.D. Cooper or M. R. Forbes.

23 people found this helpful

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Charles Boyer

Prefect Dreyfus On The Case Again

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2018

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"Elysium Fire" is an excellent book set in the "Revelation Space" universe created by Alistair Reynolds. It's a prequel of sorts, a book set in earlier times than many of Reynolds' Revelation Space novels, and it serves to illustrate many of the concepts and events that happen in those books. For those of us who have found those novels and their settings intriguing, "Elysium Fire" makes them even more so.

That's not to say that "Elysium Fire" is not intriguing in its own right -- it very much is. This book is at its heart a detective novel with noir-ish overtones, with Prefect Tom Dreyfus at its center. Without giving the plot away, Dreyfus must solve the case to preserve the Glitter Band, and doing so takes him down innumerable rabbit holes, including one personal one that is not an easy journey.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interesting in solidly written science fiction, and I'd tell any fan of Revelation Space that they'll love it.

2 people found this helpful

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a scientist

Not quite as good as The Prefect, but still worth reading

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2018

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Not quite as good as The Prefect, but that's a high bar to try and hit. From any other author this would be a home run: tight plotting, a gripping story, great characters, and a fully realized universe. From Alastair Reynolds, who can be brilliant, it's a little disappointing. It lacks some of the verve of the original and rests a little bit on those laurels.

The story is very much a police procedural set in space, but not quite Peter F. Hamilton. It still has some of Reynold's hallmark imagination and there's a couple of twists, only one of which is telegraphed so clearly that you'll see it coming from chapter three. People all over the Glitter Band are dropping dead for no apparent reason, and there doesn't even seem to be a connection between the victims. Fortunately, the victims can be interviewed after they die. Unfortunately, they don't know much. Fortunately, a virtually omniscient omnipresent artificial intelligence (from the first book) knows a bit more. Unfortunately, this AI has no motivation to help. Fortunately, despite very grim odds, the Prefect is very good at his job.

I usually enjoy Reynold's books and this is no exception. Recommended.

One person found this helpful

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mugglermenace

great reads

Reviewed in Canada on February 2, 2024

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Enjoyed both books in the series, good detective storys and sci-fi too. Enjoyed them so much I’ve downloaded chasm city for a re-read

Kindle Customer

Highly enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2024

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The return of Dreyfus, and to the Glitter Band in all its utopian dystopia, consequences, the thin line between order and chaos is stretched again!

Nooboddly

He still got it

Reviewed in Germany on June 9, 2019

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Normalerweise, gibt es bei jedem SciFi Autor der erfolgreich ist, irgendwann denn Karriere Knick. Ein Vertrag für X-Bücher ist an Land gezogen, der wichtigste Award steht im Regal und die Bücher verlanden langsam, hörren auf neue Themen zu erforschen, neue Horror zu erkunden. Das Wandfüllende Bild des einen, großen Universums ist gemalt, jeder weitere Pinselstricht wie ein Gitterstab der zukünftige Geschichten immer mehr eingrenzt. Mit diesem Wissen ausgestattet, geht man an Spätere Werke wie ein Bomben entschärfer. Umso hoch erfreulicher ist es hier einen zu sehen, der es noch drauf hat. Diese Art SciFi zu erzählen, dieses Geflecht aus Historie einer zukünftigen Gesellschaft, erzählt über die Familienmitglieder und Tagesschicksale, ist immer noch unübertroffen.

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carlo arrighi

Un altro passo indietro

Reviewed in Italy on February 22, 2018

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Diciamoci l'amara verità: dopo esser stato anche, nel suo campo, uno scrittore popolare, Al Reynolds sta tirando i remi in barca. Questo è il seguito di un libro che mi è piaciuto moltissimo, The Prefect, ed è, almeno nelle intenzioni, l'inizio di una serie. E' come se Reynolds avesse scelto consapevolmente di adagiarsi a un livello più basso dei suoi standard più impegnativi: non si riesce a capire perchè. Elysium, così lungo, e intriso di tecnologia del futuro, non diverrà certo un bestseller. Allora perchè? Giunto a oltre cinquant'anni, il buon Al pare avviato a una carriera di routine, forse frustrato dalla mancanza di successo dei suoi ultimi libri.
Com'è Elysium? E' un poliziesco procedurale che esamina un caso che, all'inizio minaccioso, si rivela poi una una vendetta privata senza rilievo per la società della Glitterband. Ha alcuni elementi degni di nota: per esempio varie invenzioni di meccanismi futuri alla stregua di Heinlein (la padrona di casa che crea una sedia fatta apposta per l'ospite), ma, forse in maniera più interessante, il fatto che i delitti sono originati da un incredibile sadismo esercitato dai plutocrati della situazione, con la complicità di alcuni altri ricchi cinici e annoiati. C'è anche un interessante discorso sul potere: il sistema di democrazia elettronica assolutamente perfetto è influenzabile da parte degli eredi di chi l'ha creato, il che pone delle questioni problematiche. Forse la democrazia va corretta da una elite che vede di più dei comuni cittadini? Ma tutto questo viene soffocato dalle strutture rigide di un giallo assai misero e poco interessante, che non ha neanche sorprese finali. Un'indagine di routine, per questo futuro. Tutti gli spunti vengono lasciati cadere e la vicenda si risolve in uno scambio d'identità fra fratelli mostri (creati dagli Amerikani!).
Alla fine, una piena delusione.

4 people found this helpful

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Terence Blake

WONDER vs CATHARSIS

Reviewed in France on January 28, 2018

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ELYSIUM FIRE (Prefect Dreyfus Emergency 2) by Alastair Reynolds is a worthy sequel to THE PREFECT. It presents us once again with a gripping story, full of impatience-provoking suspense and surprising reversals.

However, most of the necessary world building was done in THE PREFECT, so the sense of wonder, so ably conveyed by Reynolds, is diminished if one has read the first volume, which managed to combine harmoniously both wonder and intrigue. The sequel is much more explanatory than THE PREFECT. If the stylistic ideal for fiction is show, don't tell, in this second volume we have more telling, less showing, and the harmonious balance is lost.

New elements include duplicitous sub-plot concerning two morally ambiguous brothers who are brought up in a vast mansion full of dark secrets within secrets and strange technology, that recalls Gene Wolfe's novella "The Fifth Head of Cerberus". There is a similar exploration of the complex relations between identity, doubles, and memory.

(The SFFaudio Podcast episode #439 contains a very interesting discussion of the Gene Wolfe novella).

The theme of doubles is repeated in the ethical and legal concerns over the ontological status and the rights of digital copies of people, and the potential blurring of the notions of sentience, responsibility, and culpability.

There is also a shift of emphasis in the analysis of democracy. Whereas THE PREFECT expanded on the potentiality of a technology-assisted democracy to produce extreme living choices, ELYSIUM FIRE focuses more on the loopholes and failings such as the power of demagogy, the identitarian will to secession, and the manipulation of information.

One of the sub-plots that was foregrounded in the the first volume, that of the battle between two vast distributed artificial intelligences (Aurora and the Clockmaker), is carried over into this volume but remains mostly in the background. Its continued but unresolved presence suggests a formulaic plot device capable of generating at least a third "Prefect Dreyfus Emergency" novel, or even more.

This development promises to reinforce the primacy of intrigue over cosmo-technical invention that characterises this second volume, and so perhaps to a further decline in science-fictional wonderment in favour of police procedural excitement and catharsis.

In short ELYSIUM FIRE is an enthralling novel that makes one want to race through the book and to finish it in as few sittings as possible. It comes close to, but does not fully match, the balance of speculative invention and suspense-filled intrigue that made the first book such a successful fusion of sf and detective genres.

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Elysium Fire (The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies Book 2) Kindle Edition

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