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Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds



Yet another brilliant novel from Alastair Reynolds, but one that for me held a tinge of sad bleakness. Why? Because it's the endgame for the universe (possibly), most of life is gone, wiped out, with just pockets of humanity surviving in hollowed out worlds or similar.

Until danger comes their way in the form of a ship, exposing them to the dangers of discovery by the inhibitors and annihilation. One man goes to ensure that the ship never reaches their world, but things never go as they are planned and his actions have consequences that reach far into his future and beyond.

There is much depth to this story, but I think I may have read the authors mind at some point, because I had such Deja vu with one section of the story, that I was sure I had already read the book. And really I hadn't because I had no idea how the book was going to proceed after that section ended!

The characters are many and varied, some we stay with for a long while, others whom even though we grow to like them as we learn more about them, don't stay so long. But they make an impression and are remembered as the story keeps moving on.

The world building has been going on for years with this series of books and there is so much that readers new to it will want to go back to read, but it won't detract from this story to read it as it stands, if that is what the reader wants. Myself, I think I preferred to have read them all so that I know what went before and can appreciate how far the universe has fallen since the great heights of the previous centuries. And that is where the sadness creeps in, as the darkness of eternity looms cold and empty.

But the book is ace! So go read it, it's extremely well written and very clever.

I hope that there is a next one!

" ‘They’re here,’ she said, taking a step back from her work. ‘They’re here and they want to break in.’ Her tone became quietly accusatory. ‘It means you failed, Miguel. It means you failed and everything here is going to end.’ 

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley. I am delighted to provide a fair and honest review. NetGalley does not allow for paid reviews.


5/5 Stars (What this means...five-stars-applied-carefully)

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Official description: 
  
Miguel de Ruyter is a man with a past. Fleeing the 'wolves' - the xenocidal alien machines known as Inhibitors - he has protected his family and community from attack for forty years, sheltering in the caves of an airless, battered world called Michaelmas. The slightest hint of human activity could draw the wolves to their home, to destroy everything ... utterly. Which is how Miguel finds himself on a one-way mission with his own destructive mandate: to eliminate a passing ship, before it can bring unwanted attention down on them. Only something goes wrong. There's a lone survivor. And she knows far more about Miguel than she's letting on . . . Ranging from the depths of space to the deeps of Pattern Juggler waters, from nervous, isolated communities to the ruins of empire, this is a stealthy space opera from an author at the top of his game.  
 

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I buy my glasses online now, I was dubious at first. Now I'll keep on buying them from Glasses Direct, it you do too, you can get a discount off your first order over £49:  
 

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