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The Revelation Space Collection Volume 2
480 pages, Hardcover
Published September 23, 2025
About the author
Alastair Reynolds
321 books9,577 followersI'm Al, I used to be a space scientist, and now I'm a writer, although for a time the two careers ran in parallel. I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. I write about a novel a year and try to write a few short stories as well. Some of my books and stories are set in a consistent future named after Revelation Space, the first novel, but I've done a lot of other things as well and I like to keep things fresh between books.
I was born in Wales, but raised in Cornwall, and then spent time in the north of England and Scotland. I moved to the Netherlands to continue my science career and stayed there for a very long time, before eventually returning to Wales.
In my spare time I am a very keen runner, and I also enjoying hill-walking, birdwatching, horse-riding, guitar and model-making. I also dabble with paints now and then. I met my wife in the Netherlands through a mutual interest in climbing and we married back in Wales. We live surrounded by hills, woods and wildlife, and not too much excitement.
I was born in Wales, but raised in Cornwall, and then spent time in the north of England and Scotland. I moved to the Netherlands to continue my science career and stayed there for a very long time, before eventually returning to Wales.
In my spare time I am a very keen runner, and I also enjoying hill-walking, birdwatching, horse-riding, guitar and model-making. I also dabble with paints now and then. I met my wife in the Netherlands through a mutual interest in climbing and we married back in Wales. We live surrounded by hills, woods and wildlife, and not too much excitement.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 30, 2025
More stories from the Revelation Space universe. Conjoiners, Demarchists, Ultras, and even a few baseline humans like Prefect Tom Dreyfuss (although I missed seeing Sparver, the hyperpig).
I had not realized how much body horror Reynolds puts into his stories, but there's quite a bit of horrible things happening to bodies. In a universe where bodies are easily modified in strange and bizarre ways, some strange and horrible things can happen. Some of these stories borderline on horror.
The Revelation Space universe is about as complex as a space opera universe gets. This is a result of working the same universe for about 25 years. In addition to the novels, it's interesting to see all the variations of novellas, novelettes and short stories set in various parts of the universe.
I had not realized how much body horror Reynolds puts into his stories, but there's quite a bit of horrible things happening to bodies. In a universe where bodies are easily modified in strange and bizarre ways, some strange and horrible things can happen. Some of these stories borderline on horror.
The Revelation Space universe is about as complex as a space opera universe gets. This is a result of working the same universe for about 25 years. In addition to the novels, it's interesting to see all the variations of novellas, novelettes and short stories set in various parts of the universe.
June 26, 2026
VOLUME 2 HERE WE GO! I hope it’s just as good as the first!
Turquoise Days - 3. A mysterious ship’s arrival sparks trouble in the oceans. This one honestly just made me sad, compared to the other stories thus far.
Weather - 4. A shipmaster struggles to juggle the needs of his ship in light of a pursuer. The tiny romance subplot in here was meh, but I really enjoyed the rest!
Grafenwalder’s Bestiary - 4.5. Evil space zoo?? I’m in!!
Nightingale - 5. A group of mercenaries hunts down a vanished war criminal aboard an abandoned medical facility. This was PERFECT sci-fi/horror. I loved this so much!
Monkey Suit - 4. An engineer used the suit of a dead coworker to finish his final mission. This was good, albeit a little too short.
The Last Log of the Lachrimosa - 5. Through flashbacks, a ship’s captain remembers what truly went wrong during an expedition. This one was amazing!!! Another good sci-fi/horror story!!
Night Passage - 4. Jarred awake from cryosleep, a captain is informed their ship has simply stopped in the middle of deep space. Spooky vibes, but I wish this had gone in a different direction.
Open and Shut - 5. An investigator recalls the consequences of a ruling he made. The ideas in this were absolutely fantastic!
Plague Music - 4.5. In Chasm City, sterilization crews rid abandoned sectors of the plague. God this was very very intriguing… will definitely be reading “Chasm City” asap!
Overall, I think I enjoyed the first volume of the collection more, but man this one had some good gems in it!!
Turquoise Days - 3. A mysterious ship’s arrival sparks trouble in the oceans. This one honestly just made me sad, compared to the other stories thus far.
Weather - 4. A shipmaster struggles to juggle the needs of his ship in light of a pursuer. The tiny romance subplot in here was meh, but I really enjoyed the rest!
Grafenwalder’s Bestiary - 4.5. Evil space zoo?? I’m in!!
Nightingale - 5. A group of mercenaries hunts down a vanished war criminal aboard an abandoned medical facility. This was PERFECT sci-fi/horror. I loved this so much!
Monkey Suit - 4. An engineer used the suit of a dead coworker to finish his final mission. This was good, albeit a little too short.
The Last Log of the Lachrimosa - 5. Through flashbacks, a ship’s captain remembers what truly went wrong during an expedition. This one was amazing!!! Another good sci-fi/horror story!!
Night Passage - 4. Jarred awake from cryosleep, a captain is informed their ship has simply stopped in the middle of deep space. Spooky vibes, but I wish this had gone in a different direction.
Open and Shut - 5. An investigator recalls the consequences of a ruling he made. The ideas in this were absolutely fantastic!
Plague Music - 4.5. In Chasm City, sterilization crews rid abandoned sectors of the plague. God this was very very intriguing… will definitely be reading “Chasm City” asap!
Overall, I think I enjoyed the first volume of the collection more, but man this one had some good gems in it!!
November 2, 2025
Rating 4.5
Remembered reading a couple of the stories previously in this volume, otherwise were new.
The stories ranged from straight sf to the sf/gothic horror styling of a number of his novels from this period.
Overall really enjoyed these novellas and short stories. Will have to glacé a re read of AR earlier novels possibly next year if I get the time.
Remembered reading a couple of the stories previously in this volume, otherwise were new.
The stories ranged from straight sf to the sf/gothic horror styling of a number of his novels from this period.
Overall really enjoyed these novellas and short stories. Will have to glacé a re read of AR earlier novels possibly next year if I get the time.
June 17, 2026
Another great short story collection following on from vol 1. No duds, really illustrating the breadth and depth of the Revelation Space universe. Definitely looking forward to reading more. I guess the only slight issue I had was the confusion as to where and when each story took place in the RS universe and timeline.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews