Troika

by Alastair Reynolds

Listening Length: 2 hours and 54 minutes

Troika tells the story of men and women confronting an enigma known as the Matryoshka, a vast alien construct whose periodic appearances have generated terror, wonder, and endless debate. During its third "apparition" in a remote corner of the galaxy, a trio of Russian cosmonauts approach this enigma and attempt to penetrate its mysteries. What they discover - and what they endure in the process - forms the centerpiece of an enthralling, constantly surprising narrative.

Troika is at once a wholly original account of First Contact and a meditation on time, history, and the essentially fluid nature of identity itself. Suspenseful, erudite, and gracefully written, it is a significant accomplishment in its own right and a welcome addition to a remarkable body of work.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Space Opera, Audiobook, Short Stories, Aliens

3 pages, Audiobook

First published September 10, 2010

About the author

I'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.

Reviews

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-crafted and well written novella containing two interlinked stories. One is a big dumb object story in which Dmitri, a cosmonaut, explores a multilayered artifact in space. The second takes place years after the mission when Dmitri escapes from a psychiatric institute in Siberia to find an old scientist who had worked on the project years before and who had been ridiculed and punished for her theories about the object. Really worth the hour or so it took to read.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This terrific novella reminded me of a 21st century cross between Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. First, you have the huge mysterious object that enters into our solar system, which no one has done better than Clarke in the first Rama book (IMHO). Second, you have said object being incomprehensible and very deadly to those studying it (until they learn through trial and error what to avoid). NO ONE has ever done that better than Budrys did in Rogue Moon.

However, despite incorporating recognizable tropes from some classic SF novels, Reynolds certainly makes this his own story with a well-conceived, very well written story whose story of wonder carries an important central message...WE MUST CONTINUE TO EXPLORE SPACE!!

The novella is set in a future in which a 2nd Soviet Socialist Republic is the dominant world power, which I thought was a very interesting setting. Suddenly appearing in our solar system is a MASSIVENORMOUS alien construct (later named Matryoshka). I don’t want to describe or give details about the shape and configuration of Matryoshka because it is so mind-blowing and I don’t want to spoil the wonder. I’ll just say that I thought it was brilliant and the final description regarding the reason for its configuration was superb.

I know I sound like a complete plot teaser right now, but it can’t be helped...trust me, it's worth it.

Anyway, the story concerns three Russian cosmonauts sent out to investigate Matryoshka. During the mission, they make a discovery that could change...EVERYTHING!! However, no one knows about the discovery because all three of the space jockeys are now under guard at a Soviet “research center” and no information about what happened has been released. One of these cosmonauts escapes from the research center at the beginning of the book and tries to locate a female astronomer who developed a controversial theory regarding the origin of the alien construct.

The story of the expedition to Matryoshka is told in a series of flashbacks by the fugitive cosmonaut and it all converges in the final reveal which I found more than worthwhile. Reynolds writing is both crisp where it needs to be and also beautifully descriptive when it needs to be. The balance of these two is impressive. Here is an example of the latter:

I touched the wall. Knowledge, clean and viridescent, as brittle and endlessly branching as a flower chilled in liquid nitrogen, forced its way into my skull. I felt mental sutures straining under the pressure. I flinched back...The contact could not have lasted more than an instant, but the information that had gushed through was ringing in my skull like the after-chime of God’s own church bell.

In summary, this is a smart, well-crafted story with some brain-scrambling ideas and a very satisfying ending. 4.0 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once a cosmonaut, now an inmate at a mental hospital, our protagonist escapes his confinement for a final mission: to find an aging, discredited astronomer and deliver something to her.

His reasons are gradually explained in flashbacks to his notorious mission: a brave expedition to investigate what might be an alien construct which has suddenly appeared in orbit around our sun. Its strange, layered structure lends it the nomenclature: Matryoshka. Three Russian cosmonauts hope to penetrate its layers and discover invaluable data - but what they discover will not bring them the fame and glory they hoped for.

Unusually for Reynolds, the setting here is extremely near-future and the plot is anchored firmly in the current concerns of our world. Honestly, I felt that the tone of the story verged on negative propaganda (not that I'm any huge fan of Russia, but...). However, it was written well enough for me to forgive its slant.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Reynolds is always a treat. This relatively older novella doubles down on the old Soviet Space program and turns it into a paranoiacs dream while simultaneously giving us the Big Dumb Object effect. The attention to detail is superb.

The COMMENTARY, however, sneaks up on you. It's not just a great story. It's a slap in the face for everyone else NOT in the old Soviet Era.

WHERE THE HELL IS OUR SPACE PROGRAMS?


Well, I guess everything changes. It doesn't get better or worse. It just gets STRANGER.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect Alastair Reynolds Hugo and Locus nominated novella (2011). This is a BDO (big dumb object) story conveying a sense of awestruck wonder as well as darker more foreboding overtones, told against the backdrop of an alternate dystopian history where the world's best days are behind it. Nobody does hard sci-fi like Reynolds, and this is him at his best.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the "Big Dumb Object" trope that Reynolds uses here. It just seems so... possible. That something we don't understand is out there, waiting for us to find it. Some almost unfathomable relic of an alien civilisation. I think Reynolds uses that trope pretty well in Troika: it's a neatly executed little novella, with a good twist at the end. It may not seem much to look at -- it's quite a slim volume -- but Alastair Reynolds writes well, and the structure is well-executed (much as I usually dislike stories where you go back and forth between past and present).

I'm not sure why Reynolds chose the idea of a Second Soviet to frame the story, but it worked well for me. It was a bit of a shock to go from the vague idea that this was Soviet Russia -- the first Soviet Russia -- to realising that this is a later Russia, post-internet, post-freedom.

I didn't get the strongly pro-space travel vibes from this that other reviewers seem to have done. To me, the situation in Russia overshadowed the possible touches of commentary on that. If anything, there was maybe a criticism of using space as a means to an end (political, to show superiority, etc) rather than as an end in itself.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last week, Atlantis lifted off for the final space shuttle mission ever. The space shuttle program is older than I am, and to be honest, it's overdue for retirement. The Challenger and Columbia tragedies underscored how cantankerous and dangerous this method of low-Earth orbital delivery can be. The numerous delays in the final flights of Discovery and Atlantis emphasized the fragility of the aging shuttle fleet. So we should not be mourning the loss of the space shuttle program, for it served its purpose and had its day: all good things and whatnot. Rather, we should be mourning the lack of a ready replacement. We should be ashamed that the last time someone walked on the moon was in 1972, almost thirty years ago. Since then, humanity has limited itself to skimming the surface of the Earth's atmosphere.

Troika is a compelling, perhaps even chilling novella set in the near future. The decline of the various national space programs has continued until only the new "Second Soviet" state is capable of mounting a crewed expedition to a Big Dumb Object (TVTropes) that appeared in the solar system in 1995. The Russians dub it the Matryoshka, owing to its nested structure of shells resembling the nested dolls of the same name. During its first two "apparitions" when it is close enough for robotic probes to reach it, the Matroyshka yields enough data to send astronomers and physicists scrambling for answers. Yet it remains tantalizingly inscrutable and … alien.

So far this doesn't sound like anything special. But this is Alastair Reynolds. I've only read two of his novels, one so long ago I barely remember it, and the other one was a great mystery set to the tune of a posthuman future. The Matroyshka is more than just another Big Dumb Object, and Troika, like the Matroyshka itself, comprises several nested levels of nuance that make it one of the best stories I've read this year.

It begins with the story's split into two time frames. First we have the escape of Dimitri Ivanov from an asylum outside Zvezdniy Gorodok (Star City). Dimitri was one of the three cosmonauts aboard the expedition to the Matroyshka, and after their return to Earth, all three were quarantined and held at the asylum. Now that he has escaped, he seeks out a discredited astronomer named Nesha Petrova, purely in order to give her an artifact he smuggled away from the Matroyska: proof that Nesha's theories regarding the object's origin and purpose were completely correct, despite the fact that the Second Soviet suppressed them. Half-mad (and he admits he went insane following his visit to the Matroyshka, claiming his insanity is what saved him) and aware that his escape from the asylum is futile, Dimitri tells Nesha (and us) about what really happened on the expedition.

Dimitri is the last member of the crew left alive. The government quarantined them at the asylum because of radiation posioning. Although their exposure was real enough—and lethal in the case of Ivanov's two comrades—the government had other reasons to want them locked away. Their visit to the Matroyshka altered Dimitri, Yakov, and Galenka on a fundamental level in a way that scared the government. It didn't mutate them into hideous alien monsters or give them superhuman powers, but it affected their identities and individuality in a way that the perfect communist state of the Second Soviet Union could not accept.

Even as he unspools a story about an encounter with something beyond human comprehension, Reynolds provides commentary on the flawed concept of a utopian state, especially such a state as embodied by communism. There are some pointed conversations between Dimitri and Galenka regarding the expectations of their superiors, as well as Dimitri's observations that: "I had been a cosmonaut for much longer and I had seen how our superiors punished failings. The best you could hope for was incarceration. The worst was returning to your office to find a loaded revolver and a bottle of vodka." You get the idea that this is in fact the antithesis of the bright and shining beacon of inspiration and hope that most stories, and most histories, make spaceflight out to be. It's dirty, political, and even a bit dreary.

Dimitri is a textbook unreliable narrator, self-confessed to have been insane at one point, if not still insane, so we can't necessarily take his story at face value. But he is convinced that the Second Soviet will fall within his and Nesha's lifetimes, that the Matroyshka is a sign their nation is "on the wrong track" and that humanity must return to the stars. And of course, a nation that prides itself as having achieved the pinnacle of human governance can't very well entertain the notion that it is merely a step along the way to that pinnacle—that it is, in fact, a wrong turn. So they bury Dimitri and bury his speculations, and Nesha's theories, about the Matroyshka's origin, purpose, and meaning.

There's also a deep connection to music, particularly Russian music. This novella's title refers to the piece of the same name by Prokofiev, itself referring to a three-person Russian folk dance. (If you aren't familiar with it, take a listen. I bet you have heard it or variations used elsewhere.) I don't think it's a coincidence that the expedition to the Matroyshka comprises three people. As much as I love Russian composers, Prokofiev included (Tchaikovsky might be my favourite composer of all time), I'm not familiar enough with the history and the culture to be comfortable speculating about the meaning behind Reynolds' choice here. If I had to take a shot in the dark, though, I'd guess that the piece's upbeat tone is supposed to be ironic in the face of the Second Soviet's oppressive actions and the poor state of spaceflight in general. "Troika" is triumphant and hopeful, symbolic of everything that is to come if Dimitri is, indeed, correct in his beliefs.

Then, at the end of Troika, Reynolds hit me with the TWIST. I didn't see it coming. Maybe I should have done; maybe you, if you read this, will recognize the foreshadowing that eluded me and smile knowingly as Reynolds springs the TWIST upon you. I was not so lucky, and the TWIST devastated me. It was clever, consistent, and utterly mind-blowing. Some TWISTs fail so hard they demolish all the hard work of the author (not to mention the investment of the reader). Not so here. No, with this revelation, the entirety of Troika and its themes crystallized, and the novella truly became something special. It leads into an ending that is so sad—and yet so perfect. Troika moved me profoundly, especially at a time like this, when our commitment to spaceflight and space exploration is wavering. Troika is a warning. It is also an amazing story.

Some might argue that the future of spaceflight is better entrusted to robots, who are more suited to the vagaries of vacuum. And that argument has merit. Yet just as the shuttle program has no clear replacement, the elderly Hubble telescope's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is on the chopping block. This is a project into which billions of dollars have already been sunk, money that will have been spent for nothing if the telescope program is cancelled. But I'm more worried about what will happen when the Hubble goes dark with no new-and-improved replacement. I belong to a generation that has never seen a live television broadcast of someone walking on the Moon. Will the next generation be one that never sees a new image taken by a telescope in space? Will we gradually turn away from space, turn away from the majesty and near-infinite wonders that the wider universe makes available? In the twentieth century, we reached out so far. I would hate for it to have been all for nothing.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Troika
by Alastair Reynolds

Really awesome short story with shifts between past and present, a barely outlined universe but so real and an unexpected ending.
I particularly liked the Dyson sphere concept developed here, which reminded me a bit of Pandora's Star, me being a huge fan of Hamilton's work.
(and on the way to become one of Reynolds :)

[Sarinys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bella la divisione in due timeline alternate. Fa intuire un po' troppo chiaramente il tono che avrà la conclusione, ma provvede comunque a dotarla di un piccolo twist. Leggermente delusa dalle parti descrittive, da cui mi aspettavo qualcosa di più visivo e con più suspense, più vicino all'ispirazione di Incontro con Rama di Arthur C. Clarke, di cui è una derivazione. La sottotrama sulla follia degli astronauti rimane a metà, sottoutilizzata nel suo sviluppo rispetto al rilievo che ha nella prima parte. Nonostante questi difetti, è una novella interessante e si fa leggere.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing novella about an unusual artefact that appears in space. Three Russian astronauts are sent to explore it, and the story revolves around their experiences of the object and what they learn. Part of the story takes place in space, and part of it in a cold, bleak Russia, somewhat reminiscent of Ivan Denisovich.

I liked the storyline and wondered how the novella could satisfactorily finish. There was a bit of an unexpected twist at the end, which for me didn't really feel necessary. But overall, I liked the ideas and the way the story was told. The eventual revelation of the meaning of the story's title was well done.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhh, classic Reynolds – three post-USSR “Second Soviet” kosmonauts are on a mission to a weird slightly Lovecraftian-seeming BDO, told in the form of flashbacks by a narrator in a slightly pre-apocalyptic world. Wonderfully bleak and highly atmospheric, with a lovely little twist, this fits perfectly into the shape of a novella.

On a side note, audiobook narrators struggling with the pronunciation of Russian names (Zvezdnyi Gorodok really messed the dude up) are funny, yet understandable. However, the narrator switching to a faux-Russian accent for dialogue in a novella told entirely from a Russian first-person POV is just plain weird.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Troika was a three-star rating, but it was a rounded-down rating. I debated whether to round this one up, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do so. Although it came together well, it was a bit slow in places and didn’t quite pack the punch it could have.

Another enjoyable read from the author.

[Florin Purluca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesantă în felul ei. Mi-a plăcut și mi-a amintit de Rama lui Clarke. Încă o dată Reynolds demonstrează că este un artist priceput. Personaje bine conturate. Dialoguri foarte credibile. Descrierile sunt la nivel chirurgical - precise și frumos lucrate. Deși subiectul a tot fost dezbătut, execuția e foarte bună. Încet, încet se pare că devin fan Alastair Reynolds. Nici nu ar fi de mirare.
Am tot citit povestiri scurte sau nuvele și mi-au plăcut. Dintre toate cea mai bună mi se pare Dincolo de falia Aquila și v-o recomand. În fine, să nu deviem de la subiect. Se pare că ar cam fi cazul să caut să pun mâna și pe un roman. Nu de alta, dar am auzit lucruri bune și despre ele.
Doar 4 stele din 5 pentru că subiectul a fost întors pe toate părțile de 1000 de autori, iar finalul este predictibil de la un punct. Dar asta nu înseamnă că nu e o lucrare bună, care merită timpul vostru.

[Silvio · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review here.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

...The more cynical reader will probably consider this novella a bit of propaganda for space programs in general, and manned space flights in particular. It's warning us that turning our backs to space, despite the economics of its exploration, is a serious mistake. As the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky once put it: "The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever." Whatever your opinion of the matter, it won't settle the question whether or not space exploration is worth the billions invested in it, especially since there is plenty of work still to be done on Earth.

Troika certainly provides food for thought along those lines and it does so in style. This novella is carefully crafted and works to an interesting twist in the plot at the end of the story. It's well-written and most certainly well-timed piece of writing. It's a novella that celebrates sense of wonder science fiction but also wonders if that drive to explore, through science as well as fiction, has perhaps passed. For me, Troika worked very well, both as a warning and a piece of literature. It faces some stiff competition for the Hugo but I think it would make a fine winner.

Full Random Comments review

[Ivan Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Postavom podsjeća na Clarkeovu "Ramu", ali je miljama daleko od toga. Vrlo sjetna priča astronauta koji je pobjegao iz senatorija u "Star City" i našao znanstvenicu čiji je životni rad bio promatranje neobičnog objekta u Sunčevom sustavu(vanzemaljskog porjekla) zvanog Matryoshka. Kroz sjećanja na misiju Reynolds nas uvlači u gorljivi hard SF žanr koji će sve ljubitelje ovog tipa priče ostaviti bez daha. Kroz fiziku, matematiku, kozmologiju, ispričana je teška priča budućnosti čovječanstva i vrlo dirljiva priča čovjeka u sadašnjosti. Doslovno se ne ispušta iz ruke. moram napomenuti i to da je cijela priča pisana iz Ruske perspektive, svi su astronauti rusi, radnjom se odvija u Rusiji, a sam zaključak priče leži u ruskoj narodnoj glazbi i načinu komunikacije Zemlje s Matryoshkom. (Ruska folk skladba Troika je i naslov.) Fino, fino. Treba mi još Reynoldsa.

[Daniel Fehrenbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good novella that hits a bunch Reynolds' main themes: the lonely weirdness of space, complexities of travel over vast times and distances, unknowable alien technology, civilizations aging and decaying. Basic plot concerns three Russian (actually Second Soviet) cosmonauts exploring a huge multi-layered alien artifact that appeared in Earth's solar system in the late-early 21st century (like 2050's ish maybe). The circumstances of that exploration and the consequences for their return are covered by a two track story that takes up maybe 100 pages. Its a quick read manages to pack a fairly compelling plot (though the characters aren't really all that much to think about) into a short space.

[Andreas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A huge object appears suddenly in our solar system and three russian cosmonauts are sent out to explore it. In a cleverly constructed frame story that is set a couple of years after this event we learn what happened and what far reaching impact it had - and still has.

I can't say that Alastair Reynolds tells something completely new but he mixes the typical "Big Dumb Object" trope with a lot of interesting ingredients. He has enough room to awaken a dark future to life and even the space voyage contains some twists.

I don't know if I will still remember it in 5 years but I enjoyed it very much and can recommend it to all Hard SF fans.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked Troika quite a lot though it did not blow me away the way other of AR's stories did - Signal to Noise or the alt history with Mongols or for that matter Diamond Dogs which is maybe the best Reynolds all around

The atmosphere is superb and the twist at the end is natural imho, what i found less credible is the second Soviet though especially in its mentioned time frame of the relative near future

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella succeeded in completely engrossing me for an hour or so on this dreary chilly rainy summer day. Even tho it's quite different it reminded me of Rendezvous With Rama with an alien something that humans venture into space to investigate. That's where the similarity ends. This is Reynolds at his finest, really a 4.5.

[Ardent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zaujímavá novela.
Vesmírny program druhého sovietu v roku 2015 vyšle jednu z posledných rakiet ku neznámemu objektu v blízkosti zeme.
Príbeh je rozprávaný z pohľadu jedného z komonautov, ktorý utiekol z psychiatrickej liečby aby rozprával svoj príbeh...

[Rita Monticelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angosciante e dal finale inaspettato

Questo gioiellino di fantascienza si discosta dai romanzi epici cui Reynolds mi ha abituato, non solo per la lunghezza (si tratta infatti di una novella), ma soprattutto per l’apparente semplicità della trama. La storia è narrata dal punto di vista di Dimitri Ivanov, un cosmonauta russo, su due linee temporali parallele. Offre un’immagine pessimistica del futuro, in cui l’esplorazione spaziale si è praticamente arrestata a causa dell’interazione con un misterioso artefatto di origine aliena, che i russi chiamano Matryoshka.
In una linea narrativa vediamo Dimitri che scappa da una struttura per malati di mente e cerca di raggiungere qualcuno cui rivelare ciò che ha scoperto nella sua ultima missione spaziale. La missione viene mostrata nell’altra linea temporale, in cui lui e altri due colleghi si stanno avvicinando alla Matryoshka e si apprestano a prelevare dei campioni.
Nel futuro alternativo in cui sono narrate le vicende di questo cosmonauta, solo la Russia ha mantenuto un minimo di attività spaziale, mentre il resto del mondo si arreso all’impossibilità di svelare l’enigma delle apparizioni dell’artefatto alieno. E gli stessi cosmonauti russi sono spinti nella loro ricerca più da necessità di sopravvivenza che dal desiderio della scoperta. Se ciò che scopriranno non sarà gradito al governo, potrebbero comunque fare una brutta fine.
Un senso di angoscia pervade entrambe le linee narrative e l’assenza di divisione in capitoli incalza il lettore, inducendolo a completare la lettura il prima possibile. Ho apprezzato particolarmente tutta la parte spaziale, che come in tutte le opere di Reynolds mescola scienza rigorosa con aspetti che, per via della loro origine, vanno oltre la nostra capacità di stabilire quanto possano o meno essere realistici. Più andavo avanti e più cresceva in me la curiosità di conoscere ciò che era celato all’interno della Matryoshka.
E la risposta arriva in un finale inaspettato e quindi soddisfacente, non tanto per il suo contenuto, che, pensandoci bene, è tutt’altro che originale, ma piuttosto per la bravura dell’autore nel distrarre il lettore e poi stupirlo.


Disquieting and with an unexpected ending

This science fiction gem differs from the epic novels that Reynolds has accustomed me to, not only because of its length (it is indeed a novella), but above all for the apparent simplicity of the plot. The story is told from the point of view of Dimitri Ivanov, a Russian cosmonaut, on two parallel timelines. It offers a pessimistic image of the future, in which space exploration has practically stopped due to the interaction with a mysterious huge artefact of alien origin, which the Russians call Matryoshka.
In a timeline, we see Dimitri escaping from a structure for mental patients and trying to reach someone to reveal what he discovered in his last space mission. The mission is shown in the other timeline, in which he and two other colleagues are approaching the Matryoshka and preparing to take samples.
In the alternative future in which the events occurring to this cosmonaut are narrated, only Russia has maintained a minimum of space activity, while the rest of the world surrendered to the impossibility of revealing the enigma concerning the alien artefact. And the same Russian cosmonauts are driven in their search more by necessity of survival than by the desire for discovery. If what they discover won’t be pleasing to their government, they could still come to a bad end.
A sense of anguish pervades both timelines and the absence of division into chapters urges the reader, prompting them to complete the reading as soon as possible. I particularly appreciated the whole space part of the story, which, as in all Reynolds’s works, mixes rigorous science with aspects which, due to their origin, go beyond our ability to establish how realistic or not they can be. The more I went on, the more I grew curious to know what was hidden within the Matryoshka.
And the answer comes in an unexpected and therefore satisfying ending, not so much for its content, which, when you think about it, is anything but original, but rather for the skill of the author in distracting the reader and then surprising them.

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little weak for a Reynolds novel - but still interesting.

Reynolds take on the BDO story with a kind nod to Rendezvous with Rama.

In a future where the Second Soviet Union is the only power with space travel abilities and even that on a ever diminishing scale, an unknown object appears suddenly out of nowhere in the solar system, several attempts are made to investigate it and we follow the latest told in retrospect by one of the astronauts from an mental institution.

In these days where the "Second Soviet Union" is manifesting itself in its ugly reality, its nice to hear a prediction that it will fail utterly in a few years time.

[Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il futuro c'è già stato

Le esplorazioni spaziali non occupano più l'interesse mondiale, c'è stato un abbandono generale verso i segreti dell'universo. Però quando un astronave aliena, un enorme manufatto, appare nel nostro sistema solare, diventa un obbligo morale cercare di capire di cosa si tratta.

Raggiungibile solo ogni 12 anni, il mistero del manufatto ci viene svelato attraverso Dimitri Ivanov, unico astronauta sopravvissuto al terzo contatto che, fuggito dal centro di cura in cui è rinchiuso, cerca disperatamente Nesha Petrova, una collega le cui tesi sull'evento sono state profondamente osteggiate dal regime del secondo Soviet.
Perché Nesha è così importante per Dimitri?

Tra flashback e discorsi diretti questo racconto lungo tenta di farci capire il significato di quell'ultimo contatto, riuscendo solo in parte a soddisfare quel senso di meraviglia che un avvenimento di tale portata suscita o dovrebbe suscitare.

Reynolds merita per Rivelazione, oscuro, ostico e pieno di idee. Il resto, almeno quello edito in italiano e che ho letto sinora, si mantiene su una sufficienza (o qualcosa in più) scolastica, perché il compitino lo sa fare.

[anautumnaldream · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually finished it on May 1st and never bothered to update the progress. I liked the dual timelines and I loved the way the story unfolded. the end left me with mixed feelings, simply because it was and wasn't what I expected. overall I did enjoy it but wish it was longer and ended slightly differently.

[Mbgile · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+

[Benjamin Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alistair Reynolds is one of the best additions to my beloved science-fiction category. First, he is a great writer who bucks the trend in a lot of hard sf, in that his characters are not two-dimensional card board cut-outs that serve as vehicles for a great idea. Women and men are both represented realistically without a recognizable agenda to promote social justice. Refreshing, in modern science-fiction where a lot of cyber-punk and other sf seems singularly focused on promoting "kick-ass chicks", see William Gipson, and many others. Reynolds is primarily concerned as he should be with writing a good STORY. Troika, does not disappoint. The plot is nothing super original, but the menace and edge to his writing is remarkable. If you liked any of the Revelation Space novels by him, or his wonderful homage to Rendevous with Rama, Pushing Ice. Then you will love Troika. It is a little hard to find. I discovered this gem in a collection of "Big Smart Objects" called "God-like Machines" edited by Jonathan Strahan. This anthology contains several other keepers such as "Alone" by Robert Reed. Great novella. Happy Reading!

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Alastair Reynolds. It's a Big Dumb Object story. What's not to love? Well, okay the twist at the end is a little to close to "The Real Story" from Zima Blue and Other Stories, but that's one of Reynold's weaker short stories while this is one of his best, up there with "Grefenwalder's Bestiary," "The Fixation," and "Diamond Dogs."

[Gid Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is departure from the far-future grand scale stories Reynolds has become known for, instead focusing on a single life-changing encounter recounted by it’s main character, Cosmonaut Dimitri Ivanov. While I found the ending to be rewarding with its revelation into the nature of the alien artifact McGuffin, the road leading to it seemed as long and cold as the one Ivanov hitchhikes into Zvezdniy Gorodok in the opening pages. There is some interesting tension created by the looming threat from the Neo-Stalinist government in pursuit of Ivanov, but surprisingly little offered in the narrative portions set in space. There are also some very satisfying questions of identity reminiscent of Reynold’s novel “Chasm City”.

[Tobias Langhoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Alastair Reynolds, but even most of his best novels are long-winded and have some dreary and overly complex parts that could have used some heavier editing. This is instead a succint novella that is still very ambitious, but more focused. There are hints of space opera, but the story is still very much grounded in a recognizable setting that is a reminiscence of the 20th century and the space race.