Review: Bone Silence Delivers

Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Alistair Reynolds is still by far my favorite author and he has continued his form, which rebooted with Revenger, in Bone Silence. A friend once said to me that Alistair Reynolds struggles to know how to write an ending and, disappointingly, I think this is still true with Bone Silence. This trilogy has the constant unanswered questions which drew me into and kept me hooked on the Revelation Space stories. There is a kind of answer at the end and a bit of a twist which, if I’m honest, left me underwhelmed. The answer lacks detail and explanation of the reasons and then the Ness sisters ride off into the sunset and Reynolds announces that he’s done with the pair.

That aside I loved Bone Silence and the entire trilogy. Each book is different and describes different aspects of the universe in which it is set. The characters are diverse and interesting and the story wide, far reaching and mostly unpredictable. The sisters' respect for each other is clear throughout, but like real siblings there are tensions and fights. There is a lot more to this universe and so much scope for expansion. I’d love Alistair Reynolds to return to it some day and expand this story, fill in some glossed over gaps and detail and tell some of the other stories, even if the cliched seafaring language did irritate me throughout.

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