Revelation Space (2000)

Revelation Space is a hard science fiction space opera novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, published in 2000 by Gollancz. It was Reynolds's debut novel, drawing on his background as a trained astrophysicist: he holds a PhD in astronomy from the University of St Andrews and spent over a decade working for the European Space Agency. The novel was short listed for both the BSFA Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Summary

The novel begins with three seemingly unrelated narrative strands that merge as the novel progresses. The strands occur out of order and in different years, to account for the delay in traveling between star systems.

The first strand is in the year 2551, and centers around Dan Sylveste, an archaeologist excavating the remains of the long-dead Amarantin race that lived on the planet Resurgam in the Delta Pavonis system. Sylveste is obsessed with the Amarantins, and despite little evidence to support it, determined to the point of arrogance in his belief that there is a great discovery to be made. It is revealed that this behavior had cause the expedition to fracture years earlier, with half the group opting to leave Resurgam on the ship Lorean, stranding the remaining population on the planet.

The next strand centers around Ilia Volyova in the year 2543, aboard the Nostalgia for Infinity, a large ship capable of interstellar travel. Volyova and the other members of her skeleton crew wish to find Sylveste because they believe he can help them with their captain, who has been infected with the Melding Plague, a nanotech virus that attacks human cells and machine implants to pervert them into grotesque combinations. The Infinity has also been affected by the plague and is deteriorating, though its progress has been slowed by keeping the captain cryogenically frozen.

The third strand focuses on Ana Khouri, a former soldier living on the planet Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system in the year 2524. Khouri lives as an assassin for hire after having been accidentally separated from her husband following a battle on the planet Sky's Edge in 61 Cygni. After establishing a reputation as a successful killer, she is hired by a mysterious figure known as the Mademoiselle to assassinate Sylveste. The Mademoiselle coerces Khouri into accepting the job by claiming she has Khouri's husband. She puts Khouri into cryogenic "reefersleep" until 2546, awaiting the arrive of the Infinity.

With help from the Mademoiselle, Khouri infiltrates the crew of the Infinity as a replacement gunnery officer, knowing that they are traveling to Resurgam on their search for Sylveste. On board the ship, Khouri and Volyova form an uneasy alliance, both concealing something from the other: Khouri that she is an assassin targeting Sylveste and has a simulation of the Mademoiselle in a brain implant, and Volyova that the former gunnery office was killed after being driven insane during his training, referencing an entity by the name of Sun Stealer. However, their bond deepens over their shared distrust of the crew and the other members of the ruling triumvirate: Sajaki and Hegazi, who rule with Volyova in absence of the captain. Khouri also learns that the crew's interest is less in Sylveste, but in a simulation he has of his father Calvin, who was a famous surgeon specializing in cybernetics.

During the Infinity's journey from Yellowstone to Resurgam, Sylveste falls out of favor with the local government, is blamed for the failed expedition, and imprisoned. In exchange for leniency, he agrees to participate in a biography of himself and is assigned to work with Pascal, a reporter that had been covering the expedition. Over the years preparing the biography, Sylveste helps with further excavation of the Amarantin city, and begins to suspect the Amarantin's had become a space-faring civilization prior to their extinction. During this time, he and Pascal fall and love and plan to marry, but during their ceremony another coup on the planet occurs and Sylveste is imprisoned again.

As the Infinity approaches Resurgam in 2566, the Mademoiselle simulation uses a training session as an opportunity to seize control of a powerful weapon on board the ship, and attempts to kill Sylveste by destroying the entire planet. Khouri and Volyova manage to destroy the weapon before it fires; however, Sun Stealer, a now suspected software entity in the gunnery controls, has used this opportunity to escape into the larger systems of the ship. Volyova and Khouri decide to hide all this from the crew when they awake from their cryosleep. The Mademoiselle's refusal to share information leaves Khouri with doubts about her assignment.

After the Infinity arrives in orbit, the triumvirate threaten to destroy the defenceless Resurgam civilization, prompting the current rulers to turn Sylveste and Pascal over to them. Once aboard, Sylveste informs the crew that he has hidden antimatter bombs inside the implants in his artificial eyes, and that he could destroy the Infinity at any time. The triumvirs doubt the legitimacy of the threat, but are not willing to test if he is bluffing or not. They come to an agreement: Sylveste will use his Calvin simulation to attempt to cure their captain in exchange for a trip to Cerberus, a mysterious nearby planet orbiting a neutron star that he believes holds the secret to the truth of Amarantin civilization.