Redemption Ark

I can say now that Chasm City is definitely preferable to be read before Redemption Ark: a key character from the former novel appears in the latter and he will mean very little to you otherwise. In fact, one should read most of the short stories in the Galactic North anthology beforehand as well -- which I hadn't done. I was quite annoyed when Redemption Ark was referring to the events in them.

With how Alastair Reynolds has written his stories, it seem in-universe chronology is the best reading order -- although I'd say the Revelation Space novel is still probably best read first with how much Reynolds improved as a writer after it. The whole thing gets messy with how in addition to this Inhibitor Sequence, there's also the Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies that overlaps with it.

Redemption Ark features locations and viewpoint characters from the previous volume (that is Revelation Space): Ana Khouri the assassin and Ilya Volova the Ultra-without-implants. Both of them are situated in the Delta Pavonis system and its Resurgam planet whose people are in danger as the Fermi-paradox-solving Inhibitors are about to start shit. The Nostalgia for Infinity lighthugger is still carrying doomsday weapons and Ilia fancies to use them against the Inhibitor machines.

There's also Antoinette Bax in Epsilon Eridani system. She and her ship seem rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things; she's mostly importance due to her happenstance meeting with Nevil Clavain who is a Conjoiner -- a faction the novels hadn't visited yet.

The Conjoiners are technologically highly advanced: they have neural implants that allow them surpass normal human brain's capabilities and allow them to link their minds with others. Funnily enough, despite their aim for rather intimate openness, they have formed sects and tiers of secrecy in their society, partly due to it being practical because of their current war with the Demarchists: if every Conjoiner knew everything, one getting captured and interrogated could be devastating.

The Conjoiners have won the war already, though. The Melding Plague in Yellowstone really devastated the Demarchists -- the Conjoiners are far ahead in technology. The Ultra's lighthuggers are actually from the Conjoiners who have by now developed even more advanced space travel technology.

The doomsday weapons on the Nostalgia are Conjoiner tech too. However, the knowledge how to make them was purposefully destroyed. The Conjoiners fancy to retake the weapons too -- also to have them against the Inhibitors.

The worst thing in Redemption Ark are its multiverse nonsense -- the string theory is making things a mess in this piece of entertainment too. The best thing in the novel is it making you think about relativity. The novel's chase sequence at near the speed of light from a system to another is quite a challenge to grasp with how things would work in such a situation.

Redemption Ark's theme is, as suggested by the title: redemption. In that it's kind of a continuation to Chasm City -- again recommended to be read first. I think the title could be literally referring to the Nostalgia for Infinity too with how the ship's Melded captain longs to redeem his past deeds.

It makes sense for novels in the series to have their Finnish titles translated to match the Bible -- the original names are obviously from there. But I'm not sure if 'lunastus' is a good word here. I feel even the church these days instead speaks of 'pelastus' -- salvation. Thus I maybe would've translated the title as 'Pelastuksen arkki' instead of what it is. 'Lunastus' feels more like a word for redeeming a discount coupon -- not a thing involved in religion. That could be just me, though.

Next I will read the Galactic North anthology and the Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days novella double feature. Apparently the titular short story in Galactic North should be left until after the third novel in this sequence -- it helps one to understand the ending to Absolution Gap.

Edited 2024-07-23: Added paragraphs about the novel's theme and the title's Finnish translation.