This one’s an unexpected surprise. Back in 2007 I reviewed The Prefect (now renamed Aurora Rising) with the hope that I would read more from the same setting. Over ten years later we return to the worlds of the Glitter Band, patrolled by the Panoply police force. It’s a magnificent humdinger of a sequel.

For many readers the good news is that these novels fit into Alastair’s grand scheme of Revelation Space, a Future History of rise and fall, ambition and decay, in the finest traditions of Iain M Banks’ Culture or even Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. In Alastair’s setting, these novels are prequels, happening before the events that are in his novels like Chasm City. The Melding Plague catastrophe that will befall the thousands of orbital habitats grouped together as The Glitter Band has not yet happened, although there are intriguing little snippets throughout these books that things are not going to end well.

In Elysium Fire it is now two years after the Aurora Event (told in Aurora Rising). The characters we met in the first book return, older and wiser and still defending law and order when needs be. Deputy Tom Dreyfus is back as a Chief Prefect (detective), his boss, Supreme Prefect Jane Aumonier, and Dreyfus’s fellow officers to whom he is a mentor, Thalia Ng & a genetically enhanced ‘hyper pig’ Sparver Bancal.

Elysium Fire begins with a series of sudden deaths amongst the Glitter Band citizens. There seems to be no pattern and no motive. None of the victims seem to be connected and they are all from different walks of life and different habitats. Dreyfus and his team are brought into this situation when Thalia is asked to retrieve one of the victim’s bodies. Dreyfus is told that this is not the first and there has been nearly fifty deaths so far. Worryingly, the incidents, referred to as “Wildfire”, are on the increase, with the time between each death shortening. Panoply has to try and determine cause and motive before the problem spreads across the Glitter Band and also stop it happening further.

As you can see, things have moved on since The Prefect, and not entirely for the better. The ‘Aurora Event’, and the way it was handled by Panoply, has led to a growing unease between the citizens and the law enforcement agency. We are seeing unrest across the Band, which Dreyfus and his team struggle to maintain control over. One of the most outspoken critics of Panoply is Devon Garlin, an evangelistic orator whose path keeps crossing with Dreyfus as he travels to different habitats. Dreyfus is convinced that Devon has something to do with Wildfire but cannot pin him down to anything specific.

Much of the novel is about this but there are subplots. One is about two twins, Caleb and Julius, whose mysterious upbringing has implications for the old families of the Band and will no doubt be connected to future events. We also have the return of Aurora, whose involvement in events is never simple.

This is being touted as a stand-alone novel. I am sure that it can be, but I appreciated re-reading Aurora Rising first. (In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I did something I rarely do these days and read two books in a series back-to-back.) This rereading showed me that with Elysium Fire how much Alastair has grown as a writer in the last decade. The characters here have grown in depth and complexity since The Prefect, and consequently our need to ‘see them right’ has grown with it. They are more fleshed out, more conflicted…. more human. As before, the setting is a wonderful conceit, all the more so when long-time readers know that eventually things will not be what they are here.

Elysium Fire hits the ground running and slowly and cleverly connects what seem to be disparate aspects of the novel. By the end the issues of the book resolve themselves and set things up nicely for future stories.

When I reviewed The Prefect I did say I would hope that there would be more in this series. Elysium Fire shows that it was right to return to this universe and that there is potential for more stories in Revelation Space. I hope that it’ll not be ten years.

If you like Sci Fi with a difference then this is the book for you .
I have found that the Sci Fi can be either extreme or boringly factual - killing you with pseudo science . This book is different - the setting is imaginative and believable , the characters well written and the story gripping , you want to keep reading and the plot just flows seamlessly .

The Glitter Band appears to be the perfect democracy, where decision-making is achieved through everyone voting in polls via their neural implants. The Panoply run the policing element, the prefects, are overseen primarily by 'Lady' Jane Aumonier.
However, there is trouble in Paradise ............Several parts off the Glitter Band have opted for independence which leaves Devon Garlin, a man with an uncanny sense of knowing what will happen agitating the other Habitats stirring up the citizens and he has a target for his mischief Prefect Tom Dreyfus .
Dreyfus has troubles of his own ....people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a malfunction of their neural implants leaving no clues behind as to the cause of their deaths...
The Prefects try to find connections between the victims, but struggle to find any significant leads other than the possibility that they appear to be risk .
There must be a connection between the deaths , which are escalating exponentially , and Devon Garlin ................ the race to find answers is both dangerous and disturbing ..........time is running out .

This is my first book by this Author but will not be the last ..... an entertaining book with excellent world building .

This is an enjoyable sci-fi crime story with a compelling plot and intriguing characters. I have to admit that I didn't realise that this is the second book in a series when I picked it up and although some things may have gone over my head because of this, it was still a very enjoyable read. Reynold's does a great job at creating tension and suspense throughout this book and there's a great plot twist. This was a compelling, fast paced and enjoyable read. The pacing is also really well done. This was my first book by this author and I definitely hope to read more after enjoying this book. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend checking it out, especially if you enjoy science fiction crime books.

Ten thousand habitats orbit Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise. But even utopia needs police. For the Glitter Band the police are the prefects of Panopoly. Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants. No clues are being left behind as to the cause of their deaths... As panic rises, a charismatic figure is sowing insurrection, convincing a small but growing number of habitats to break away from the Glitter Band and form their own independent colonies.


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Elysium Fire
Alastair Reynolds

So when I went into this book I was not expecting or ready for a long and in depth sci-fi book. I also didn't realise that this was actually the second book in a series. Luckily, Reynolds is an amazing writer and her managed to pull me right into the glitter band and filled in most of the gaps about the first installment. Although I will be reading the first book at some point. Also, I feel like I start off a lot of my reviews saying it's a second book? Is it just me that has this issue? 

I've previously read Reynolds book Revenger and I was not disappointed with Reynolds writing at all. He truly is a master of the sci-fi genre. It probably helps that he used to be a space scientist, but he works wonders on describing the different planets and space throughout his books. Because it's a second book, I did have to pick up on quite a few snippets to understand how this universe worked a bit more than I would have, but because this book is so in depth it wasn't an issue at all. 

The book contains multiple plots that were wonderfully interwoven into one story. I loved how in depth the characters were, and we got a good understanding of the antagonist as well. Each person seemed to have their own backstory, motivations and thought processes when acting.

The only issues I had was that it occasionally felt a bit slow on the pacing side. Especially as the plot twist isn't that much of a twist for the reader, it's more of a shock to Dreyfus and co. Nearing the end of the book I was wanting a little bit more of a pick up in pace, which I did eventually get. But it did take it's time. 

Positives
+ Amazing world building

+ In depth characters and story arcs

+ Intriguing plot premise

Negatives
- Predictable plot twist

- May have been a bit too long with slow paced parts

I received Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an unbiased and honest review

For a police force tasked with maintaining democracy and voting rights, the Prefects of Panoply seem to get involved in an awful lot of rather more gory crimes. Such as the sudden outbreak of Glitter Band citizens having their brains boiled from the inside. Faulty implants, or something more sinister? Could it have anything to do with Aurora or the Clockmaker (see The Prefect aka Aurora Rising)? And isn’t it convenient that such a mysterious disaster is pending just as the demagogue-like Devon Garlin is stirring up trouble, encouraging habitats to break away from the care of Panoply and go it alone.

That last made me chuckle – it’s just so Brexit, reminding you that Alastair Reynolds is British and sci-fi is a lot about current events, even when it’s hidden in stories about virtual realities and space faring and, urm, hyperpigs. Go with it!

Still, that’s rather an aside. What we’re really looking at here is a murder mystery with added layers of reality-bending capabilities and some very cool tech. I rather want a material that self-cleans, used for clothing or floors that do the recycling for you!

Again, that doesn’t do this justice. Having already set several books in this universe, Reynolds has a firm grip of his world building, and a rich sense of history even though this duology (so far) is set prior to Revelation Space. Events aren’t just happening to further this plot, but have roots in events that have been mentioned before.

I’m still not 100% sold on the characters, to be honest, although I think there is an improvement from 2007’s The Prefect. Having only just read that, the glimpses of change in the real world are more telling, from little background details like the non-gendered person near the beginning.

There’s definitely scope for more books in this series, and I’ll happily be reaching for them. I really like this world, and I think we’ve yet to read the best story set there.

The Glitter Band - a collection of orbital habitats - looks like the almost perfect society. Health and long life is assured, there is freedom from want and citizens live in a perfect democracy where all decisions are made collectively by means of constant polling through brain implants. Hmm. When these brain implants start overheating and cooking their owners brains the Glitter Band's law enforcement arm, the Prefects must find the cause.
The novel is full of technological marvels in true Reynolds style, and these are all very enjoyable, but underlying all is the central question od what it might mean to live in such a democracy if there exists those who possess the power to subvert it.

I was fascinated by the book and am heartened that there will obviously be further stories about the Prefects, as the conflict between the AIs Aurora and the Clockmaker is yet to be resolved.
I received an e-ARC of this novel through Net

It has been ten years since Alastair Reynolds has played in his Revelation Space universe. In that time he delivered the Blue Remembered Earth trilogy about a generation starship, complete with elephants and a few standalone novels including the steampunk-esque Terminal World and the rollicking space pirate adventure Revenger. But with Elysium Heights he is back on familiar turf (for Reynolds fans) – a direct sequel to 2007’s The Prefect, now to be rereleased under a new title Aurora Rising.

Elysium Fire is once again set about a hundred years before the events in Revelation Space. The Prefects keep order across the Glitter Band, a loose collection of thousands of habitats orbiting the planet of Yellowstone and its iconic Chasm City. Prefect Tom Dreyfus, the protagonist of The Prefect, and his team are also back in action trying to solve a sequence of mysterious deaths and deal with an agitator keen to encourage habitats in the Glitter Band to seceded from oversight by the Prefects. At the same time, the war between two implacable artificial intelligences (Aurora and The Clockmaker) left running at the end of the previous book still rages in the background.

It has been a long time since The Prefect was published and while going back and rereading it would definitely help, Reynolds assumes only a passing familiarity with the events in that book. On its own, Elysium Fire is an engaging, science fiction police procedural, with the stakes constantly being raised on all of the characters. Reynolds’ universe is deep and complex and his return to it does not feel forced. Rather he uses this book to deepen it further. And given the renaming of the first book in this series and the callbacks to the unresolved events in that book, it is not likely Reynolds will be leaving this universe any time soon.

This is a sequel to The Prefect, and a part of the wider Revelation Space series, but it's not essential to have read the other books before this one (I read The Prefect about ten years ago and given that these days I can't remember what I had for breakfast by half past two I was a bit daunted about jumping straight into this one, but I needn't have been).
Good Sf should always reflect the times in which it was written, and this is probably Reynolds' most political novel yet. Reynolds of course spent a large part of his career in Europe, and this book is haunted by Brexit. A key plot element concerns a demagogue whipping up secessionary sentiment, and there's an underlying theme about the use and fragility of democracy. But it's not a dull, dry read. There is more of a crime novel feeling than his previous books, with plenty of incident and mystery. The action keeps rollicking along, with well timed shifts and developments in the case. The very end is possibly slightly too infodumpy but it's a niggle, that's all. I suspect that given the simultaneous rebranding of The Prefect to Aurora Rising, this is intended to kickstart a Dreyfus series, and I'll happily be along for the ride.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Although different to the other Alastair Reynolds books I’ve read, it was a very interesting, griping, didn’t want to do anything else but read it book. The describing was sensational and I felt in the moment with the characters. Brilliant, I definitely recommend it.

This is a standalone novel but it is the second in a series. The first book used to be called The Prefect and is now titled Aurora Rising.

There's a short story on Gollancz's website which introduces the characters and makes it even easier to read Elysium Fire without having read Aurora Rising.

What did I think?

Alastair Reynolds fans will certainly be pleased to hear that Prefect Tom Dreyfus has returned. This is my first Reynolds novel, and, despite it being the second in a series, I had no trouble diving straight in, and I've already picked up a few more books by him.

Elysium Fire is a complex novel with many memorable characters. Dreyfuss especially is an intriguing figure. The world building is complex and I adore the care Reynolds put into this universe. It's very detailed and believable. The aspect I probably enjoyed the most is the technology used in this book. Reynolds writes hard science fiction and his vision of the future surprised and impressed me.

Elysium Fire is essentially a mystery novel, so I don't want to spoil anything, but the plotting is complex and Reynolds masterfully weaves several story lines together.

I highly recommend Elysium fire to fans of mysteries set in space and, of course, any Reynolds fans should pick this one up immediately.

Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds

I’m sure I’m not the only Alastair Reynolds fan to be thrilled that Prefect Tom Dreyfus has returned to duty, policing the polling democracy of the Glittering Band colonies that ride the orbit of the planet Yellowstone. Elysium Fire is the second so-called ‘Prefect Dreyfus Emergency’ following on from The Prefect, which was first published in 2007 and recently reissued as Aurora Rising in November 2017. It’s a fair few years since I read The Prefect but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of Elysium Fire. There are hints in this book of what went before, as well as returning characters, but I think Elysium Fire can be enjoyed as a stand alone with no trouble at all.

I’m a huge fan of Alastair Reynolds’ novels that take us into Revelation Space and the Prefect emergencies take us back into the history of the Yellowstone system, before the melding plague turned the Glitter Band into the Rust Belt. The countless democracies of the Glitter Band are controlled by the ability of their citizens, through their brain implants, to vote in limitless polls. Unfortunately, those implants are now causing the brains of some of these citizens to melt and the Prefects have worked out that, at this rate of increase, in a few months or years not a soul will be left alive.

This alarming news coincides with the emergence of Devon Garlin, an evangelical speaker who is touring the Glitter Band, preaching against the Prefects and urging the settlements to break away from their control. It’s working. Dreyfus takes it personally, especially as Garlin seems to keep popping up wherever Dreyfus is, and he’s determined to silence him, even if it interferes with his duties to discover the truth behind the malfunctioning or sabotaged implants. He has two proteges, though – Thalia Ng and the hyper-pig Spaver, both of whom are soon deeply immersed in fighting arguably the greatest threat ever to face the Prefect world. The dangers are immense and the path they are taken on is twisty, surprising and dark.

Elysium Rising is a pleasingly complex novel, with several storylines co-existing and affecting the others. It moves between two tales in particular – one as it affects the Prefects and the other, which involves the upbringing of two extraordinary boys within an isolated geodome. All we know for sure is that the two stories will coincide at some point.

For me, though, there are two highlight of this novel and one is its characters. Dreyfus is a fascinating figure. There’s something rather dark about him. History has not been kind to Dreyfus. But this novel doesn’t, for me, have a ‘space noir’ mood about it, despite the cloud that follows Dreyfus about. And that’s probably because of the other Prefects Ng and Spaver. I loved them both – their heroism and bravery as well as their quirkiness.

The other aspect of the novel I loved is its technology. The Prefects are armed with whiphounds, incredible, almost sinister snake-like robotic truncheons or whips that assist with policing, especially crowd control, even surgery. You would not want to get on the wrong side of one of these, especially if you value your limbs at all. They have a life of their own in this novel and are so vividly described. I was also intrigued by the beta-level simulations of the dead that don’t quite understand what happened to their living bodies. And all of this exists within the Glitter Band. I’d have liked to have seen more of it but this is largely a character- and action-led novel. Having read most of the other Revelation Space novels, I know what is to come for Yellowstone and the Glitter Band. That sense of foreboding adds a certain something…

The list of reviews below suggest what a thrill a new Alastair Reynolds novel is for me and Elysium Fire started my new reading year off in fine form (this was the first novel I read in 2018). I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Dreyfus and his other Prefects again in the future facing another emergency, not least because of the tantalising glimpses we’re given of something else, much larger, that threatens from the shadows.

Other reviews
Blue Remembered Earth (Poseidon’s Children 1)
On the Steel Breeze (Poseidon’s Children 2)
Poseidon’s Wake (Poseidon’s Children 3)
Revelation Space
Redemption Ark
Absolution Gap
Pushing Ice
Slow Bullets
With Stephen Baxter – The Medusa Chronicles
Beyond the Aquila Rift
Revenger

This is my first read of an Alastair Reynold novel, and this is the second in the Prefect Tom Dreyfus series. I adored the detailed and imaginative world building of The Glitter Band, with the Panoply running the policing element, the prefects, and overseen primarily by 'Lady' Jane Aumonier. It appears to be the perfect democracy, where decision-making is achieved through everyone voting in polls via their neural implants. However, there is trouble in paradise, with several parts of The Glitter Band opting for independence by leaving, an insurrection led by the demagogue, Devon Garlin, a man with an uncanny sense of knowing what will happen and is targeting Dreyfus with the intent of goading him to overeact. Thalia Ng is promoted to Field Prefect after Sparver informs her of the rising number of disturbing deaths, where neural implants malfunction with a thermal overload and destruction of brain tissue. So far this has been kept secret to ensure people do not panic, but the threat risks instability in the entire region.

The Prefects try to find connections amidst the victims, but struggle to find any significant leads other than the possibility that they appear to be risk takers. At Shell House, Aliya and Marlon Voi bring up their non identical twin sons, Julius and Cabel. The boys are taught to use extraordinary powers that give them the ability to challenge democracy. However, the boys have dreams that question who they are and hint at horrors from the past. In the meantime, Garlin's machinations raise the stakes as his popularity soars, meaning others are on the brink of choosing to become independent. Garlin's true identity is revealed, and it seems the multiple and disparate threads are all connected, as the looming danger to the Glitter Band and the Prefects becomes transparent. Will they manage to survive and save the lives of thousands?

Reynolds spins a rattling sci-fi yarn that is compelling, fast paced, full of tension and suspense. This is a story of illicit syndicates, reprehensible wagers, and revenge. I was particularly impressed with the technologies in the tale such as the painflower, the whiphounds, and the community of the dead at the beta-level. The characters are complex and well developed, sustaining my interest throughout.I probably would have benefited from reading the first book, nevertheless I enjoyed reading this enormously. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

I think I can see why Alastair Reynolds has decided to expand on his earlier novel The Prefect (repackaged as Aurora Rising) and come around to the idea that there are more adventures to tell within the ranks of Panoply, the organisation responsible for monitoring the democratic process within the Glitter Belt in the author's Revelation Space universe. I'm not sure why I hadn't noticed it before (perhaps because there's less of a mass killer-robot distraction in this one), but the parallel of the role of the Prefects trying to uphold federalism and democracy within the Glitter Band becomes much more obvious in Elysium Fire when the question of "the will of the people" of a handful of worlds wanting to "take back control" through autonomy arises. To put it another way, it seems like there is going to be what you might call a 'Glexit' crisis.

That however isn't the main problem that the agents of Panoply have to deal with in this second Prefect Dreyfus novel, although as you'd imagine it could well be related. In fact, much in the manner of Aurora Rising, Reynolds manages to create a whole series of mini-crises that Panoply have to deal with, give appropriate attention to, and figure out what is going to cause least damage and can be put on brief hold while they attend to more pressing matters. What commands their immediate response however is a situation where a number of citizens on different habitats have been suffering neural meltdowns seemingly randomly and for no apparent reason. So far only fifty-five 'wildfire' deaths have been reported across the whole system, but if they increase at the same exponential rate (which seems to me like a bit of a melodramatic catastrophising on the part of Panoply), the threat to the Glitter Band could be quite serious.

The behind the scenes battle between Aurora and the Clockmaker from the previous novel continues to rumble on imperceptibly in the background with no conclusion imminent, so that should be a major worry they can put off for another day, but Aurora still makes an appearance and continues to present an ethical dilemma for Dreyfus. What really gets Dreyfus's blood boiling however, and which is nicely incorporated as a very human distraction for the usually composed and by-the-book Prefect, is the appearance of Devon Garlin, a rabble-rousing Nigel Farage-like figure who is stirring up resentment against the unelected bureaucrats of Panoply and the tyranny of a federal democratic process that doesn't give individual habitats enough control over their own affairs.

The idea of a 'Glexit', using similar language and phrases to those we have become familiar with in relation to the UK's position outside Europe, is very obvious and perhaps not terribly subtle on the part of the author who clearly has a strong view on the subject. The question of 'outside' interference, corruption and manipulation of votes can have even greater consequences, and Reynolds doesn't neglect to include another subplot in Elysium Fire involving the influential Voi family, who have discovered ways to influence voting by direct and undetectable intervention into the polling architecture. Banking is also thrown into the equation in another thread that shows the lasting impact of financial risk-taking and treating society as some kind of experiment.

That's quite a bit to weave together and draw into something coherent and meaningful, but Reynolds mastery of his Revelation Space universe shows here. The real-world parallels are not there so much to make a satirical point about current affairs here however as consider how much more complicated such matters would be when trying to police and manage the democratic principles on a much bigger scale in any future alignment of nations, worlds and habitats. The political and economic satire is mixed in of course with the author's solid pulp SF action, and there's still that murder-mystery and criminal investigation aspect to the Prefect Dreyfus series that comes through well here but it's the ideas, the plotting and weaving of them that makes Elysium Fire, for the most part, another great SF read.

In fact, I suspect that the actual quality of Reynolds's writing is probably underrated in favour of the cleverness of his science-fiction ideas and his creative plotting - and certainly I think I tend to overlook or not give enough credit to this aspect. The writing in Elysium Fire is beautifully lucid, the drama and suspense is well paced, there's a good ear for dialogue that captures witty exchanges and opens up insightful observations. The whole story flows naturally, and there are rarely any real cheats. You could regard the whiphounds that are used by Prefects as a non-lethal crowd containment device as being overly convenient in providing other properties that help agents get out of tight situations - but they are actually a neat little creation. No, Reynolds is equally as impressive in his writing as in his creative SF ideas.

That said, Elysium Fire doesn't quite have the same kind of momentum, scale and ambition as Aurora Rising/The Prefect. By the time you start to move towards a confluence of plots and expect to find a bigger picture emerging as you head towards the conclusion, you start to get the impression that it Elysium Fire hasn't really amounted to all that much. Despite Panolpy's dire projections, the actual number of lives in danger is much lower than predicted and hardly enough one might think to involve the kind of resources that they end up throwing at it. The finale descends into a ludicrous cackling Bond villain masterplan affair (more like 'Dr. Evil' from Austin Powers), which disappointingly fails to adequately address or resolve the various 'real-world' issues that have been raised. Like Aurora and the Clockmaker however, these are mounting problems could well run on, causing further interesting complications down the line for Prefect Dreyfus and Panoply.

I'm so pleased to have been able to read this latest book by Alastair Reynolds, one of my favourite authors.

The story of the Prefects in the Glitter Band around the planet Yellowstone, continues with Tom Dreyfus again featuring prominently as he did in "The Prefect (recently retitled 'Aurora Rising')"

Opening with a young boy watching a distant fire and then returning to his bed coughing from the smoke inhalation, it starts benignly enough.

Until we switch to Thalia Ng who is doing her duty as a Prefect upgrading the polling core on the Shiga-Mintz Spindle. It is from her shift on Shiga-Mintz that Thalia is drawn into the main story, when she is required to undertake an unexpected gory duty.

Citizens are having 'issues' with their implants which are causing them to malfunction and effectively cook their brains. The Prefects need to recover a viable set of implants from a 'melter' in order to find out what is causing the malfunction.

The aforementioned boy is one of two 'Voi' sons who play a pivotal role through the story. I thought that I had figured it all out part way through and found it interesting to see how right I was about what the provocateur line would run like. You've probably guessed that I was wrong in any case.

I found myself visiting the story in my mind even when I wasn't actually reading it, as I pondered what was happening and where the next twist would take me. Thoroughly enjoyable to read and I would really like to read more about the Prefects and Panoply (their own little pumpkin-faced boulder of a world), if you are reading, Mr Reynolds.

If it's been more than a year since you've read The Prefect (2007), you might enjoy reading it again before starting this one. It's not an absolute requirement, but it would make Elysium Fire more enjoyable.

I very much enjoyed this return to the Glitter Band, before the melding plague turns it into The Rust Belt. Tom Dreyfus is much as he was before, a bit more worn, a bit more careful. Sparver and Ng and Aumonier and others reappear, and have grown as well.

The plot starts out at a great pace, with two interwoven story threads: The current emergency, and a tale of two teens from 30 years or so before the current action. Perhaps you might think you have solved the central mystery at some point in the book, and the pieces of the puzzle are presented well in succession, gradually building a picture of the crime and it's origins.

By 3/4 of the way through the book, you realise that the ending is going to be more complex in it's origins than you might have first thought. The ending itself is a bit flat, a bit rushed, with an info-dump a la Agatha Christie summations - not my favourite way to come to a solution in a mystery.

As always, Reynolds' prose and plotting are good, his technology is wonderful, and the characters are interesting and sympathetic.

This is a grand addition to the Revelation Space we all love from Reynolds. 4.5-stars, minus 0.5 for the somewhat flat ending.

Notes and quotes:

Yet there was something different about it today –a kind of pearly glimmer to its details, an inherent lack of focus, as if he saw it through tear-stained eyes. Fine, glinting threads seemed to bind its elements, as if a spider had been crawling around it overnight, trying to fix a web to its endlessly shifting geometry.

A tale of hereditary power, of arrogance in the face of the inevitability of human flaws, of the hubris of kings, of the futile denial of entropy itself.

That was the trouble with having a gift, though –however fairly or unfairly it had been acquired. Sooner or later one felt obliged to use it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC.

Elysium Fire is the second in Alastair Reynold’s ‘Prefect Dreyfus’ sequence – itself part of his ‘Revelation Space’ universe. It’s been ten years since the first of the sequence introduced us to Dreyfus, in a stellar blend of sci-fi and noir, so I was quite excited to see where this sequel took us.

Where it takes us first of all, is the Glitter Band, an orbital ring of high-tech habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. The Glitter Band is perhaps humanity’s finest achievement. It’s effectively a post-scarcity economy, with no starving masses yearning to be free. In part, this is because of its unique political system. Each citizen of the Band is able to vote on issues in real time, using neural implants. It’s a society that is run, basically, by the people within it. Each habitat in the Band is able to set up its own society, and its own rules. Some of these societies are downright odd – like the habitats where everyone is perpetually wired into virtual reality with their body on ice, or where all the citizens have entered a voluntary coma. Others are considerably more toxic – “voluntary tyrannies” for example.

But the one core right of the Glitter Band is the vote. No matter your society, you can vote. It’s at the core of the Band’s social structure. When there are irregularities in the voting, that’s when the Prefects are called in. They’re what passes for law enforcement in a world which has largely eschewed crime. Negotiators, a quick reaction force, investigators, analysts – the Prefects do it all, with limited resources. Following the events of the previous book, which involved considerable loss of life and property damage, they find their institution eyed with increasing scepticism by the citizenry. There’s an antiauthoritarian trend here, and sparks of demagoguery and secession movements are starting to fly. The Band is a delicate structure, always dancing on a tightrope between the needs of the citizenry, the increasingly constrained and beleaguered authority of the Prefects, and the risk of catastrophic incidents in a world which is incredibly tightly coupled. It’s an entirely plausible, complicated, sharply realised society, one which showcases its complexity and provides a living, breathing world for the characters to work within.

Speaking of characters. Inspector Dreyfus, unsurprisingly, returns for this book. The duty-bound inspector was always a joy to read. He has a clear affection for the high-tech utopia around him, and an awareness of its vulnerabilities. That’s matched with a similar incisiveness into both his own condition and those of his subordinates and suspects. Dreyfus is, of course, troubled – still carrying the physical and mental scars from the previous emergency, and from decisions he took decades earlier. Here is a man with the capacity to cut through the wood of false trails one so sharp he might actually cut himself.It’s nice to see that he’s as gruff with his team as ever, a layer sat over a deeper affection.

Dreyfus is backed by Sparver and Ng, the duo who served as his team in the previous book. Sparver is perhaps the more emotional, the one more prone to action over analysis. Where Dreyfus navigates through the wood to find the trees, Sparver is probably off somewhere arranging for a chainsaw delivery. Ng is the more technical, quieter, less authoritative, at least within the team. Like Sparver, she’s insightful, and a wizard with technology – but more prone to analysis, and less prone to reach for a weapon. Between them, the hyper-pig and the tech make a great backup for Dreyfus, a man in whom they’re prepared to invest their trust. Together, they make a compelling triad – laced with flaws, as all families are, but with an emotional depth that resonates off the page.

They’re surrounded by a cast of other characters of course, from the terrifyingly intelligent Jane Aumonier, head of the Prefects, for whom Dreyfus is an excellent button-man, and the more martial Prefects trying to run the organisation, to stern faced, damaged orbital construction workers, and open-faced, virulently persuasive demagogues. It’s a pleasure to seem some familiar faces in the background, their faces and views tracking from the previous book. This new emergency carries new heroes and villains of course, though the cunningly crafted narrative often left me wondering which was which.

From a plot standpoint – well, this is a mystery novel, so no spoilers. There are mysterious deaths occurring throughout the Glitter Band, and their pace appears to be escalating. Dreyfus and his team have to track down the cause, before even more people die. There’s a lot to love in the plot – the investigation is snappily paced, slowing down to give you a view on Dreyfus’s thoughts, and the reactions of those around him, letting you draw your conclusions alongside the Prefects; but it’s quite happy to ramp up for some vividly drawn and snappily paced action scenes, which wrap around the emotional core of the story and keep the stakes high and the adrenaline going. This is a story willing to look at social change and consequences in the micro and macro levels, to explore the ways that new technologies would impact people – but also wants to show you that the participants are, at heart, people. The central mystery is thoughtfully crafted and left me scratching my head trying to work it out as I went along; the world, as always with Reynolds, is beautifully drawn, and the characters seem to stroll off the page, bringing wry remarks and the streets of the Glitter Band with them.

If you’re new to Reyonold’s work, I’d say go back and start with the first in this series (“The Prefect”/”Aurora Rising”) – there’s some back story which it’s worth knowing before you take the plunge here. But as a returning reader, Reynolds has brough back Dreyfus and the Glitter Band in high style; if you’re looking for a cracking sci-fi mystery, pick this one up.