It took far too long to get anywhere interesting. Reynolds is a space opera master, so color me surprised to read more than 1/4 of the book and still not encounter anything particularly spacey. In an effort to remain true to the time periods (yes, plural), the prose plods along with out of date language and not much in the way of action. I was thoroughly bored - to the point where I simply gave up without waiting for my expectation of space to be realized.

I really liked the concept that this book had--the blurb really sucked me in. I would have loved the pacing of this book to be a teeny bit more consistent/faster overall, because there were a handful of spots (mostly the first half) that I found really dragging. I loved the plot itself, though--I loved the way it all unfolded and came together, so as much as I love a good fast-paced story, I still loved this a lot. Overall, I would recommend this, and admonish you to really push through the first half because the second half makes it really worth it!

A new Alastair Reynolds novel is always a cause for celebration, even if my enjoyment of them is inconsistent. In Eversion, though space is a part of the setting, time is far more important. Reynolds takes your classic science-fiction trope of a time loop story, and he spins it just enough to keep things fresh. Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC!

Silas Coade is the assistant surgeon (well, only surgeon) aboard the Demeter, a sailing ship bound for the coast of Norway. Sorry, a steamship bound for the coast of South America. Sorry, a zeppelin bound for—OK, that’s about all I’m going to reveal. It’s a time loop, but it isn’t a time loop. Silas lives through similar-yet-subtly-different events over and over as part of an expedition to explore a curious and alien Edifice. Each time, he dies in some spectacular fashion, and another member of the expedition consistently drops her mask long enough to reveal that she knows something about what Silas is experiencing.

The key to the success of Eversion is in Reynolds’ delight in how he describes each setting. The first several chapters of the book only ever hint at the science-fictional premise behind the events; taken separately, they are simply adventure stories about a ship on a mission for exploration and profit. Reynolds harnesses the tropes and storytelling devices in the tradition of authors like Jules Verne, creating an immersive, entertaining atmosphere with each setting Silas finds himself in. I love each of them.

Alas, Reynolds finally drops the mask and allows Silas (and by extension, the reader) to see “reality,” I as let down. I thought the twist regarding Silas’s nature to be somewhat boring. It wasn’t predictable per se, at least not for me, but I was hoping for something … deeper, I guess? The same holds true for the nature of the Edifice and its antagonistic qualities. The second half of the novel is weaker, for there is much less danger for our protagonists. It becomes a kind of journey of exposition and self-discovery—and that has merit, I would agree, but it doesn’t hold interest as much as the tension of the first half did for me.

That being said, I liked the ending and the resolution. As always, Reynolds might not consistently wow me with his stories, but he does make me think. His approach to science fiction is always interesting, thoughtful, and worth a read.

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the complementary eBook and physical ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

'Eversion' was like 'Westworld' meets Star Trek (the old school episodic version). But not in the way you're probably thinking. A lot trippier and mind bending.

Honestly, I struggled with the first half of 'Eversion'. It is a sci-fi mystery novel, and what really hindered it for me was its slow pacing and large amounts of exposition. I feel like the book could've been 100 pages shorter and been more enjoyable. It just really slogged through the first 50-60 percent for me, personally.

I will say though that the story did become very intriguing and intricate, and the plot twists were definitely surprising. All and all a decent read for me.

I enjoyed the conceptualizing of Eversion a great deal. There are parts of this story that feel a little slow, but I found the overall experience of the mystery unfolding to be a rewarding read. It is a well-crafted literary experience with solid prose and knowledge of what it would like to stick with you when it's over.

I don't know what I expected when I started Eversion, but it certainly surprised me. And frankly, continued to surprise me throughout. You're better off going into this with very few preconceptions, and I actually wish I'd gone in blinder. As such, I am keeping this brief, because I really think that the best part about this book is the twists and unexpected turns it took.

I'll give you the basics, which is that we follow Dr. Silas Coade and the team that he cares for as a physician. They're on a mission to find... well, something. But they are met with many obstacles along the way. In every way, in every incarnation, things go wildly wrong. And that's all you'll get from me for a synopsis. Trust me, it's better this way.

I will also say this: I wished I had paid more attention to the details I had erroneously deemed somewhat unnecessary in the earlier chapters. When there was a lot of character/plot/world description, I kind of wrote it off, but there is a purpose behind most of it. That said, I really did enjoy the characters and their interactions from the start. They're certainly an interesting bunch, and I definitely enjoyed that aspect.

We are in the dark for a pretty large chunk of the story. Sometimes I get frustrated with that, which is wholly on me, but I also really liked that the story felt like it was leading somewhere, so I wasn't all that frustrated in this case. And while there were a few times (mostly in the earlier chapters) that I felt things were dragging a bit, the payoff in the latter part of the book is absolutely worth the journey.

Bottom Line: This book certainly surprised me time and time again!

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. By the nature of the story, it's very repetitive, but it really worked for me. The plot was pretty predictable, but still interesting to read. I loved the descriptions in the first half of the book - all the unexplored places with just a little bit of horror. Once things were futuristic and scarier I didn't care so much.

I was expecting great things from this novel because I've heard Alastair Reynolds is a master of science fiction. However, this novel felt clunky and that it could have done with another round of editing. I found parts of this to be quite boring.

I really enjoyed this book. Unfortunately, I apparently forgot to review it after I finished reading it and now I do not remember enough details to do a proper review.

Do not read the publisher's plot synopsis! Ok, it's probably too late, if you're reading a review of the book on Goodreads. But I went into this book blind, purely on the strength of knowing some of Alastair Reynolds's other work, and now looking at the book's blurb it's shocking to me how much of the unfolding mystery in this book is spoiled right up front.

We start out with assistant ship's physician Silas Coade on a sailing ship in what feels like the late 18th/early 19th century, on a voyage searching for a mysterious Edifice beyond a fissure in the coast of Norway. This already was a surprise, given that I know Reynolds primarily as an author of space opera, but there are enough little details that jar you, like grit in a machine, unsettling the setting and the narration. A sailor murmuring numbers, and a mysterious phrase (<i>the stone vigil</i>) while unconscious after a trephination; a cartographer/mathematician muttering strange ramblings about topologies; and most of all, a woman in bright yellow, totally unexpected and unexplained as part of pre-industrial sailing crew, who speaks cryptically to Silas and seems to know more than she's letting on. I won't go further than this, because the gradual unfolding (perhaps an appropriate topological metaphor) of the mystery is top-notch, and the less you know the better.

Eversion is an interesting book. A story-within-a-story structure turns on the efforts of the crew of the Demeter to find their way to an Edifice that was previously discovered by the Europa. And the ship's doctor, Silas Coade, may be the only one who can navigate what's going on.

Reynolds has written a fun puzzle box of a book. Each layer reveals more of what's really going on and engages in a different fictional milieu. This was a lot of fun to read. It's well thought out and well executed.

Although this is the first book by Alistair Reynolds I've read, it certainly won't be the last. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I requested this book but what I got was a rollicking science fiction adventure across time and technology.

Silas Coade seems to be in a time loop. His life repeats itself with the same people destined for failure and death. With each death, however, he progresses in time and technology all the while trying to achieve the goal of finding and exploring a mysterious Edifice.

What confuses Coade is that although the crew on the various vessels remains the same, only he and two other crew members seem to remember their past lives. What is more confusing to him, is that all of the names are the same as well as their character traits. With each iteration Silas comes closer to understanding the purpose of the mission and how to make it succeed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty tale and the characters aboard the ship Demeter. With each new life, more of the storyline is revealed and the goal of the mission becomes clearer. What isn't clear is the cost of success.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advance copy of this book. The publication date is August 2, 2022.

Man, I've tried a few w times now but I just don't think Reynolds writing is for me. Oh well. Guess it's time to give up.

4.5/5

It took a little time to get into this story for me, it was a slow build but overall I really enjoyed it. The story starts with our main character on a ship and with some hazy memory of what has happened, this scene will play out multiple times throughout the story on slightly different ships in slightly different timelines. In the beginning it felt pretty repetitive but ultimately patience paid off and Reynolds ties it all together well. Once I finished the book the more I sat and digested the story the more I seem to enjoy it.

Spheres have two surfaces – an inside and an outside. A sphere eversion turns it inside-out and reverses the two surfaces. Contrary to intuition, it is possible to do this without cutting or tearing or creasing the sphere’s surface. Cool! Yeah, but, well, it isn’t what Alastair Reynolds’ new science fiction novel is actually about. Alastair Reynolds is a former research astronomer with the European Space Agency, and now prolific hard-sf/space opera writer, best known for his Revelation Space novels and stories, almost all of which I have previously read. Eversion is a stand-alone novel, and not set in the Revelation Space universe.

What it is, is a story told by a medical doctor aboard an exploratory sailing ship off the coast of Norway. While experiencing events in this reality, he is also writing a fiction about very similar events. As they approach a mysterious Edifice, there is some sort of pressure and this reality breaks down. It is replaced by an exploratory steamer working the coast of Antarctica, with similar characters and circumstances, but more sophisticated technology. There is a succession of such realities as Dr. Silas Coade comes closer and closer to an understanding of the true reality he is hiding from. The narrative bogs down, in repeatedly re-establishing the same plot and same characters in each new instantiation, sometimes in the word-heavy writing style of 19th century adventures. But by the last quarter, the reader senses that they are now learning the real reality. While he at first seemed to be kind of a stick figure, Silas is revealed to be a surprisingly sympathetic and sincere individual, who selflessly does what needs to be done. So, my recommendation is to persevere through the Jules Verne-like opening to the emotional payoff of the ending.

I found the novel to be conceptually related to Reynolds’ 2004 stand-alone novel Century Rain. In fact, the first chapter of Century Rain was included after the conclusion of this novel as a teaser. If you liked that, you will like this too.

I read an advance Digital Review Copy of Eversion in an ebook format, which I received from Orbit Books through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 2 August 2022.

Alastair Reynolds' name is always enough to make me pay attention to any new book he publishes: so far I've learned to expect space opera stories strongly based on science and dealing with a galaxy-wide scope of events, so my curiosity was piqued by the blurb for Eversion, which sounded like a very different take from those themes. It turned out to be a very unexpected, deeply engaging read that held my attention from start to finish and offered a quite unusual story that mixed some Groundhog Day vibes with tales of exploration and an alien mystery shrouded in a quasi-Lovecraftian shade of fear: in short, a story that compelled me to burn the proverbial midnight oil to see where the author would take me.

The novel starts, quite unexpectedly, on a sailing ship from the early 19th Century, the Demeter, traveling through the icy waters of Norway: Dr. Silas Coade, the ship's surgeon, is the narrating voice of the story as he relates the goal of the expedition, a search for a mysterious construct – named the Edifice – that could be reached through a narrow passage in the ice. The expedition members include, besides the good doctor, the leader of the group, boisterous Master Topolsky; Coronel Ramos, a weapons and explosives expert; tormented mathematician Dupin, and a few others, including Lady Ada Cossile, a noblewoman of great knowledge and prickly disposition. As their intended destination approaches, we get to know the various members of the group and learn about the frictions generated by such different characters sharing close quarters: once the passage is located, though, and the wreck of a previous visiting ship – the Europa – is discovered, tempers flare in a heated exchange of accusations, and then disaster strikes in a most unexpected way. But it's not the end, because in the next chapter we find once again Dr. Coade on Demeter, only this time he finds himself on a late 19th Century steamship, forging the waters near Patagonia – and still looking for a mysterious passage and an equally mysterious Edifice...

The pattern repeats itself again as the time frame proceeds forward and Demeter morphs from sail ship to steamship to dirigible to spaceship, always seeking to uncover the mystery of the Edifice, always forging through a dangerous passage and always meeting with disaster in one form or another. Some elements remain the same throughout the various versions of the story, however: the characters and their respective roles; Dr. Coade’s addiction to drugs and his literary aspirations which take the form of speculative fiction in which he imagines more advanced technology; Ramos’ head injury which Coade treats successfully and which leads to a close friendship between the two men; Ada Cossile’s pointed remarks which seem to target the doctor more than anyone else, and the hints that she might know more about him than circumstances seem to warrant. It all adds to a compelling narrative that kept me reading on as the picture gained more details with each new iteration, until the core of the puzzle was revealed and it opened the door toward the real situation and danger facing the complement of the Demeter.

The buildup of narrative pressure is certainly the strongest element in Eversion: from the moment in which the story resumes after the first catastrophic ending, although in a slightly different form, it’s clear that there is more at work here than meets the eye, and obtaining the answers to the many questions posed by the story becomes the main attraction in this compelling novel, where the new elements manage only to tease the readers’ imagination, leading them to formulate hypotheses that most of the times prove wrong. When I previously mentioned the Groundhog Day vibes I might have made this story sound like a series of repetitions, but it’s far from that, not only because of the changes in temporal and technological setting for each iteration, but also because there is always some new detail that adds something to the overall picture, while never offering a way to pierce the mystery. Being kept guessing might prove somewhat frustrating, but it’s also a sure way to compel you to forge ahead and look for the final revelation - which will prove to be quite unexpected.

One of the other intriguing components in this novel is the enigma tied to the Edifice, a place whose size and shape appear almost Lovecraftian in their mind- and space-bending quality and also because of the bothersome messages left by the unfortunate crew of Europa about the horrors waiting there: there is nothing more chilling than an incomplete message about something terrible and inescapable coming from the depths, and here it’s also paired with Dr. Coade recurring dream about a

[…] stumbling progress down a stone tunnel, a scurrying nightmare charged with the terrible conviction that I myself were already dead.

which will get a startling but consistent explanation once the veil will be pierced.

Compared to Alastair Reynolds’ previous works, Eversion lacks the sense of galactic vastness one can find in them, but it’s the rather confined background of this story which allows him to explore in greater depth the characters (something which I felt was somewhat missing from his other novels) and to linger on their interactions and personalities. There is a greater focus here on friendship and interpersonal relationships, mixed with some intriguing discussions about ethics and the kind of acceptable sacrifices to be tolerated in the quest for knowledge: it all gains an intriguing meaning once we learn about the reality of the situation facing Coade and the crew of Demeter, adding depth and humanity to what, until that point, was just a puzzling mystery.

While quite different from my previous experience with Alastair Reynolds’ writing, Eversion proved to be a fascinating novel combining science fiction and mystery in a seamless blend: prepare for something unexpected but totally engrossing…

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds is a story that follows Dr. Silas Coade throughout several timelines as he seeks to figure out why the events around him are repeating themselves.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I wanted so much to love this story because I was looking forward to getting to the "in space" portion of it, but I had to stop at 50% when I realized I wasn't interested in the story and frankly dreaded picking it up. Not for me, and that's OK.

Part of my dislike was my own fault -- I went into the novel thinking it was an epic story set in space in search of an artifact. I was anticipating a sci-fi story set in space, but you begin the story in the 1800s sailing on a ship with little to no "sci-fi" elements at the start. This storyline comes with all the other intricacies of the 1800s, particularly the language and happenings of the time, which were of little interest to me. I pushed through hoping that the next reset of the storyline would be better for me, but it was again another ship in perhaps the 1900s that felt repetitive to me. I also wasn't particularly attached to any of the main characters and at times was confused by what was actually happening.

I do like the idea of the plot -- a doctor who is in a "groundhog day" scenario across multiple generations and locations -- but I didn't feel it was executed in a way that interested me.

I seem to be an outlier amongst many positive reviews, so clearly this was just a book that wasn't for me but will be enjoyed by many others!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds- A twisty, spirited, at times confusing, but always enjoyable tale told by an unreliable narrator that foreshadows the humanity of AI. Silas Coade is a ships surgeon on a hazardous sea-fairing expedition in a ship of sails. Then the ship suddenly becomes a paddle-wheel vessel, then a dirigible air-ship, and finally an interplanetary space ship. Lost and reeling from all the changes around him, Silas must sift through the unknown and keep his passengers alive while nothing but chaos awaits him. A very different story from Alastair Reynolds, but as bold and complex as his heavy duty space operas. Thanks NetGalley for this great ARC.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Orbit Books for an advanced copy of this science fictional mindbender.

Sometimes life seems the same, not exactly a rut, but close enough that everyday always seems the same. Maybe the boat that you find yourself on changes from a sail boat to a steam boat, or even a dirigible, but everything else stays the same. You talk to the crew, you find something amazing at sea, things happen mostly bad, but nothing really changes. Alastair Reynolds in his book Eversion has written the kind of science fiction that will shake the reader out of any rut they find themselves in with a story that is not at all what one expects.

Doctor Silas Coade is on his first sea voyage as doctor for an expedition that is attempting to find a gap in the coast of Norway, a gap in which great wonders await, thought he is really not sure. The crew is small and quite friendly, except for one member a woman who seems to expect a lot more from the good Doctor, more than he is capable of. The Doctor fills the time dealing with a deadly medical emergency, entertaining the crew with a sort of penny dreadful story and dealing with the boredom with pharmaceuticals. A discovery is made, things happen, and Doctor Silas Coade awakens on a boat bringing an expedition to Patagonia to find a gap that will lead to great wonders. Soon he finds himself on a Zeppelin, with a few more clues but even worse dangers awaiting him.

This book is a surprise in that it takes the reader one way, turns around and goes another and yet doesn't loose a step or make the reader go, Oh come on now. The clues are there, the story is strong the plotting gives the story real consequences, and really never lets up. The characters no matter the era are all interesting, especially Coade, and his female rival, friend, possibly love. There are enough ideas for 3 novels, and each one would be good, but together this makes for a science fiction book you don't see much of. A book that wows with story, with science and with characters that really matter, and that you root for.

I've read a few of Alastair Reynolds' previous books and always thought that he was more of a hard science space opera guy. I was wrong. Not just good science fiction, but good writing, and boy does the story whip around, and in a very good way. Recommended for fans of science fiction especially hard science fiction, and for people who enjoy really good adventure stories with a twist. Read it before it gets snapped up for a mini- series on some streaming service.

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds is a masterful surprise in this author’s work, and I found myself reading it straight through. Instead of opening in one of Reynolds’ future worlds, the action starts on a sailing vessel, the Demeter, in a stormy sea off the coast of Norway in either the late 18th or early 19th centuries. The story of Eversion is narrated by Dr. Silas Coade, ship’s surgeon, who spends his spare time writing stories of a fantastical future. But when disaster strikes the Demeter, the action starts over again, this time on the coast of Patagonia around the mid-19th century. Then the scene shifts to the Antarctic, another fifty years or so in the future, and then it goes beyond that.
Eversion by Alastair Reynolds

The time and technologies shift in each case, but we always encounter the same set of characters in a series of narrations by Dr. Coade, each of which reflects the linguistic style of the era he’s experiencing. In each version of the story, there is also the common search for a strange and enormous structure, referred to as the Edifice, hidden away, either within a barely navigable inlet or deep within a huge cavern far below the surface. Only Silas begins to piece together the resemblances from one version of events to the next, but he has just a few flashes of memory.

...............

At every stage of this mystery, Reynolds describes the technologies of the various vessels in great detail as well as the increasingly sophisticated instrumentation and mathematics for pinpointing and identifying the big, dumb object that proves so elusive to the explorers. But for me, the most memorable parts of the story, as is often the case in Alastair Reynolds’ writing, relate to the inner drives of the characters he creates and his depiction of a particular type of longing for relationships that are always out of reach.

If you’re a fan of Reynold’s space operatic stories, you’ll need to adjust your expectations, but patience gets a big reward in this perfectly executed novel. Eversion is a finely written science fiction mystery that I could not put down.