Elysium Fire

Alastair Reynolds

Jan 2018 · Sold by Orbit

About this ebook

Elysium Fire is a smoldering tale of murderers, secret cultists, tampered memories, and unthinkable power, of bottomless corruption and overpowering idealism from the king of modern space opera.

Ten thousand city-state habitats orbit the planet Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise.

But even utopia needs a police force. For the citizens of the Glitter Band that organization is Panoply, and the prefects are its operatives.

Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats and their hundred million citizens, people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants. And these "melters" leave no clues behind as to the cause of their deaths. . .

As panic rises in the populace, 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.

Ratings and reviews

2nd in a series. This is a very entertaining and engrossing story. i would gladly revisit these characters and setting again. My one criticism is the book does seem to stall towards the middle, but it builds to an ending with satisfying turns and emotional impact. If you're curious about what a classic police procedural would look like in the distant future, worlds away, you will probably enjoy this a lot.

A good addition to the series. I was not disappointed. Can't wait to see how the AI's fight it out, and what happens when the plague hits.

It's been a while. Great to have another in the series, and catch up with old friends. Classic Reynolds.

About the author

Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, in 1966. He studied at Newcastle and St. Andrews Universities and has a Ph.D. in astronomy. he stopped working as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency to become a full-time writer. Revelation Space and Pushing Ice were shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award; Revelation Space, Absolution Gap, Diamond Dogs, and Century Rain were shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award, and Chasm City won the British Science Fiction Award.