Terminal World is the new book by Alastair Reynolds. I’ve been a huge fan of Reynolds since I picked up Revelation Space at a used book store a few years ago. It was the first of several book in the same universe that are not directly linked together. He’s also written a few books outside that universe, including this one. My favorite Reynold’s book is Century Rain, which ties together a science fiction mystery with a noir mystery book. So, it was with great joy that I picked up his latest book. Unfortunately I put it down early disappointed and I don’t really know why.

Generally I like books that start off why the reader not knowing what’s going on, but just going along on a journey to (or from) somewhere. You get to follow along with characters as they discover and meet new people and learn about their worlds. Most of the time, I’m reading along eagerly and wondering what’s going to happen next. But, every know and then, I get a book where I find myself not caring what’s going to happen next and usually end up avoiding reading it and having to force myself to get through chapters. When that happens, I usually put the book aside and figure that I’m not going to waste my time with it now, but might pick it up in the future. Terminal World was one of those books.

Quillon is a medical examiner in the super sized city of Spearpoint, which is also the last human city. He has a reputation for being interested in strange and interesting deaths. So when an angel drops out of the sky, it’s sent over to his lab. It turns out that the angel isn’t dead, he was sent down with a message for Quillon (who used to be an angel as well). This message causes Quillon to run along with a mercenary provided by a friend. We make our way through the different zones that make the independent city-states within Spearpoint. But after 3 or 4 zones, I stopped caring. Neither Quillon or his mercenary traveling companion was interesting to me. The world was confusing, but not in a good way and I found myself not caring about the journey, the mystery or the novel. Can’t Recommend it.