Chasm City cover art

Chasm City

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/month after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 29 July 2026 at 11:59 AEST.
More purchase options

Chasm City

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
Get this deal

$8.99/month after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends on 29 July 2026 at 11:59 AEST.

Buy Now for $39.03

Buy Now for $39.03

Named one of the best novels of the year by both Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle, Alastair Reynolds's debut Revelation Space redefined the space opera. With Chasm City, Reynolds invites you to reenter the bizarre universe of his imagination as he redefines Hell.

The once-utopian Chasm City - a domed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet - has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or computerized. Now, with the entire city corrupted---from the people to the very buildings they inhabit---only the most wretched sort of existence remains. For security operative Tanner Mirabel, it is the landscape of nightmares through which he searches for a lowlife postmortal killer. But the stakes are raised when his search brings him face to face with a centuries-old atrocity that history would rather forget.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2009 Tantor Adventure Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Fantasy Technology Thriller
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

"Consistently startling.... Reynolds remains one of the hottest...SF writers around." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
This book was so disappointing. Not because it was a terrible story, but because he developed it so well and then copped out at the very last moment. He obviously didn’t realize what he had before he threw his jewel in the bin. I’m surprised that after 700+ pages of good writing he couldn’t think of anything better than a completely absurd deus-ex machina climax.

I also wish he’d had cut the over used tropes and cliches of science fiction. He has a PhD in astrophysics you think he’d be smarter and more original. He takes the horse that’s been beaten to death, revives it with fantastical futuristic technology, and then beats it some more.

On the plus side John Lees performance was superb.

Alastair Reynolds dropped the ball before it was thrown.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is, while very different in some ways, superior to Revelation Space, the first in the series. It deals with certain themes and character in extremely imaginative and spectacular ways. While not necessarily perfect, or especially close to it, it is more than worth listening to.

And of course, John Lee is still my favourite narrator. I can't fault him.

Fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A gripping tale with a few twists. Doesn't carry on from the first book, all the characters are new.

Great company

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyable in many ways though the story was ultimately weak. I think the author might be hoping for a film deal; steam punk blade runner. The first book is on another level. I'll read the third in the series to form a better opinion.

Steam punk

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a story - what an imagination- Reynolds draws you into worlds and stories that grip you to the end and beyond

Incredible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.