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Pushing Ice cover art

Pushing Ice

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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Publisher's Summary

2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it.

The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It's some kind of machine - and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away. The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission, she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny - for Janus has more surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome.

©2008 Alastair Reynolds (P)2010 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"[Reynolds is] a genius for big-concept SF and fans of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Larry Niven's Ringworld will love this novel." ( Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Pushing Ice

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, great performance

Enjoyed this story a lot, there's a lot of changes in the plot over decades of time. I liked the pacing, the characters were interesting, capable and flawed. The narrator was great, there was never any doubt about who was speaking. I thought there was some odd editorial choices and it felt in a couple of places some scenes which I would have liked to hear about were cut and mentioned. Maybe it's the author's style, it's the first book of his I've bought. Overall great book and hoping there is a sequel.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Not sure why, but I loved this book. I am slowly working through all Alistair's books and so far this is my favorite.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kai
  • 02-03-2017

A marvellous standalone sci-fi

Reynolds has seriously created a marvel of sci-fi novels. It is well constructed, interestingly written, and full of strange and innovative ideas.

Lee, while initially not being my favourite narrator, is now very near the top of my list of narrators. His classical style of speech goes well with the voices and characters he portrays; his accents well placed and in all ways engaging and real.

Overall, a great book, a great story. Excellent for those who love sci-fi, or those who wish to invest in their first sci-fi novel.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, loving Alistair Reynolds so far.

John lee is a fantastic narrator, one of the best. Great sci fi, no fluff, crack on with it style.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good stand alone book

I really enjoyed this book, gripping start, some parts in the middle felt slow and it seemed to get really good three quarters through, then it finished too soon.
I feel like this book is just Alastair Reynolds flexing his muscles and I have to say it's impressive, the scope was mind bogglingly vast yet the story never gets too lost In the details. I sat for a long time thinking when it finished and I feel like I'm not ready to start another book for a little while until my mind has digested the story. It's a good book for a beginner reader of space opera, I like the way it was about one crew of one ship so It was easy for me to learn the characters and follow the story. I feel that it's been an exciting yet human story, I liked how most of the characters were professional even though everything was going to hell in a handcart, there was a lot of dignity given to us, humanity - more than we deserve I think.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

good scifi

i really enjoyed the science in this book. it explored some space travel and time concepts that i thought were quite original.
some exceptional female lead characters.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really amazing story

A story which moves, seeds hope and reason to work, learn. Highly recommended to everyone

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Not Worth your Time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I think the plot is good but the way the story is written sucks...Its like the writer gets confused with his own characters of who said what. Also it is like watching a 3 or 4 man show...there is a lot of other people on the ship but its like they don't exist.

What could Alastair Reynolds have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

There is out branches of the story that just never get mentioned again. There is huge jumps in time and no real explanation of what happen in between like...one person is the leader and after the jump in time someone else is the leader with almost no explanation of how or why. To me this book felt like a first try...maybe his future books will have better pacing and better writing.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Pushing Ice?

Cut nothing and add more like painting the picture better...filling out secondary characters...don't copy paste characters and just change few things.

Any additional comments?

Wait for this writer to become more experienced in writing...he has a good story in his head but fails to put it to paper.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Ric
  • 30-10-2023

Worst narrating ever dosen't help an anaemic story

Funny thing is that the overarching premise of the story is interesting and some of the "science stuff" is OK but there is nothing to invest myself in. There is not one character that I was made to care about in the slightest and even th way the events are told leaves me with very little interest in seeing the conclusion of that event.
On top of this is just a horrible narration - staccato speech in a monotinous tone with no sence of pacing at all. If I wasn't such a completionist the naration alone would have made me put this one down and return it. Horrible horrible telling of the story - so much so that I will not ever purchase a book narated by John Lee again.
Alastair Reynolds is a great author with some amazing sci-fi books - this IS NOT one of them unfortunately. Don't waste your money or time.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

If you like character-driven stories, this might n

This was my first foray into Alastair Reynolds and I have to say, it was underwhelming. While it was well written in the sense that the man can string sentences together very well, there was not a single character I cared about, and not a single thing happened in a way that was interesting. This is strange, because interesting things were happening, but somehow he wrote it as uninterestingly as possible. There was a lot of telling us what happened, but no showing us the impact of any of it through the characters. I kept waiting to be shown how two characters who were friends suddenly their friendship ended, just like that? And then so touchy about it afterwards? I get people made bad decisions, but I didn't understand why any of them were reacting the way they did. It was just oh, this character is thinking this friendship is over now, and it is. At halfway through, I realised nothing new that was happening was interesting either, so now it's in my DNF pile. He had some interesting ideas, but didn't tell the story in a way that was interesting to me. I WANTED to be interested in this story, these characters, but nothing grabbed me. If you prefer strong character-driven plots, maybe pass on this one.

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