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Pushing Ice

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Pushing Ice

By: Alastair Reynolds
Narrated by: John Lee
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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 Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Solar System Mind-Bending

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
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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.

Good story, great performance

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An engaging, imaginative story, with enough of a mystery to keep you turning pages to see how it would end, and continuous twists to raise interest at times when interest started to flag. Not the best science fiction I've encountered, but nonetheless enjoyable.

Kazablanka

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the authors ability to transport the reader into a parallel time and dimension while keeping common values and society substructure is genius.
I have rear 100s of sci Fi novels and Reynolds imagination is a standout.

the narration was perfect

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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.

A marvellous standalone sci-fi

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

Really amazing story

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