2025 Reading Challenge 35 Revenger
Some heavy stuff in recent reads, so I was happy to pick up some Space Opera fiction and return to Alastair Reynolds. I am not the most avid reader of his books, but I loved the double header Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days.
Revenger concerns Fura and Adrana Ness, well-to-do daughters of a rich family fallen on hard times. To help out the family, they take it on themselves to abscond and join a ship, Monetta’s Mourn captained by Rackamore. These ships head out into the depths of space to raid Baubles, essentially alien tech locations that range from small stations to almost planet-sized beasts. They only open at certain times and then for a limited period, and whilst they contain many riches, they are strewn with devilish traps. These initial chapters play very much like a YA style sci-fi yarn - somewhat clichéd but fun. Things take a dark turn, leading to Fura, fifteen at the start of the journey, growing up fast and heading down a path of revenge and retribution. As I’ve read more around the book, it seems it IS seen as a YA novel, though the author just wanted to make it more accessible to a wider range of age groups. A warning, it is pretty dark and grisly at times.
The book initially moves at a quick pace, making it extremely enjoyable as the two sisters adjust to ship life and find their roles on board, slowly proving themselves until disaster strikes. There is some excellent world-building during this phase as you are introduced to aliens, the life of a space scavenger ship and hints of previous, alien civilisations that had tech far in advance of the current human-centric worlds.
For me, the third quarter of the book dragged, as it delved into the psyche of Fura and included numerous internal monologues that felt a bit too much like telling rather than showing. Eventually, though, you are placed back on the rollercoaster for a final phase of action and clever, open-mouthed revelations, leaving a pretty satisfying experience. There are quite a few loose ends to tie up, which is probably a reason for two more books in the Revenger Sequence - Shadow Captain and Bone Silence.
I gave this book 7.2 out of 10.
TTPRG Thoughts:
As we are introduced to Captain Rackamore and his ship, I immediately started comparing this novel to the role-playing game Coriolis: The Great Dark, not so much in setting, but in the main adventure concepts.
Rackamore and his crew search for Baubles - Ancient artificial habitats left behind by long-dead civilisations. Whereas Coriolis has Delves, ruins of past civilisations. Both are dangerous to enter, hard to find and yield invaluable artefacts and resources.
Another similarity is in the specialist roles of scavenging a Bauble versus exploring a Delve.
In Coriolis: The Great Dark, you have five roles:
Delver - leads the way into ruins
Scout - scouts ahead
Burrower - clears through blocked paths, securing the route
Guard - protects the crew
Archaeologist - understands the ruins, monuments and glyphs
In Revenger, there are similar roles for exploring a Bauble:
Bone Readers (Sympathetics) - psychic radio-operators, able to use alien tech to communicate across vast distances and discover information, such as when a bauble is open. Often feared as much as revered due to their close interactions with alien “ghosts”.
Master of Ions - manages the solar sails of the ships, propelling the ship across vast distances.
Bauble Readers (Scanners) - Hard to determine, but gives the logistics on the type of Bauble, the likely defences, how long it will be open for and numerous other factors
Openers - Leads the way into the Bauble, overcoming defences and finding the location of alien tech
Assessors - Can sort through the alien tech to pick out the most expensive items
Integrator - Gets the various tech on the ship to talk to each other. It seems many ships are built this way, scavenged tech is shoved into a space cubby hole and wired up to sort of work.
Overall, you can see an easy hack of the RPG to Reynolds’ setting and some exciting possibilities to run a one-shot inside a recently discovered Bauble. Maybe even the elusive “Fang” Bauble!