Little bit conflicted about this, as I really enjoyed the read; plot pulled me along; lots of interesting ideas; and it goes in unexpected directions, surprising me frequently. So that's all good. But a lot of the personal interactions were just... kinda trite. Everyone behaved in the way to keep the plot going, not as humans might behave. Someone suspects The Corporation of treating the crew as expendable in order to make more money; then The Corporation says, no, no, everything's fine and it's that person who accused us who is falsifying data; and everyone just takes them at their word? There are a whole bunch of instances like this where seemingly rational people suddenly do something bizarre, and nobody thinks about anyone's motives for doing anything, which I found really jarring. But ignoring that, I enjoyed it a lot. Kinda halfway between The Expanse (only read the first one) and Culture novels. ( )

Another one of those super long 10000 Loc point novels that Alastair seems to enjoy writing.

The story starts with an ice pusher, named Rockhopper. Rockhopper is a big space ship that finds valuable comets, etc., around the solar system, attaches big mass drivers to them and pushes them wherever they’re needed in the solar system for their materials: ergo “Pushing Ice”. It just so happens that Rockhopper ends up as the only space ship owned by the big corporations that is capable of catching up with one of Saturn’s moons that has just decided to fly away from Saturn and the rest of the solar system.

And thus begins the big chase, with mutinies, murders, aliens, and all kinds of other mayhem thrown in for good measure: did i mention there’s 10000 Loc points of this?

It does begin fairly slow going but as you go along it all picks up speed as the stakes become higher and higher and by the last third of the book i was in couldn’t-put-it-down mode, turning pages at any brief opportunity life presented.

Super good, and it’s also left very well open for another episode should Alastair ever wish to let us have some more: please can we have some more, Alastair?

And next book on the Alastair time line will be Feeling Rejected, from 2005. ( )

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I received “Pushing Ice” as a Christmas present, it was on a list of books I wanted. I enjoyed Reynolds’ “Revelation Space” as a Teen or a young adult, although I can’t remember much about it anymore (I should reread it!). In addition, for some reason, Reynolds’ “Diamond Dogs” short story is one that blew me away and firmly lodged itself in my long-term memory, so I’ve been wanting to read some more Alastair Reynolds for a while now.

I would classify the book as hard science fiction. Due to the title, I assumed this book was going to be set in our solar system and focus on space mining. I was right about the initial setting, but to my surprise, it’s really a first contact story. That’s not a problem, I like my SF filled with mystery, wonder, and big ideas and first contact books typically fit that bill. I found it an easy read with plenty of intrigue and high SF concepts. On the downside, there were some nagging things that limited my complete enjoyment, but certainly didn’t stop me from finishing the story.

I appreciated going into this book blindly and I want to avoid spoilers, so I’m not going to describe much of the plot. I’ll go this far, as these plot points are on the back of the book: A crew from the ship ‘Rockhopper’ are mining a comet, when a call comes in -- the ice moon Janus, has unnaturally exited it’s orbit of Saturn, and is accelerating out of the solar system. It appears to be under it’s own power, and the ‘Rockhopper’ is in the best position to intercept it before it becomes unreachable.

There is a great deal to love about this book – alien artifacts, high stakes, strange alien species, space opera politics, space megastructures, and plenty of adventure. It maintains a rapid pace, skipping ahead to the good parts on a regular basis. We get four or five well-developed characters who face complicated challenges and tough decisions.

So what were the nagging issues, well, I can’t describe them all without spoiling the plot. But I will say the emotional intelligence of the two main characters was disappointing and frustrating for me. These are leaders hardened by danger and rigor of space mining, but they occasional show the relationship skills and self-control of a first grader. I get that the high stakes and life/death decisions create stress that can impair decision making, but these are long-term grudges and resentment that goes well beyond the heat of the moment. This drives one of them to make a decision with an alien race that had me pounding my head against the wall in exasperation. In addition, there are some minor plot holes, actually probably not holes, just very unlikely circumstances that are very convenient for the plot. Ultimately, the wonder outweighs the frustration and I never thought about abandoning this story. And finally, while the primary questions are answered, there are several tangential questions that are never answered. I’m assuming this is intentional, leaving the door open for sequels.

Four sinewy, gristly stars for this highly entertaining first contact story that pulls you through nearly unimaginable time and distance with surprise and wonder. ( )

enjoyed it ( )