Revelation Space
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynoldsby Alastair Reynolds and John Lee
Shares rank 53 of 179 science fiction novels by recommenders
People recommend it as a far-future space opera with autonomous ships and an intelligence-driven universe. Critics say Reynolds writes flat, unconvincing human characters.
People recommend it as a far-future space opera with autonomous ships and an intelligence-driven universe. Critics say Reynolds writes flat, unconvincing human characters.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Autonomous ships and intelligence ideas
“I've always liked the idea of intelligence in the autonomous ships of the Revelation Space universe.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Scaling long-running autonomous coding” “the way that, say, Revelation Space did”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “Where did all the starships go?” Recommended by several sci-fi readers
“Yes, highly recommend Reynolds, generally”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)” “scratch roughly the same itch for me”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Accelerando (2005)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weak human characters
“I loved that book, but Alastair Reynolds cannot write normal human beings to save his life.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Blindsight (Watts Novel)” Wolves portrayal drew criticism
“the wolves in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Blindsight (Watts Novel)”
Other science fiction novels people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Hail Maryby Andy Weir | 117 | 24 | 83% | 12 | — | Approved |
| There Is No Antimemetics Divisionby qntm | 98 | 34 | 74% | 9 | 1.5 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| Blindsightby Peter Watts | 96 | 27 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Duneby Frank Herbert | 82 | 25 | 77% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Revelation Spaceby Alastair Reynolds and John LeeThis page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the wolves in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series”
“I loved that book, but Alastair Reynolds cannot write normal human beings to save his life.”
“scratch roughly the same itch for me”
“the way that, say, Revelation Space did”
“Yes, highly recommend Reynolds, generally”
“is modern and without humans as the bad guys”
“I've always liked the idea of intelligence in the autonomous ships of the Revelation Space universe.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.