History Literature / RevelationSpaceSeries

* BoyMeetsGirl: A more adult version with Inigo and Weather in the short story ''Weather''. Mostly platonic between the two leads, though there is certainly [[{{UST}} a lot of gentle tension]] between them. Borders on a transhumanist version of an InterspeciesRomance, with Inigo an almost entirely unmodified Ultra and Weather being a [[HiveMind Conjoiner]]. For such a frequently gritty and often dark setting as the Revelation Space universe, you do get the occassional down-to-earth, non-sugarcoated, but heartwarming love story (that also works as a story on its own).

* AerithAndBob: Names range from common (Ilia, Boris, Nevil, Dan, Tom, John, Pascale, Nils, Martin) to less common ([[MyNaymeIs Ana]], Xavier, Antoinette, Carine, Renzo, Lyle), to downright rare (Schuyler, Galiana, Tanner) or odd (particularly among Conjoiners: Skade, Remontoire, Felka, Aura etc.). And then there are the AwesomeMcCoolName examples (Scorpio, Lasher, Blood, Beast), used mostly by the hyperpigs or self-aware [=AI=]s with a sense of humour.
** Although Ilia is usually a male first name, which makes it more Aerith than Bob.

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: For the large part, not so much {{Defied}} as cut up and made into decorative napkins. Many factions of humanity radically reshape themselves with as much concern as a person today getting a major tattoo or plastic surgery. On a typical walk through the hub of downtown Chasm City you're likely to pass centaurs, {{Cyborg}}s, PettingZooPeople, and a few TranshumanAliens. The Conjoiners embrace nanotech on an even more fundamental level, and the spacefaring Ultras seem to do this as a ''hobby'' to pass the time while shuttling between worlds. In a zig zag, however, the trope is enforced in other places by SpaceAmish or [[SettlingTheFrontier lack of infrastructure and resources]]

** Also, as seen in ''Chasm City'' the various religious cults that sprang up on Sky's Edge after the life, deeds and [[spoiler:[[NotQuiteDead supposed]] ]] death of the colony's controversial founder, Sky Hausmann, passed into legend. Some of the more avid cults even went so far as to engineer special biomechanic nanoviruses to forcefully indoctrinate unsuspecting people or opponents into new followers of their faith. This becomes a major ChekhovsGun in the {{backstory}} of Horris Quaiche from ''Absolution Gap'' [[spoiler:(who founds his own bizzaro religion, based on a mishmash of old Earth faiths and his own traumatic experiences enhanced by the virus)]]. ''Absolution Gap'' generally goes far deeper into this trope, often to the point of {{Deconstruction}} ''and'' subsequent {{Reconstruction}}.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Nevil Clavain. He defected ''twice'' in his life: [[spoiler:First in ''The Great Wall of Mars'', when he joined the Conjoiners after he had learned the Coalition for Neural Purityhad lied about their nature and only wanted to destroy them. Then, centuries later (during the events of ''Redemption Ark''), he defected from the Conjoiners once a younger and far more radical inner faction (led by [[ImmoralNihilist Skade]]) had taken over and wanted to leave the rest of humanity defenceless against the Inhibitors, instead of offering help.]]

* ''Galactic North'' (2006) - A collection of short fiction set at different points in its history. While standalone, the stories have links to other stories, including the narrative of the novel trilogy.

The series in the usual suggested reading order, includes:

The series includes, in the usual suggested reading order:

* ''Literature/DiamondDogs, Turquoise Days'' (2003) - An anthology consisting of a pair of novellas unrelated to the main storyline, but set within the same universe.
* ''Redemption Ark'' (2002) - The second novel in the main trilogy.
* ''Absolution Gap'' (2003) - The third novel in the main trilogy.
* ''Literature/ThePrefect'' (2007) - A prequel to ''Chasm City'', set before the Melding Plague. Now renamed ''Aurora Rising'' and given a sequel, ''Elysium Fire'' (2018), with a third book to follow.
* ''Galactic North'' (2006) - An anthology of short stories set in the universe. Though standalone, they chronologically tie into the setting's history at various points, including the narrative of the novel trilogy.

'''Warning: This series contains many convoluted {{Plot Twist}}s and [[TheReveal reveals]]- while most spoilers are marked, read at your own risk if you have not read the series!'''

* IHaveManyNames: Schuyler "Sky" Haussmann, [[spoiler: aka Cahuela, then "Tanner Mirabel" (after stealing his memories), then just "H". And since he was one of the ''momios'' on the GenerationShip ''Santiago'', Sky Haussman is not even his birth name.]]

* DetonationMoon: In a battle against the Inhibitors in ''Absolution Gap'' Conjoiners accidentaly blew hole in one of the Ararat's moon by using one of the [[WaveMotionGun Cache Weapons]].

** The Ultranaut crews (and pretty much anyone who takes a lighthugger from one planetary system to the other) can live very long lives thanks to the relativistic travel speeds of interstellar spacecraft.

* SchizoTech: A corollary of the UsedFuture setting, and often a result of the Melding Plague's effect on NanoMachines. In ''Chasm City'', the well-off inhabitants of the lower city use ''[[SteamPunk steam powered vehicles]]'', despite there being laser rifles and interstellar travel. The [[TheVirus Melding Plague]] apparently affects everything beyond 20th century technology. And the inhabitants of the Canopy ride around in cars that grip onto cables in the air, have laser pistols, and live in the remains of the horribly mutated buildings of Chasm City.
** SteamNeverDies: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]] and visually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in ''Chasm City'', where the titular metropolis on the planet Yellowstone is connected with its outlying spaceport via a train powered by a steam locomotive. While the protagonist is a bit shocked by this fact at first, he discovers that the train's appearance and furnishings are decidedly aerodynamic, hi-tech and modern. The bullet-shaped steam locomotives only came into service because a [[spoiler:nanotech plague]] devastated the city years ago, rendering a lot of sensitive electronics and electric-based equipment aboard the original types too risky to use. The steam itself is not produced by burning fuel, but is mined from the titular chasm of the planet, which vents it in large quantities, along with organic gases.
* SerialProstheses: John Brannigan had lived through the ages by gradual replacement his body parts with cybernetics. In ''Absolution Gap'' Antoinette Bax was able to see his past appearances in {{augmented reality}} on ''Nostalgia for Infinity''.

* ShownTheirWork: Reynolds is a former astronomer and a former ESA employee.

** The Inhibitors have a range of techniques and designs for [[ApocalypseHow dealing with troublesome interstellar species]]. [[spoiler:They used one such trick to generate a lethal solar flare and destroy the civilisation on Resurgam. When the inhibitors noticed a ''new'' civilisation there, they decided to turn it UpToEleven and construct a "Star Singer": a gigantic and continuous solar flare that reduces the surface of the inner worlds around the star to slag spoiler:and substantially reduces the star's mass turning it into a red dwarf.]]

* TrashTheSet: At the end of ''Galactic North'', [[spoiler:almost all terrestrial planets of Milky Way were devoured by the Greenfly]].

-->'I had the same dream,' I said, wonderingly. 'And there was another dream in which I was inside somekind- of I halted, waiting for the words to assemble in my head. 'Some kind of underground tomb. I remember being chased down a corridor by an [[IndyEscape enormous stone ball]] which was going to roll over me.'

** SteamNeverDies: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]] and visually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in ''Chasm City'', where the titular metropolis on the planet Yellowstone is connected with its outlying spaceport via a train powered by a steam locomotive. While the protagonist is a bit shocked by this fact at first, he discovers that the train's appearance and furnishings are decidedly aerodynamic, hi-tech and modern. The bullet-shaped steam locomotives only came into service because a [[spoiler:nanotech plague]] devastated the city years ago, rendering a lot of sensitive electronics and electric-based equipment aboard the original types too risky to use. The steam itself is not produced by burning fuel, but is mined from the titular chasm of the planet, which wents it in large quantities, along with organic gases.

** SteamNeverDies: * [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]] and visually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in ''Chasm City'', where the titular metropolis on the planet Yellowstone is connected with its outlying spaceport via a train powered by a steam locomotive. While the protagonist is a bit shocked by this fact at first, he discovers that the train's appearance and furnishings are decidedly aerodynamic, hi-tech and modern. The bullet-shaped steam locomotives only came into service because a [[spoiler:nanotech plague]] devastated the city years ago, rendering a lot of sensitive electronics and electric-based equipment aboard the original types too risky to use. The steam itself is not produced by burning fuel, but is mined from the titular chasm of the planet, which wents it in large quantities, along with organic gases.

* RealityWarper: The advanced technology with which the Conjoiners like to play often runs on this, especially since it doesn't just mess with space but with time as well. Hell-class weapons have inside them singularities that somehow don't collapse, and [[spoiler:In ''Redemption Ark'' it's revelaed that the mysterious lighthugger drives' energy source is, literally, the big bang - there is a tiny tear in timespace at their core through which they tap the unlimited energy available ''at the moment of the creation of the universe'']]. Unfortunately, things can go ''really'' wrong when the tech - which the Conjoiners themselves don't fully understand, due to [[spoiler:it having been passed onto them from far more advanced Conjoiners in the distant future]] - is abused; screwing up modifications to lighthugger drives can blow up small moons, and messing with inertia dampeners to [[spoiler:achieve FTL travel]] can cause the equipment itself to tear up your ship, [[spoiler:semisentient bubbles of timespace to wrap around you and squish you into a tiny ball]], and [[spoiler:time-space itself to self-rearrange and RetGone you out of history]].

* EarthAllAlong: [[spoiler: Looks like the "Shadows" are humanity in the far future, after the DiabolusExMachina of the epilogue curbstomps the universe with nanotech. The brane allowed them to contact their past, yet they didn't think to warn us about the greenfly, did they? Where's the Melding Plague when you really need it? Alternatively, why didn't Exordium warn anyone? [[spoiler: Though they did try the Melding Plague. It didn't work...]]

* IntelligentGerbil: Some of the less out-there alien species. A subversion, since they're few and far between and by the time starfaring humans discover them, they're usualy already extinct.

** What H does to a violent and abusive police officer in ''Redemption Ark'' is related. In order to control the robot through which he does his police work, the policeman is already little more than a BrainInAJar plugged in a life support system. His punishement is just to be stored somewhere and remain plugged to said life support system without any external stimulus, until his death.

* FasterThanLightTravel: Theoretically possible, but very, ''[[RetGone very]]'' [[RetGone risky]], hence the preference [[BoringButPractical for the far more restrictive]] slower than light travel used by humanity. [[spoiler:Skade and her crew [[TemptingFate tries to break the light barrier]] in ''Redemption Ark'' thanks to some alien AppliedPhlebotinum upgrades built into ''Nightshade''. [[GoneHorriblyWrong It doesn't end well]]...]]

* FasterThanLightTravel: Theoretically possible, but very, ''[[RetGone very]]'' [[RetGone risky]], hence the preference [[BoringButPractical for the far more restrictive]] slower than light travel used by humanity. [[spoiler:Skade and her crew [[TemptingFate tries to brake the light barrier]] in ''Redemption Ark'' thanks to some alien AppliedPhlebotinum upgrades built into ''Nightshade''. [[GoneHorriblyWrong It doesn't end well]]...]]

** At the end of ''Absolution Gap'' [[spoiler:, when it is revealed that the Inhibitors were defeated with the assistance of a mysterious alien race which had been hiding behind the scenes all along]].

* DeathWorld: The AllPlanetsAreEarthLike trope gets a major kick in the shins in this series. The most Earth-like planet mentioned is Sky's Edge, which is full of hostile life that is biologically incompatible with Earth life. Eating it will kill you (and vice versa, but the local predators haven't figured this out and will happily eat you - yes, they will die almost instantly, but that's hardly likely to be a comfort to you) or, possibly, do nothing. Then there are the Pattern Jugglers - algae-like StarfishAliens inhabiting planets with global oceans - that usually act benign, but once in a while someone who swims with them doesn't come back, [[CameBackWrong comes back wrong]], [[EmptyShell or worse]]. Also, Yellowstone, the most important and most populated interstellar colony of humanity, has an atmosphere and surface very similar to Saturn's moon Titan, so only the giant domed settlements (like Chasm City or [[{{Egopolis}} Loreanville]]) and orbital habitats are actualy populated. Pretty much all planets in the series are either uninhabitable, barely habitable (without advanced tech) or habitable, but full of EverythingTryingToKillYou.

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Averted in most of Reynolds' novels, but played with in ''Diamond Dogs''. Although in fairness, in that novella it's more along the lines of "Modifying the fundamental structure that underlies your cognitive processes may have deleterious effects on your personality"; a similar thought is explored in another book with Skade, who temporarily disables her vomit reflex while working in space to prevent the disparity between her visual and inner-ear sensory inputs from convincing her brain that she's been poisoned and triggering emesis, i.e., making her puke her guts up. She notes to herself that becasue the brain is messy and holographic, even small changes like this have decidedly peculiar knock-on effects on perception and cognition.

** A lot of the future factions of humanity have transhumanist trappings and are usualy cyborg-lite, with various brain implants. The Conjoiners are a whole society of these, while the Ultras and Demarchists often have some simpler body implants as well.

* ArtificialGravity: Human ships create gravity by acceleration or spinning. [[spoiler:But Grubs are completely mastered gravity manipulation and can create artificial gravity without acceleration or spinning.]]