Reading vs listening

[George K]

I started "reading" "Revelation Space" by Alastair Reynolds about a week ago.

The guy who's narrating the audiobook has a very, very thick British accent. When he goes into "character mode" some of his stuff is pretty unintelligible. His pacing is all, well, just "off" and it makes the storyline difficult to follow. Important points are understated, and I lose track of where it's going.

On the other hand, actually reading the book is tedious. It's a remarkably "dense" read. Prose is rich, and the author uses many, well, esoteric words. For those reasons, I'm finding it difficult, but I love the overall story.

So, for the last few days, I've been doing both - listening to the audio at about 1.5 speed and reading (on my iPad) at the same time.

It's worked pretty well.

[Doctor Phibes]

I listened to a sample.

I'm sorry, but that is no way a thick "British accent". That is as neutral as it gets over there.

This is a (moderately) thick British accent. Enjoy.

Link to video

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in Reading vs listening:

I'm sorry, but that is no way a thick "British accent". That is as neutral as it gets over there.

Maybe it's just that reader's way of accenting some words and ending sentences awkwardly. I've listened to a couple of other "Revelation Space Universe" books that he's read ("The Prefect") and didn't have that problem.

I dunno, mate.

[Doctor Phibes]

I didn't get to listen to him going 'in character', but the author is from South Wales, and lives in the Rhondda valley. I actually lived there for a year, and if there's ever an accent where they accent all the words in funny places, it's that one. I used to be able to impersonate it very well, but I'm a bit out of practice.

Link to video

[Catseye3]

@george-k said in Reading vs listening:

reading the book is tedious. It's a remarkably "dense" read . . . For those reasons, I'm finding it difficult, but I love the overall story.

Exactly how I felt about Lord of the Rings.

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in Reading vs listening:

Alastair Reynolds

I'm going to give him a shot, now you've told me about him. I'll put Revelation Space on my wish-list. I'm in the middle of re-reading The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, so it might take a while before I get to it.

Oddly enough, I've just finished re-reading The Lord of the Rings.

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in Reading vs listening:

I'm going to give him a shot, now you've told me about him.

Well, as I said, it's difficult going. Several storylines going at once (as far as the book goes), but spread out in time, with later events happening earlier in the narrative. Quite confusing.

The other problem is that there is SO MUCH terminology that doesn't make any sense, and you tend to gloss over and ignore these things (like, what's a "Conjoiner") until they become very relevant later in the story. You find yourself thinking, "What? Didn't he mention that about 300 pages ago? I need to go back...."

Unless...

You read them in chronological, not published order. There are at least 5 novels, and about a dozen short stories and novellas that are interspersed between the narratives of the novels. That's what I did, and it's making Revelation Space much more enjoyable than it would have been had I not known the backstory.

https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/95/what-are-you-reading-now/149?_=1614094238298

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Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space Universe Suggested Reading Order

• “Great Wall of Mars
• “Glacial”
• “A Spy in Europa”
• The Prefect (?) – see explanation below
• “Dilation Sleep”
• Chasm City
• Revelation Space
• “Diamond Dogs”
• “Nightingale”
• “Grafenwalder’s Bestiary”
• Redemption Ark
• “Turquoise Days”
• “Weather”
• Absolution Gap
• “Galactic North”
• The Prefect (?) – see explanation below

This list is not based on publication order, or even necessarily on internal chronology. Rather, it is based on what stories explain/introduce characters/events/concepts that are referred to in ‘later’ stories. That is to say, this is the order that makes the most sense to a first time reader. For example, one can read Redemption Ark before “Great Wall of Mars” and “Glacial” and still understand what’s going on with Clavain and the Conjoiners, but it makes more sense to read these short stories first. I will now explain my reasons for this order in greater detail.

SPOILERS AHEAD

• The first three short stories (G.W.o.M, Gl., A.S.i.E) introduce the Conjoiners and the Demarchists, two of the main human factions. Also introduced are the characters Clavain, Felka, Remontoire, and Galiana.

• “Dilation Sleep” introduces Ultras and fleshes out how slower-than-light travel links the worlds in the R.S. Universe. Also references Sylveste family and the Melding Plague.

• I put Chasm City before Revelation Space because it is more of a straight-forward human scale story which briefly touches on the mind numbing time scales and the galactic wide threat that is the focus of the main Inhibitor Trilogy (R.S, R.A., A.G.). Also, C.C. introduces Khouri and Mirabel.

• “Diamond Dogs” is set in Chasm City (partly), and Nightingale takes place on Sky’s Edge after the events of C.C. (fall of the elevator). “Grafenwalder’s Bestiary” has to be read after “D.D.” and “A.S.i.E.”, since the Denizens and Dr. Trintignant were introduced in those stories.

• “Weather” and “Turquoise Days” are between R.A. and A.G., but can be read in either order. W. after R.A. because we have a crested Conjoiner first introduced in R.A., and T.D. before A.G. because the reveal of Pattern Jugglers as capable of conscious (and dramatic) action is a bigger reveal in T.D. than in A.G.

• “Galactic North” was actually written before any of the novels, and Remontoire’s capture by the pig pirate Run Seven is referenced in R.A., but it extends much farther into the future than A.G., and also explains the origin of Greenfly. A.G. has a somewhat ambiguous ending, hinting that the Shadows (beings who ran from Greenfly) might not be from a separate brane, but are in fact superfuture humanity. G.N. basically confirms this.

• Ah, The Prefect, how you vex me. Written years after end of inhibitor Trilogy, T.P. is set in pre-Melding Plague Yellowstone. References Lascaille and the Shrouders, Sylveste and the Eighty, the Conjoiner technologies of Exordium and the hell-class weapons, and the coming ‘time of plague’. It also goes into the debate on the sanctity of beta-levels as conscious entities or clever automata, which is referenced in R.S. All the references make sense if you’ve read the other books, but I’m not sure if they’d be good foreshadowing if read before the other novels, or if they’d be spoiler-ish. I’m also not sure if seeing the glory of pre-plague Yellowstone has a bigger punch before C.C. or after the whole series. It’s your choice to read after everything, or between A.S.i.E and D.S.
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Having said that, I disagree with this person's thoughts that reading The Prefect, set before Revelation Space, is spoiler-ish. I liked it that way.

[Loki]

@doctor-phibes said in Reading vs listening:

I listened to a sample.

I'm sorry, but that is no way a thick "British accent". That is as neutral as it gets over there.

This is a (moderately) thick British accent. Enjoy.

Link to video

It’s the boy that is a challenge. You really have to listen, the mind can’t wander for a nano second. Sometimes I don’t like being 100% in the moment.

[Doctor Phibes]

@loki I lost interest when he said he was a Steeler's fan. Clearly, he'd taken some pretty serious brain damage, which also mildly affected his speech.

[LuFins Dad]

@doctor-phibes said in Reading vs listening:

@loki I lost interest when he said he was a Steeler's fan. Clearly, he'd taken some pretty serious brain damage, which also mildly affected his speech.

[LuFins Dad]

@lufins-dad said in Reading vs listening:

@doctor-phibes said in Reading vs listening:

@loki I lost interest when he said he was a Steeler's fan. Clearly, he'd taken some pretty serious brain damage, which also mildly affected his speech.