2006: Galactic North (Reynolds, Alastair)

Good overview of Revelation Space history (4/5)
From April 19, 2009

A pretty good collection of short stories and novellas taking place in Revelation Space, which includes Chasm City, Yellowstone, the Glitter Band (and Rust Belt), the Melding Plague, the Inhibitors (only mentioned), and all the factions of humans in the future history. Altogether it's a satisfying inclusion to the Revelation Space series. However, I think his stories in Zima Blue were of better quality overall. The eight stories include:

Great Wall of Mars - 4/5: Taking place in Revelation Space when humankind was still inside its' own solar system. The Conjoiners have a Mars base and who are at differences with the Demarchists. Explore the budding relationship between the two human sects and even the relationship between the to-be-famous Conjoiner Galiana and Demarchist Nevil Clavain. Its antiquity is an interest. 51 pages

Glacial - 3/5: In the immediate post-Great Wall of Mars time, Galiana and Clavain descend upon a mysterious frigid planet which already has an American scientific base. The question as to how they got there and why they got there is not satisfyingly answered. But how the one survivor lived while the rest of the crew died proved to be mediocre. 51 pages

A Spy in Europa - 5/5: After the moon of Europa is colonized with underwater cities, word of a Demarchist hyperdiamond shard sparks a back-stabbing spy mission which may put power into the hands of the Gilgamesh Isis. Extreme surgery, rumors of shark/human hybrids and bloodshed follows. 23 pages

Weather - 5/5: In the Yellowstone colonization era, an Ultra reefersleeper craft is pursued by a pirate ship which is left ruined. In the wreck, the Ultra crew plunder the pirate ship and discover a out-of-place Conjoiner woman, who is despised by the Ultra captain. Can the solo Conjoiner survive, appease relations and even serve the ship? 57 page

Dilation Sleeper - 4/5: Takes place during the post-Melding Plague era. A reefersleeper in deep space is woken early to perform surgery on fellow sleeper with the Melding Plague. Reconstruct on his former wife on Yellowstone guides him through his awaking. 16 pages

Grafenwalder's Bestiary - 4/5: A Xenozoological collector in Rust Belt above Yellowstone competes for fame with a new unknown collector after both receiving a rare specimen from Sky's Edge. Each successive oddity must be outdone to draw prestige. 48 pages

Nightingale - 4/5: Three veterans from Sky's Edge's Southland Militia and Northern Coalition are gathered to capture a Colonel Jax, rumored via the Ultras to be hidden away in a wartime hospital ghost ship. With his capture they hope to crucify him, but even finding him in the floating derelict seems hopeless. It's a tad predictable, but maintains nice theme of space horror. 73 pages

Galactic North- 3/5: A multi-millennial plot where a reefersleeper ramliner is boarded by pirates who steal 200 sleepers. The ramliner captain seeks here long revenge and retrieval of the sleepers across the galactic north plane. I reread the story but I still don't know what a greenfly is and how it did what it did. 41 pages