Review: Halcyon Years, by Alastair Reynolds
by
Stuart Holland
Halcyon Years sets out to be a noir crime drama and also a sci-fi book. Surprisingly, it does manage to very truly be both, without them treading on each others’ toes. At first I was worried that the trappings of noir: the rotary phones, the gumshoe detective, the cigarettes, and the dame in the red dress, that they would all seem forced in the wider context of a story that clearly takes place in the future. But the Reynolds handles that balance well after the start, and it does become clear why Halcyon (the ship) is how it is.
The choice to have Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, as the protagonist was an interesting one. Over the first few pages, I wondered if they were just a namesake, but it very quickly piles up factoids that indicate this character is intended to be the historical figure. How does that happen? Well, you should read to find that part out.
I enjoyed Halcyon Years a lot, but I wouldn’t say I was necessarily thrilled by it. I enjoyed the mystery, but I think folks spent a bit too long explaining the pieces of it at the end. The pieces needed explaining, but it all came as too much of an explanatory flood. The layers of mystery were also handled well - the case Yuri investigates, his client, the nature of the ship, all of those had layers that fit together and complemented each other well. There were surprisingly many copywriting errors too - typos and the like, but I particularly remember one paragraph where I’m sure the names were jumbled in an edit, because it didn’t quite make sense.
Overall I think the good easily outweighs the bad here. It’s a fun space story that is somehow also a throwback to the past.
