[[Alistair Reynolds']] [Terminal World]

Just finished Reynolds' Terminal World and like all of his stuff (and I've read it all!) I found it a rip-snortin' read but with an ending that pulls its punches. (OK, perhaps he plans a sequel, but why wait? Let's figure it out now!) While I had problems with a few minor things, the story provoked plenty of thinking... mostly along the lines of "What the f* is going on with this planet!?" I have some ideas, but I'm not enough of a physicist as Mr. Reynolds to follow them through. So I ask you... those of you who have read the book (spoilers be damned, this is for those who have already read the book!)... what gives? Specifically: what's with the zones? How did they get that way? What planet is it anyway? (In my scenario it is not earth.)

My guess is that a terraformed Mars is the planet here. There are various hints dropped such as the "long life" humans used to live (80 years), but 40 mars years would be about 80 earth years. The atmosphere escaping because the gravity isn't strong enough. The moon split in two (mars has two moons). The fact that old humans are considered the size of children; in reduced gravity, you'd expect thinner, taller people.
Anyway, that's what popped into my head halfway through the book, when he mentioned the Mother Goddess (I think?) mountain; it made me think of Olympus Mons.

Just finished it. Wasn't impressed. (full review here

I didn't get any of the Mars links, and I'm not convinced. It's just a very very old earth. - Some prior space event has split the moon - and the escalator has hollowed out (or caused) the core sufficiently to reduce gravity et al.

Zones - as described in the book - areas where the "cellular grid" is not equal. one might imiagine this as very very very tiny adjustments to the levels of the universal constants. SUch that the electric charge is marginally different, hence atoms occupy different volumes. However it isn't explained well by characters who can't know of quantum physics so it could be anything you want with the prior explanation merely a metaphor or just plain wrong. During the first third before we meet this "explanation" I thought it was a nanotech desgination - different operating systems or somethign preventing one 'type' of nano from existing in another area.

Nowhere near as good as his best stuff.

No, it's definitely set on Mars. When they visit the abandoned museum, the diorama is clearly the first landing on Mars. There are other clues scattered about the text - I seem to recall working it out in the first quarter of the book.

I like a lot of Alistair Reynolds other stuff, but I thought Terminal World was a bit weak.

Agreed. Not his best.

Having said that, his new book sounds interesting - Blue Remembered Earth. He was talking about it last weekend at alt.fiction.

It's definitely Mars. The Wikipedia page has a lot of nerdy detail on what clues Reynolds left and how you can work it out from them.