Inhibitor Phase
Miguel de Ruyter is a man with a past. Fleeing the 'wolves' - the xenocidal alien machines known as Inhibitors - he has protected his family and community from attack for forty years, sheltering in the caves of an airless, battered world. The slightest hint of human activity could draw the wolves to their home, to destroy everything utterly. Which is how Miguel finds himself on a one-way mission with his own destructive mandate: to eliminate a passing ship, before it can bring unwanted attention down on them. Only something goes wrong. There's a lone survivor. And she knows far more about Miguel than she's letting on...
Stats for nerds
1recommend
4mentions
4people
2022–2023years
25% recommend75% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap, and Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds for the main arc.
- No unfortunately (or not that I've noticed), though you drop out of stealth if you open fire or use your afterburners. It would be cool if you came out of stealth at half power; that would make it pretty costly, since power and power regen are the stats that dictate how long you can sustain your weapons in a firefight (missiles not withstanding).
That's very cool re: The Expanse. Alastair Reynolds, an astronomer turned sci-fi author, explores "weaponized astronomy" a lot in his books, especially the opening chapters of "Inhibitor Phase". Without too many spoilers, there's a ship that cools it's hull close to absolute zero and uses cryogenic gasses for thrust in order to maneuver, so that it isn't radiating IR. And they have to time their operations so that they aren't seen occluding the sun.
- > It's the apocalypse fortold by John the Revelator.
I literally read a chapter of Inhibitor Phase where there's a ship called "John the Revelator" less than an hour ago. I haven't otherwise seen that phrase written down for years.
Spooky (and cue links to the Baader-Meinhof Wikipedia article).
- Just finished 'Subtle is the Lord - The Science and Life of Albert Einstein' by Abraham Pais. Easily the best biography of Einstein.
Currently reading: 'Inhibitor Phase' by Alastair Reynolds (60% read), 'Wayward' by Hannah Mathewson (50%), '10,000 Light Years from Home' by James Tiptree Jnr (50%), 'Rust for Rustaceans' by Jon Gjengset (20%), and 'Hands-on Rust' by Herbert Wolverson (10%).
