Halcyon Years, Alastair Reynolds
Halcyon Years, Alastair Reynolds
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

Halcyon Years

Author: Alastair Reynolds

Narrator: Tim Treloar

Unabridged: 12 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orbit

Published: 01/27/2026


Synopsis

A private investigator is hired to look into a mysterious, high-profile death aboard the starship Halcyon in this fresh new science fiction masterpiece from the "mastersinger of space opera" (The Times) and the creator of the beloved Revelation Space universe. Strap in for a gripping murder mystery.

Yuri Gagarin is a private investigator, who picks up small cases from his local community, runs into trouble with the local police, and generally ekes out a living as best he can. He's aboard the Halcyon - a starship, hurtling through space, carrying thousands of passengers with thousands more sleeping the journey away.

Only his usual investigative work - catching cheating spouses, and small time con artists - is about to take a turn. He's hired by a mysterious woman called Ruby Red to look into a death in one of Halcyon's most elite families . . . and then warned off the case again by a second mysterious woman called Ruby Blue. Caught between the two, he's about to be embroiled in a murder mystery in which - at any moment - he could be the latest victim.

Gripping, fast-paced fun, this is a classic noir mystery with a science fiction twist, which will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat to the end.

A fresh new masterpiece, from the master of science fiction.

About Alastair Reynolds

Born in Barry, South Wales, Alastair Reynolds studied at Newcastle University and the University of St. Andrews. A former astrophysicist for the European Space Agency, he now writes full-time. He is the author of many short stories and twelve novels, including Chasm City, winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, and House of Suns.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bradley on December 19, 2025

Truly entertaining. Yuri, the first cosmonaut, works as a 40's noir detective. Such a sweet premise. I'm reminded of other great SF that pulls similar conceits be it Hitler as a Noir detective or the inestimable Dark City premise, but who cares, right? It's FUN. Especially when it takes off with gener......more

Goodreads review by Curtis on November 19, 2025

I love Alastair Reynolds but he has a bad habit of acting like he doesn’t have any regular readers. That way he’s free to repeat all the same plots and twists, by pretending every reader is reading their very first Reynolds book. Unfortunately I’ve read a lot of them, and this one felt like I’ve alr......more

Goodreads review by Anissa on November 30, 2025

Legit one of the best books I've read all year! It may be the best book I've read all year, but I haven't gone to look at my list. I love a mystery set on a space station, spaceship, or space settlement. This gave me a generation ship and a very interesting main character. I would say here, but I don......more

Goodreads review by Marco on February 06, 2026

All'inizio mi ha lasciato un po' perplesso e non mi ha preso tantissimo.. Inizia come un noir anni 40 con strana tecnologia.. cioè, ci sono alcune cose molto avanzate, ma poi ci sono telefoni fissi, macchine fotografiche a pellicola, e altra retrotecnologia simile.. Dopo un po' quella che sembrava un......more

Goodreads review by Robert on October 25, 2025

Alastair Reynolds is one of the greats of British science fiction. From his Revelation Space series of space operas and the related Prefect Dreyfus crime novels set in the same universe, to his equally epic Poseidon’s Children series. More recently Reynolds has combined classic swashbuckling pirate......more


Quotes

"Comparisons to Dune abound...At a time when large-scale SF is flourishing, Absolution Gap is as good as it gets, and should solidify Alastair Reynolds' reputation as one of the best hard SF writers in the field."—SF Site on Absolution Gap

"Reynolds writes a lean and muscular prose where the intense action scenes are leavened with the kind of bright, shining, mind-boggling science talk that characterizes the best of post-modern space opera."—Science Fiction Weekly on Absolution Gap

"Alastair Reynolds continues his rise to the top of SF...Revelation, Redemption, Absolution...Reynolds provides them all."—The Guardian (UK) on Absolution Gap

"Alastair Reynolds [is] one of the leading lights of the New Space Opera Movement . . . . Revenger is tremendous fun." —Locus on Revenger

"Reynolds possesses the true and awesome widescreen SF imagination...an exciting, thought-provoking novel."—Locus on Century Rain

"One of the giants of the new British space opera."
io9 on Alastair Reynolds

"[Reynolds is] a mastersinger of the space opera."
The Times (UK) on Blue Remembered Earth

"Heir to writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, Reynolds keeps up the tradition of forward thinking... An immensely thrilling, mind-bending piece of work."
AV Club on House of Suns

"[Reynolds] is one of the most gifted hard SF writers working today."—Publishers Weekly on Beyond the Aquila Rift

"Eversion by Alastair Reynolds is a masterful surprise in this author’s work ... a finely written science fiction mystery that I could not put down."—SciFi Mind on Eversion