REISSUES

Pick of the paperbacks this month: ELYSIUM FIRE ( , out now, Gollancz), the sixth in Alastair Reynolds’s Revelation Space sequence. This space opera thriller/ whodunit sees the return of Inspector Tom Dreyfus from 2007’s The Prefect (recently reissued as Aurora Rising). In his beat of the “Glitter Band”, citizens are connected by neural implants, which are now being used to murder people. Unless Dreyfus succeeds, thousands could die. We said: “technically hugely accomplished and as ambitious as anything Reynolds has written.” Neal Asher’s THE SOLDIER ( , 15 November, Tor) kicks off a new series set in his Polity universe, Rise Of The Jain. It centres on an AIenhanced human tasked with overseeing deadly leftover tech created by the longextinct Jain species, and the resurrection of a Jain supersoldier. We said: “The action is handled quite brilliantly, and it’s difficult to imagine Asher’s fans being disappointed. Less happily, there’s a nagging sense of familiarity about parts of the book.” THE COFFIN PATH ( , out now, Headline Review) is set on the Yorkshire Moors in the aftermath of the English Civil War, Katherine Clements’s novel mixes a Wuthering Heightsesque love story with a MR Jamesesque fireside frightener, as a farmer encounters rum goings-on, like the sacrificial slaughter of lambs. We said: “You can almost feel the wind whipping through the pages of this clever and satisfying gothic horror.”