Terminal World

This is the type of story that makes you wish it was in a series, just so some of the fantastic world building can be re-used, but it would dilute the magic, and so you are glad that the author is content to leave well-enough alone.

This is sort of steam/cyber-punk sci-fi. Sort of if the Red/Green/Blue Mars series crossed feelers with Vendermeer's Finch. With less mushrooms.

Not, I think, one of Reynolds' best works, although certainly worthy for all that. It's set on a world in the far future that is divided into zones of differing technological levels - each enforced by apparently changing laws of physics, and capable of shifting their respective boundaries. That's a pretty interesting concept, and is fairly well explored, although we really only see the mid to low tech levels, with very little of the higher ones.

Much of the story is rather steampunk-ish, being focussed on a culture that uses that sort of technology. The main protagonist being a doctor also works well. However, there seem to be a quite a lot of loose ends. That's partly because the characters never really figure out what's going on (the reader can deduce rather more), but, even so, it can be rather unsatisfying at times. Nor does the ending really tie very much up.

A mediocre Alastair Reynolds is still pretty good by most writers' standards, but this could have been slightly more than it was.