19) The Way to Babylon, by Paul Kearney
I think I picked this up as part of my Worldcon haul in 2005. A rather lyrically done tale of a fantasy novelist who is recovering from an accident in which his wife died, and finds himself sucked bodily into the world he has created – or has he? Was it perhaps “really” there all the time?
The protagonist’s grief and healing are nicely observed. It would be very easy to fall into being twee with a plot like this, and Kearney skilfully avoids that trap. All very well described.
Reynolds suffers from the same problem that Peter Hamilton and Iain M Banks have, which is messy endings. I have just accepted it as a natural part of space opera but Reynolds does get better with each book. Absolution Gap is highly recommended.