Rating: 4/5, good
Eversion is the mathematical problem of turning a sphere inside out without breaking it. In the 2022 book Eversion, the crew of a ship finds a mysterious structure that appears to be in the middle of that process of turning inside out. The protagonist Silas Coade, the ship’s doctor, is trapped in a Groundhog’s Day cycle of repeatedly dying and reawakening into a similar scenario a century or so later until he figures out important truths about the building, the crew, and himself.
The characters really turned me off at first, but they grew on me over time. I almost put this book down after the Russian financier of the expedition (Topolsky) said some very racist things about the Mexican explosives expert (Ramos). It reminded me of some of the more iffy parts of The Sparrow where the narration discusses the main character’s Spanish and indigenous heritage almost as a symbol of colonization or the West mixing with the exotified other rather than a mundane fact of life.
It made me wonder, “Why is scifi being weird about mestizos again? It’s strange enough that it happened once!” What furthered this impression was that Silas dismisses it weakly, only telling Topolsky not to breathe on his patient (what makes it worse is that Ramos was unconscious and undergoing cranial surgery at the time). In retrospect it makes sense because Silas didn’t want to anger his employer and his character is not the type to speak up, but since this happens so close to the beginning of the novel I wasn’t sure if Silas (or the author) shared Topolsky’s opinions about Ramos.
I wasn’t sure if I should keep reading or not, so I read reviews and watched a video by Raf Blutaxt raving about it and saying that there was a twist that plays on the main character’s sexism later in the novel, so I decided to give it a chance to see if it would get more woke. I wouldn’t really say it’s woke (the twist mentioned is a fairly minor point because the character in question is mostly out of the narrative by then) but all the characters do get a lot more sympathetic except for Topolsky, who becomes a clear villain.
Silas Coade’s heart is in the right place, but he’s rather cowardly. His character arc is essentially him becoming braver. Ada Cossile, the linguist and the only woman on the ship for most of the story, comes off extremely bitchy at first, like a straw feminist character, but she softens over time. The relationship between Silas and Ada reminded me of me and my dad, because they enjoy pushing each other’s buttons (also he was a doctor and I’m a writer, so similar fields). At the beginning, I was worried that the portrayal of Cossile was going to be all negative and I’d feel targeted by that, but once Silas starts to become more aware of the situation he’s in she becomes less critical of him and they are able to cooperate.
Ramos becomes a deeper character as well. Silas spends a lot of time with him and learns more about his past and they become fast friends. He’s hard-headed but strong, which complements Silas’s weakness. He’s not the most nuanced, but I felt like he played his part in the story well enough.
I can’t say I really understood the science of Eversion… it’s hard to understand geometric concepts without illustrations, so I glossed over them. Even without understanding the big ideas, I don’t regret finishing the book.
I wasn’t crazy about the gothic writing style… it’s okay, but it’s a little overwrought and hard to sort through at times, almost like hacking through vines in the jungle (which was probably intentional considering what happens later…). If anything deters me from picking up another book by Alastair Reynolds, it would be the writing style. I can’t say I enjoyed reading this, but I’m glad I read it, if that makes sense. I would recommend Eversion for those who are looking for a character-driven gothic scifi novel and are willing to overlook the fictional racism and mild misogynist vibes toward the beginning.
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