Troika - Alastair Reynolds
Number of words : 26000
Percent of complex words : 9.7
Average syllables per word : 1.5
Average words per sentence : 11.5
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 8.5
Flesch : 70.4
Flesch-Kincaid : 6.3
PEOPLE
Dimitri Ivanov
A cosmonaut from the Tereshkova that met the Matryoshka. Institutionalised escapee.
Galenka Makarova
A fellow cosmonaut of Ivanov's.
Yakov Demin
A fellow cosmonaut of Ivanov's.
Doctor Georgi Kizim
The physician in charge of Ivanov.
Nesha Petrova
An elderly astronomer and mathematician who was involved with the space program. A specialist in stellar physics.
Gagarin
A dead First Soviet cosmonaut.
Gennadi
An activist. A journalist and a blogger, ex-astronomer. Petrova's dead husband.
Pilot
The martyr who volunteered to go back with the Matryoshka. A fusion of man and machine that eventually went mad.
Doctor Grechko
One of the agents sent to retrieve the escaped Ivanov.
Profokiev
A Russian composer.
PLACES
Zvezdniy Gorodnok
'Star City', a Second Soviet town based around the space program.
Baikonur
Soviet space centre.
Klushino
A small place near Smolensk, birthplace of Gagarin and Ivanov.
Trieste
A city in Italy where Petrova attended a conference.
VEHICLES
Tereshkova
A Second Soviet spacecraft.
Matryoshka
A giant space object from the future. It has four 'Shell' levels left. A cosmic time machine built around a string of neutron stars. Capable of manipulating wormholes.
The Progress
A robot probe operated by Galenka from the Tereshkova.
Mir
A Soviet space station.
Zil
Official transport of Second Soviet agents.
Soyuz
A Soviet landing craft.
TECHNOLOGY
VASIMIR
A type of spaceship engine. 'Variable specific impulse magnetic rocket.'
GLONASS
A cosmonaut tracking device, to find them when dead.
ORGANISATIONS
European Space Agency
Tried to penetrate the Matroyshka.
Second Soviet
Governing political body in Russia.
CONCEPTS
EVA
Extra-vehicular activity. Spacewalking.
Fourier analysis
Breaking down mathematical functions into smaller ones.
MEDIA
Troika
A composition of Profokiev's. 'Sleigh-ride'.
PLOT
Dimitri Ivanov escapes from where he has been insitutionalised, perhaps with the not-quite help of a Doctor. He goes to see an old astronomer to talk to her about his story. A woman that had told her superiors just what this Matryoshka might mean. He was one of the three cosmonauts sent to explore the Matryoshka that appeared. A giant spacefaring time machine with a message from the future. The stress of the mission drives one of the cosmonauts crazy, leaving Galenka and Dimitri to try and penetrate the Matryoshka by robot and personally.
The message and pilot they find at the heart is not what their masters will want to hear - that the Second Soviet and its insular austerity is responsible for causing the human race to almost be destroyed.
The pilot, on expiring and learning his mission has been completed had a small music box in his hand, which Dimitri takes. The authorities do not realise it is not his when they return.
However, it turns out that Ivanov isn't. He is in fact Doctor Kizim, which is why he has his coat. Ivanov has also been driven mad by the experience and the music, and is bedridden. However, the presence of these cosmonauts can infect their physicians with personality transfer, which also happened in Yakov's case. Still, the evidence of the music box shows Nesha she was right.
4.5 out of 5
Percent of complex words : 9.7
Average syllables per word : 1.5
Average words per sentence : 11.5
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 8.5
Flesch : 70.4
Flesch-Kincaid : 6.3
PEOPLE
Dimitri Ivanov
A cosmonaut from the Tereshkova that met the Matryoshka. Institutionalised escapee.
Galenka Makarova
A fellow cosmonaut of Ivanov's.
Yakov Demin
A fellow cosmonaut of Ivanov's.
Doctor Georgi Kizim
The physician in charge of Ivanov.
Nesha Petrova
An elderly astronomer and mathematician who was involved with the space program. A specialist in stellar physics.
Gagarin
A dead First Soviet cosmonaut.
Gennadi
An activist. A journalist and a blogger, ex-astronomer. Petrova's dead husband.
Pilot
The martyr who volunteered to go back with the Matryoshka. A fusion of man and machine that eventually went mad.
Doctor Grechko
One of the agents sent to retrieve the escaped Ivanov.
Profokiev
A Russian composer.
PLACES
Zvezdniy Gorodnok
'Star City', a Second Soviet town based around the space program.
Baikonur
Soviet space centre.
Klushino
A small place near Smolensk, birthplace of Gagarin and Ivanov.
Trieste
A city in Italy where Petrova attended a conference.
VEHICLES
Tereshkova
A Second Soviet spacecraft.
Matryoshka
A giant space object from the future. It has four 'Shell' levels left. A cosmic time machine built around a string of neutron stars. Capable of manipulating wormholes.
The Progress
A robot probe operated by Galenka from the Tereshkova.
Mir
A Soviet space station.
Zil
Official transport of Second Soviet agents.
Soyuz
A Soviet landing craft.
TECHNOLOGY
VASIMIR
A type of spaceship engine. 'Variable specific impulse magnetic rocket.'
GLONASS
A cosmonaut tracking device, to find them when dead.
ORGANISATIONS
European Space Agency
Tried to penetrate the Matroyshka.
Second Soviet
Governing political body in Russia.
CONCEPTS
EVA
Extra-vehicular activity. Spacewalking.
Fourier analysis
Breaking down mathematical functions into smaller ones.
MEDIA
Troika
A composition of Profokiev's. 'Sleigh-ride'.
PLOT
Dimitri Ivanov escapes from where he has been insitutionalised, perhaps with the not-quite help of a Doctor. He goes to see an old astronomer to talk to her about his story. A woman that had told her superiors just what this Matryoshka might mean. He was one of the three cosmonauts sent to explore the Matryoshka that appeared. A giant spacefaring time machine with a message from the future. The stress of the mission drives one of the cosmonauts crazy, leaving Galenka and Dimitri to try and penetrate the Matryoshka by robot and personally.
The message and pilot they find at the heart is not what their masters will want to hear - that the Second Soviet and its insular austerity is responsible for causing the human race to almost be destroyed.
The pilot, on expiring and learning his mission has been completed had a small music box in his hand, which Dimitri takes. The authorities do not realise it is not his when they return.
However, it turns out that Ivanov isn't. He is in fact Doctor Kizim, which is why he has his coat. Ivanov has also been driven mad by the experience and the music, and is bedridden. However, the presence of these cosmonauts can infect their physicians with personality transfer, which also happened in Yakov's case. Still, the evidence of the music box shows Nesha she was right.
4.5 out of 5