Revelation Space and the New Space Opera
Finished reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.  Enjoyed it for a number of reasons.  

In the first place, the book itself is a great book.  The universe in which the action transcurs is real, scientifically believable (not surprising, considering Reynolds' hard-science background) and gritty enough to give the reader the "used" universe feel of the first couple of Star Wars movies.  Very used.  And you get the feeling that it's a cold, uncaring universe as well.  And the playing field is teens of light-years across.  There is no FTL trickery, either.  You want to cross the gap, you need to be able to invest the time.

The overall tone of the book is dark, very dark.  You are never under the illusion that nice things have to happen to the main characters in the end. It works very well in a setting that makes it clear that the universe doesn't care.

It isn't perfect, of course:  one criticism I might give is that the characters are a bit flat.  You understand why some of them do what they're doing, but feel that others are being driven by the plot as opposed to the other way around (this did surprise me a bit, since my first exposure to Mr. Reynolds, and the story that led me to buy the novel, was "Zima Blue", in which the plot is driven entirely by the character, and can only be understood when the charater is understood).  But the plot of the novel is so compelling that you end up forgiving this pecadillo.  The reader really wants to know what the hell is going on.

The second reason I enjoyed it is that it is, to me, the novel that best symbolizes the New Space Opera movement, which signifies a return to the roots of the SF genre - but with a lot less innocence than that shown by the pioneers from the thirties (Buccaneers of Venus, anyone?).  It's a darker, grittier and less heroic space opera, which seems to be an offshoot of the Hard SF revival in Britain - both movements which I heartily applaud, and which threaten to take SF back to popularity among readers.

Read this book.  Even if you hate it, it's an important book in the genre: the first novel of the man who finds himself leading the move in a new and better direction.