i finish reading aurora rising (the prefect) and it really is quite an incredible story, the ending is perfect, everything you want answers to are answered in the final few pages, all the missing pieces come together, masterful. aliester reynolds is my fave sci fi writer, he nails it when h's in the revelation space universe, complex and imaginative, everything seems to make sense despite the incredible time spans. there is no faster than light travel in his worlds so travel between points takes time, and in that time a lot can happen. human society is split into the demarchists whom follow a technological democracy where  all collective decisions are made via a centralised computer which every citizen can vote upon every issue. it's the enlightened democracy of the glitterband a sort of ring of habitats and planets where every community can function in any way it wishes, so for example if you wanted to join a community that practiced slavery, there would be one. the slaves of course are consenting. the conjoiners are a group of humans that incorporate technology into their bodies and can interact with technologies with their minds and there's the ultras who share a collective hive mind. there's also genetically modified animals and humans, specifically pigs who play incredible roles in reynolds stories. there's elephants and dolphins to in his blue remembered earth series. 
the aliens in the books are interesting and mysterious.
the pattern jugglers are liquid, and live in an ocean and if you would swim in their seas you would exit the water a different being than the one that went in, they change minds, infiltrate the very neural network and can rearrange by placing networks from beings they have experienced previously or swap consciousness of multiple beings. sometimes after multiple swims they even absorb the body and the individual is never seen again. 
the inhibitors are a vast machine intelligence left over from the dawn war to stop any civilisation advancing beyond certain geographical boundaries, there's the shadows and the shrouders who live in sections of space sealed from normal space time. there's a few others but very rarely do humans involve themselves with them, but when they do it's usually for a good reason although the inhibitors are best stayed clear off. anyway's i'm starting 'elysium fields' the second in the series and hopefully by the time i am finished the third book will be out and i can get straight into it. 

the water dragon turns up this afternoon demanding strawberries, it eats three huge ones, just scoffs the lot. i'm amazed at how brazen he is. i don't wanna tame him as he can eat all the mosquitoes that seem to be hanging around this summer, possibly all the rain means an over abundance of eggs. normally they don't bother me but jesus they are seriously sucking my blood faster than any ex wife i know. i walk outside and they attack me. it's nuts. fortunately i drink a lot of tonic water so i'm unlikely to get malaria.

and sadness, actually i'm very sad as jake left today. normally we cope with it well and we are cool and philosophical but this time was tough, it hit me hard. i think its because we are more like close friends these days, and connect so well. anyways as i write, he's in the air.