History Literature / RevelationSpaceSeries

** Averted. Though the stories are all in English via TranslationConvention, it is clearly stated that human languages 500 years in the future have continued to further evolve. Notable examples are the two main ''lingua franca''s: [[LatinLand Norte]] and [[CanadaEh Can]]-[[FarEast asian]]. In a throwaway comment, Volyova refers to her native language as "[[FutureSlang Russish]]", not "Russian".

* ChekhovsGun / ChekhovsSkill: Lots and lots in each installment of the series.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder / WeAreStrugglingTogether: The original crew of the ''Nostalgia for Infinity''.

* EarthAllAlong: [[spoiler:Looks like the "Shadows" are humanity in the far future, after the DiabolusExMachina of the epilogue curbstomps the universe with nanotech. The brane allowed them to contact their past, yet they didn't think to warn us about the greenfly, did they? Where's the Melding Plague when you really need it? Alternatively, why didn't Exordium warn anyone? Though they did try the Melding Plague. It didn't work...]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Pretty much the reason why AppliedPhlebotinum is not always an instant solution to everything. The series is generally very down to earth in what humans can achieve even with highly advanced or reverse-engineered alien tech. For instance, Khouri's entire previous life gets wrecked because of a bureaucratic mistake that puts her and her husband on two different lighthuggers. Since CasualInterstellarTravel is non-existant in the series and crossing from one system to the other can take decades (even in reefersleep), her chances of meeting him again during her lifetime have dropped to nearly zero.

* CultureChopSuey:
** A given, with humanity being quite a cosmopolitan mix during the events of the trilogy, especially on old and densely inhabited colony worlds like Yellowstone. Nationalities play a far lesser role than back on [[EarthThatWas Earth]] and the main new political and social divisions are purely idelogical factions (such as the Conjoiners, the Demarchists, the Ultranauts, etc.). Some characters' names give obvious hints about a great mixing of nationalities (e.g. Pauline Sukhoi, Xavier Liu, Gillian Sluka). The Demarchist language is said to be "Canasian", a fusion of Chinese and Quebecois French.
** Yellowstone is a cosmopolitan mix of a planet, settled mostly by American, European and East Asian colonists. Sky's Edge was settled by Latin American, Middle Eastern and Central Asian nationalities. The most interesting inhabitants are those of Turquoise, descended from people with Inuit and Thai ancestry.

* ''Chasm City'' (2001) - A prequel to ''Revelation Space''.
* ''Literature/DiamondDogs, Turquoise Days'' (2003) - A collection consisting of a pair of eponymous novellas unrelated to the main storyline, but set within the same universe.

* ''Literature/ThePrefect'' (retitled ''Aurora Rising'') (2007) - A prequel to ''Chasm City'', set before the Melding Plague. A sequel, ''Elysium Fire'' (2018), has appeared, with a third book to follow.

* ExactWords: In "Nightingale," the hospital ship ''Nightingale'' tells the narrator that she and her compatriots can leave "in one piece" after they've seen and retrieved Colonel Jax. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, what the ship means is that the entire group will be surgically melded together into a single, monstrous whole.]]

* MultiEthnicName: As a consequence of how the series' future history developed, this is very common throughout the setting, among many members of the planet-bound societies and Ultranaut crews. Examples include Xavier Liu, Gillian Sluka, Inigo Standish, Pauline Sukhoi, Tom Dreyus, Jane Aumonier, Thalia Ng, and many, many others.
* MultinationalTeam: Virtually all of the human factions of the series' setting got their start this way, already in the era of Solar System colonisation, before manned interstellar colonisation was practically developed. By the time of interstellar colonisation, most of the established factions of the universe had no allegiance whatsoever to old Earth nations and governments and formed their own societies and polities in deep space and on new colonies. All these developments contributed to the CultureChopSuey nature of many of the societies, and the high frequency of [[MultiEthnicName Multi Ethnic Names]].

* FiveManBand: Hard to define, but in general...
** TheHero: Ana Khouri. In ''Redemption Ark'' and ''Absolution Gap'' onward, she and Clavain tend to alternate in being TheHero and the {{Deuteragonist}}/SupportingProtagonist.
** TheLancer: Ilia Volyova to Khouri, Remontoire to Clavain
** TheSmartGuy: Dan Sylveste in ''Revelation Space'', Nevil Clavain in ''Redemption Ark'' and ''Absolution Gap''.
** TheBigGuy: Scorpio (even though he isn't physically tall or big to begin with)
** TheChick: Ana Khouri, Pascale Sylveste, Felka
** SixthRanger: Thorn, Xavier Liu, Antoinette Bax, Vasko Malinin

* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Reynolds has a rather annoying tendency to [[KillEmAll kill off]] a lot of [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the principal characters]] from the main trilogy in each installment. A good indicator of who will die next is when you notice they've been DemotedToExtra.

* BizarreAlienBiology: We don't get to see many of the aliens, but the long-extinct Scuttlers appear to have been able to freely mix and match their limbs. It's speculated that they evolved in the equivalent of a crowded lobster tank, where it was advantageous not only to be able to drop a limb for a predator to grab, but to take it back if the predator doesn't eat it--or to grab someone else's that's been dropped.

* AerithAndBob: Names range from common (Ilia, Boris, Nevil, Dan, Tom, John, Pascale, Nils, Martin) to less common ([[MyNaymeIs Ana]], Xavier, Antoinette, Carine, Renzo, Lyle), to downright rare (Schuyler, Galiana, Tanner) or odd (particularly among Conjoiners: Skade, Remontoire, Felka, Aura etc.). And then there are the AwesomeMcCoolName examples (Scorpio, Lasher, Blood, Beast), used mostly by the hyperpigs or self-aware [=AI=]s with a sense of humour. Although Ilia is [[GenderBlenderName usually a male first name]] (though unisex), which makes it more Aerith than Bob.