I have trouble describing anyone in Revelation Space, is that bad?
I love love LOVE the Revelation Space universe. I have read all the books and all the short stories (for some of which I had to go to some lengths to acquire the collections they came in).
Whenever I want to recommend them to people though I am stuck explaining the vast and intricate worldbuilding first, but come short on the characters. This is weird, right? I don't think I can describe a single one like you would describe a friend.
Everybody is driven, relentless, focussed, skilled, somewhat ethically grey, somewhat nihilistic. They all keep secrets. Maybe they have some remorse over some previous bad actions they have taken.
I couldn't describe any major character in here as "likes pets" or "loves romance telenovelas" or "is a dashing rogue" or "gets flustered around the person they have a crush on". Who is the Han Solo here? Or the Harry Potter, or the John McClane? The person you could relate with.
Nobody seems to have a hobby or interest outside their main drive in life, or their current objective. You know, stuff you could say about characters in other pieces of media, or real people.
This is unique to Revelation Space, right? I can't think of another collection of works where characterization barely matters, and the grandness of the universe takes precendent.