Chasm City: Alastair Reynolds

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Starfish Aliens: Several, most notably the Pattern Jugglers, the Shrouders' fake appearance, the Grubs, the Scuttlers and the Nestbuilders.

Brain Uploading: In the Revelation Space universe, behavioral simulations of people are common and full neural simulations also exist; there's also a neutron star that acts as a giant computer and uploads the neural patterns of anyone who gets close enough to it that its gravitational stresses will kill them. Space Brasília: Averted, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. The "historical" buildings were actually often built from cargo containers and prefabricated materials and the newer ones are more natural. Most town squares in the oldest cities of Sky's Edge have a triangular shape, since they were built around the triangular atmospheric shuttles that brought the colonists to the planet's surface from the orbiting Generation Ship. Also, Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis. What Dan Sylveste and the Nostalgia's crew unwillingly put into motion at the end of Revelation Space. Soldiers on Sky's Edge are referred to as "Whiteeyes", due to the distinctive tan-lines left by their HUD monocles. Deconstruction: A hard sci-fi decon of the Space Opera subgenre, with some liberal applying of Reconstruction here and there. For a start, there's no Casual Interstellar Travel at all and the author goes to great lenghts to examine the ramifications of this simple fact on the setting and personal fates of the characters (Khouri's tale being a prime example). The classic scifi trope of faster-than-light travel is only actually attempted once in the series, and it destroys the ship trying to use it.

Fish People: Denizens are an engineered sentient species created on Europa by mixing human and fish genes. Even lampshaded: During Galactic North, there is a request for a burial at C (shooting the casket forward while just before decelerating), "An old joke that only worked in a long forgotten language." Little Hero, Big War: To the point that in Absolution Gap, humanity largely isn't saved by their own efforts at all, but by the abovementioned Invisible Aliens deciding that the Inhibitors have finally become weak enough for them to reveal themselves and fight them. This is revealed in passing in the epilogue - not so much part of the story as just an incidental fact of how history played out—but see the note after Deus ex Machina above for an alternate view on that point. Plague, which destroyed the nanomachines upon which much of the high-tech infrastructure depended, and which effected

Consummate Liar: Aura/Rashmika Els in Absolution Gap - as a Living Lie Detector, she can always tell if someone is lying to her, and mostly tells the truth because she tends to assume everyone else can do the same. But when she's called on to do it, she succeeds like nobody's business because she knows every possible tell and avoids them all. It felt to me that the science and characterizations were very subordinate to the fantasy/mystery aspects of the story. Characters would do things modestly inconsistent with their character because the story required it. The science seemed incidental, providing whatever was necessary as a framework for the mostly fantasy story. Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Inhibitors live and breathe this trope and even self-justify their ultimate goals in a Well-Intentioned Extremist type of way.Inhibitor Phase has the Scythe, a Melding Plague immune stealth lighthugger incorporating the most advanced human and alien tech Glass has been able to discover. For the Evulz: Averted by most villainous characters, but played straight by the infamous dictator of the planet Haven, mentioned in Turquoise Days. There is a challenge though, and it's keeping up with the sweeping storylines that crisscross at many points within the story. Pay attention, and you won't be disappointed. Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Quaiche's tragically deceased lover Morwenna. Though bear in mind that Quaiche himself is more of an Anti-Villain.