Revelation.Space is very much a first novel. It's promising but clunky and rough around the edges where Reynolds spends too many pages building up.characters who aren't particularly interesting. It's the product if a very accomplished writer of short fiction coming to grips with writing at novel length.
His second Chasm City is a lot more polished.
For that reason I usually recommend that people start with one of his standalone novels or his short fiction (like I did).
The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake. I bought a volume per fortnight after school on a Friday.