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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Wow, there are a lot of neat concepts in this book, perhaps even too many. Pandora's Star is full of aliens, politics, relationships, subversion, exploration, you name it. Countless plot threads held together by a single overarching narrative that spanned 1000 pages and barely concluded made it a bit hard to keep everything in my head, as the reader is introduced to new characters every 50-100 pages all the way up until the end. Perspective shifts to new characters midway through each chapter with detailed lifelike descriptions of their city and planet, but then you ask: have I met this character already? Or did they just share a first name with a different character? After a while you start to ask: do I need to pay attention to this detail? It was hard to get a good grasp of everything that was going on and how it was woven together until at least halfway into the book. It's quite a commitment. This may or may not work for you.
Pandora's Star has some good fun scifi at times, and introduces some interesting characters and concepts. Set a bit over 300 years into the future, the story shows us what might happen if humans invented wormholes before getting a good grip on spaceflight technology, as introduced by a brilliant opening sequence. Having largely abandoned spaceships and exploration, humanity favors stable and steady expansion of this bulky conservative society known as the Commonwealth, whose government focuses on ensuring all its citizens have the resources and protection they need to continue pushing outward, yet leaves the day-to-day management of society to the states and planets themselves. Hamilton does a pretty decent job at crafting such a universe, but also falls short in imagining some of the larger more fundamental changes a society might experience when exposed to some of the other technologies he introduces into the story (true artificial sentience!! aliens!! rejuvenation!! mind uploading!!).
Perhaps some of my favorite moments in this book are when it explores the various alien species and takes the characters on adventures to other worlds. First we meet the Sifen, a mysterious elf-like creature that traverses pathways that take them from one strange world to the next. There is the High Angel, a mysterious intelligent space-ship that roams the galaxy providing shelter for various life forms in exchange for knowledge. And there are the Primes, a species that is so truly alien in its thought processes and so aggressive that something, over a millennium ago, dropped a quantum barrier around two of its star systems, letting nothing in or out. It is when humans first observe this event that they build their first star ship to go explore what it is.
A big criticism that I have of this book are the sexist undertones. Many of the major female characters feel like they were written as men, but made to be female because hey, it's the 21st century, and women exist. The other female characters felt overly feminine, overly sensitive, and too attached to their men, who they had a single Prince Charming moment with. There are several places where the author's views on political correctness and progressivism come right out, and while I think it's more than acceptable to have dialogs on these topics in literature, I don't think Hamilton approaches them with any sort of grace or open-mindedness, but rather a reluctance to be in the 21st-century where we value equality and diversity.
This is definitely a book for fans of galaxy-spanning space opera scifi, and one where you should plan to sink some time and energy into. It is fun mainly for the characters, the events, the aliens, and some really really awesome action sequences, but it fell short for me on the overall length and pacing, and on the speculation side, where it presented a future that didn't quite seem plausible, especially when compared to more modern science fiction stories. As there is a lot more story to tell upon reading the last page of this novel, I certainly plan to pick up the sequel, Judas Unchained, but I am not rushing to grab it off the shelf next.
Pandora's Star has some good fun scifi at times, and introduces some interesting characters and concepts. Set a bit over 300 years into the future, the story shows us what might happen if humans invented wormholes before getting a good grip on spaceflight technology, as introduced by a brilliant opening sequence. Having largely abandoned spaceships and exploration, humanity favors stable and steady expansion of this bulky conservative society known as the Commonwealth, whose government focuses on ensuring all its citizens have the resources and protection they need to continue pushing outward, yet leaves the day-to-day management of society to the states and planets themselves. Hamilton does a pretty decent job at crafting such a universe, but also falls short in imagining some of the larger more fundamental changes a society might experience when exposed to some of the other technologies he introduces into the story (true artificial sentience!! aliens!! rejuvenation!! mind uploading!!).
Perhaps some of my favorite moments in this book are when it explores the various alien species and takes the characters on adventures to other worlds. First we meet the Sifen, a mysterious elf-like creature that traverses pathways that take them from one strange world to the next. There is the High Angel, a mysterious intelligent space-ship that roams the galaxy providing shelter for various life forms in exchange for knowledge. And there are the Primes, a species that is so truly alien in its thought processes and so aggressive that something, over a millennium ago, dropped a quantum barrier around two of its star systems, letting nothing in or out. It is when humans first observe this event that they build their first star ship to go explore what it is.
A big criticism that I have of this book are the sexist undertones. Many of the major female characters feel like they were written as men, but made to be female because hey, it's the 21st century, and women exist. The other female characters felt overly feminine, overly sensitive, and too attached to their men, who they had a single Prince Charming moment with. There are several places where the author's views on political correctness and progressivism come right out, and while I think it's more than acceptable to have dialogs on these topics in literature, I don't think Hamilton approaches them with any sort of grace or open-mindedness, but rather a reluctance to be in the 21st-century where we value equality and diversity.
This is definitely a book for fans of galaxy-spanning space opera scifi, and one where you should plan to sink some time and energy into. It is fun mainly for the characters, the events, the aliens, and some really really awesome action sequences, but it fell short for me on the overall length and pacing, and on the speculation side, where it presented a future that didn't quite seem plausible, especially when compared to more modern science fiction stories. As there is a lot more story to tell upon reading the last page of this novel, I certainly plan to pick up the sequel, Judas Unchained, but I am not rushing to grab it off the shelf next.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Brilliant book that creates a phenomenal world with dazzling implications... but for all that, I'm sorry, it's just too long. I hope the second book isn't quite so long, since I do want to find out what happens.
Honestly, this is a 3.5 and the only reason it's not a 5 is that Mr Hamilton takes a good 700+ pages for a story that really should only be around 450-500 pages.
The stories within stories is expertly woven together. Mr Hamilton successfully weaves 5 stories that, at first, don't seem to be connected and yet you know that in the next book they will all come together brilliantly. In fact, I feel like I'm watching a dance where we can all see the setup, we have an idea how it will come together in the end and yet we still watch. We watch because we are watching master dancers at their craft and getting there is all the fun. This is much the same in "Pandora's Star".
A solid sci fi book that does transcend the genre.
The stories within stories is expertly woven together. Mr Hamilton successfully weaves 5 stories that, at first, don't seem to be connected and yet you know that in the next book they will all come together brilliantly. In fact, I feel like I'm watching a dance where we can all see the setup, we have an idea how it will come together in the end and yet we still watch. We watch because we are watching master dancers at their craft and getting there is all the fun. This is much the same in "Pandora's Star".
A solid sci fi book that does transcend the genre.
Excellent. Best #scifi book I've read in the last year.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Nigel and Ozzie beat the first man on Mars by getting there using a wormhole.
Good book, lots of story lines to follow. Don’t wait too long to read the next in series. 4.5*
As with other Peter Hamilton books, this one is dense. Many plot lines; feels like the first half is just setting them all up. But once you are in you want to see how they will all fit in and resolve. This is the first in a series of two books so I don't know the conclusion yet. But good stuff.
Great book. Starts off as sweeping space opera and ends as militaristic SF as the utopian human society is invaded by a truly alien being.
Only reason it gets 4 stars is that it is only half of the story - be prepared to read the second half immediately afterwards in Judas Unchained.
Only reason it gets 4 stars is that it is only half of the story - be prepared to read the second half immediately afterwards in Judas Unchained.