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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
It's the year 2380AD - instantaneous travel made possible by train journeys through artificial wormholes is the norm; eternal life has been achieved through Rejuvenations, which make people as youthful as they want. Additionally, OCTattoos implanted in people interact with electronic systems, bringing man and machine that much closer. But when two stars on the outer rim disappear, humans are on the race to create their first faster-than-light ship to investigate exactly what happened. Throw into the mix a munitions scam, politicking by billionaires and much one-up-manship by parties across the board, you’ve got a world to immerse yourself into.
I was handed a copy of this book for work. Initially, I was excited to get into a sci-fi novel, but this one was a toughie. This is dense, verbose science-fiction, the kind that's supposed to be immersive but alienates you with its otherwordly-ness. Every regular item has a different name for it, some unnecessarily so.
I liked the diversity that creeps into the story – it really feels like it’s of this world, and a welcome surprise given the book was written well before the diversity conversation took root.
It’s deep, intense space opera that you need to get lost in, but I couldn't finish the book, despite my best efforts. The cast of characters was huge - so much so that there's a cast roll in the beginning of the book. It doesn't fill a reader with much hope for what's to come.
I did enjoy the internal politicking of the characters and several of the concepts. The sole action scene I came across was pacy and well-written. But the overriding, wordy descriptions were daunting, not least because this was simply part one of a trilogy. I couldn't see myself dedicating that much time to this series. It deserves an avid reader with a focused mind - and at this time, I'm not it.
I was handed a copy of this book for work. Initially, I was excited to get into a sci-fi novel, but this one was a toughie. This is dense, verbose science-fiction, the kind that's supposed to be immersive but alienates you with its otherwordly-ness. Every regular item has a different name for it, some unnecessarily so.
I liked the diversity that creeps into the story – it really feels like it’s of this world, and a welcome surprise given the book was written well before the diversity conversation took root.
It’s deep, intense space opera that you need to get lost in, but I couldn't finish the book, despite my best efforts. The cast of characters was huge - so much so that there's a cast roll in the beginning of the book. It doesn't fill a reader with much hope for what's to come.
I did enjoy the internal politicking of the characters and several of the concepts. The sole action scene I came across was pacy and well-written. But the overriding, wordy descriptions were daunting, not least because this was simply part one of a trilogy. I couldn't see myself dedicating that much time to this series. It deserves an avid reader with a focused mind - and at this time, I'm not it.
1100+ pages and I was still interested at the end. Honestly, it felt like a much shorter book, and was really engaging.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
beautiful world building! Very long. Female characters were poorly written. Love the Silphan elve-aliens.
This book, and its sequel, gallop along at a good pace and are an enjoyable distraction. I preferred these books to the night's dawn series largely due to what I found to be a more believable premise to the story. It is, again, a bit wordy in parts and Hamilton must rank up there amongst the worst writers when it comes to sex scenes. However it is, all in all, fun to read, and gripping enough to keep you turning the pages.
If my slow progress with this book wasn't evidence enough of how mediocre I was finding this novel, then the absolute wall I hit 60% of the way through during an interminably boring attempt at constructing political intrigue was more than enough to close the case. I've read similar stories all executed in a much more interesting way by Messrs. Simmons, Banks and Herbert. Perhaps the book wouldn't have been so bad if the writing had at least been engaging.
This is a huge space opera. It did take me a bit to latch onto it, but it is a magnificent read and a true sci-fi classic in the best sense of that genre. Hamilton is a great writer.
A gripping (but very long) book that really suffers from some stuff that comes off as straight sexism. I think the author was trying to make the post-death society one of libertine decadence on purpose but the amount of focus given to women’s attractiveness was overwhelming any subtextual commentary.
Finally it is over. Until part 2 which, on balance, I probably will read if I find it in a charity shop. Ultimately the end was quite good, but it was a good job that I'd already read a few reviews and was aware that I shouldn't be expecting any resolution.
Speaking of those reviews that I'd read; I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been covered in the other 1-3 star reviews. Too long - check. Sexism - check. I'm not going to discuss the sexism except to say that maybe Hamilton is suggesting that this is how things will be 3-400 years in the future, some kind of dim judgement on the human race. Except that I think it's suspect that he couldn't imagine a more enlightened society. What else? Too much detail - check - in fact, make that needless detail. There's an occasion where it describes exactly what a character is having for breakfast, but I'm thinking, "why now, when you haven't told me in excruciating detail what every other character happens to be eating?" Then there's all these machine models. He'll go, "such and such climbed aboard the AC4652...", and you're like, "this is literally irrelevant. It's just a thing you've made up. I do not need to know what model of spaceship/locomotive engine/other machine this is.
And, as everyone else has said, for all the negatives there are a few really big positives. The sections that are from the Prime perspective are pretty special, and there's one or two other bits, it's just a real shame that the book's so fat and that it isn't all as good as its good bits. It creates a duality in my mind about whether I should read anymore Hamilton because there's probably something really brilliant in there, but it's going to be so damn irritating to get to it. I'm trying to think of a suitable metaphor... let's say perhaps when you go to see a band because you've heard one song that you think is absolutely brilliant, but they play it as the encore and you've got to stand through an hour of turgid shit first. When they played that song though, it was an emotional and uplifting experience, and you tell everyone for weeks about how brilliant it was. But do you buy any of that band's albums or go to see them again?
Oh yeh; I read this is supposed to be hard sci-fi, but I have a problem with that. There's hardly any physics in it, no explanation of how things are done. He's just invented wormholes and ftl drives so that he doesn't have to bother with science. And it's all technology with no description of how it works. How does information travel instantly throughout the galaxy? There are one or two mentions of different gravitational strengths on different sized planets, but the mixture of air is always exactly the same... I'm not saying all these things have to be covered in detail; I just don't think it's fair to call this hard sci-fi. Space opera however, is bang on.
Now, I do have another of Hamilton's books on my TBR shelf already, and while reading Pandora's Star I've been oscillating between I won't bother reading it, I'll read it only if I enjoy Judas Unchained and now, well, maybe I will read it after all. Who knows? I'm just going to let that sit for a while.
Speaking of those reviews that I'd read; I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been covered in the other 1-3 star reviews. Too long - check. Sexism - check. I'm not going to discuss the sexism except to say that maybe Hamilton is suggesting that this is how things will be 3-400 years in the future, some kind of dim judgement on the human race. Except that I think it's suspect that he couldn't imagine a more enlightened society. What else? Too much detail - check - in fact, make that needless detail. There's an occasion where it describes exactly what a character is having for breakfast, but I'm thinking, "why now, when you haven't told me in excruciating detail what every other character happens to be eating?" Then there's all these machine models. He'll go, "such and such climbed aboard the AC4652...", and you're like, "this is literally irrelevant. It's just a thing you've made up. I do not need to know what model of spaceship/locomotive engine/other machine this is.
And, as everyone else has said, for all the negatives there are a few really big positives. The sections that are from the Prime perspective are pretty special, and there's one or two other bits, it's just a real shame that the book's so fat and that it isn't all as good as its good bits. It creates a duality in my mind about whether I should read anymore Hamilton because there's probably something really brilliant in there, but it's going to be so damn irritating to get to it. I'm trying to think of a suitable metaphor... let's say perhaps when you go to see a band because you've heard one song that you think is absolutely brilliant, but they play it as the encore and you've got to stand through an hour of turgid shit first. When they played that song though, it was an emotional and uplifting experience, and you tell everyone for weeks about how brilliant it was. But do you buy any of that band's albums or go to see them again?
Oh yeh; I read this is supposed to be hard sci-fi, but I have a problem with that. There's hardly any physics in it, no explanation of how things are done. He's just invented wormholes and ftl drives so that he doesn't have to bother with science. And it's all technology with no description of how it works. How does information travel instantly throughout the galaxy? There are one or two mentions of different gravitational strengths on different sized planets, but the mixture of air is always exactly the same... I'm not saying all these things have to be covered in detail; I just don't think it's fair to call this hard sci-fi. Space opera however, is bang on.
Now, I do have another of Hamilton's books on my TBR shelf already, and while reading Pandora's Star I've been oscillating between I won't bother reading it, I'll read it only if I enjoy Judas Unchained and now, well, maybe I will read it after all. Who knows? I'm just going to let that sit for a while.
I got confused with various sub plots, finishing this was almost herculean effort for me. I finished this frustrated: I was not sure did I "get" everything in this story- good or bad? Next book will tell, I guess.
I was hoping for something akin to an Asimov book, but found this book very disconnected with some story lines left dangling (and from reading reviews, not picked up in the final book in the series). Plus the portrayal of the women characters are single dimensional sex objects except for Paula who is described like a man. I don't recommend this book.