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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don't like that this book just kind of drops you off without an ending and says the kind of find out next week on .... type of move. I prefer completed books to cliff hangers for series.
Could have been shorter. Should have been shorter.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An incredible story, a very long but powerful adventure. Be warned, this is book 1 of a two book series.
Such a sprawling world-building story of the future of the human race after we've colonized hundreds of planets. It's long and slow in parts but it's just the right kind of slow.
The story ends on a literal cliffhanger but thankfully the next book in the series is already out.
The story ends on a literal cliffhanger but thankfully the next book in the series is already out.
Find my other reviews at http://wellreadviking.blogspot.com/
To start off I feel that I should say that Science Fiction is not normally my thing. I love to watch it, but to read it has been a different story. Give me swords and magic over ray guns and technology any day. With that in mind I had a friend of mine ask me for a book suggestion. He isn't really into fantasy, but he loves stories about space and whatnot. That put me in a bind. I had no idea what to recommend to him. Time was passing so I turned to my trusty source of Goodreads. I found out what they had rated highly and placed on their Sci Fi lists and passed the news on. In reading the description of this book I came across the term "space opera". How could I not read a book belonging to the genre of space opera? I started reading the book and I was immediately sucked into the writing of Peter F. Hamilton.
The book starts off just as the human race is about to land on Mars. Humans have come a long way and are reaching further out in to the stars and are making huge advances in undoing the effects of aging. As the ship lands the world prepares for a solemn moment. As the pompous words are being spoken they hear some laughter. As they go around the outside of their craft they find a man in a homemade spacesuit watching them from a wormhole that connects back to California.
Fast forward 300 years. The human race has expanded through the universe and now lives on 600 different worlds. These worlds are connected by wormhole gateways. There also is rarely death. The technology allows for people who have aged to go through a rejuvenation cycle and come out looking and feeling like they are twenty. It is a good time to be alive. You can pretty much find a world that matches the society you would like to live in.
As the people are going about their lives a discovery is made. Two star systems many light years away just vanished. With further tests they see that it happened in less than a second. The humans were perplexed. What has the technology to do such a thing and why. A crew is put together and a ship is built to find out all that they can about the so-called Dyson Pair.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well developed and his ideas of technology were fascinating. It is not a small book though. Coming in at over 1100 pages it is quite the commitment. The bad news also is that it is actually just part one of a two part series. If you read this one you have to go on and read Judas Unchained to get any type of conclusion. Being so lengthy at times it felt like the side plots went on a little long. Not often, but on a few occasions I felt that he should get on to the next part. I guess if you like Sci Fi or are curious about space opera as I was I would definitely recommend this book.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
To start off I feel that I should say that Science Fiction is not normally my thing. I love to watch it, but to read it has been a different story. Give me swords and magic over ray guns and technology any day. With that in mind I had a friend of mine ask me for a book suggestion. He isn't really into fantasy, but he loves stories about space and whatnot. That put me in a bind. I had no idea what to recommend to him. Time was passing so I turned to my trusty source of Goodreads. I found out what they had rated highly and placed on their Sci Fi lists and passed the news on. In reading the description of this book I came across the term "space opera". How could I not read a book belonging to the genre of space opera? I started reading the book and I was immediately sucked into the writing of Peter F. Hamilton.
The book starts off just as the human race is about to land on Mars. Humans have come a long way and are reaching further out in to the stars and are making huge advances in undoing the effects of aging. As the ship lands the world prepares for a solemn moment. As the pompous words are being spoken they hear some laughter. As they go around the outside of their craft they find a man in a homemade spacesuit watching them from a wormhole that connects back to California.
Fast forward 300 years. The human race has expanded through the universe and now lives on 600 different worlds. These worlds are connected by wormhole gateways. There also is rarely death. The technology allows for people who have aged to go through a rejuvenation cycle and come out looking and feeling like they are twenty. It is a good time to be alive. You can pretty much find a world that matches the society you would like to live in.
As the people are going about their lives a discovery is made. Two star systems many light years away just vanished. With further tests they see that it happened in less than a second. The humans were perplexed. What has the technology to do such a thing and why. A crew is put together and a ship is built to find out all that they can about the so-called Dyson Pair.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well developed and his ideas of technology were fascinating. It is not a small book though. Coming in at over 1100 pages it is quite the commitment. The bad news also is that it is actually just part one of a two part series. If you read this one you have to go on and read Judas Unchained to get any type of conclusion. Being so lengthy at times it felt like the side plots went on a little long. Not often, but on a few occasions I felt that he should get on to the next part. I guess if you like Sci Fi or are curious about space opera as I was I would definitely recommend this book.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was skeptical. Both by the length of the book and the sci fi elements. The book was strongly recommended and that was reason enough to check it out. I really enjoyed it, after page 200. First 100 pages or so were blah, but then the book takes off. I really liked the non Jetsons aspects of the book. Yes it is in the future, and yes there is wormhole technology to take people between planets, and yes one of those planets is named "Far Away" but there is a lot of reality to the story as well, a lot of reachable reality.
The terrorists seem like today's terrorists, not too advanced not to craven. The lack of Star Trek style space ships and the lack of other worldly improvements, in favor of technological advancements similar to what we've seen over the past ten years (smart phones) was almost comforting. It helps ground the book and make it accessible. It helped me, as someone, not akin to reading much in the way of sci fi to digest the book and enjoy the multiple layers of activity and energy contained within it.
I might take a break before hitting book 2, but I will read it, because book one opens that door very well.
The terrorists seem like today's terrorists, not too advanced not to craven. The lack of Star Trek style space ships and the lack of other worldly improvements, in favor of technological advancements similar to what we've seen over the past ten years (smart phones) was almost comforting. It helps ground the book and make it accessible. It helped me, as someone, not akin to reading much in the way of sci fi to digest the book and enjoy the multiple layers of activity and energy contained within it.
I might take a break before hitting book 2, but I will read it, because book one opens that door very well.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No