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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
In 2380 the human race has developed wormhole technology which has allowed us to colonize hundreds of planets. The Commonwealth is a society with very few problems; ageing has been cured through rejuvenation, it's a mostly peaceful society with no wars and people are free to live however they choose. When an astronomer observes a distant star trapped inside a massive force field the Commonwealth has to develop it's first ever starship to investigate the potential threat.
Epic is a word that gets thrown around a lot when describing Science Fiction and Fantasy but Pandora's Star is really worthy of it. The short description above doesn't really do justice to the hugeness of the story being told here but I didn't want to go overboard and give too much away. A lot of the fun of the book is in following the various plot lines, watching as they move apart and overlap slowly expanding the scope of the story as we go.
Pandora's Star is most commonly described as a space opera but it's so much more than that. It seem's that almost every genre is covered here at some point from detective story to political thriller, fantasy and more. Peter F. Hamilton is able to cover so much ground because the world he has created is so well thought out and richly detailed that there are a huge number of stories to be told in it. We see the world from all sides; the super rich politicians, astronauts, police, reporters, terrorists, average citizens and even aliens. In one of my favourite sections of the book we switch to the point of view of an alien species as it is encountering humanity for the first time. The alien species is truly alien, not just another humanoid life form. It thinks and acts in a very different way to us and Hamilton did a really good job of leading us through it's thought processes and making us understand something that is so strange.
The book is packed with detail. I'm not always a fan of books that spend a lot of time building a world in such extreme detail but for some reason it really works here. It's a huge book but I never felt like it was a slog to get through, in fact it's quite a page turner. With so many different view points I would usually expect there to be one or two plot lines that don't work as well as the others but that wasn't the case here. I was fully absorbed in the story the whole time and my only real complaint was that sometimes it was hard to remember where some plot lines had left off after they had been gone for 100 pages or more. You are required to hold quite a lot in your head as your reading the book but it really is worth the effort because the further you get into the story the more rewarding it becomes.
A lot of Pandora's Star is pure set up and things really get moving towards the end. This is really just the first part of one huge novel which concludes with Judas Unchained. Considering the multiple cliff-hangers that we are left on here that's a book I am really looking forward to getting stuck in to.
For more of my reviews please visit: http://www.scruffyfiction.co.uk
Epic is a word that gets thrown around a lot when describing Science Fiction and Fantasy but Pandora's Star is really worthy of it. The short description above doesn't really do justice to the hugeness of the story being told here but I didn't want to go overboard and give too much away. A lot of the fun of the book is in following the various plot lines, watching as they move apart and overlap slowly expanding the scope of the story as we go.
Pandora's Star is most commonly described as a space opera but it's so much more than that. It seem's that almost every genre is covered here at some point from detective story to political thriller, fantasy and more. Peter F. Hamilton is able to cover so much ground because the world he has created is so well thought out and richly detailed that there are a huge number of stories to be told in it. We see the world from all sides; the super rich politicians, astronauts, police, reporters, terrorists, average citizens and even aliens. In one of my favourite sections of the book we switch to the point of view of an alien species as it is encountering humanity for the first time. The alien species is truly alien, not just another humanoid life form. It thinks and acts in a very different way to us and Hamilton did a really good job of leading us through it's thought processes and making us understand something that is so strange.
The book is packed with detail. I'm not always a fan of books that spend a lot of time building a world in such extreme detail but for some reason it really works here. It's a huge book but I never felt like it was a slog to get through, in fact it's quite a page turner. With so many different view points I would usually expect there to be one or two plot lines that don't work as well as the others but that wasn't the case here. I was fully absorbed in the story the whole time and my only real complaint was that sometimes it was hard to remember where some plot lines had left off after they had been gone for 100 pages or more. You are required to hold quite a lot in your head as your reading the book but it really is worth the effort because the further you get into the story the more rewarding it becomes.
A lot of Pandora's Star is pure set up and things really get moving towards the end. This is really just the first part of one huge novel which concludes with Judas Unchained. Considering the multiple cliff-hangers that we are left on here that's a book I am really looking forward to getting stuck in to.
For more of my reviews please visit: http://www.scruffyfiction.co.uk
A very enjoyable read but was dissapointed when it finished, not because I wasn't happy with how it ended but because it didn't, it just stopped. After reading nearly 1200 pages I expected some closure but it seems to be half of a book as it it just stops mid scene and mid story.
Saying that I'll definately read the second one after a break with some other books.
Saying that I'll definately read the second one after a break with some other books.
Over the course of the book's 1000 pages, I kept thinking of review points. But like the book, my review-thoughts have meandered too long and too often. So here's my thought in a nutshell.
Pandora's Star is an extra large bacon cheeseburger. It's really good and way more than you need or want. It's not a steak, mind you, but it does the job. And there's supposedly an excellent - and also very large - paired dessert with your name on it (Judas Unchained), so you need to wait a bit before you go for more.
Overall plot is very interesting. Individual plots are about 50-50. 2 or 3 boring, too-in-depth unnecessary characters. Writing style is meh (though maybe his later works improve?). A few important details around his proposed societies left unaddressed. Definitely a spot-on space opera structure.
Pandora's Star is an extra large bacon cheeseburger. It's really good and way more than you need or want. It's not a steak, mind you, but it does the job. And there's supposedly an excellent - and also very large - paired dessert with your name on it (Judas Unchained), so you need to wait a bit before you go for more.
Overall plot is very interesting. Individual plots are about 50-50. 2 or 3 boring, too-in-depth unnecessary characters. Writing style is meh (though maybe his later works improve?). A few important details around his proposed societies left unaddressed. Definitely a spot-on space opera structure.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Explosive start to Hamilton's Commonwealth series. An investigation into a pair of distant stars results in an invasion from an implacable alien species. A huge book with myriad interconnected storylines. At times a bit tricky to keep track of everything, but we'll worth keeping going as the threads come together and the mysteries begin to be revealed.
adventurous
tense
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:
Yes
The first third of this book is a barrage of settings and characters and individual plots. Or maybe first quarter or less, and it simply felt like a bigger fraction because it was a really darn long book. After awhile, the book picks up pace, and it was hard to put down for the last third (quarter??) of the story because things were just snowballing left and right. On the other hand, my eyes were glazing over the descriptions and play-by-plays, because no matter how good Hamilton is at setting a scene, at some point I want to move past scene building. I'm pretty sure after the first two Ozzie chapters, I skipped 70% of his text and didn't look back.
It's hard to rate this book. Maybe 3.5 stars. The problem is that the author can clearly paint a picture, make sympathetic characters, worldbuild, weave a plot...but keeps doing all of these things over and over at breakneck pace. 'Alright, I'm starting to like this person--wait, what? Where did they go?' 'Oh this world is cool--great here have 15 more until you forget about that last one.' Few characters and places end up digging in, which is a real shame because I could see things I wanted to like, and I could have, a lot, if the book had just been tighter.
Also this book is basically the first half of a book, and its "sequel" is the second half. Should not be read separately.
It's hard to rate this book. Maybe 3.5 stars. The problem is that the author can clearly paint a picture, make sympathetic characters, worldbuild, weave a plot...but keeps doing all of these things over and over at breakneck pace. 'Alright, I'm starting to like this person--wait, what? Where did they go?' 'Oh this world is cool--great here have 15 more until you forget about that last one.' Few characters and places end up digging in, which is a real shame because I could see things I wanted to like, and I could have, a lot, if the book had just been tighter.
Also this book is basically the first half of a book, and its "sequel" is the second half. Should not be read separately.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes