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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Def not gonna finish this before it needs to return to the library. Very intrigued by the beginning. I should probably just buy this book so I can take my time with it.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Even though this huge book ended on a cliffhanger, it was one of the best Sci-Fi books I've read in a long time. The Commonwealth is another tale of multi-planet human civilization set far in the future. It uniquely mixes together imaginative qualities of Frank Herbert's Dune, Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Dan Simmons' Hyperion. The core of the plot hinges on the discovery of highly advanced Dyson Spheres suddenly enveloping two star systems hundreds of light years away and the tragic cascade of events that occur when humanity builds and sends a special ship with its crew to investigate (hence the opening of Pandora's box). But there is so much more detail to the story, with its many well-developed characters, that includes the concept of life regeneration and body enhancement; practical wormhole travel, trade and communication between hundreds of unique worlds; a super AI assistant that inhabits its own world; interactions with truly strange known alien races; political manipulation and intrigue; and an over a century old, ongoing detective investigation into the terrorist activities of a group trying to stop what they believe is a shadowy alien entity, released from an ancient derelict spacecraft, manipulating humanity towards its own destruction, and who just may be right.
Wow, this was good. Hamilton has put some serious thought into laying out a future where people have expanded to other planets via wormholes (making them more likely to be found than just wandering around in ships), can rejuvenate their bodies regularly or just be 're-lifed' if they do happen to die, and how human behavior may change - or not - in such a world. But aside from that, the 'hard' sci-fi, and the intriguing cosmic-scale premise that only develops over hundreds of pages, I really enjoy how well he develops so many different characters and plot-lines, and weaves them all together. As much greatness as was packed into this first 1,000 page half of the saga, it's amazing that so much is only just getting started, which bodes well for the sequel.
The Encyclopedia Galactica
Pandora’s Star weighs in at 992 pages, indicative of 2-3 books worth of content. It’s a slow, meandering tome that envisions 2000s-era American society expanded to 600 planets, introducing a number of technical advancements that have widespread philosophical and metaphysical implications. The breadth of creativity (ignoring the author’s blindspots) is stunning, and the effort spent on introducing this civilization equally so. With plenty of page count and imagination, the stage is set for a remarkable tale.
Yet it is a terrible story.
Narration is an art form, and I fully admit that my preferences are not the same as others. I’m someone who wants plot, to be shown not told, and to end up emotionally invested. Pandora’s Star instead provides 20+ narrators spread over 10+ B-Plots, with a sprinkling of the core plotline throughout this expanse. The subplots rarely interact with one another, and they take so long to pay out (if at all) that I rarely care about the characters or their lives. They cover such a diverse array of society — from senators of the Commonwealth to a hippie father on a resort planet — that the scope of tale suffers: one minute, you're reading about the political fate of 600 planets, and the next it's about the renovation of a beach house!
This is even before discussing the writing style. Every location (and there are hundreds) begins with a Wikipedia-style article: botany, cities of note, historical relevance, economics, political clout... all of which interrupt the sparse plot. Chapters are structured nonsensically: not indicative of a single subplot, narrator, or even theme. As you read, you get that feeling of Wikipedia where you started learning how to build a starship, and fifteen minutes later, you're deep in minutiae of how to organize a strike. What did you accidentally click? How did you get here? What's the narrative?
The only consistency is that the author wishes you to live and breathe the Commonwealth. And it’s a truly expansive place. The society is post-scarcity and post-mortality, thanks wormholes providing teleportation to thousands of habitable planets, and the ability to de-age bodies / load memories into new bodies. The society that results is… hedonistic to say the least. It’s a vision of the future that is decidedly not the 2020s. With the many narrators, you really get a feel for the super poor and super rich, and everything in between. It shows a tremendous amount of forethought and effort that went into the details, and I really, really appreciate the worldbuilding.
Getting through Pandora’s Star is like reading an entire trilogy, and I wish I cut my losses about 50 pages in. Even 80% through the novel, the introductory-style of prose never changes. I appreciate the effort that went into building out the Commonwealth, and perhaps you’re the type of reader who doesn’t need plot, in which case this is an imaginative future worth exploring. For me, I will not be reading anything more by this author.
Not Recommended with Reservations.
With 1000 pages of content, there’s nearly three books worth of frustrations that I can’t dump out into a spoiler discussion without it coming off like a rant. The Wikipedia-style of writing, and its impact on stopping plot and character development, was most painful when introducing MorningLightMountain. Dozens of pages detailing the birth of immotiles civilization (literally talking about cells exploring waterways) in order to lead up to Bose’s defeat. I was enraged at the wild switch in tone, abrupt introduction of a different narrator, and ultimately being Told what the enemy was like.
Similiarly, after Paula leaves Naval Intelligence, there’s a long winded segment introducing Huxley’s Haven. Detail after detail about her taking steam trains to some rural ass-end of nowhere in the Commonwealth. It’s that type of writing that just made me want to light the book on fire.
The bias against women is also painfully obvious, with Mellanie's storyline (and the porn subplot, and also the seductress subplot) being the worst sexist offender. Forget minority or LGBTQ representation, but even basic stuff like sexism is just littered throughout the novel. There's an offhand statement where women on the spaceship ended up getting a penis so they could urinate easier, and this caused problems for the men during sex. The casualness of which this statement was delivered is stunning.
Finally, Ozzie’s plotline is simply the worst. I expected payoff within this novel — there’s easily 300 pages of his Fantasy solo adventure — but he still hasn’t returned to the Commonwealth and literally fell off a cliff at the end. The abrupt ending has ensured that I won’t pick up the next novel.
There’s a single novel and five novellas in Pandora’s Star, and they should have been released that way:
* Pandora’s Star - main plotline between the Second Chance, MorningLightMountain, and the attack on the Commonwealth
* Terrorism - Justine, Kazimir and secret war vs the Starflyer
* Police in the 25th Century - Paula Myo investigating Morton
* Police and the Starflyer - Paula vs Adam, and gradual discovery of the Starflyer conspiracy with Mellanie
* Ozzie and the Elves - ‘nuff said
* Environmentists - All the beach stuff and eventually them getting attacked by MorningLightMountain
The mash together kinda works with Paula and the Second Chance, but everything else is really just extra flavour. Perfect for novellas. And easily downsized to about 350 pages.
Pandora’s Star weighs in at 992 pages, indicative of 2-3 books worth of content. It’s a slow, meandering tome that envisions 2000s-era American society expanded to 600 planets, introducing a number of technical advancements that have widespread philosophical and metaphysical implications. The breadth of creativity (ignoring the author’s blindspots) is stunning, and the effort spent on introducing this civilization equally so. With plenty of page count and imagination, the stage is set for a remarkable tale.
Yet it is a terrible story.
Narration is an art form, and I fully admit that my preferences are not the same as others. I’m someone who wants plot, to be shown not told, and to end up emotionally invested. Pandora’s Star instead provides 20+ narrators spread over 10+ B-Plots, with a sprinkling of the core plotline throughout this expanse. The subplots rarely interact with one another, and they take so long to pay out (if at all) that I rarely care about the characters or their lives. They cover such a diverse array of society — from senators of the Commonwealth to a hippie father on a resort planet — that the scope of tale suffers: one minute, you're reading about the political fate of 600 planets, and the next it's about the renovation of a beach house!
This is even before discussing the writing style. Every location (and there are hundreds) begins with a Wikipedia-style article: botany, cities of note, historical relevance, economics, political clout... all of which interrupt the sparse plot. Chapters are structured nonsensically: not indicative of a single subplot, narrator, or even theme. As you read, you get that feeling of Wikipedia where you started learning how to build a starship, and fifteen minutes later, you're deep in minutiae of how to organize a strike. What did you accidentally click? How did you get here? What's the narrative?
The only consistency is that the author wishes you to live and breathe the Commonwealth. And it’s a truly expansive place. The society is post-scarcity and post-mortality, thanks wormholes providing teleportation to thousands of habitable planets, and the ability to de-age bodies / load memories into new bodies. The society that results is… hedonistic to say the least. It’s a vision of the future that is decidedly not the 2020s. With the many narrators, you really get a feel for the super poor and super rich, and everything in between. It shows a tremendous amount of forethought and effort that went into the details, and I really, really appreciate the worldbuilding.
Getting through Pandora’s Star is like reading an entire trilogy, and I wish I cut my losses about 50 pages in. Even 80% through the novel, the introductory-style of prose never changes. I appreciate the effort that went into building out the Commonwealth, and perhaps you’re the type of reader who doesn’t need plot, in which case this is an imaginative future worth exploring. For me, I will not be reading anything more by this author.
Not Recommended with Reservations.
Spoiler
The following is in spoiler tags, and I say so since some Goodreads clients may not respect it. You’ve been warned:With 1000 pages of content, there’s nearly three books worth of frustrations that I can’t dump out into a spoiler discussion without it coming off like a rant. The Wikipedia-style of writing, and its impact on stopping plot and character development, was most painful when introducing MorningLightMountain. Dozens of pages detailing the birth of immotiles civilization (literally talking about cells exploring waterways) in order to lead up to Bose’s defeat. I was enraged at the wild switch in tone, abrupt introduction of a different narrator, and ultimately being Told what the enemy was like.
Similiarly, after Paula leaves Naval Intelligence, there’s a long winded segment introducing Huxley’s Haven. Detail after detail about her taking steam trains to some rural ass-end of nowhere in the Commonwealth. It’s that type of writing that just made me want to light the book on fire.
The bias against women is also painfully obvious, with Mellanie's storyline (and the porn subplot, and also the seductress subplot) being the worst sexist offender. Forget minority or LGBTQ representation, but even basic stuff like sexism is just littered throughout the novel. There's an offhand statement where women on the spaceship ended up getting a penis so they could urinate easier, and this caused problems for the men during sex. The casualness of which this statement was delivered is stunning.
Finally, Ozzie’s plotline is simply the worst. I expected payoff within this novel — there’s easily 300 pages of his Fantasy solo adventure — but he still hasn’t returned to the Commonwealth and literally fell off a cliff at the end. The abrupt ending has ensured that I won’t pick up the next novel.
There’s a single novel and five novellas in Pandora’s Star, and they should have been released that way:
* Pandora’s Star - main plotline between the Second Chance, MorningLightMountain, and the attack on the Commonwealth
* Terrorism - Justine, Kazimir and secret war vs the Starflyer
* Police in the 25th Century - Paula Myo investigating Morton
* Police and the Starflyer - Paula vs Adam, and gradual discovery of the Starflyer conspiracy with Mellanie
* Ozzie and the Elves - ‘nuff said
* Environmentists - All the beach stuff and eventually them getting attacked by MorningLightMountain
The mash together kinda works with Paula and the Second Chance, but everything else is really just extra flavour. Perfect for novellas. And easily downsized to about 350 pages.
The daunting first part of the Commonwealth saga, Pandora’s Star, is an 800 page monument to author Peter F. Hamilton’s imagination. This is a fully fleshed out world, with many of the problems and issues of our world, with some really interesting twists. It’s an all around great book.
It takes place hundreds of years in the future, and due to wormhole technology mankind has been able to spread out among hundreds of stars. People, due to rejuvenation technology, live forever and thus things like marriage, childhood, careers, the family unit, and even murder, change. Giant corporations run whole worlds, and Earth has become so expensive to live on, you basically need to be grandfathered into residency. Government is run on a commonwealth model, with power decentralized to individual worlds, with a weak executive organizing broader interests.
Into this world Peter Hamilton inserts a multitude of storylines, with the most prevalent being the loss of contact with two stars. The Dyson Pair, many many light years away, suddenly blinks out of existance mysteriously. This prompts the Commonwealth build a starship to investigate. Led by Wilson Kime, a former NASA astronaut, the findings of the ship may or may not change the course of human history as anything capable of blocking out a sun is not to be reckoned with.
There are more sinister elements at home, though. An ancient starship was found on one of Earth’s farthest colonies, and it may hold an alien creature who is insidiously installing itself in postitions of power and slowly taking over the human race. Many, maybe under the influence of this alien, consider it to be a wacky consipiracy theory, while others resort to terrorism to stop this alien. An intrepid group of individuals, including Paula Myo, the world famous detective, and many others in different story lines, all start to investigate the truth of this alien.
With all the forces facing humanity, one intrepid soul, Ozzie, strikes out down the mystical Silfen paths to find answers. These paths magically transport you from one world to another as you walk along them. The Silfen, the creators of the path, live life in stages, but humanity has only encountered the child version. Ozzie wants to consult the adults to halt impending doom.
Following this brief and wholly inadequete summary of Pandora’s Star it becomes apparent that there is a lot going on in this book. It’s an 800 page epic, but to break it up Hamilton has done brilliantly to create multiple storylines to halt potential monotony.
Each storyline has it’s own unique characters and style, and each presents a different viewpoint of the Commonwealth. This helps to illustrate the competing forces of this society, and helps keep the reader’s interest throughout the book. Thanks to this system, I never felt bogged down once, which can be an achilles heel of a book this size.
That being said, there are some stories that or more interesting than others. I loved the investigation of the Dyson Pair, and Paula Myo’s investigation of terrorists, but Ozzie’s exploration of the Silfen paths was the only part that dragged for me. It was a lot like the scenes from Lord of the Rings featuring Sam, Frodo, and Gollum just wandering to Mordor. It just felt far less unfocused and longer than it needed to be.
It really is unfortunate, since Ozzie is probably the most interesting character in the book. He is a hippie, genius physicist, and the Commonwealth’s richest man. He is more dynamic than almost any other character in the book. Due to time, some of them, especially Paula Myo, become very rigid and hard to identify with. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is a bad thing, her character works rigidly, and the book would be twice the size if Hamilton had to introduce each character dynamically and in depth.
As a testament to how rich and dense this book is, I almost feel like my review is bursting at the seams with information. The world is executed brilliantly, and the conflicts are absolutely believable, so much so that it did not feel like 800 pages. Peter Hamilton wrote this story very well, and the pages just flew by. Even if some parts did drag, at the end of the day I can say without hesitation I enjoyed every page.
The book does end on a cliffhanger, because it is a two part series with Judas Unchained picking up where Pandora’s Star leaves off, so don’t be too disappointed a lot is left unresolved. If you are looking for a great summer read, this has to be near the top of the list.
(This review was originally posted on my blog
It takes place hundreds of years in the future, and due to wormhole technology mankind has been able to spread out among hundreds of stars. People, due to rejuvenation technology, live forever and thus things like marriage, childhood, careers, the family unit, and even murder, change. Giant corporations run whole worlds, and Earth has become so expensive to live on, you basically need to be grandfathered into residency. Government is run on a commonwealth model, with power decentralized to individual worlds, with a weak executive organizing broader interests.
Into this world Peter Hamilton inserts a multitude of storylines, with the most prevalent being the loss of contact with two stars. The Dyson Pair, many many light years away, suddenly blinks out of existance mysteriously. This prompts the Commonwealth build a starship to investigate. Led by Wilson Kime, a former NASA astronaut, the findings of the ship may or may not change the course of human history as anything capable of blocking out a sun is not to be reckoned with.
There are more sinister elements at home, though. An ancient starship was found on one of Earth’s farthest colonies, and it may hold an alien creature who is insidiously installing itself in postitions of power and slowly taking over the human race. Many, maybe under the influence of this alien, consider it to be a wacky consipiracy theory, while others resort to terrorism to stop this alien. An intrepid group of individuals, including Paula Myo, the world famous detective, and many others in different story lines, all start to investigate the truth of this alien.
With all the forces facing humanity, one intrepid soul, Ozzie, strikes out down the mystical Silfen paths to find answers. These paths magically transport you from one world to another as you walk along them. The Silfen, the creators of the path, live life in stages, but humanity has only encountered the child version. Ozzie wants to consult the adults to halt impending doom.
Following this brief and wholly inadequete summary of Pandora’s Star it becomes apparent that there is a lot going on in this book. It’s an 800 page epic, but to break it up Hamilton has done brilliantly to create multiple storylines to halt potential monotony.
Each storyline has it’s own unique characters and style, and each presents a different viewpoint of the Commonwealth. This helps to illustrate the competing forces of this society, and helps keep the reader’s interest throughout the book. Thanks to this system, I never felt bogged down once, which can be an achilles heel of a book this size.
That being said, there are some stories that or more interesting than others. I loved the investigation of the Dyson Pair, and Paula Myo’s investigation of terrorists, but Ozzie’s exploration of the Silfen paths was the only part that dragged for me. It was a lot like the scenes from Lord of the Rings featuring Sam, Frodo, and Gollum just wandering to Mordor. It just felt far less unfocused and longer than it needed to be.
It really is unfortunate, since Ozzie is probably the most interesting character in the book. He is a hippie, genius physicist, and the Commonwealth’s richest man. He is more dynamic than almost any other character in the book. Due to time, some of them, especially Paula Myo, become very rigid and hard to identify with. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is a bad thing, her character works rigidly, and the book would be twice the size if Hamilton had to introduce each character dynamically and in depth.
As a testament to how rich and dense this book is, I almost feel like my review is bursting at the seams with information. The world is executed brilliantly, and the conflicts are absolutely believable, so much so that it did not feel like 800 pages. Peter Hamilton wrote this story very well, and the pages just flew by. Even if some parts did drag, at the end of the day I can say without hesitation I enjoyed every page.
The book does end on a cliffhanger, because it is a two part series with Judas Unchained picking up where Pandora’s Star leaves off, so don’t be too disappointed a lot is left unresolved. If you are looking for a great summer read, this has to be near the top of the list.
(This review was originally posted on my blog
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book ends with such a good cliffhanger... lol
Lengthy, but nonetheless interesting exploration of the effects of wormholes and essentially eternal life on the society. I feel like these things could have been explored in more depth, but the cursory look at them was moderately satisfying.
There are many characters which appear, and keeping track of who is who is a little difficult at times, and I feel that very few, if any of the characters were developed enough for me to actually like them.
The chapter told from the aliens alien perspective was probably the most interesting part of the book. I looked forward to chapters in which Ozzie appeared, mainly due to the varied encounters.
There are many characters which appear, and keeping track of who is who is a little difficult at times, and I feel that very few, if any of the characters were developed enough for me to actually like them.
The chapter told from the aliens alien perspective was probably the most interesting part of the book. I looked forward to chapters in which Ozzie appeared, mainly due to the varied encounters.
Would have rated higher if it weren't so unbelievably long and rambling.