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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
I might change this rating at some point because if there was ever a good that needs a half star, it's this one. Because for a 1100 page novel, the first 500 pages should have been condensed to 250 pages And then finally the pace picks up to what feels more natural. And then the last 150 pages go by in a whirlwind of action and events. That suggests pacing issues and means the book could have been better. So it's between 3 and 4. Threour. Something like that.
But something kept me plodding through the first 500 pages, long after I'd have given up on a really boring story no matter how much my fiancé extols it. It was well written, well described, well expanded but the bloating of that first half is the mark of a poor editor in my personal opinion. My fiancé thinks differently though, he enjoyed being emerged in the slow life stories of the many protagonists. And so did I... just not for 500 pages! This is an epic tome... I could just have done with the epicness being better paced rather than so ploddingly slow for as long as most books are in their entirety.
Because whilst there are some genius notions and I have to applaud Hamilton's imagination and ability to capture the larger picture through a myriad of singular viewpoints, there is no denying that this is a victim of bloating. Huge swathes of extraneous description could easily be cut or at least condensed. Whilst the background of some of the characters is really quite interesting, others again just seem to go on forever.
From that half way point, certainly does pick up though. And eventually, it doesn't let up and doesn't let go of you until the very end... which leaves you gasping for more... and that is the mark of a very good author. Make of that what you will. The characters start to really twine together and the threat of the aliens has materialised... and Hamilton writes well enough to propel you through the pages at one heck of a clip.
Also, Starflyer and Primes are nothing like I had imagined reading the Void trilogy! It's going to take my brain quite a while to get over the sheer alienness of them!
But something kept me plodding through the first 500 pages, long after I'd have given up on a really boring story no matter how much my fiancé extols it. It was well written, well described, well expanded but the bloating of that first half is the mark of a poor editor in my personal opinion. My fiancé thinks differently though, he enjoyed being emerged in the slow life stories of the many protagonists. And so did I... just not for 500 pages! This is an epic tome... I could just have done with the epicness being better paced rather than so ploddingly slow for as long as most books are in their entirety.
Because whilst there are some genius notions and I have to applaud Hamilton's imagination and ability to capture the larger picture through a myriad of singular viewpoints, there is no denying that this is a victim of bloating. Huge swathes of extraneous description could easily be cut or at least condensed. Whilst the background of some of the characters is really quite interesting, others again just seem to go on forever.
From that half way point, certainly does pick up though. And eventually, it doesn't let up and doesn't let go of you until the very end... which leaves you gasping for more... and that is the mark of a very good author. Make of that what you will. The characters start to really twine together and the threat of the aliens has materialised... and Hamilton writes well enough to propel you through the pages at one heck of a clip.
Also, Starflyer and Primes are nothing like I had imagined reading the Void trilogy! It's going to take my brain quite a while to get over the sheer alienness of them!
Probably 3.5 stars. I got this book on Audible because it was 40 hours long and I wanted to maximize my credits. As one would expect from a 40 hour audiobook, there were parts where it dragged a bit, and I didn't feel like I had a handle on the enormous cast of POV characters until about 2/3 of the way through, but the story was fun and mostly engaging. I've never read a space opera where trains were the primary mode of transportation, so that was fun! For me, the book really got good once we are introduced to the Immotiles; the author really excels at creating alien aliens. I plan on reading the second one.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Und Pickeldi und Fredderick trottelten nach Hause.
Ähm.... muss ich jetzt wirklich zum nächsten Band greifen? Okay.
Ähm.... muss ich jetzt wirklich zum nächsten Band greifen? Okay.
I thought this book was just okay. I'm not a hard person to please but I'm very neutral about this book. I wouldn't recommend it to friends but I also don't regret reading it, if that tells you anything.
I've never read a space opera before and I have very limited exposure to print scifi, I've always been more of a fantasy guy, but I was excited to get into this book because futuristic technology, aliens, and the mystery of the unknown are all incredibly interesting to me, and those are the parts of this book that I liked.
I love the ideas of rejuve and wormholes and all of the implications that come with them, but he never really goes into it. I also find the other alien species interesting.
These are the things that kept me going through the story, but it wasn't an easy task. This is the only book that I've ever started to doze off while reading (more than once!). It amazes me that at one moment I can barely keep my eyes open and the next I'm sitting on the edge of my seat hanging on every word.
Not to mention the sexism in this story. The women in this book are very shallow characters and unrealistic. This is supposed to be a futuristic society where each gender is equal but they're not.
I haven't decided if I'm going to read the next book in the series yet. I am really curious about the story and the ideas that interested me, but I'm unsure if I could stomach the rest.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"
I've never read a space opera before and I have very limited exposure to print scifi, I've always been more of a fantasy guy, but I was excited to get into this book because futuristic technology, aliens, and the mystery of the unknown are all incredibly interesting to me, and those are the parts of this book that I liked.
I love the ideas of rejuve and wormholes and all of the implications that come with them, but he never really goes into it. I also find the other alien species interesting.
These are the things that kept me going through the story, but it wasn't an easy task. This is the only book that I've ever started to doze off while reading (more than once!). It amazes me that at one moment I can barely keep my eyes open and the next I'm sitting on the edge of my seat hanging on every word.
Not to mention the sexism in this story. The women in this book are very shallow characters and unrealistic. This is supposed to be a futuristic society where each gender is equal but they're not.
I haven't decided if I'm going to read the next book in the series yet. I am really curious about the story and the ideas that interested me, but I'm unsure if I could stomach the rest.
Spoiler
On a final note I would like quote Ozzie's final words in the book when I think about how far the story got in 1,000 pages:"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"
What a waste of time. This is a bloated corpse of a story that was mediocre at best to begin with, and it was also written by a man either have never met a woman, or haven't bother actually, you know, talking to one.
I don't think I ever cared less about any of the characters - I mean, I kinda wish Hamilton's version of humanity DID get wiped out (not because I support the primes, or anything, just absolutely nothing in this book was worth the time I spent on it.)
If you want something more deserving to be called science fiction, try Leviathan Wakes, and in any case just give this one a pass.
I don't think I ever cared less about any of the characters - I mean, I kinda wish Hamilton's version of humanity DID get wiped out (not because I support the primes, or anything, just absolutely nothing in this book was worth the time I spent on it.)
If you want something more deserving to be called science fiction, try Leviathan Wakes, and in any case just give this one a pass.
While I was in the middle of this book I sat down to read an essay by Gardner Dozois in "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" where he talks about the reasons that science fiction stories tend to get rejected by sci-fi magazines. The chief issue that he says prevents those stories from getting published is "1950 syndrome". Stories where "it's A.D. 2653 and yet people drive around in gasoline-fuelled automobiles with internal combustion engines, live in suburbia, shop in supermarkets, subscribe to Book-of-the-Month Club, and mow the lawn every weekend." What he describes is basically Pandora's Star. It's an unimaginative exact rendering of 2000's era society 300+ years, multiple planets, and an intersolar commonwealth into the future. Granted many books do something like this in an interesting and imaginative way that seeks to interrogate the current era. But not this one. You could possibly dig to find something like that, but it would be a stretch to say the least.
There are other significant issues with the book:
- the massive sexism is mentioned by other reviewers, so I won't go over that too much, other than to mention how damn right creepy it is that Hamilton wrote this in his mid-40s but seemed obsessed with teenage bodied people having sex and the framing of teenage bodies (mostly female) as the most sexually desirable.
- the ridiculous way the fantasy-esque subplot was shoehorned in with seemingly no understanding of fabrics or outdoor gear. Here the conceit of a planet where electronics don't work was used to have people travelling across the land in cotton shirts and leather jackets (because their high-tech "semi-organic fabrics" that adjust to the conditions don't work there), completely skipping over all contemporary materials like goretex or synthetic fibres, etc.
- the weird perspective of radical politics. For some reason the socialist party are all involved in armed struggle, and any random member of the party can connect you to arms dealers. In order to extrapolate this from contemporary politics there really needs to be some work done here!
- and the bizarre idea that a fringe conspiracy theory held by a terrorist group would be not only known, but deeply understood, by everyone in the massive multi-planet commonwealth.
Perhaps it's because so much amazing new SF has been written in the last 20 years that this looks so bad today? As Dozois says, "stories deeply tained by the 1950 Syndrome are not science fiction; they do not do what science fiction should do---they are swindles." This book does not pull in elements or our current world to analyse them, it does not critique the social structures it depicts, it just re-iterates them as if they were objective truths. SF can do better, this is a swindle.
There are other significant issues with the book:
- the massive sexism is mentioned by other reviewers, so I won't go over that too much, other than to mention how damn right creepy it is that Hamilton wrote this in his mid-40s but seemed obsessed with teenage bodied people having sex and the framing of teenage bodies (mostly female) as the most sexually desirable.
- the ridiculous way the fantasy-esque subplot was shoehorned in with seemingly no understanding of fabrics or outdoor gear. Here the conceit of a planet where electronics don't work was used to have people travelling across the land in cotton shirts and leather jackets (because their high-tech "semi-organic fabrics" that adjust to the conditions don't work there), completely skipping over all contemporary materials like goretex or synthetic fibres, etc.
- the weird perspective of radical politics. For some reason the socialist party are all involved in armed struggle, and any random member of the party can connect you to arms dealers. In order to extrapolate this from contemporary politics there really needs to be some work done here!
- and the bizarre idea that a fringe conspiracy theory held by a terrorist group would be not only known, but deeply understood, by everyone in the massive multi-planet commonwealth.
Perhaps it's because so much amazing new SF has been written in the last 20 years that this looks so bad today? As Dozois says, "stories deeply tained by the 1950 Syndrome are not science fiction; they do not do what science fiction should do---they are swindles." This book does not pull in elements or our current world to analyse them, it does not critique the social structures it depicts, it just re-iterates them as if they were objective truths. SF can do better, this is a swindle.
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No