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tome15's review against another edition
5.0
Hamilton, Peter F. Mindstar Rising. 1993. Greg Mandel No. 1. Tor, 1997.
Peter F. Hamilton is best known for his sprawling, epic far-future space operas, but in the early Greg Mandel series he showed that he could write an effective 400-page near-future novel as well. In Mindstar, we learn that much of coastal England has been flooded by global warming, wreaking the expected havoc on the English and world economies. England has also recently been at war with Turkey, and our hero, Greg Mandel, is one of its black-ops veterans. He has been given a bio-engineered gland that turns him into a human lie-detector. It will probably give him cancer in the long run, but in the meantime, it makes him a superb private investigator. He is just the guy to investigate high-tech corporate espionage in your orbital factory. It is surprising how little the book has dated in seventeen years. Recommended. Note: In case you cannot take Hamilton in less than 800-page doses, the first two novels in the series have been published as The Mandel Files, Volume 1.
Peter F. Hamilton is best known for his sprawling, epic far-future space operas, but in the early Greg Mandel series he showed that he could write an effective 400-page near-future novel as well. In Mindstar, we learn that much of coastal England has been flooded by global warming, wreaking the expected havoc on the English and world economies. England has also recently been at war with Turkey, and our hero, Greg Mandel, is one of its black-ops veterans. He has been given a bio-engineered gland that turns him into a human lie-detector. It will probably give him cancer in the long run, but in the meantime, it makes him a superb private investigator. He is just the guy to investigate high-tech corporate espionage in your orbital factory. It is surprising how little the book has dated in seventeen years. Recommended. Note: In case you cannot take Hamilton in less than 800-page doses, the first two novels in the series have been published as The Mandel Files, Volume 1.
shawnpconroy's review
4.0
"The Psychic Detective"
Would you listen to Mindstar Rising again? Why?
Yes. It's a good story. Industrial espionage and attempted murder (in a way) in a world dealing with climate change and the fall of a fascist political party. It was a solid, entertaining read.
Any additional comments?
In this story, set several decades in our future, Hamilton and fused some science fiction technology with fantasy-based intuition and empathic abilities raised to new height with an experimental program. The product is now a private eye contracted to solve a simple case. Of course, it's not so simple.
This is not nearly so epic in scale has Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga or Void trilogy. And the novel very knowingly and explicitly violates some rules of science as we know them so far as well as postulating possibilities.
A good read.
Would you listen to Mindstar Rising again? Why?
Yes. It's a good story. Industrial espionage and attempted murder (in a way) in a world dealing with climate change and the fall of a fascist political party. It was a solid, entertaining read.
Any additional comments?
In this story, set several decades in our future, Hamilton and fused some science fiction technology with fantasy-based intuition and empathic abilities raised to new height with an experimental program. The product is now a private eye contracted to solve a simple case. Of course, it's not so simple.
This is not nearly so epic in scale has Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga or Void trilogy. And the novel very knowingly and explicitly violates some rules of science as we know them so far as well as postulating possibilities.
A good read.
readbycandle's review against another edition
4.0
Love Greg, Greg gets 4 stars.
It's an easy read, paced for the size of it and it has a plot. If your in 2020 reading this book, you need to remember it was not written for a 2020 audience. Do not roll into the Greg series with your 2020 mind and your 20/20 vision.
It's an easy read, paced for the size of it and it has a plot. If your in 2020 reading this book, you need to remember it was not written for a 2020 audience. Do not roll into the Greg series with your 2020 mind and your 20/20 vision.
joahanderson's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story and setting and, at times, a thrilling read, but a blatant political bias and rampant sexual objectification takes this down a few notches.
bgmncwj's review against another edition
4.0
It's no Commonwealth Saga but it was a pretty solid read. For sure going to continue with the second in the series.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
5.0
Mindstar Rising is the best cyberpunk novel you've never read. Peter F Hamilton is better known for his sprawling space operas, but in Mindstar he presents a tight thriller set in an intriguing post-global warming England coming out of a 10 year Left Totalitarian government. Greg Mandel is a private detective with little extra, a military-grade neural implant that lets him read minds, and a simple investigation into sabotage on a space station draws him into a dizzying world of corporate intrigue, hacking, and economic warfare.
This is a first novel, but Hamilton is humble enough to leave open questions about technology, human enhancement, and corporate power, rather than try to answer them once and for all. The novel is rife with the minor details that flesh out a good setting, like the medieval street markets next to shops turned into houses, or the new April in post-global warming England. Hard sci-fi fanatics might quibble at some things (laser pistols don't work like that, computer hacking isn't like that, socialists aren't like that, etc), but I don't care. The setting smells right, and unlike his other novels, Hamilton ends this one without the old deus ex machina.
This is a first novel, but Hamilton is humble enough to leave open questions about technology, human enhancement, and corporate power, rather than try to answer them once and for all. The novel is rife with the minor details that flesh out a good setting, like the medieval street markets next to shops turned into houses, or the new April in post-global warming England. Hard sci-fi fanatics might quibble at some things (laser pistols don't work like that, computer hacking isn't like that, socialists aren't like that, etc), but I don't care. The setting smells right, and unlike his other novels, Hamilton ends this one without the old deus ex machina.
xdroot's review against another edition
4.0
i think when the book came out, the ex-military guy as protagonist was coming into his own. a very plot based book. characters seem two-dimensional and only there to show how smart the protagonist is. but all the parts fit together and it's a decent read.