" 2 Stars but could have been 5
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A great complex interwoven storyline with some excellent heroes and bad guys, but.......... So very very tedious in descriptive narrative where everything, and I mean everything is explained in intimate detail -for instance the number nomencleture of railway engines etc. It made the book flow badly and you couldn't skip read to avaoid it as the whole book is written this way. The two books together have nearly 3000 pages! Fantastic value but I am so glad to have finished it and can move ahead. Would have been excellent if the whole lot was covered in 350 pages.
Could do so much better by doing so much less.
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Space romp
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This book, and its sequel, gallop along at a good pace and are an enjoyable distraction. I preferred these books to the night's dawn series largely due to what I found to be a more believable premise to the story. It is, again, a bit wordy in parts and Hamilton must rank up there amongst the worst writers when it comes to sex scenes. However it is, all in all, fun to read, and gripping enough to keep you turning the pages.
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Gripping
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I enjoyed this book immensely - but I do recommend you purchase the sequel, otherwise you will really be left hanging at a crucial plot point. The scope of this book is amazing - wildly complicated plot centering on the discovery of hostile aliens intent on destroying the Commonwealth, and Investigator Myo's search for an undercover/terrorist group who believe that leaders of the Commonwealth have been compromised by yet another alien - The Starflyer. All the threads of the story slowly draw together, and Hamilton moves deftly between the various characters,( including an elf like race the Silfin, the human created artificial intelligence SI, and many very long lived human characters) as the plot twists and turns. Overall, Hamilton has created an astonishingly inventive universe and this book is well worth reading.
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A brilliant story set in a wonderfully realised universe
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Humanity has reached the stars - the Commonwealth is spread to over 600 star systems across 400 light years with Earth at its centre. Long life can be enjoyed by nearly everyone thanks to rejuvenation and of the alien races encountered to date, only one, the Silfen, is sentient and poses no threat to humanity. All human worlds are interlinked by wormholes and travel to each is as simple as stepping on a train. Organic circuitry tattoos give the owners everything they could need, from e-butlers to unisphere interface. With memory crystals in widespread use, even death can now be overcome.
When Dudley Bose observes the Dyson Pair, two stars over a thousand light years away, instantly disappear, enclosed in some sort of force field, human curiosity is triggered and the first faster-than-light starship is built. Captained by Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA pilot that flew on the first mission to Mars over three hundred years ago, the Second Chance is tasked with investigating the barrier and what they discover inside.
The Guardians of Selfhood are considered nothing more than an organized terrorist group that brings misery to the Commonwealth through its propaganda messages and acts of violence. Led by Bradley Johansson and based on Far Away, the clans that make up the Guardians fight against what they claim is an alien entity, the Starflyer, controlling and influencing the human race through its servants.
Pandora's Star is the first part of The Comonwelath Saga and is a full fledged space opera containing multiple plot threads that include the discovery of, and mission to, the Dyson Pair; the activities of Adam Elvin, the Guardians main man when it comes to arranging weapon and technology shipments to Far Away; the brutal one-mindedness of Paula Myo, a detective with the Intersolar Serious Crime Directorate, while she investigates a case of murder, and of her continuing dedication to tracking down Adam Elvin; the political manoeuvring of various individuals to gain support for their causes; following the journey of Ozzie Isaacs, the co-inventor of wormhole technology, as he travels the paths of the alien Silfen in search of answers to the Dyson pair. Even this doesn't cover it all, there is just so much to take in and enjoy.
As you can imagine, this book covers a whole lot - but it hits the ground running. Chapter one starts the book off as it means to go on and doesn't let go, even once you've reached the end you're left wanting more. There is little here that is not to like if you enjoy a well thought out and action packed story. The book is well paced and the subplots are almost all interesting and add to the story and in-universe history. There are a couple of exceptions, these being the political manoeuvring section and to an extent some of the Guardians sections, especially those set on Far Away that feature the clans. These couple do add to the back story and raise some questions, but the difference in pace sticks out like a sore thumb.
The Second Chance plot is one of the best in the book and the most enjoyable as far as a sense of wonder and discovery go. It is especially good when the Guardians attempt a sabotage of the Second Chance during it's construction during what has to be one of the stand out passages in terms of pure all out action. If you like detective fiction, then the Paula Myo subplot will suit you to the ground. Seeing a character as defined as Paula conducting an investigation and showing how resourceful she is brings a smile to your face. Ozzie and his self-imposed mission along the Silfen paths from planet to planet is also a good example of fine storytelling of adventure and exploration. I can only imagine what sort of stories could come out of the Silfen paths if Peter so wished.
What really works in Pandora's Star is the way that Peter has built a universe from scratch and made almost every aspect believable. There is the sort of depth here that you don't normally find in a single book, but even though there are the occasional info-dumping passages it really doesn't feel that it detracts from the story, simply adds to the experience. Few books have managed to have this affect on me and this book can come heartily recommended with very few complaints. An almost perfect balance between world building and storytelling makes this a must read for any fan of the genre.
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stonking good read
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Pandora's Star, by Peter F. Hamilton
As an addict of "Science Fiction Space Opera", I found this book hitting virtually every button. A well thought out plot twists and turns in often unexpected directions, with sub-plots and multiple strands. And as usual with this author, the book is exceedingly good value, containing almost twelve hundred pages. Many authors would have published two, or even three books with this amount of material.
However, I felt that the book could perhaps have been trimmed a little by the omission of some of the endless minutia. I realise that characters have to be built up to give them `personality' etc, but when there are so many characters, as in this tale, there can be just a tad too much information. And there were a lot of characters. So many in fact, that in hindsight I'd almost feel inclined to write or draw up a cast list with a map of the way they are interconnected. The author obviously realised this would be necessary and has inserted an abbreviated list at the start of the book, but unless the reader has a really, really good memory, it's not enough.
I won't give too much of the story away; if you want to know what happens, you'll have to read the book, but there's; alien races; exotic science; space travel; conflicts and battles; weirdness; and lots more besides. There's even a little love interest in places, for the lady reader (only joking).
The main thrust of the story revolves around the way that a pair of neighbouring stars suddenly wink out and totally disappear from optical wavelengths. On detailed examination, an astronomer eventually shows that the disappearance occurs virtually instantaneously and an expedition is put together in order to investigate. You can perhaps work out a little of the rest of the story from the books title.
There is also a sub-plot, which leads the reader to believe, initially, that a part of the story is about a weird, anti-science, religious cult/terrorist-organisation with some strange beliefs. Perhaps they are eco-warriors of some kind? The group instils a slightly contemptuous feeling towards them until about halfway through the book, when you begin to wonder if they may have a point.
There are so many inter-linked storylines that at times it can be hard to follow and I had to re-read sections on quite a number of occasions. Yet in spite of this and despite the slight over-narration, the book is a cracking good read and I reckon it's worth 9 out of 10. I look forward to the sequel (which I've already bought) and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
japhid
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