Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton (Book Club)

[Moonbat]

Just found this thread..
Right (cracks knuckles)

I am currently half way through the Evolutionary Void (the last book in the void trilogy - which follows 1000yrs after Pandora's Star and sequel) and I wont speak about those books (yet).

When I started reading Pandora's star it was many years after I devoured the Night's Dawn trilogy and I loved those books (except for the Deus Ex Machina ending)

Pandora's star started interestingly for me, with the Mars landing and the new technology that would change things, then it jumps forward 100s of years and we see how the society has evolved along the wormhole lines.

The biggest plus in the first book for me were two expertly written passages. The first was Justine's hyperglider adventure just after she has been rejuvenated. His description of the planet's geography and weather systems to then play into this wonderfully written glider journey as she flies over the great mountains - I particularly liked the build up to the river that flows upwards, I thought that was brilliant, it might not be accurate or possible but he made it sound plausible to a layman like myself.

The second passage was the birth and evolution of MorningLightMounting (the prime alien) It started a bit cryptic but then gave a wonderful history of how it got to where it was and it's motivations. I thought those two chapters/passages were so well written that I might re-read them to help with my own writing (sorry!)

Overall the books are huge, they don't scrimp on words but, as with Nights dawn trilogy, the ending lets them down. When you get to the end of Judas unchained, although he is trying to make it seem like it is all on a knife edge you know it'll end up ok. I kind of lost the tension once they all started going to Far Away, it just seemed like they would easily beat the immotile/starflyer.

I felt that some of his characters were better than others, Paula - the detective that cannot do morally wrong things, even turning in her parents of 16yrs because they kidnapped her - was a pretty good character (he's actually using her in the Void trilogy) and Ozzie was kind of cool. I also liked Gore (Justine's Dad) he (and her) are also in the latter books.

I do love his books, and have now moved onto the Void trilogy which somehow has a fantasy element woven in. In the first book I was really enjoying Inigo's dreams, but by the third I now prefer the story outside the void. I get the feeling that as the end approaches I know everything will work out fine.

 

[Westie]

Peter F Hamilton is my favourite SF author.

OK, now that's out of the way, I can say the following:

I actually read the Void Trilogy before the Commonwealth Saga, and found that it was better that way round as you then were almost compelled to read Commonwealth Saga in order to figure out the back story.

I listened to Pandoras Star as an audiobook that someone bought me for my birthday one year. I found it interesting especially with the Prime aliens and the Silfen paths, with the lack of "black box" techno-gadgets. Everyone understood e-butlers and so one due to the description of how they were used rather than someone explaining it in tedious dialogue.

What Hamilton does well, is to extrapolate a future based on the technological and social advancements that we have today. There are social improvements with sex being seen as more socially acceptable than even it is now, and there are elements to show that humanity does not need marriage in order to stay faithful.

I loved the idea of interplanetary travel being as simple as getting on a train, and how each planet was distinctly different. I also thought that the book was something between a sci-fi novel, detective story and political thriller, so managed to cater for all sorts.

I loved the story, and couldn't wait for Judas Unchained.