Pandora's Star

[incredible]

Peter Hamilton's latest novel and first of a new trilogy (I think).
This is set in a different milieu from Confederation Space (see Night's Dawn trilogy) but once again is space opera on a galactic scale (hooray!).

The human Commonwealth finds an alien species which looks pretty warlike. Oh dear - there goes peaceful development. Not only that, but both may be being manipulated by another hidden alien influence, the Starflyer. Meanwhile the Commonwealth equivalent of the FBI is pursuing a group of seeming terrorists who are themselves out to counter the mysterious Starflyer, which no one else believes exists.

If you enjoyed the multiple strands of Night's Dawn, then you will enjoy this one: whether for space opera; who-dunnit mystery; or weird alien landscapes.

My only dislike so far :( is a long section of pure exposition introducing us to the history of the nasty aliens. I wonder if it couldn't have been broken up by partially viewing it from some human perspective. But maybe the concentrated density of this part of the text is necessary to make us feel how alien they really are. Did I mention they're also not very nice? ;)

As usual with Peter Hamilton, there are more British references than American. For example, it is AD 2380 and the monster roadbuilder machines are built by good old JCB, not Caterpillar.

Enjoy.

[Darkstar]

I enjoyed most of Night's Dawn, but thought the end was a real cop out. Let's hope this isn't more of the same. His earlier stuff was good, and it's nice to read Brit-centric SF for a change.

I'll stick this on my list to have a look at.

[Grammath]

This kind of book was once my bread and butter, but I don't think I've read any space opera for more than 20 years. Space opera is the term normally used to describe books seeking to capture the likes of the "Star Wars" films in novel form, full of complex technology, alien races and interstellar battles.

According to Wikipedia, Peter F. Hamilton is the most commercially successful living practitioner of the genre, producing the sort of giant multi-volume sagas typical of modern fantasy. "Pandora's Star" at 1,144 pages, is only the first half of the gargantuan "Commonwealth Saga".

It is 2380, and humanity has settled on planets across the galaxy linked by a network of wormholes and the unisphere, a futuristic version of the internet. Its citizens, should they so choose, are effectively immortal thanks to rejuvenation and re-life procedures, and power largely rests in the hands of a small elite who control most of the industries and wealth.

Astronomer Dudley Bose spots a pair of stars many light years away suddenly wink out of existence. It seems impossible. In order to investigate, the first faster than light starship is built to travel to the pair. On arrival, the crew discovers the stars have been enclosed by a shield, the work of a technology far in advance of humans. While there, they inadvertantly switch the shields off, unleashing the aggressive Primes, the aliens the shield is designed to contain. The Commonwealth has to put itself on a war footing rapidly.

Although largely peaceful, the Commonwealth does harbour a terrorist cell, the Guardians of Selfhood, who believe human activity is being manipulated by a mysterious alien they call the Starflyer. Policewoman Paula Myo has been investigating their activities for decades without success. Events in the book lead her increasingly to believe that the Guardians might actually be onto something.

These are just two strands of an intricately plotted, panoramic book. As it is essentially only the first half of an even longer novel none of the strands is resolved by the novel's end. Reading it is like immersing yourself in a sci-fi TV series like "Battlestar Galactica" or "Babylon 5". As with those series, as well as spinning a yarn Hamilton has taken the opportunity to use his future society to examine a few 21st century issues too. Not that he has much profound to say, mind.

Nor is there much here of great originality. The conjoined minds of the Primes and their desire to subjugate are a straightforward steal from Star Trek's Borg, for example. Overall, though, it is to Hamilton's credit that his aliens are very, well, alien.

As with most very long books I've ever come across, "Pandora's Star" doesn't justify having quite so much wood pulped to make it. Hamilton can't resist describing every aspect of his future society in enormous detail - its transport, its planets, how the dynasties came by their wealth etc. Much of it could have been cut down or chopped out.

This is reading candy, undemanding entertainment written in unambitious prose designed to fill apathetic hours when literary fiction seems too much like hard work. I'm looking forward to "Judas Unchained", the conclusion of the saga, in the same way one looks forward to a night vegging in front of the TV. We all need books like this once in a while. Very much a guilty pleasure.

[Grammath]

5 months later, I've now finished "Judas Unchained", the second volume of the Commonwealth saga. Like the first half, this is a multistrand epic, and like the first half, there are spells where not a lot is happening in some of those strands.

The Primes, thanks to the knowledge absorbed from captured members of the Second Chance crew, are able to strike the Commonwealth and capture 23 planets. The Commonwealth gears up to respond with fearsome weapons but is undermined by agents of the Starflyer. Paula Myo's conviction that the Starflyer is real leads her into contact with the Guardians of Selfhood and an eventual showdown with the Starflyer on the Guardians' hone planet, the oddly named Far Away. Before the new quantumbuster weapons can be unleashed a renegade mission returns to the Dyson Pair in an effort to re-activate the barrier and avoid genocide.

So, basically, more of the same rather flabby space opera. I thought this was the weaker half of the saga. The showdown between the Guardians and the Starflyer takes pretty much all of the last 300 pages or so of the book and this reader spent most of it willing the two sides to just get on with it.