Peter F. Hamilton

[Lord Soth]

He is one of my favourite authors, and for me I enjoyed the Commonwealth Saga the most, and this will lead you nicely into the Void Trilogy.

After that, Night's Dawn and Greg Mandel Trilogy's are both very good but completely separate, so you can go either way. I've just gone through an (audible) re-read of the Greg Mandel series now, the first is great (if a little dated in some parts) and the second is slightly weaker. Just started the third now.

 

[Vertigo]

**BUMP** (would like to see a Peter Hamilton link on front page)

A few questions:
1. Should I read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained before I start the Void trilogy?
2. Is the Void trilogy as good as Night's Dawn?

1. Definitely - the Void trilogy follows on from the two Commonwealth books. There are some characters that carry on through and much of it really would not make any sense if the Void books were read first.

2. Personally I think the Commonweatlth and Void books are Hamilton's best. They are not as dark as the Night's Dawn books and, I felt, flowed much more naturally. The Greg Mandel books are altogether different sorts of books but also good. As with Lord Soth, of them I thought the first was strongest (though a little dated now, for 1992 he was pretty early with forecasting a post global warming society) and the second the weakest. His other stand alone noves are very good too but again very different.

On another note I see he had a book of shorts released in October; I missed that. It looks like they include a Paula Mayo story or two as well (one of the main characters from both The Commonwealth and Void books).

 

[Bugg]

Must admit, I didn't get on with the Commonwealth Saga. I enjoyed Pandora's Star but was losing the will to live by the end of Judas Unchained. It's kind of put me off reading the Void Trilogy so far, even though I've bought them.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved the Night's Dawn trilogy from start to finish

 

[alchemist]

**BUMP** (would like to see a Peter Hamilton link on front page)

A few questions:
1. Should I read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained before I start the Void trilogy?
2. Is the Void trilogy as good as Night's Dawn?

1. Yes.

2. I would say no. Night's Dawn is a better story with a more linear structure.

Must admit, I didn't get on with the Commonwealth Saga. I enjoyed Pandora's Star but was losing the will to live by the end of Judas Unchained. It's kind of put me off reading the Void Trilogy so far, even though I've bought them.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved the Night's Dawn trilogy from start to finish

I absolutely loved it until the end. I thought the Deus et Machina ending was one of the worst let-downs I've had in reading SF. Apart from that, it was perfect.

 

[Grunkins]

the Deus et Machina ending

Boo!

But as long a the journey there is fun, I'm fine.

 

[Lord Soth]

Boo!

But as long a the journey there is fun, I'm fine.

Yeah really got me too. The recently released book (Manhattan in Reverse) is a collection of short stories, and really for me is the weakest thing he has written. He excels at long novels, so this should only be read once you have tried his best, lest it put you off him.

Top 5 author for me.

PS. Nice to see Vertigo has pretty much the exact taste/judgement as me, means I can will watch his reading reviews a little closer from now on!

 

[Vertigo]

Thank you m'Lord! Actually you had better be careful with my judgement; I'm one of those few (it seems) that wasn't completely blown away by Bester's The Stars My Destination (I did like it though) which I think puts a black mark on my soul.

Also I'm guilty of buying The Evolutionary Void ages ago and then sitting on it. I just haven't got around to reading it yet.

 

[Moggle]

It's unlikely I'll read another Hamilton book after Pandora's star. Hamilton must be paid by the word.

 

[Vertigo]

Well I guess it's personal thing I enjoy long books in the same way I enjoy series of books. So long as it's not all padding. And I know some say he's guilty of that but other's say the opposite it works for me though. You could take a look at his Greg Mandel books as they are more normal length books.

 

[Galacticdefender]

I've been hesitant to read Night's Dawn because when I hear "past souls flooding back into the land of the living", I don't think "Hard Scifi Space Opera", I think "Science Fantasy". Are they pretty good? I generally don't like fantasitcal elements in Scifi, especially Space opera (Yeah, I know, says the Warhammer 40k fan lol) but if Night's Dawn is as good as people say I might have to check it out.

 

[J-Sun]

The recently released book (Manhattan in Reverse) is a collection of short stories, and really for me is the weakest thing he has written. He excels at long novels, so this should only be read once you have tried his best, lest it put you off him.

Ironically, I seem to have read the collection A Second Chance at Eden first, then read the 900+ page novel Fallen Dragon and, while it wasn't terrible, I knew I'd never read it again, got rid of it, and will probably never read any other Hamilton novel - but may pick up that second collection.

But I am definitely biased in favor of shorter lengths. And weird.

 

[Lord Soth]

Well I guess it's personal thing I enjoy long books in the same way I enjoy series of books. So long as it's not all padding. And I know some say he's guilty of that but other's say the opposite it works for me though. You could take a look at his Greg Mandel books as they are more normal length books.

Hah, strange thing is (or perhaps not in this case) I didn't like it either, it's probably on one of these threads here somewhere.

Great minds and all that...

 

[Bugg]

Also I'm guilty of buying The Evolutionary Void ages ago and then sitting on it.

Well, it is as big as a chair, to be fair

 

[Vertigo]

I've been hesitant to read Night's Dawn because when I hear "past souls flooding back into the land of the living", I don't think "Hard Scifi Space Opera", I think "Science Fantasy". Are they pretty good? I generally don't like fantasitcal elements in Scifi, especially Space opera (Yeah, I know, says the Warhammer 40k fan lol) but if Night's Dawn is as good as people say I might have to check it out.

It does seem a bit fantastical and there certainly is an element of that but it is all presented and eventually explained in very much hard SF terms. And the bulk of the books are very much space opera with a considerable part of the action happening in an interstellar space ship.

Ironically, I seem to have read the collection A Second Chance at Eden first, then read the 900+ page novel Fallen Dragon and, while it wasn't terrible, I knew I'd never read it again, got rid of it, and will probably never read any other Hamilton novel - but may pick up that second collection.

But I am definitely biased in favor of shorter lengths. And weird.

In fairness I would say that Fallen Dragon is generally considered one of his weaker books. I quite liked it but no more than that. As I mentioned earlier if you prefer smaller books it would still be worth taking a look at the Greg Mandel books which are not his normal door stop size. I would draw parallels between them and Neal Asher's Cormac books though the Greg Mandel books are not set so far in the future and wouldn't be called Space Opera.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Personally didn't like Reality Dysfunction - read as badly over-written, with far too much focus on deep POV's from a whole range of POV characters. The main protagonist felt like someone's wish-fulfillment fantasy. Was easily given the impression that the "Night's Dawn" trilogy was really just a normal sized-novel that had been terribly over-padded.

Tried reading "Fallen Dragon". I plodded through its plodding pace for 70 pages, and the only significant event was a cloud in the sky. No interesting characters or dialogue, so abandoned it.

 

[Grunkins]

I'm about 140 pages into Pandora's Star and waiting to get hooked. This man needs an editor. I'll keep reading because of all the praise he gets and I like the milieu. I just hope he gets on with it!

 

[Vertigo]

It does take a while to get going but I loved it in the end. However you should be aware that there are quite a few who didn't! Personally I would say stick with it

 

[Grunkins]

A couple more hours of reading into it now, and I'm hooked.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I've just finished The Temporal Void (2nd in the series) and thought it was magnificent. To be fair I have a few issues with the way that Hamilton puts his work together, but never with the story or the actual writing.

I just do not seem to have the time to read like I once had, so it really says something that I was able to read this huge book in under two weeks.

 

[Vertigo]

Good to hear it Grunkins
I have to go back and read at least the last part of that one to get it back in my head before getting into the third one (Evolutionary). It's a bit of a daunting prospect but I'll get around to it one of these days