Any Other Peter F. Hamilton Fans?

[picklematrix]

Read "The Reality Dysfunction", then was annoyed to find it was volume one of a trilogy, have yet to read the other two, not very good aliens in these, but a good read non the less.
Have read the "Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained" duet, not bad, interesting idea, using trains to travel between planets!

Yh the Nights Dawn trilogy is a bit of an endurance event. I would still recommend the trilogy overall though. New characters get thrown in just when it's about to wear out its welcome. Or at least that's what I found on my first read through.

 

[Les]

My first post on this forum, any my two cents worth...

Yes I’m a big PFH fan, and it was the Commonwealth Saga (Pandora’s Star & Judas Unchained) that turned me on to modern space opera. Those two are still my favourite PFH books, although his most recent offering Salvation looks like it could be leading somewhere really great.

I wasn’t all that impressed with the Night’s Dawn series, I thought it was too drawn out, but the concept and ideas are awesome. The Void Trilogy really should be read after the Commonwealth Saga and are rewarding reads if still a tad long. A lot of other PFH readers who I know rate Fallen Dragon as their favourite PFH novel, but they cite the fact that it’s NOT part of a bigger series as the main reason, not so much the book itself. I think it’s ok, well worth reading, but far from his best.

Actually, I’ve hugely enjoyed the shorter stories that PFH has produced. A Second Chance at Eden is superb as is Manhattan in Reverse. He’s a very good “short” fiction writer.

Overall, PFH is one of the greats. If you like your sci-fi big you will love his work. He’s learning to shorten things up a bit nowadays (like his most recent work) which I think will be a good thing and make his books more acceptable to a wider audience. He’s one of those writers/artists who I really want to buy a beer for to say thanks and let him know how much enjoyment and pure escapism (which I need a lot of these days) he has given me.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Yes, "Fallen Dragon" is a stand alone novel, but not a bad read all the same, also Second Chance is a good collection of stories, I recommend this one!

 

[picklematrix]

I recently read 'A Fire Upon the Deep' by Virner Vinge and realised that Hamilton must have drawn inspiration from it. Definitely the same ballpark of scifi, if anyone hasn't read it.

 

[williamjm]

I recently read 'A Fire Upon the Deep' by Virner Vinge and realised that Hamilton must have drawn inspiration from it. Definitely the same ballpark of scifi, if anyone hasn't read it.

It's a great book, the Tines are one of the most interesting alien races I've read about.

Vinge's concept of the Singularity is also something that has had influence on several of Hamilton's books.

 

[picklematrix]

It's a great book, the Tines are one of the most interesting alien races I've read about.

Vinge's concept of the Singularity is also something that has had influence on several of Hamilton's books.

Hamilton must have fallen in love with the ideas of Tines and Skroderiders, I bet.
They both use enough technical, scientific language to make incredible ideas seem plausible.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Tried "Mispent Youth", not his usual space opera unfortunately, but I really could not get into this one, flat and to me uninteresting story and not very interesting characters, gave up nearly half way through, would not recommend!
P.S. Would agree, "Fire Upon The Deep" is a great book, really liked the aliens and ideas, he has written both a sequel and a prequel to this one, but I haven't read either so I don't know if they're any good!

 

[vanye]

I found A Deepness in the Sky even better. One of my favourite novels all around. Great aliens and full of insights for me when I read it.

 

[picklematrix]

Misspent youth tends not to be praised in the same manner as his main serieses. The same with the Greg Mendel series. They are good books in their own right, but his grand scale space operas are what really put him on the map. I'd never really read a book like the Reality Dysfunction before.
For fans of Peter Hamilton, I would wholeheartedly recommend 'Children of Time' by Adrian Tchaikovsky, if anyone has yet to read it. Hamilton is quoted on the cover praising the 'evolutionary worldbuilding'.
I suspect that the both Zones of Thought and The Common Wealth saga were influences on it. It falls in the same ball park of 'hard' scifi that stretches the science to the limits.

 

[williamjm]

P.S. Would agree, "Fire Upon The Deep" is a great book, really liked the aliens and ideas, he has written both a sequel and a prequel to this one, but I haven't read either so I don't know if they're any good!

The prequel, A Deepness in the Sky, is a great book, I think even better than A Fire Upon The Deep. The sequel Children of the Sky isn't up to the same standard, although I still enjoyed returning to the Tines' world.

 

[BigBadBob141]

I read the first of the Grey Mendel books, not at all bad!

 

[Werthead]

Worth noting that the first episode of Love, Death and Robots on Netflix is a direction adaptation of Peter F. Hamilton's story Sonnie's Edge, from the Night's Dawn universe. It's very impressive.

 

[picklematrix]

Worth noting that the first episode of Love, Death and Robots on Netflix is a direction adaptation of Peter F. Hamilton's story Sonnie's Edge, from the Night's Dawn universe. It's very impressive.

I had no idea. Gonna have to watch that now!

 

[Gzarback]

I am a big fan.
Nights Dawn trilogy - very enjoyable, first read in book form; listened to audible as a 2nd read. The ending feels a bit rushed, but then again there was soooo much going on, so many story arcs. A top quality space opera with solid character building and a fantastic universe.

The void series...the 2 prequels (commonwealth saga) are completely awesome. MorningLightMountain is so amazingly alien yet devastatingly easy to sympathize with. The main Void series was super awesome regarding world building with the commonwealth and fantastical, but the actual dream sequences were off-putting, too childishly or stubbornly goody two-shoes for my taste. However it all ties in very nicely and the ending is very satisfying. The 2 post books (chronicle of the fallers) were also amazing.

Also read the Great North Road, which was a great stand-alone book, again with some really neat futuristic concepts and subtle warnings about human nature.

Another stand alone book Fallen Dragon is perhaps my favorite of all. Literally everything about this book is awesome.

I had been holding off on starting the mindstar series until he writes more books...I hate being stuck on a cliff hanger for years.

I hope this guy churns out a few more series. If you like space opera's at all, investing in Peter Hamilton is a no-brainer.

As reference, my all-time favorite author is the late Iain M Banks; and I'm currently having a love-hate relationship with Allastair Reynolds revelation space universe

 

[Vertigo]

I am a big fan.
Nights Dawn trilogy - very enjoyable, first read in book form; listened to audible as a 2nd read. The ending feels a bit rushed, but then again there was soooo much going on, so many story arcs. A top quality space opera with solid character building and a fantastic universe.

The void series...the 2 prequels (commonwealth saga) are completely awesome. MorningLightMountain is so amazingly alien yet devastatingly easy to sympathize with. The main Void series was super awesome regarding world building with the commonwealth and fantastical, but the actual dream sequences were off-putting, too childishly or stubbornly goody two-shoes for my taste. However it all ties in very nicely and the ending is very satisfying. The 2 post books (chronicle of the fallers) were also amazing.

Also read the Great North Road, which was a great stand-alone book, again with some really neat futuristic concepts and subtle warnings about human nature.

Another stand alone book Fallen Dragon is perhaps my favorite of all. Literally everything about this book is awesome.

I had been holding off on starting the mindstar series until he writes more books...I hate being stuck on a cliff hanger for years.

I hope this guy churns out a few more series. If you like space opera's at all, investing in Peter Hamilton is a no-brainer.

As reference, my all-time favorite author is the late Iain M Banks; and I'm currently having a love-hate relationship with Allastair Reynolds revelation space universe

The last Greg Mandel (Mindstar Rising) book was written in 1995; I doubt he will ever write any more. Also each story is stand alone though they do follow chronologically as I recall.

With regard to Alastair Reynolds, although he is probably best know for the Revelation Space books, and these were what I first read from him, I, personally, prefer his stand alone books.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Yes I've read a few of his stand alone novels, they've all been pretty good!
I recommend "The Prefect" & "Pushing Ice"!!!

 

[Vertigo]

Yes I've read a few of his stand alone novels, they've all been pretty good!
I recommend "The Prefect" & "Pushing Ice"!!!

I think my two favourite Reynolds books are both standalone: House of Suns and, just recently, Terminal World. But I loved The Prefect (though I consider that a standalone Revelation Space book and I need to get the recent sequel to that as well) and Pushing Ice a little less so.