The Dreaming Void

This Guy can write and besides is also invent a universe that works over two book series. It is just a joy to read this book. ( )

The Dreaming Void is much in the vein of Hamilton's post-Greg Mandel work - that is a door-stop sized tome of space opera. The technical approach is also the same as the Night's Dawn Trilogy and the Commonwealth Saga; a large set of characters are introduced with very little apparent connection between them at the outset but as events proceed, those connections become more apparent.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/335110/post ( )

Another year, another attempt to bolster my page count by reading one of Peter F. Hamilton's series. This year I'm going through his Void trilogy, a sequel of sorts to his Commonwealth Saga that I read last year.

Opening this book up on Monday night I discovered I was the proud owner of a signed copy of The Dreaming Void. I've no idea why my copy is signed. Fortunately I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it'd be kind of awkward if the only signed book I owned turned out to be awe-inspiringly atrocious.

Now I'm familiar with Hamilton's "big" science fiction works I knew the score with this book, so I figuratively tore through the first hundred or so pages, bravely refusing to panic while more and more characters were introduced. Sure enough, once all the threads have been lain on the table, Hamilton starts to carefully weave them together in interesting and often unexpected ways. The only problem I had with the Commonwealth Saga was its rather tiresome second half; hopefully Hamilton manages to keep the quality consistently high throughout all three of these books, but only time will tell. ( )

Another year, another attempt to bolster my page count by reading one of Peter F. Hamilton's series. This year I'm going through his Void trilogy, a sequel of sorts to his Commonwealth Saga that I read last year.

Opening this book up on Monday night I discovered I was the proud owner of a signed copy of The Dreaming Void. I've no idea why my copy is signed. Fortunately I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it'd be kind of awkward if the only signed book I owned turned out to be awe-inspiringly atrocious.

Now I'm familiar with Hamilton's "big" science fiction works I knew the score with this book, so I figuratively tore through the first hundred or so pages, bravely refusing to panic while more and more characters were introduced. Sure enough, once all the threads have been lain on the table, Hamilton starts to carefully weave them together in interesting and often unexpected ways. The only problem I had with the Commonwealth Saga was its rather tiresome second half; hopefully Hamilton manages to keep the quality consistently high throughout all three of these books, but only time will tell. ( )

I've come to the conclusion that Peter F. Hamilton is an acquired taste. Maybe it just requires patience and getting used to his often HUGE PAGE COUNTS. Most of it is devoted to establishing his characters and their backstories, so it's not a huge complaint. Where he shines is his vast SF worldbuilding which takes on a very complex and rich character rarely seen in ANY series.

We're dealing with 20 or 30 thousand pages of the same universe across vast distances, worlds, and timeframes. And not only that, tons of alien species we get to know intimately, fantastic realms, Fae world hopping, wormhole networks, and a whole DREAMING REALM.

This particular novel fixes a lot of the issues I generally run into with the other novels. It's SHORT. It's also rather focused for what it accomplishes, splitting its time between a high-tech uber powerful post-Commonwealth era, 1500 years after Judas Unchained, and a very interesting seemingly low-tech fantasy world full of psi users and teeks. I have to admit I think I loved the second realm much more than the high tech side. The implications and the hints throughout this novel make me suspect MUCH. :)

Is this my new favorite Hamilton? Or am I just getting so used to his writing that I'm fine with rolling with the roving text and getting excited when the big action happens? Am I simply impressed by the vast worldbuilding and the competent characters?

A little of both, to be certain, but now that I've been reading quite a lot of his work, I'm really getting into the easter eggs and the recurring characters I grew to love in the previous books.

Yeah. Characters coming back after 1,500 years. And still being fun. :)

There's something really glorious about the gigantic tapestry that Hamilton is writing here. It's truly vast and often mind-blowing.

Sure, he has his faults and the writing style sometimes takes getting used to, but the rewards are well worth the effort. And then some. :) ( )