Rating: 
Summary: Incoherent Drivel
Review: Yes, those words truly summarize The Reality Dysfunction. I see no reason why people actually like these books. Is it because of the characters who all have the morality of drunken frat boys at spring break? Is it the tangled web of characters and plots that you need a score card to keep track of? Or is it just Hamilton's masterful way of spinning a long-winded, cheesy yarn?Sorry to anyone who, like me, thought this series had merit, but you would be sorely mistaken. First, and foremost in my mind, is that the editor completely dropped the ball on these books. There are so many plots and characters running around that the author clearly loses track of them. Remember the voidhawk captain Syrinx from part 1? Oh yeah, she appears for one scene. What about Quinn Dexter, the Satanist who started this fiasco? One scene about 480 pages in is all he gets. Then of course there are the "possessed" who are taking over some Edenist habitat and a couple of planets, but they drop out of the picture for the last 100 or so pages. Hamilton has no concept of smooth storytelling, it's all bits and pieces, nothing comes together, and like the first part, the second part of The Reality Dysfunction ends so abruptly that you'll probably run to the bookstore to make sure that every copy is like that. Another thing that really annoys me about Hamilton's style is that all along the way we get these wonderful history lessons about every stinking rock in the "Confederation". I'm sorry, but I as the reader simply do not care about why or when or how some navy base was created, it has no relevence to me. After a while I just started to flip past these scenes, and found myself not the least bit confused. Like I said about the first book, if you cut out most of the gratuitous sex scenes, and these history lessons, there would be no need for two parts. There's also a lot of stuff that the only word to describe it is cheesy. One guy gets chased by a mixture of Viking boats, triemes, and (of all things) a pirate ship! At the end is a climactic battle between 27th Century cyborgs and medieval knights. Best of all, there's a scene right out of The Exorcist where Father Horst banishes one of the possessed by reading the ritual exorcism prayer and waving his crucifix and Bible around. And representing the possessed we have an Irishman from the 1920s, a Nazi soldier, and an Australian who died during the Vietnam War, plus the wonderful promise that guys like Custer, Stalin, and Hitler are just itching to make their way back to the other side. Why is that cheesy? Maybe to most people it isn't, but to me when you start throwing around all of these 20th Century references A) it shows a lack of creativity and B) it makes it sound like the 20th Century was the most important time in human history (which it may be news to you, but it wasn't). Remember what I said about characters? You probably think I'm exaggerating, but not really. We find out along the way in this masterpiece that our resident "hero" Joshua Calvert has gotten not one, but two different girls pregnant, hoo-ray! Most of the main characters are so loose that you start to wonder after a while exactly how all these souls from Hell taking over people will make things much different. Heck, it might be an improvement. So maybe by now you've seen my review and all these glowing ones and you must think I'm all wet. Maybe, but I thought I'd like these books and so far have found really no redeeming qualities in them at all. Most books I can at least find something good to say, but not for these. They're long and disorganized, lacking decent characters, dialogue, or a well-planned story. You can believe all the rosy reviews and buy these books, but if you think you're getting quality literature, you will be sorely mistaken as I was. As for myself, this is as far as I go with this series, I can't take any more of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Expansive and confusing
Review: Peter Hamilton continues the giant scope upon which he embarked in book one of this series. The number of contiguous storylines can be difficult and distracting at times, though the underlying thought and science is solid. This book begins to develop a number of the characters presented in the first book, though the number attempted can make it difficult to care about all of them. The story remains gripping, with an odd mix of classic science-fiction, romance and horror. Well worth the time, and I'd be shocked if readers don't make it to the next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Starship Troopers take on Salem's Lot citizens... film at 11
Review: This is the second part of The Reality Dysfunction. From what I gathered the original story was planned as a trilogy, but the publisher decided to split each volume in two distinct books. I have already reviewed the first book (subtitled Emergence) and my main ideas about it still stand. It is fun, with some good ideas and a potentially interesting universe, but it is marred by too many cliches, an erratic style which bounces from Heinlein to Stephen King, and too many illogical points thrown around in order to support the story the author wants to tell. This is billed as Space Opera, so cliches may be part of the genre, and I didn't expect hard science, but the number of ill conceived or hastily dismissed points keep growing. The main "baddies" are less and less convincing, and even if I suppose that some of the weak points could be explained in the next volumes, most of what we know of the "enemy" does not make a lot of sense, even allowing for its allegedly "metaphysical" origin. I don't want to spoil the plot, so I'll just say that I found them unconvincing in their motivations and modus operandi, and that their "powers" seems to work according to what best suits the author: i.e. sometimes they are unstoppable, too powerful for anyone, while 10 or 20 pages before (or after) they can be destroyed or anyway countained with relative ease. It depends on who faces them, apparently. Expendables "red shirts" die in droves, usually with a fair amount of gore, heroes infallibly find some way to vanquish them while "minor heroes" are allowed to have their "last stand" and take some of the baddies with them. This is quite Hollywoodish, and I don't like it at all. Finishing the book was not a great problem: it *is* fun, but I was disappointed and in the end I don't think I'll buy the rest of this series.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate "Starship Theatre"; Pt. II
Review: Without taking up a lot of everyone's time and space (One can read my basic review under the first volume) I merely post this Advisory and WARNING!!: Do Not begin reading this Epic anywhere except at the Beginning!! Acquire the ENTIRE "Night's Dawn Trilogy" before you begin to avoid the frustrations that I did (and be glad that you won't have to wait for the final Triad to be published, as I was forced to do) Have the entire work ready on your bookshelf, and be prepared for one of the best and WILDEST experiences of your life!!!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely first rate
Review: This is the second book of the series, and shouldn't be read as a stand-alone (you'll be completely lost) but if you don't mind reading a whole lot of words, start with the first book, which is pretty good, but not great, then read the rest, which are all great. For my money, the best SF series I've ever read, absolutely mind-blowing and fun. All the elements of great SF: Super hi-tech, extremely detailed universe, complex and believable societies, space battles, and, most importantly, deals with a fairly important theme: What happens to us when we die?
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous
Review: Hamilton continues his stellar writing with this fast-paced space opera. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A Sequel fitting the first...
Review: This book simply doesnt stand on its own. It is a mate to the first, Emergence. It is a fantastic book. I still cannot decide which characters I am more attached to! Hamilton does an excellent job of creating more problems and still more innovative solutions for his characters. They become more and more developed, and the books are just sticky. You cant put them down! The publisher warns that this book (hmmm, like the first perhaps?!) ends in a cliffhanger. Well, it's true. Buy all six. Don't buy just one. Its about 3400 pages when youre all done, but worth every word, every minute you stay awake at night reading. Every stolen hour at work reading. reading. reading...
Rating:
Summary: Divine.
Review: This entire series is godly in power and inspiration. The characters, the technology, the background, the atmosphere, the emotive overtones, the liquid, flowing prose of Peter F. Hamilton is as addictive as heroin, and you can't stop reading until your body is screaming at you for sleep or relief. The entire universe he creates is so full and rich you almost drown in its beauty and electricity. You're THERE. You become the story and the story becomes you. The flow of time, the events, the characters, it all becomes alive.
Rating:
Summary: "Dawn of the dead" .....in space!
Review: Imagine "Dawn of the dead"... in space. Not a bad concept and one which Hamilton uses to it's full potential. Set far in the future, this story tells of a time when man has achieved total dominance of space. Planets are colonized by big business, space stations are run by those always dependable A.I's and relative peace and harmony reigns. Sadly, this all ends when a freak occurrance allows a spirit from hell (or close to it) to possess the living. A move which opens the gates for mass possession on not only a global but universal scale. Cue the fight for survival between the dead and the living. Hamilton somehow manages to keep a consistent pace, forcing the reader to turn one more page then was intended. Nothing is left out, from the space cowboy to the vast galactic fleets and spce stations, all struggling to survive a terror that few can admit to. So all in all the best fun i've had since Varley's Steel Beech and roll on the sequels, which for once i support.
Rating:
Summary: A spellbinding epic about bio-genetic engineering
Review: This book was recommended to me in Australia where it's a daunting 3in thick. But, I was told persevere through the first 100 pages and you'll be hooked. Sure enough, right around the 100th page, I felt the hook tickle my skin and by the 200th page, I was totally committed to the entire Night's Dawn Trilogy. Hamilton has written the definitive gripping space opera yet, and after reading all 3 (yes, the last book was released in Oz in August, 1999) he doesn't let you go until the very end. Eat your heart out Kim Stanley Robinson - Hamilton KNOWS how to write a thick novels that keep you burning the midnight oil until the sun comes up and work calls!
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