Rating: 
Summary: I love the richly described future but that plot ?!?!
Review: A universe in which living spacecraft are hatched amoungst the rings of giant gas planets and living habitats 40 miles long are "affinity bonded" and mated to fragile humans of the "Edenist" branch of humanity. Such is but a glimpse of life 600 years in the future as envisioned by Mr. Hamilton. I love books that succeed in creating a complete world and display a grand sweep with great detail. Reality dysfunction certainly portrays in such demensions. However, I'm left with a nagging problem which other reviewers have also commented on. The damned and dead come back to life to take over bodies of the living ?? That's the essential story ??? Unfortunately it reminds me of the storylines from those hokey, cheap 1950's science fiction movies. I would've much preferred a "xenoc invation" or perhaps an Edinist plot or even their living machines gone amok (for some interesting and complex reason) rather than a night of the living dead type thing... The technology of the highly specialized or "boosted" soldiers that is desribed is wonderful but it seems waisted on this villian. Is the lesson here that we are all-everyone of us- ultimately going to be eternally tormented in the beyond ? When the mercenaries are killed do they immediately join thier enemies and return to take living bodies ? Will Ione Saldana, Kelly Tyrel and even Joshua all become gouls ?? Thats my problem with these books. As well written and imaginative as they are-why did Mr. Hamilton have to resort to gouls, ghosts and goblins ?
Rating:
Summary: Takes off at full speed and doesn't stop
Review: This far-future version of Murphy's Law meets Wes Craven continues at the breakneck pacing set in book 1. Futile military maneuvers on Lalonde are set in motion while the horrific dysfunction spreads unchecked across the confederation, and the tension could not be better maintained. Every question answered is simply overshadowed by more perplexing mysteries. Characters fall victim to the crisis, and some earlier victims resurface, sometimes to the reader's horror... The author once again treats the reader to a nonstop tour de force of machines and mayhem, always staying two steps ahead of the reader and ten ahead of the characters. Entropy is the central theme, and Hamilton dishes it out liberally while managing to navigate the characters through it realistically. You may find yourself immersed, so don't be surprised to find yourself cheering out loud for the good guys (and hissing at the nasties). You'll surely come running back for the next volumes when you're done.
Rating:
Summary: An original and imaginative read.
Review: Terrific...the worst thing about this book is waiting for the sequels. Mr Hamilton has caused me a number of sleepless nights. I could not put either book down. Well crafted, these novels have renewed my interest in this genre. The story seems set to expand well beyond a trilogy. This reader for one will be waiting with anticipation.
Rating: 
Summary: A Horror/Fantasy tale in the guise of SF
Review: Although catalogued under SF, the two part novel, The Reality Dysfunction, has more in common with the work of Stephen King than Arthur C. Clark. The Reality Dysfunction is inundated with characters, plots and subplots, many of whose significance is unclear, even at the end of the second installment of the novel. The primary theme involves the spirits of the dead who return to capture the bodies of the living with the devilish plan to spirit the stolen bodies (along with whole planets) into some alternate universe. The unfolding plot becomes almost comical when the kindly phantasm of a man killed in Northern Ireland in the 1920's takes the time to explain the current events to a group of haggard and dispirited soldiers (and haggard and dispirited readers). Some of the disappointment stems from the fact that parts of the novel are rich with imagination and beautifully written. Mr. Hamilton is clearly a talented writer. Lack of discipline must then explain the bewildering array of activity that almost requires a score sheet. Even then, major plot holes remain. For instance, the means by which these re-embodied spirits return from the formless netherland is never explained. Nor do we know how they change the shape of matter or fire energy bolts at their enemies. The ghouls are not defeated nor even clearly contained at the end of the novel. And yet, another totally unrelated plot line involving a physicist who survived a planetary holocaust is unleashed. The most disturbing aspect, however, is the work's demeaning treatment of women. Women are mere sex objects waiting to please some man. The fact that the women are portrayed as eager and willing participants confirms the author's narrow and naive view; a view that is pure macho male chauvanism. Nearly no honest, loving relationships exist in the entire work. In a way, however, this fanciful and flawed portrayal of women fits in this fanciful and flawed novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Great setting and characters, average plotline
Review: I had mixed feelings about this book. At first I got really into the story. Even though it took awhile for the characters to be developed and the story to get moving, there was more than enough to keep my interest. His vision of the future is very unique and fascinating. Once the main story started to unfold. however, I couldn't help but feel totally cheated and disappointed. Here I had invested so much energy into the characters and the universe that he had created, and in turns out that they form the backdrop for what appears to me to be just a glorified horror movie in space. Spirits from the netherworld coming back to take over human bodies? GIVE ME A BREAK! Surely somebody with the creativity that Hamilton appears to possess could have come up with something more original than that!!! In fairness, I must admit that I will probably be reading the sequels when they come out. Like I said, the setting and the characters really gripped me. It's a shame that he couldn't put them to better use.
Rating: 
Summary: Dazzling but disappointing
Review: There is much to admire and delight in reading these two books. It is a vast beautifully detailed universe with a staggering amount of interesting characters and fascinating xenocs. Comparatively speaking, he makes C.B. DeMille's epics play like intimate living room dramas. He uses minute details like Terry Gilliam to craft the reality of the moment. A truely dazzling display of technology. Yet within all these superlatives lies its' inherent weakness, the story development. This vastly framed work seems largely unfocused. It's like reading the first chapters of War and Peace feeling completely daunted. On wonders how many thousands of pages he will take to reach the obvious conclusion. Therefore I reluctantly grade it 7.
Rating:
Summary: Reality Dysfunction (read in the wrong order)
Review: I picked up "Expansion" on a lark in the airport, and read it cover to cover in about a day and a half. I had not read the first book yet. Fortunately, Hamilton provided enough information to keep me going. Now that I finished "Emergence," I'm ready to re-read Expansion. Hamilton provides an environment that is well thought out, rich, and suitable for more books past the conclusion of the trilogy (are you reading this, Mr. Hamilton?).
Rating:
Summary: Mind Expansion as SF destiny
Review: I think that this series, Reality Dysfunction, 1-2, more, is destined to be one of the classics of the genre. Its melding of bio-tech concepts with the human/social/cultural implications of such technology reawakes the sense of wonder which first brought me to SF with Heinlein, Asimov, etc. Specifically the idea that our brains our subject to rewiring and expansion giving god like powers to those who are only after all mere humans driven by the greed, powermania, and little lusts of biochemical imperatives is simply awesome. I am waitng others in the series with bated synapes.
Rating:
Summary: On par with Dune, Foundation series
Review: Read it Fridays and Saturdays only. It is one of those books that you keep reading deep into the night, so you can sleep in the next day. By the way, the next book in the series (Emergence) is not quite as good, but I am still waiting for the third in the series to be delivered in (I think) 1998.
Rating:
Summary: Continues the Rapid Fire Action of "Emergence"
Review: Peter Hamilton has proven himself to be an author capable of immense imagination and incredible plot development. However he also reveals a disturbing darkside. As a parent of two small children, I found several of the scenes depicting the Lalonde "colonists" treatment of children to be very disturbing.
As the title of the book implies, "Expansion" focuses on the expansion of the Lalonde problem originally outlined in Emergence. The storyline alternates between several Adamist and Edenist worlds. Joshua Calvert continues his swashbuckling, Han Solo-like, escapades. The Adamists and Edenists rally to try and save Lalonde. Quinn Dexter rallies to try and save himself.
The pace of this book is truly frantic. So much so, that as the pace quickened, so did my heartbeat and the speed with which I read. But in the end, more questions are left open that I would have liked and there is more "dead space" in this book than in "Emergence". Hence the 8 rating.
The publication of the third book in the series is unknown, at least to me, at this time. I can only sit back and wait and hope that the editors encourage Mr. Hamilton to tone down the gore and treatment of childres a little bit.
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