Rating: 
Summary: Stop nagging and tell people to buy this book!
Review: ...>1st and foremost: The Night's Dawn is one of the most ambitious series ever written. Compared to most of the latest articles in the science fiction and fantasy genres, it whips bottom. Simple as that. It is an ingenious masterpiece.You would have expected, for example, a brilliant beginning as the 27th century universe is unfurled (which you got in the previous volumes), then a slowing of the world-making and an increase in focused action and character-building. This is not the case with Naked God. It carries you deeper into the world of the Galaxy-spanning Confederation than any of the other volumes, and it provides one with insights into the future which tiptoe on the edge of prophesy. At the same time, the action (and tension) just keeps on building, and the characters are not only fleshed out, but allowed to evovle and become more complex, as well. Therefore, the two stars I usually reserve for writing strategy and technique are mr Hamilton's by right. On to the prose, which is absolutely wonderful in the sense that Hamilton can juggle the roles of in-the-character's-head narrator, the character's thoughts tinging his prose, and the superior Gods-eye-view narrator who knows all and sees all. He can juggle that seamlessly. It is simply as natural as one could hope for, throughout all three novels. Three stars. As for genre-capability, the ability of giving the genre reader what he/she has been looking for, in this case very plausible high-powered gadgetry, aliens and all the essentials of a 27th century setting, Hamilton simply excels. I fail to see how it could possibly get better. The Naked God brings even more obscure actual and fictitious science into the series than its predecessors. Unbeleivers, read his account of the Mosdva. Four stars. So far, Naked God and the other Night's Dawn books are so perfect, there's no sense of proportion to the whole series. It is too good. Now let's talk about the much discussed deus ex machina ending. It's a very bad ending. in fact, I'd say it is pathetic. Too wishy-washily magical. Too good to be true, and too short. OK, satisfied? But, first of all it IS an ending. How many series have I read that just go on and on (ring a bell?) while the author becomes fabulously rich and his readers start going into comas... And even if some of those supra-genial reviewers don't think it challenges their intellect sufficiently, it wraps everything up in a way that is INTERNALLY plausible. Which is to say, it is not contradictory or unsuitable. It's just too hurried and clumsy. I will still indulge these people and hold back my fifth star which, up to page 1200, I would have given away gladly. Now, does the bad ending mar a good series? I don't think so. For 30 pages of disappointment, Hamilton has written 3000 pages of pure genious! Compare it to Robert Jordan's 100 pages of action for thousands of pages of drawn-out bore, and you'll see what this guy Hamilton is worth. Reviewers such as mr. Eftychiou (reviewing Naked God: Flight) should not mistake bile for style. Giving extreme ratings for minor failings is not an indication of character. Buy these books, everyone. You stand to lose nothing at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Phenomenal Ending to a Masterpiece
Review: After reading this series twice, and after reading the reviews on here, I do have to say that I think many of the reviewers really missed the boat here. My take on the book was that it was exactly what the author was promising, and exactly what the readers wanted. It gave us new plotlines that tied into the main plot. It gave us new characters that played a role to move the story on. It tied up all the loose ends of the subplots as they all came together (and for all the subplots that Hamilton was weaving here, thats saying a lot). The characters (good and bad) all grew and changed. The action scenes were fantastic. And most importantly: it gave you the ending that Hamilton was hinting at and indeed that the characters were trying to achieve: a deus ex machina. Humanity couldn't fight the possessed on their own and win. The Kiint would not help them, the Tyrathca were running away and hiding, and mankind was losing the war. They tried for a Hail Mary pass with no time remaining (pardon the football metaphor) and it worked! They found their deus ex machina (even with the back cover of the book cleverly headlined as "Deus ex Machina" for crying out loud). For everyone who is kvetching about the ending - you should pay attention to what you are reading. This was no "bait-n-switch" or a twist ending. Hamilton delivered exactly what he promised. Granted - Hamilton waited a really long time to get to the ending, but in a 4000 page series like this, its the journey, not the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading but see my caviat
Review: As with his other books in the series it's an excellant read. Well worth the time spent on it. One problem though is that for some reason the american release of this novel is in 2 parts. The full novel has been available overseas for some time. So I am going to sell my US copy (part1 - Flight ) and buy the UK hardcover which (at twice the pages as the US versions) is the full novel. I wish I had done this originally and I would recommend to anyone that they check out amazon.co.uk.
Rating:
Summary: Starship Theatre, Pt.VI
Review: For hard core Sci-Fi, the "Night's Dawn" Trilogy has it ALL!!!He-Man heroes, classy heroines, nasty bad guys (not to Even forget THE DEAD RETURNING!!!) New Worlds and Old;Aliens, space battles, suspense, intergalactic conflict and politics; who could ask for MORE? Starships, living space habitats, Biotech, Neurotech, Cyborgs, Genetic Engineering; it's all here; just be prepared to read nothing else for the next couple of MONTHS, 'cause this one is IT!! I originally was hooked into this Epic in the Hardcover Sci-Fi Book Club Edition, buying "The Neutronium Alchemist" first (somehow, I missed "The Reality Disfunction" when first offered; then had to wait another two weeks for that delivery rather than read the story out of sequence. THEN was forced to go through several cowhides, chewing leather and making a complete nuisance of myself until "The Naked God" was finally published and released in Nov. '99. BOTTOM LINE: If you're going to dive into this Epic, Buy the complete Trilogy as a complete set and be prepared to be enthralled by a whole new universe of the caliber of Heinlein, Asimov, or Clarke (and to stay for awhile!!!)
Rating:
Summary: Great Ending to a Deserving Epic
Review: Hamilton has succeeded in creating a very technology-rich, lush universe for his characters with the Night's Dawn. Anyone who takes the time to read this massive work will almost certainly be amazed at his ingenuity and imagination. The one thing people seem to have problems with is the ending, however. But the conclusion to this saga didn't disappoint me at all, for a simple reason: throughout the story, numerous hints are given has to how the conflict will eventually be resolved. Even in the synopsis on the hardcover version, it talks about the deus ex machina at the end. For Pete's sake, it says "Deus Ex Machina" on the back of this volume! If you're surprised and/or disappointed at the ending, you obviously haven't spent enough time paying attention to the previous 2700 pages.
Rating:
Summary: A hurried but fantastic completion to a awesome epic
Review: I have always been a fan of epics such as the Dark Tower by Stephen King and Clive Barker's Imajica and usually always judge the epic on how the author finishes such a grand undertaking. Separted from the other five books in this series Faith is very well written with the awesome imagination fans expect from Mr. Hamilton. I usually judge a novel by asking myself "how in the world did they think this up?" If I can't answer that question then the author is tremendous indeed. The only reason I can't give this book a full five stars is my impression that it was concluded too fast. With an epic this complex I am sure Mr. Hamilton could have spared 200 more pages of indepthness. However, this could be an abridged version with an unedited edition to come! This is only my hope due to the fact that I love original and unedited editions, the Stand being my favorite example. This is the only fault I can give to this final installation. The ending, without spoiling it for others, was fantastic. I am greatly looking forward to The Confederation Handbook next December as a continuation of Mr. Hamilton's unique imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Quick ending is only a minor distraction to this great book
Review: I loved this series. I really did. It's going to go down in my lists as one of the best Space Opera series I've read (comparisons of Peter Hamilton to Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov are very much deserved, in my opinion). This series is very intricate, with lots and lots of memorable characters and locations, large interstellar mysteries, alien races (both malevolent and benign), and plenty of action and warfare. The thing I think I enjoyed most about this series was the characters that you learn so much about, and about whom you really learn to care by the end of the story. Also, the horror present in parts of this story is very much akin to what you'd read in stories by HP Lovecraft or Brian Lumley (witness what happens to Dariat and his companions and you'll get a taste of what true hopelessness and desperation feel like). This series is so good, there isn't enough space here to talk about all the things I like about it. It's truly epic in scope, and comes to a very satisfactory conclusion. I especially enjoyed watching Quinn Dexter finally get what was coming to him. My only reason for removing one star from this final book is due to the quick ending to the book. Humanity is truly at a point of final desperation, and it really appears that nothing is going to be able to stop the dead from taking over the universe. The solution to this dilemma comes literally in the last 20 pages of the book. It's the result of a quest that Joshua and his crew have been on for a long time, even getting involved in the civil war of a newly-discovered alien race in the process. Joshua is seeking an alien artifact with 'God power', and is hoping that this artifact can help them. However, when Joshua finds this artifact, rather than finding a solution that can help them solve their own problem, the artifact literally solves the problem for all of humanity in the matter of just a few pages. After all the work (mostly enjoyable) I had gone through reading all 6 of these books, it was a bit of a letdown to have things solved so completely and so quickly by an alien entity with all the answers. But this is a minor criticism. Peter Hamilton has done something that not many authors even attempt, and even fewer ever do successfully. He's created a very detailed and interesting universe with lots of memorable characters and settings that's a lot of overall fun to read. If the ending is a bit hurried, it's at worst only a minor disappointment that's definitely overshadowed by the scope and greatness of this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Naked God-Faith
Review: I read all the books in the series one after the other, the first was my pick for a fire bag reader for the down times we sometimes have, but got hooked and read most of the pages at home.
I enjoyed all 6 books, and agree in general with the other reviewers, I really liked the way he developes the charactors and sub plots and explained the technology, there was a logical progression of events in most cases. My big disappointment was the ending, the author spent the first 5 and most of the 6th book developing the story then I felt ended or solved the theme issure in what seemed like a few pages, i feel we were short changed the main charactors changing value system was developed somewhat, but didn't prepare me for his decision,and again the ending was just to easy,based on how long it took to get to the resolution, proportionally it should have take another book to end the issue, what we got was a Silver Bullet. The reason some people found themselves where they were was not believeable to me, and the biggest weakness in my mind was the place the people went after the Red Cloud, what was the point there it was hard to see the point of the conditions there, the Cancer was again a Silver Bullet for the circumstances there. I was left feeling the Author was tired of this story line and just closed it off ASAP.
Rating: 
Summary: H.G. Wells Must Be Turning Over In His Grave
Review: I remember reading an essay a few years ago designed to encourage people to begin writing science fiction. It gave helpful hints and pointers; things to do and things to avoid. One of the MAJOR points to avoid was ending your story quickly and abruptly with something almost magical. H.G. Wells did it, did it masterfully, and you're not allowed. Unfortunately, if you buy this book, you'll get the opportunity to see how it's done poorly. The reviews I've seen talk about the 30 page conclusion. Nope. It's 13 pages. I counted. The other 17 pages are merely fluff within those 13. Sheesh. Three thousand pages of prose and it's totally wrapped up in 13? Give me a break. I can think of multitudes of solutions to the possession crisis that would have required human struggle and would require humanity as a whole to rise above the crisis. Instead, we get, like a bad magician, "hocus, pocus, abracadabra, poof, it's gone." Possession is solved. I was willing to overlook the many typos (I'll attribute that to poor editing) and Louise Kavanaugh's god awful perfection. Trust me, by the end of the book, you'll hate her as much as you hate Quinn Dexter. Actually, Quinn's evil becomes so much of a caricature that you just kind of roll your eyes. Beleive it or not, you actually get a 27th century version of the bad guy tying the heroine to the railroad track. A piano playing in the background and Quinn saying, "drat you Joshua Calvert" would have made it perfect. Come to think of it, I was ready to say I was willing to overlook the shallowness of most of the main players but I guess I'm not. They really are caricatures. I bought all 6 books in paperback. Through 5 books, I enjoyed a good read and had a lot of fun chasing around the galaxy. I didn't expect it to be serious science fiction. I expected it to be fun and, for 2500 pages, it was. Unfortunately, my whole experience with this series is really destroyed by the last book. Again, it's not just the ending, it's the perfection of all the main characters - whether that perfection is perfection of good or perfection of evil. The last book is just an all around disappointment. Oh well, I did enjoy 2500 pages so I'll not give it one star. But, as Siskel and Ebert once said, "two big thumbs down" for this stinker.
Rating: 
Summary: More LIke "Naked Ending"
Review: If you got this far that means you are already hooked on this series. And what a great series it is. Finishing off something of this scale is always a daunting task. One the one hand there is the danger of leaving lots of loose ends dangling, which annoys some readers and leaves you wondering if there will be further sequels. On the other hand there is a danger in trying to tie up every loose end. Hamilton falls somewhere in-between on this one. He solves the immediate problem in a rather neat way, that puts the loose ends on a long finger, beyong the scope of any immediate sequel. Not everyone will love the end, but for me, it works!
| 
