Rating: 
Summary: The most rollicking, wide-scope space opera ever
Review: Other writers might have created more detailed science fictional milieus, with more characters and more plots, but they did it over many years and through many more stories and novels. Hamilton, over the course of three novels released in three years, has created a storyline of such audacious scope that it can't be described, only experienced. Lots of SF novels get referred to as epic, but this one is. You WILL be turning to the character list to keep track of all the character's names (and might have to refer to previous volumes) but if you like long-arc storylines, do not miss this book. After I finished the Naked God, I went back to the start and read all three books (five, if you count U.S. editions) from beginning to end. I was amazed how well Hamilton sustained the storyline, and how well all the pieces came together in the end. One word to all the people who have a problem with the deus ex machina ending: Did you notice the title of the book? The idea was set up in the first volume that there was an artificial deity somewhere in the galaxy that could offer a solution. The jacket description says that one of the major plotlines is Joshua's search for the Sleeping God. I think it is Hamilton's intent to highlight that the solution offered by the Sleeping God is not the solution most of us would have chosen. Most readers will be unhappy with the fate of at least some of the characters. The point is made that although there are many possible solutions, there is no perfect solution. And a story with such an audacious plot deserves an audacious ending. I felt everything resolved pretty much as Hamilton set it up to resolve. Bravo.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Book in a Long Time
Review: Superb finish to a series. I can not remeber the last time I enjoyed a series of books so much. Brilliant space opera that leaves Asimov|Heinlien for dead.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but.....
Review: I could not wait to get my hands on the softcover. The book was captivating for the first 90% but in the end it was all too hurried and too convenient. Still, Hamilton deserved the praise for managing the characters and storyline across the 5 books so well although some of them seem secondary to the plot. For instance, Ione Saldana was such a central character in the first 4 books but became a bystander in this final installment. There was no "Aha!" just the "I see.." and lots of it. Overall it is recommended if only because the first 4 was so good and I just want to keep on going.
Rating:
Summary: 2500+ Pages and Never Ever Boring
Review: Simply put, Peter Hamilton gave me 2500+ pages and I never was bored once. Reading this mammouth trilogy (H/C), I found my level of interest in his characters uniquely high given how many appear in the story. While some have complaints about this or that, I believe that the old axiom; "You can't please everyone" applies. Is TNG absolutely perfect? No. Is TNG immensely enjoyable? Yes. And I think thats all that counts. I've found that reading Science Fiction in general requires a certain amount of belief in the author. I used to "look" for things to make my experience unenjoyable. I do not do this anymore. I sit back and enjoy my journey. I let the author fill my mind with his universe and his vision. This is the best way to read The Nights Dawn Trilogy. Enjoy your journey !
Rating: 
Summary: Bad slog
Review: I have to agree with the majority- it was a poor dwindling effort compared to the excitement built up so well over the first 3 books (the 4th started to get tedious). I could not care less for some of the characters ie Valisk, and found myself skipping over a lot of purely mundane description and tedious development. The only memorable thing was the xenoc development including Kiint, Tyrathca, etc. Like some other reviewers said, the ending/solution is just like a huge broom sweeping dust under a carpet- it lacked imagination and elegance. A pity.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest.....series.....ever?
Review: Okay, this is going to completely go against every known "disappointment" in "The Naked God" but I have to say it because most likely this is the greatest ending to the greatest series of Science Fiction books. Ever. The way that Hamilton so uniquely "finishes off" characters that have been building up for thousands of pages is one of the most fresh ways of dealing with cliches of "give the characters huge, epic, unrealistic endings so it reads better." I love how Hamilton makes you think throughout not only "The Naked God" but the whole series what is going to happen to this character since this character is still around, or how is this character going to die since the other one didn't do a certain thing. Perhaps what's even better than that in this epic novel is that what you most expect NEVER happens and sometimes what you wouldn't expect to happen never does happen! I'll leave it to you to figure that out!
Rating:
Summary: A complete fizzle
Review: What a horrendous disappointment! After building up the plot for thousands of pages, Hamilton clearly had no idea how to end his trilogy. We get a completely lame deus ex machina in which he wraps up the problem of possession in a few sentences. Then there's a couple pages of happily-ever-after stuff in which he completely forgets to include characters and places from earlier in the trilogy. The final pages had an air of a Scooby Doo cartoon where the villain is unmasked and everyone stands around laughing, none the worse for what moments previously seemed like a dreadfully harrowing experience. There are spelling and typesetting mistakes all over the place. My biggest problem was the huge plot hole with regard to the Tyrathca and the Sleeping God: why did the Tyrathca, a race intelligent enough to construct interstellar starships, do absolutely nothing with the Sleeping God other than getting one of their colony ships out of a jam? Some of the plot lines were interesting page turners (Joshua, Kiint, the attempted take over of Earth) but just as many were dreadful slogs through plot development that turned out to be completely useless (Norfolk, Mortonridge). Others were just plain silly - the whole Al Capone thing fell completely flat. In the end, I enjoyed the read and respect Hamilton for his moxie at tackling such a huge task, but it would have been much, much better had he done away with a lot of the excess and put more energy into making the ending more imaginative and thought-provoking instead of the awful mess that it is.
Rating:
Summary: At least they spelled "God" correctly
Review: This finale also kept me turning the pages right to the very end. The book ties up most of the threads of the story at the end in a deft convergence of a bunch of story lines. In fact, approaching the last pages, you begin to wonder how any of these can be resolved by the end. Most of them are, but, as pointed out by others, a couple of the story lines are left hanging. Although I've enjoyed the series greatly, one thing kept jarring me all the way through: Why does every human in the known universe speak in British idioms like "bloody"? This definitely makes this an "alternate universe" story; it's not "bloody likely" in our universe! The other quibble is that I have never seen a published volume with such a multitude of typographical errors. The proofreaders must have been on holiday during the production. English and grammar purists, prepare for many, jarring speed bumps as you race through this final installment.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been titled "Deus ex Machina"
Review: Wow, what a let down of an ending. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book immensely. However, the thrill came from the excellent adventure and detailed action which Hamilton is so good at describing. I was disappointed because of the total lack of exploration of the concepts that teased and awed in the first two books of the series. For four books, Hamilton sets the reader up to expect an exploration of the concepts of life after death, eternity, the nature of evil, self determination, etc. The ending addresses none of these issues, completely bypassing the issue which created most of the tension in the first place -- the Kiints' insistance that humans must find their own solution to the problem of possession -- the Kiint won't even give them any hints. Reading the Epilogue, my thought was "Gee, so there never really was a problem anyway." Anyway, it's still a good book, hence the three stars. If you've already read the first four in the series, it's definitely worth finishing it up.
Rating:
Summary: Well, finally
Review: I slammed the middle volume of the (hardcover) trilogy for being bloated. And I don't regret that. But after the LOOOONG wait I finally found The Naked God sitting on the bookstore shelves waiting for me. (I can't buy *all* of my books online!) And it wasn't a bad read. In fact it was a pretty good read. It even inspired me to go back and re-read the first volume of the trilogy, which is in fact well written. Space opera, as the liner suggests, it is. But ... I have a couple of "issues" with this epic. First of all, it was, and remains, bloatware of the highest order. The middle volume really didn't get much done. It's a characteristic of good space opera that virtually every chapter gets something done! In fact, if you're reading John Campbell, there might be a new principle of physics discovered on every page! So in this respect, the work as a whole falls flat. The other problem is the ending. What's the deal? Hamilton got tired of writing? Now, maybe "the journey's worth the price" but I wanted to at least catch a glimpse of something clever at the end, and instead I got bludgeoned with an immensely crude finale a la deus ex machina. (Was that a polyglot or what?) Hamilton's writing is decent going on excellent and his characters are engaging and sometimes more, but ... I'm glad this is over. And if I get a chance I'm going to break his ankles and lock him up in a room with a typewriter and request a proper ending. Just kidding about that. Really.
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