Rating: 
Summary: The payoff in volume 3 is really weak
Review: The premise and much of the action was good throughout the series, but after wading through 1500 pages, I could not believe how lame the ending was. It would be unfair to reveal the ending, so I will not do so. The ending reminded me of a bad mystery story where the killer was a new character introduced in the last 50 pages. I think Hamilton must have run out of ideas. If you believe that it is the journey and not the destination, then go ahead and read these books. They are in the pulp fiction style of several plots that more or less merge at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: This is simply one of the best science fiction books ever.
Review: The scope of imagination in Peter Hamilton's books is staggering. Nothing except Dune comes even close to the powerful fusion between intuitive imagination and the consequences of high technology.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic hard sci-fi mets space opera
Review: The worlds that Peter F Hamilton creates in the Neutronium Alchemist series are utterly compelling, as are his storylines and ideas. However his great books are let down by two things - his dreadful characterisations and his juvenile obsession with sex. I thoroughly enjoy all his books, and race through them, only stopping occasionally to groan and roll my eyes when one of his space-bimbos drops her panties for the hero again, or the cheesy bad-guy utters one of his faux-menacing lines. Regardless, I would highly recommend the Neutronium Alchemist and all his other books. It's worth forcing yourself to ignore the poor characterisations, the books are so chock-full of interesting ideas and situations and gripping storylines.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Series, But Not For Everyone
Review: There are six books in Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" series:
- "The Reality Dysfunction - Part 1: Emergence,"
- "The Reality Dysfunction - Part 2: Expansion,"
- "The Neutronium Alchemist - Part 1: Consolidation,"
- "The Neutronium Alchemist - Part 2: Conflict,"
- "The Naked God - Part 1: Flight," and
- "The Naked God - Part 2: Faith."
Be warned: you CANNOT read these books individually. They are, essentially, chapters in one whopping great book. If you like the first book, then you'll have to read the other five books in order. There's no tie-up of any sort between any of the books. The publisher just broke the story up because it totals over 3,000 pages. If you pick up a book before you've read all the previous books (in order), put it down. It won't mean anything to you. Since these books are entirely dependent on each other, I'm writing this review on the series as a whole, not on the individual books.
This is one of the greatest science fiction sagas written. It ranks up there with David Brin's "Uplift Saga." It is literally a story of good vs evil and shows some of the potential (and pitfalls) of the human race. Over the years, I've read the whole series five times, and I still love it. I really only have two gripes with the book. First, and this is unavoidable in what Hamilton is doing, the evil in the series is definitely, graphically evil. This is not a book where the villain twists his mustache and laughs "nyah hah hah" as he forecloses on the orphanage or ties the heroine to the railroad tracks. The writing is fairly graphic in a lot of places. After five readings, this gets a bit wearing. My second gripe is one which somewhat limits the audience of the series (even more so than the evilness presented, and it's why I've given the series four stars instead of five): there's too much sex and the writing about it is too graphic. This is a problem with all of Hamilton's books, but it seems more prevalent in this series. Because of this, I wouldn't recommend the book for your children to read. But, as long as you're aware of that, I highly recommend the series and give it 4 stars out of five.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best series I have read in the last 30+ years
Review: These Hamilton books have it all - hard SF, speculative SF, fantasy, horror, combat, space opera, sex (with and without responsibility). Multiple plots perfectly interwoven. Characters that are strong and believable yet not "over the top" (too far). I have not once said, "Why would this person do that?" I have not once said, "OK, get on with it." And they're BIG books, but real page-turners from cover to cover. These books are about realistic people, made larger than life by their circumstances, pitted face to face with pure evil (and the possibility of pure good) incarnate. Mythical, spiritual, raw-edged escapism at its best. Take it from a guy who quit counting after the 20th time he saw Star Wars, the original, in a theater. Hamilton rocks.
Rating:
Summary: MIND-BOGGLING AND CHILLING
Review: This book is every bit as thrilling and exciting as the first book
- The Reality Dysfunction. The military hardware and gadgets are awesome. The part with the spiders killed me! The action, dialog and plotting are world class.
Stellar!!
Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk: The Next Generation
Review: This book is sooo hot. It's a rare mixture of slam bang action, high technology, ancient magic, and a really big philosophical question that's been dogging mankind since we crawled down from the trees. I don't know whether to wish for the series to conclude so I can see how it comes out or if I should just hope that Hamilton turns it into an encyclopedia so I can keep on reading forever!
Rating:
Summary: Read right after the last book
Review: This book was great, don't get me wrong, but if you're committed to reading the entire series (ie you've read the Reality Dyfunction and want to see how it all ends eventually) do yourself a favor and start reading right after the Reality Dyfunction. I made that mistake and waited a few years in between (hey I do have other things to do) and attempting to dive in, at least in the beginning, can be rough going. Fortunately Hamilton does his best to bring readers up to speed on the run but he can't explain everything without bogging it all down in lengthy backwards exposition and so you've just got to figure it out as you go. On the book itself, it's just as good as the first two books, just in a different way. The Reality Dyfunction was good for the shock of its ideas, both for the complexity and gritty hardness of Hamilton's universe and the central concept of the dead coming back and taking over people (which could have turned into some cliched horror deal, but didn't). This book shows that the last one wasn't a fluke and he can actually develop all those ideas of the last novel into something workable. Thus, there aren't all out firefights and breakneck action here, mostly a retrenching as the characters gear up for the inevitable second conflict. We get to see how the possessed are trying to fortify their positions and how the living are trying to reclaim their worlds. Through it all there's an impressive knot of political and social machinations, as everyone tries to manipulate the crap out of everyone else. The characters are all still well defined and sometimes still surprising, which is good considering how much time you have to spend with some of them. There are lots of plots spinning around but don't fret, none of them are horribly complex and there's little overlap and Hamilton avoids the problems of some authors (ahem . . . Robert Jordan) by not giving his million characters all similar sounding names so you can't tell them apart. It's a quieter book that simmers with closed intensity, which will probably explode in the next book. Don't even think of starting this one without having read the Reality Dyfunction, it won't make any sense at all and you'll just be hurting yourself. But this is the next logical step after that book and a welcome one. And I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I liked the idea of Al Capone showing up, talk about adapting to yourself situation. Great stuff, and I've learned from my mistakes, I'm reading the second part of this as we speak. Review on that to come shortly, not that anyone is out there waiting. Pity.
Rating:
Summary: Great but not Fantastic
Review: This is another well written space opera on a grand scale, but its not for everyone-if you are a hardcore SF nerd go home! this is not a book for trekkies, it is a more modernesque, thriller form of Science Fiction and if you dont like it-why waste your time reading it?
You must definately read the first book (or two books if you bought The Reality Dysfunction in 2 volumes) before you start this and if you enjoyed that you'll enjoy this.
I do have to agree though that Hamilton does have a slightly immature obsession with sex and it does get in the way of the plot ocassionally. But no-one is perfect and I for one read it cover to cover-couldnt put it down!
And one last thing to all you amateur critics-What have you ever writen that could compare with this? Your book reviews? Hardly. Please try and remember that no-one is asking you to read the books and if you didnt like the first one why read this one? Why waste everyones time whining about how poorly Hamiltons plot lines are realised?
Get out there and write your own fiction, form an online SF club or whatever, just stop the bigotry.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent sequel to the Reality Dysfunction
Review: This latest part in the story started in The Reality Dysfunction is extremely good. I was unable to put it down. It was so good that I was forced to leave all my homework undone until I had finished reading it. I would recommend it to anyone who has read the first two in the series.
|
